U.  S.  DEPARTMENT  OF 


BUREAU  OF  ANIMAL  INDUSTRY. 


SPECIAL  REPORT 


ON  THE 


HISTORY  AND  PRESENT  CONDITION 


OF  THE 


SHEEP  INDUSTRY  -OF  THE  IITED  STATED 


PREPARED  UNDER  THE   DIRECTION  OP 

DR.  D.  E.  SALMON, 
CHIEF  OF  THE  BUREAU  OF  ANIMAL  INDUSTRY, 

BY 

EZRA  A.  CARMAN,  H.  A.  HEATH,  AND  JOHN  MINTO. 


PUBLISHED  BY  AUTaK^tr&F  JES$  SSK^^fLY  OF  AGRICULTURE. 


WASHINGTON: 

GOVERNMENT    PRINTING  OFFICE. 
1892. 


TABLE  OF  CONTENTS. 


Paga 

Letter  of  transmittal 9 

PART  I. — THE  SHEEP  INDUSTRY  IN  STATES  EAST  OF  THE  MISSISSIPPI  RIVER. 

BY  EZRA  A.  CARMAN: 
Chapter  I.  The  Wild  Sheep  of  America,  and  earliest  introduction  of 

Domesticated  Breeds 11 

II.  The  Household  Woolen  Industry— 1607-1800 95 

III.  Introduction  of  the  Spanish  Merino  Sheep 131 

IV.  The  Dissemination  of  the  Spanish  Merino  throughout  New 

England.     Progress  of  the  fine-wool  industry  and  its 

decline 217 

V.  Introduction  of  the  Fiue-Wooled  Sheep  into  the  Middle  and 
South  Atlantic  seahoard  States,  and  the   subsequent 

progress  of  Sheep  Husbandry 349 

VI.  The  Sheep  Husbandry  of  Western  Pennsylvania  and  the 

Pan-Handle  of  West  Virginia 483 

VII.  The  Sheep  Husbandry  of  Ohio,  Indiana,  Illinois,  Michigan, 

and  Wisconsin 52j 

VIII.  The  Sheep  Husbandry  of  Kentucky,  Tennessee,  Mississippi, 

Alabama,  and  Florida 657 

PART  II. — CONDITION  OF  THE  SHEEP  INDUSTRY  WEST  OF  THE  MISSISSIPPI 

RIVER. 

BY  H.  A.  HEATH  AND  JOHN  MINTO  : 

Chapter  I.  The  Sheep  Industry  in  Montana  and  North  and  South  Da- 
kota        701 

II.  The  Sheep  Industry  in  Wyoming,  Colorado,  and  Utah 771 

III.  The  Sheep  Industry  in  Minnesota,  Iowa,  Nebraska,  Mis- 

souri, and  Kansas 811 

IV.  The  Sheep  Industry  in  Arkansas,  Texas,  New  Mexico,  and 

Arizona 885 

V.  The  Sheep  Industry  in  California,  Oregon,  and  Washing- 
ton       947 

3 


LIST  OF  ILLUSTRATIONS. 


PART  I. — CHAPTER  I. 

Page, 

Mountain  Sheep  or  Big  Horn  (Ovis  Montana,  Desm.) 19 

Texel  sheep 24 

The  Old  Wiltshire  sheep 44 

Kentish  or  Romney  Marsh  sheep 44 

The  Ryland  sheep 46 

Old  Norfolk  ram 46 

Tunisian  Mountain  (flat-tailed)  sheep .  78 

Wicklow  Mountain  sheep 86 

The  New  Leicester  ram 88 

The  New  Leicester  ewe 88 

Tees  water  sheep 92 

Southdown  ram 92 

The  Southdown  sheep 92 

The  Old  Lincoln  breed 92 

CHAPTER  III. 

Spanish  Merino  ram,  Don,  of  1790 134 

Merino  ram,  Don  Pedro 136 

Clermont 142 

Ramhouillet 142 

Spanish  Merino  ram  (imported  at  beginning  of  the  present  century) 150 

CHAPTER  IV. 

Saxony  Merino  rain 228 

Electoral  Escurial  ram 23d 

Electoral  Escurial  ewe 230 

Infantado  Xegretti  ram 230 

Merino  ram,  Sweepstakes 262 

Rambouillet  ram  of  1787 268 

Rambouillet  ram  of  1873 268 

Horned  Dorset 280 

Merino  ram,  Consul •. 284 

Merino  ram,Golden  FU-oee 294 

Spanish  Paular  Merino  ram,  Fortune 298 

General  Fremont 298 

Bismarck 322 

Centennial 322. 

5 


6  LIST   OF   ILLUSTRATIONS. 

CHAPTER  V. 

Page. 

Registered  Cotswold  ram 368 

French  Merino  ram,  Louis  Phillippe 380 

French  Merino  ewe,  Marquese  <lc  Rouge 380 

Silesian  Merino  ewe 388 

Merino  ram,  Osceola 392 

Beacon  Down  ram 402 

Merino  ram,  Addison 404 

Merino  ram,  Hopeful 404 

Merino  ram,  Genessee 404 

Merino  ram,  Ruby's  Boy 408 

Merino  ram,  Onondaga 408 

Merino  ram,  Ranzin 410 

Merino  ram,  Longfellow 410 

Merino  ewe  141 410 

Yearling  Merino  ewe  of  1890 410 

Yearling  Merino  ewe  of  1890 410 

Hampshire  ram,  Baron 416 

Suffolk  ram 422 

Oxford  Down  ram,  Freeland 444 

Imported  Southdown  ram 452 

Cheviot  ram 472 

CHAPTER  VI. 

Black-Top  Merino  ram,  Success 496 

Black-Top  Merino  ram,  Walter 496 

Black-Top  Merino  ewe,  Madam 496 

Dickinson  Merino  ewe,  Emma 502 

Humphrey's  Merino  ewe,  Queen 506 

Delaine  Merino  ram,  Wall  Street 510 

Delaine  Merino  ewe 510 

Saxony  Merino  ram 518 

CHAPTER  VII. 

Wells  &  Dickinson  Merino  ewe  of  1865 526 

Merino  ram,  Snowflake 528 

Merino  ram,  King,  jr 542 

Merino  ram,  Nobhy  Tom 544 

Oxford  Down  sheep 564 

Shropshire  ram 586 

Flock  of  Shropshire  sheep ; 586 

Merino  ram,  Premier 614 

Pure  Atwood  Merino  ewe 614 

Rambouillet  ram,  Humber 634 

Rambouillet  ram,  Golden  Hoof 634 

Lincoln  ram 638 

CHAPTER  VIII. 

Improved  Kentucky  sheep 664 

Flock  of  Southdown  sheep 666 

Florida  Piney  Woods  sheep 684 

PART  II. — CHAPTKR  I. 

The  Range  Herder 700 

The  Camp  Wagon  on  the  Range 700 

4The  Herder's  Camp 700 


LIST    OF    ILLUSTRATIONS. 
CHAPTER  II. 

Sheep  Barn  at  Grand  Forks,  N.  Dak 770 

Just  in  from  tlie  Range,  Northern  Montana 770 

Farm  Scene  in  Red  River  Valley,  N.  Dak 770 

Sheep  Ranch,  near  Conway,  N.  Dak 770 

Oxford  Down  sheep,  Wilmot,  S.  Dak 770 

CHAPTER  III. 

Sh<  «-p  Shearing  on  Ranch,  Wyoming 810 

A  Ranch  in  Middle  Park,  Colo 810 

CHAPTER  IV. 

In  Camp  en  route  to  winter  Range,  Arizona 946 

Lamb  Corral  on  Ranch  near  Santa  F6,  N.  Mex 946 

Single  wool  clip  of  a  New  Mexico  ranch 946 

Dipping  sheep,  Southwest  Texas 946 

Feeding  Pens  on  a  Ram  Ranch,  Western  Texas 946 

Ranch  on  Devil's  River,  Texas 946 

View  on  Devil's  River,  Texas 946 

Iron  Mountain  Ranch,  Buchel  County,  Texas 946 

Mexican  Sheep  Shearers,  near  Fort  McKavett,  Texas 946 


LETTER  OF  TRANSMITTAL 


U.  S.  DEPARTMENT  OF  AGRICULTURE, 

BUREAU  OF  ANIMAL  INDUSTRY, 

Washington,  D.  0.,  April  11,  1892. 

SIR  :  I  have  the  honor  to  submit  herewith  a  report  upon  the  history 
and  present  condition  of  sheep  husbandry  in  the  United  States.  The 
work  has  been  prepared  with  great  care  and  is  believed  to  be  thorough,, 
comprehensive,  and  exhaustive.  The  first  two  chapters  give  the  his- 
tory of  the  first  sheep  introduced  into  the  infant  colonies,  their  charac- 
teristics, and  their  improvement,  together  with  a  brief  sketch  of  the 
household  woolen  industry  down  to  the  period  of  the  general  introduc- 
tion of  the  Spanish  Merino  breed  in  1810->11. 

The  third  chapter  is  devoted  to  the  history  of  the  Spanish  Merino- 
and  its  introduction  into  the  country  between  1801  and  1811.  Many 
hitherto  unpublished  facts  are  here  presented,  which  are  of  interest  a& 
bearing  on  the  economic  history  of  the  country  and  as  affecting  the 
pedigrees  of  noted  flocks. 

The  remaining  chapters  of  the  report  trace  the  history  and  progress 
of  the  sheep  and  wool  industry  in  the  several  States,  the  introduction 
of  the  fine-wooled  Spanish,  Saxon,  French,  and  Silesian  in  each,  the 
varying  phases  of  the  wool  industry,  and  the  gradual  extension  of  the 
English  mutton  breeds  over  the  whole  region,  and  the  present  status 
of  the  industry  both  for  wool  and  mutton.  Included  in  this  treatment 
of  the  subject  is  the  general  and  pedigree  history  of  the  early  Merino- 
flocks,  traced  from  the  first  importations  down  to  and,  in  some  cases, 
including  the  flocks  of  the  present  day.  There  is  shown  the  progressive 
improvement  of  the  fine-wooled  sheep  now  inhabiting  the  continent,  the 
great  increase  in  fleece  and  the  tendency  of  its  present  development. 
The  system  of  breeding  pedigreed  flocks  and  the  management  pursued 
by  the  most  successful  sheep  husbandmen  are  given,  covering  a  period 
of  wide  and  varied  experience  from  the  beginning  of  the  century  down 
to  the  present  day.  The  experience  of  those  who  have  been  the  most 
successful  in  the  breeding  of  the  improved  English  mutton  sheep  has 
also  been  given,  as  well  as  the  methods  followed  by  those  who  have 
been  most  successful  in  supplying  the  markets  with  early  lambs  and 
mature  mutton. 

9 


10  liETTJflS;  OF    TRANSMITTAL. 


In  tliat^^r^:6f  ^Ije^robort^  referring  to  the  sheep  industry  in  the  sec- 
tion west  of  the'Mississippi  &iver  will  be  found  much  new  and  extremely 
interesting  matter  in  regard  to  the  management,  the  present  condition, 
and  the  prospects  of  this  branch  of  the  animal  industry  in  that  great 
region. 

The  illustrations  have  been  selected  with  care  and  with  the  view  of 
increasing  the  historical  and  practical  value  of  the  volume. 

Taken  as  a  whole,  this  report  can  not  fail  to  be  interesting  and  valu- 
able to  every  owner  of  sheep.  It  will  give  a  broader  view  of  the  indus- 
try, its  magnitude,  and  the  methods  which  are  most  likely  to  bring 
success  in  conducting  its  various  branches. 

An  effort  has  been  to  state  simply  facts,  leaving  the  reader  to  draw 
his  own  conclusions.  Where  that  principle  has  been  necessarily  de- 
parted from  in  the  report,  the  expression  or  opinion  does  not  imply 
that  the  Department  indorses  it,  but  it  is  presented  as  the  personal 
opinion  of  the  writers  of  the  report  and  must  be  judged  accordingly. 
Very  respectfully, 

D.  E.  SALMON, 
Chief  of  the  Bureau  of  Animal  Industry. 

Hon.  J.  M.  BUSK, 

Secretary. 


HAINE8  AFTER  HUMPHREYS. 


MOUNTAIN  SHEEP  OR  BIGHORN  (OVIS  MONTANA  DESM). 

PATENT  OFFICE  REPORT,  AGRICULTURAL,   1861. 


PART  I-THE  SHEEP  INDUSTRY  IN  STATES  EAST  OF  THE 
MISSISSIPPI  RIVER. 

By  EZRA  A.  CARMAN. 


OHAPTEE    I. 

THE  WILD  SHEEP  OF  AMERICA,  AND  EARLIEST  INTRODUCTION  OF 
DOMESTICATED  BREEDS. 

The  European  discoverers  and  conquerors  of  the  Western  Hemi- 
sphere found  no  domesticated  sheep  such  as  they  had  been  accustomed 
to  (at  their  homes)  in  Portugal,  Spain,  Italy,  England,  and  France. 
To  the  American  aborigines  the  domesticated  sheep  of  the  present  day 
and  its  progenitor  were  unknown,  but  in  South  America,  especially  in 
the  regions  of  the  Andes,  the  Spaniards  found  four  forms  of  the  genus 
Auehenia,  the  guanaco  and  vicuna,  known  only  in  the  wild  state,  and 
the  llama  and  alpaca,  known  only  in  the  domesticated  state,  and  used 
by  the  natives  as  beasts  of  burden  and  for  their  wool.  These  four 
animals  appear  so  different  that  most  naturalists,  especially  those  who 
have  studied  them  in  their  native  country,  maintain  that  they  are  spe- 
cifically distinct,  notwithstanding  that  no  one  pretends  to  have  seen  a 
wild  llama  or  alpaca.  Mr.  Ledger,  however,  who  has  closely  studied 
these  animals,  both  in  Peru  and  during  their  exportation  to  Australia, 
and  who  has  made  many  experiments  on  their  propagation,  adduces 
arguments,  which  seem  conclusive,  that  the  llama  is  the  domesticated 
descendant  of  the  guanaco,  and  the  alpaca  of  the  vicuna.  And  now 
that  we  know  that  these  animals  were  systematically  bred  and  selected 
many  centuries  ago,  there  is  nothing  surprising  in  the  great  amount  of 
change  which  they  have  undergone.*  These  animals  all  furnished 
wool  for  clothing,  some  of  it  of  the  finest  quality,  and  the  llama  was 
used  as  a  beast  of  burden.  They  possess  great  interest  and  form  an 
important  part  in  the  industrial  economy  of  South  America,  but  can 
not  here  be  discussed  at  length,  and  we  pass  to  the  consideration  of 
the  wild  or  native  sheep  of  North  America,  then  to  the  progressive  in- 
troduction of  the  domesticated  breeds  and  varieties  of  the  Old  World. 

THE  WILD   SHEEP   OF  NORTH  AMERICA. 

The  Eocky  Mountain  sheep,  or  Big  Horn,  the  Argali  of  America,  in- 
habits the  loftiest  mountain  chains  of  North  America,  and  was  long  ago 
described  by  Spanish  writers  and  others  as  the  sheep  of  California,  aud 

*  "Animals  and  Plants  Under  Domestication."    Charles  Darwin. 

11 


12  ^p3P    I&JJlJJ$e3|S.£>F    THE    UNITED    STATES 


is  familiar-*  to  i^lfldfaiis:  anrd/J&ir  traders  of  Canada.  It  ranges  from 
the  region'  of  thelTpper  Missouri  and  Yellowstone  to  the  Rocky  Moun- 
tains, and  the  high  grounds  adjacent  to  them  on  the  eastern  slope,  and 
as  far  south  as  the  Eio  Grande.  Westward  it  extends  as  far  as  the 
Cascades  and  coast  ranges  of  Washington,  Oregon,  and  California,  and 
follows  the  highlands  some  distance  into  Mexico.  It  is  found  from 
Wyoming  to  California,  though  more  abundant  in  the  northern  latitudes 
than  in  the  southern.  It  appears  to  be  more  common  in  the  Klamath 
basin,  between  California  and  Oregon,  and  the  Blue  Mountains  tra- 
versing Idaho,  Washington,  and  Oregon,  than  in  any  portion  of  the 
Pacific  coast.  This  vast  area,  traversed  in  every  direction  by  mountain 
chains  ranging  from  4,000  to  10.000  feet  in  altitude,  furnishes  it  com- 
parative security  and  nutritious  vegetation. 

When  the  first  mission  was  established  in  California,  in  1697,  nearly 
two  centuries  after  the  discovery  of  that  country,  Fathers  Piccolo  and 
De  Salvatierra  found,  says  the  former  — 

two  sorts  of  deer  that  we  know  nothing  of;  we  call  them  sheep,  because  they  some- 
what resemble  ours  in  make.  The  first  is  as  large  as  a  calf  of  one  or  two  years  old  ;: 
its  head  is  much  like  a  stag,  and  its  horns,  which  are  very  large,  are  like  those  of  a: 
rani;  its  tail  and  hair  are  speckled  and  shorter  than  a  stag's,  but  its  hoof  is  large, 
round,  and  cleft  as  an  ox's.  I  have  eaten  of  these  beasts;  their  flesh  is  very  tender 
and  delicious.  The  other  sort  of  sheep,  some  of  which  are  white  and  others  black. 
differ  less  from  ours.  They  are  larger  and  have  a  great  deal  more  wool,  which  is 
very  good  and  easy  to  be  spun  and  wrought. 

The  animal  mentioned  in  the  latter  part  of  the  above  quotation  is  the 
Rocky  Mountain  goat;  the  other  is  the  Eocky  Mountain  sheep,  or  a 
species  closely  allied  to  it. 

An  extract  from  Venega's  "  History  of  California"  follows  closely  the 
description  given  by  Father  Piccolo  : 

In  California  are  two  species  of  wild  creatures  for  hunting,  which  are  not  knowir 
in  old  or  new  Spain.  The  first  is  that  which  the  Californians,  in  the  Mouqui  tongue... 
call  a  Taye.  It  is  about  the  bigness  of  a  calf  a  year  and  a  half  old,  and  greatly  re- 
sembles it  in  figure,  except  in  its  head,  which  resembles  a  deer,  and  the  horns  very 
thick,  like  those  of  a  ram;  its  hoof  large,  round,  and  cloven,  like  that  of  an  ox;  its- 
skin  is  spotted  like  the  deer,  but  the  hair  thinner,  and  it  has  a  short  tail.  The  flesh 
is  very  palatable,  and,  to  most  tastes,  exquisite.  The  second  species  differs  very  little 
from  a  sheep,  but  a  great  deal  larger  and  more  bulky.  These  are  of  two  colors,  white 
and  black,  both  well  covered  with  excellent  wool.  The  flesh  of  these  is  not  less 
agreeable,  and  they  wander  in  droves  about  the  forests  and  mountains. 

In  1803  Duncan  McGillivray  gave  an  interesting  account  of  these 
sheep  and  the  hunting  of  them  on  the  plains  between  the  Saskatchewan 
and  Missouri  rivers.  They  were  found  there  in  small  flocks,  and  some 
were  killed  of  great  size.  A  male  measured  as  follows:  Length  from 
the  nose  to  the  root  of  the  tail,  5  feet;  length  of  the  tail,  4  inches;  cir- 
cumference around  the  body,  4  feet;  the  stand,  3J  feet  high;  length 
of  the  horn,  3£  feet,  and  girth  at  the  head,  1J  feet.  The  horn  was  of 
a  circular  form,  proceeding  in  a  triangle  from  the  head  like  that  of  at 
Merino  rani.  In  appearance  the  animal  was  a  compound  of  the  deer 


EAST    OF   THE    MISSISSIPPI   RIVER.  13 

and  the  sheep,  having  the  body  and  hair  of  the  first,  with  the  head  and 
horns  of  the  last.  It  was  met  with  only  in  the  Kocky  Mountains,  gen- 
erally frequenting  the  highest  regions  producing  any  vegetation;  some- 
times descending  to  fee.d  at  the  bottom  of  the  valleys,  from  whence,  on 
the  least  alarm,  it  retired  to  the  most  inaccessible  precipices  where  the 
hunter  could  scarcely  follow.  Though  clumsy  in  appearance  it  was 
nimble  in  action,  bounding  from  one  rock  to  another  with  as  much 
facility  as  the  goat,  and  making  its  way  through  places  quite  imprac- 
ticable to  any  other  animal  in  that  country  not  endowed  with  wings. 
It  seemed  to  encourage  pursuit  by  frequently  halting,  sometimes  re- 
tracing a  few  steps  and  staring  at  the  hunter  with  a  stupid  curiosity 
that  was  often  fatal  to  it.  The  flocks  seldom  exceeded  twenty  or  thirty 
animals ;  as  a  rule  not  more  than  two  or  three  were  seen  together.  The 
female  does  not  differ  materially  from  the  male,  except  in  being  much 
less  in  size  and  having  a  small  black  straight  horn  like  the  goat.  The 
color  and  texture  of  the  hair  are  the  same  in  both,  and  they  are  dis- 
tinguished by  the  white  rump  and  dark  tail.  The  female  greatly  re- 
sembles the  domesticated  sheep  in  her  general  figure,  particularly  in 
the  timid  cast  of  the  countenance.  The  flesh  of  the  female  and  of  the 
young  male  is  a  great  dainty,  thought  by  some  to  be  much  more  deli- 
cate than  any  kind  of  venison,  and  regarded  by  the  Indians  as  the 
sweetest  feast  afforded  by  the  forest. 

John  Kichardson,  who  described  the  Ovis  montanain  1829,  says  that 
it  exceeds  the  Asiatic  Argali  in  size  and  is  much  larger  than  the  largest 
varieties  of  the  domestic  breeds.  The  horns  of  the  male  are  very 
large,  arise  a  short  way  above  the  eyes,  and  occupy  almost  the  whole 
space  between  the  ears,  but  do  not  quite  touch  each  other  at  their 
bases.  They  curve  first  backward,  then  downward,  forward,  and  up- 
ward, until  they  form  a  complete  turn,  during  the  whole  course  of 
which  they  recede  from  the  side  of  the  head  in  a  spiral  manner;  they 
dimmish  rapidly  in  size  toward  their  points,  which  are  turned  upward. 
At  their  bases,  and,  for  a  considerable  portion  of  their  length,  they  are 
three- sided,  the  anterior  or  upper  side  being,  as  it  were,  thickened,  and 
projected  obtusely  at  the  union  with  the  two  others.  This  side  is 
marked  by  transverse  furrows,  which  are  less  deep  the  farther  they 
are  from  the  skull,  and  towards  the  tips  the  horns  are  rounded  and  but 
obscurely  wrinkled.  The  furrows  extend  to  the  two  other  sides  of  the 
horn,  but  are  there  less  distinct.  The  intervals  of  the  furrows  swell 
out,  or  are  rounded.  The  ears  are  of  moderate  size.  The  facial  line  is 
straight,  and  the  general  form  of  the  animal,  being  intermediate  between 
that  of  the  sheep  and  stag,  is  not  devoid  of  elegance.  The  hair  is  like 
that  of  the  reindeer,  short,  fine,  and  flexible,  in  its  autumnal  growth; 
but,  as  the  winter  advances,  it  becomes  coarse,  dry,  and  brittle,  though 
still  soft  to  the  touch;  it  is  necessarily  erect  at  this  season,  from  its 
extreme  closeness.  The  limbs  are  covered  with  shorter  hairs.  In  re- 
gard to  colors,  the  head,  buttock,  and  posterior  part  of  the  abdomen 


14 


SHEEP  INDUSTRY  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES 


are  white;  the  rest  of  the  body  and  the  neck  are  of  a  pale  amber,  or 
dusky  wood-brown.  A  deeper  and  more  lustroiis  brown  prevails  on  the 
fore  part  of  the  legs.  The  tail  is  dark  brown,  and  a  narrow  brown  line, 
extending  from  its  base,  divides  the  buttock,  and  unites  with  the  brown 
color  of  the  back.  The  colors  reside  in  the  ends  of  the  hair,  and,  as 
these  are  rubbed  off  during  the  progress  of  winter,  the  tint  becomes 
paler.  The  old  rams  are  almost  totally  white  in  the  spring.  The  horn& 
of  the  female  are  much  smaller  and  nearly  erect,  having  but  a  slight 
curvature  and  an  inclination  backward  and  outward.  The  young 
rams  and  the  females  herd  together  during  the  winter  and  spring  while 
the  old  rams  form  separate  flocks,  except  during  the  month  of  Decem- 
ber, which  is  their  rutting  season.  The  ewes  bring  forth  in  June  or 
July,  and  then  retire  with  their  lambs  to  the  most  inaccessible  heights. 
Where  the  hunters  have  not  penetrated  and  have  not  annoyed  them 
they  aref  approached  with  some  ease,  but  where  they  have  been  often 
fired  at  they  are  exceedingly  wild,  and,  alarming  their  companions  on 
the  approach  of  danger  by  a  hissing  noise,  they  scale  the  rocks  with  a 
speed  and  agility  that  baffles  pursuit.  Their  favorite  feeding  places 
are  grassy  knolls  skirted  by  craggy  rock?,  to  which  they  can  retreat 
when  pursued  by  dogs  and  wolves.  The  horns  of  the  old  rams  attain 
a  size  so  enormous,  and  curve  so  much  forward  and  downward,  that 
they  effectually  prevent  the  animal  from  feeding  on  level  ground.  The 
flesh  of  these  sheep,  when  in  season,  was  quite  delicious,  much  superior 
to  that  of  the  deer  species  and  exceeding  in  flavor  the  finest  English 
mutton.  The  Indians  esteemed  it  as  food  fit  for  the  gods. 

The  dimensions  of  an  old  ram,-  killed  early  in  this  century  on  the 
south  branch  of  the  Mackenzie  River,  are  given  by  Richardson  *  as 
follows: 

Feet. 

Length  of  head  and  body 6 

Height  at  the  foreshoulders 3  i> 

Length  of  tail 0  2 

Length  of  horn,  measured  along  its  curvature 2  10 

Circumference  of  horn  at  base 1  1 

Distance  from  the  tip  of  one  horn  to  the  tip  of  the  other 2  3 

A  ram  and  ewe  obtained  by  John  Muir,  near  the  Modoc  lava  beds, 
northeast  of  Mount  Shasta,  measured  as  follows : 


Inches. 
(> 


Earn. 

Ewe. 

Ft  In. 
3      6 

Ft.  In. 
3      0 

Girth  around  shoulders  ...       .                    .          ..          

3    11 

3      31 

5    104 

4      3* 

Length  of  ears        

0       4£ 

0      5 

o    4 

0      4^ 

L/ength  of  horns  around  curve                    .            .     .                    

2      9 

0    11J 

2      5* 

Circumference  of  horns  at  base  

1      4 

0      6 

" Fauna  Boreali- Americana."    John  Richardson.     London,  1829. 


EAST    OF    THE   MISSISSIPPI   R1VEK.  15 

The  measurements  of  a  male  obtained  in  the  Rocky  Mountains  by 
Aiulubon  vary  but  little  as  compared  with  the  above.  The  weight  of 
his  specimen  was  344  pounds,  which  is,  perhaps,  about  an  average  for 
full  grown  males.  The  females  are  about  a  third  lighter.* 

Mr.  Muir,  who  has  observed  these  wild  sheep  extensively  in  recent 
years,  and  who  has  given  a  valuable  and  interesting  contribution  to 
our  knowledge  of  them,  ranks  fhem  highest  among  the  animal  monn- 
taineers  of  the  Sierra.  "  Possessed  of  keen  sight  and  scent,  immovable 
nerve,  and  strong  limbs,"  he  ranged  from  one  extremity  of  the  lofty 
mountains  to  the  other,  crossed  foaming  torrents  and  slopes  of  frozen 
snow,  exposed  to  the  wildest  storms,  yet  maintaining  a  brave,  warm 
life,  and  developing  from  generation  to  generation  in  perfect  strength 
and  beauty.  Compared  to  the  best  domesticated  breeds,  this  wild 
sheep  of  the  Rocky  Mountains  is  more  than  twice  as  large;  and,  in- 
stead of  an  all-wool  garment,  the  wild  sheep  wears  a  thick  overcoat  of 
hair  like  that  of  the  deer,  and  an  undercoveriug  of  fine  wool,  which  is 
always  white,  and  grows  in  beautiful  spirals  down  out  of  sight  among 
the  straight  shining  hair  like  delicate  climbing  vines  among  stalks  of 
corn.  The  coarse,  soft,  and  spongy  outer  hair  lies  smooth,  as  if  care- 
fully tended  with  comb  and  brush.  The  more  energetic  Indians  hunt 
these  sheep  among  the  more  accessible  of  the  California  alps,  in  the 
neighborhood  of  passes,  where,  from  having  been  pursued,  they  have 
at  length  become  extremely  wary;  but  in  the  rugged  wilderness  of 
peaks  and  canons,  where  the  foaming  tributaries  of  the  San  Joaquin 
and  Kings  rivers  take  their  rise,  they  fear  no  hunter  save  the  wolf,  and 
are  more  guileless  and  approachable  than  their  tame  kindred.  Their 
feeding  grounds  are  among  the  most  beautiful  of  the  wild  gardens  of 
the  mountains,  bright  with  daisies,  and  their  resting  places  are  chosen 
with  reference  to  sunshine  and  a  wide  outlook,  and,  most  of  all,  to 
safety  from  the  attacks  of  wolves.  They  bring  forth  their  young  in  the 
most  inaccessible  and  solitary  places,  far  above  the  nesting  rocks  of  the 
eagle.  Mr.  Muir  says  he  has  frequently  come  upon  the  beds  of  the 
ewes  and  lambs  at  an  elevation  of  from  12,000  to  13,000  feet  above  sea 
level.  These  beds  he  describes  as  simply  oval-shaped  hollows,  pawed 
out  among  loose,  disintegrating  rock  chips  and  sand,  upon  some  sunny 
spot  commanding  a  good  outlook  and  partially  sheltered  from  the 
winds  that  sweep  those  lofty  peaks  almost  without  intermission. 

Such  is  the  cradle  of  the  little  mountaineer,  aloft  in  the  very  sky,  rocked  in  storms, 
curtained  in  clouds,  sleeping  in  thin,  icy  air;  but,  wrapped  in  his  hairy  coat  and 
nourished  by  a  strong,  warm  mother,  defended  from  the  talons  of  the  eagle  and  teeth 
of  the  sly  coyote,  the  bonnie  lamb  grows  apace.  He  soon  learns  to  nibble  the  tufted 
rock  grasses  and  leaves  of  the  white  spiraea.  His  horns  begin  to  shoot,  and  before 
summer  is  done  he  is  strong  and  agile,  and  goes  forth  with  the  flock,  watched  by  the 
same  divine  love  that  tends  the  more  helpless  human  lamb  in  its  warm  cradle  by  the 
fireside.t 

*  The  wild  sheep  of  the  Sierra,  in  "  Sport  With  Rod  and  Gun."    The  Century 
Company,  1883. 
t "  Sport  with  Gun  and  Rod."    The  Century  Co.,  1883. 


16         SHEEP  INDUSTRY  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES 

Efforts  to  domesticate  the  wild  Eocky  Mountain  sheep  have  not  been 
crowned  with  success.  Some  crosses  between  it  and  the  domesticated 
sheep  have  been  formed,  but  we  are  not  aware  that  the  progeny  was 
fruitful  or  that  the  experiment  was  persisted  in. 

The  Indians  have  been  successful  hunters  of  the  wild  sheep,  killing 
them  in  great  numbers  for  their  flesh  and  skins;  but  the  most  dangerous 
enemy  they  have  to  encounter  is  the  civilized  man,  who,  with  long- 
range  rifle,  hunts  them  for  sport.  Thanks,  however,  to  the  almost  inac- 
cessible feeding  grounds  which  they  inhabit,  the  wanton,  criminal  de- 
struction that  has  overtaken  the  elk,  the  moose,  and  the  buffalo  has  not 
seriously  followed  the  footsteps  of  the  free  inhabitant  of  the  Eocky 
Mountains. 

A  subspecies  of  the  Ovis  montana  is  found  in  Alaska,  and  has  been 
named  Ovis  montana  Dalli,  or  the  Northern  mountain  sheep,  sometimes 
called  Ball's  mountain  sheep.  This  sheep  differs  from  the  Ovis  mon- 
tana in  its  nearly  uniform  dirty- white  color,  the  light-colored  rump  area 
seen  in  the  typical  montana  being  entirely  uniform  with  the  rest  of  the 
body  in  Dalli.  The  dinginess  of  the  white  over  the  entire  body  and 
lirnbs  appears  to  be  almost  entirely  due  to  the  ends  of  the  hairs  being 
commonly  tipped  with  a  dull  rusty  speck.  On  close  examination  this 
tipping  of  the  hairs  makes  the  fur  look  as  if  it  had  been  slightly  singed. 
This  form  also  has  smaller  horns  than  its  southern  relatives,  and  it  car- 
ries to  the  extreme  the  variations  in  the  shape  of  the  horn  observable 
in  the  northern  examples  of  the  normal  variety.  In  general  form  the 
Alaskan  sheep  is  considerably  smaller  than  its  southern  relative  of  the 
Eocky  Mountains  and  Canada.  It  is  quite  as  wild  and  difficult  of  ap- 
proach, fleeing  not  only  from  the  sight  of  man,  but  running  the  moment 
they  catch  wind  of  his  presence. 

The  range  of  this  sheep  is  limited  to  the  higher  mountains  of  the 
Territory,  except  in  the  extreme  northern  portion,  within  the  Arctic 
Circle,  where  it  ranges  down  nearly  to  the  sea  level.  Following  the 
main  range  of  the  Eocky  Mountains,  it  is  found  in  the  southeastern 
part  of  the  Territory,  and  north  along  those  mountains  to  the  point 
where  the  chain  swings  to  the  west,  and  along  this  western  extension, 
known  as  the  Alaskan  range,  it  is  numerous  nearly  to  the  head  of  Bris- 
tol Bay.  In  this  portion  of  the  mountains  Ball's  sheep  is  found  upon 
the  Pacific  Slope  as  well  as  on  the  northern  side.  It  is  supposed  to 
inhabit  also  the  peninsula  of  Alaska,  but  has  not  been  observed  on  any 
of  the  islands,  being  confined,  apparently,  to  the  mainland. 

Owing  to  the  absence  of  suitable  mountains  these  sheep  do  not  occur 
between  the  lower  Yukon  and  Kuskoquin  rivers,  but  inhabit  the  bluffs 
and  high  mountains  along  the  Yukon  Eiver  above  Fort  Yukon  and 
across  to  the  head  waters  of  the  Tanama,  and  north  of  the  Yukon  they 
are  next  found  in  the  Eomanzoff  Mountains,  from  which  point  they 
range  west  to  the  Kariak  Peninsula,  near  Bering  Straits.  They  are 
also  found  abundantly  along  the  courses  of  the  Kowak  and  Nunatog 


EAST    OF    THE    MISSISSIPPI    RIVER.  17 

rivers,  and  thence  northwesterly  to  the  vicinity  of  the  Arctic  coast, 
near  Cape  Lisburne  and  elsewhere.  The  Kotzebue  Sound  Eskimo  also 
claim  that  these  sheep  are  very  numerous  up  the  Nunatog,  and  when 
asked  where  they  are  to  be  found  they  invariably  point  to  the  low 
ran #e  of  mountains  a  few  miles  back  from  the  coast.  They  also  occur 
on  the  Siberian  side  of  Bering  Straits. 

The  flesh  of  this  animal  is  eaten  by  the  Indians;  garments  are  made 
of  its  skin,  and  its  horns  are  made  into  spoons,  ladles,  and  ornaments  of 
various  kinds.* 

From  the  material  now  in  the  National  Museum  at  Washington,  D.  C.,  there  is  suf- 
ficient reason  to  the  claim  being  valid  that  the  Northern  mountain  sheep  is  entitled 
to  rank  at  least  as  a  subspecies.  It  is  more  than  probable  that  it  may  prove,  when 
additional  information  is  obtained,  of  specific  rank.  The  range  of  this  mammal  is 
even  to  the  low  hills  of  the  interior  lying  as  far  north  as  latitude  68°,  in  this  ex- 
treme range  approaching  just  near  the  western  coast.  The  southern  limit  has  not 
yet  been  defined.! 

Before  leaving  this  extreme  northwestern  section  of  our  country  and 
continent,  it  may  be  remarked  that  when  the  United  States  came  into 
possession  of  it  the  domesticated  sheep  was  not  known  there,  or  was  so 
rare  in  occurrence  that  it  was  not  noticed  by  the  early  explorers  and 
writers.  Efforts  to  establish  the  breed  iu  that  country  have  not  been 
crowned  with  success. 

Impressed  with  the  idea  that  certain  sections  of  the  Kadiak  region 
would  serve  admirably  for  sheep  husbandry,  a  San  Francisco  merchant 
firm  shipped  a  flock  of  rams  and  ewes — one  hundred  of  them — sheep  of 
the  hardiest  breed,  to  Kolma,  a  spot  not  far  from  St.  Paul  Harbor, 
Kadiak.  They  were  in  charge  of  a  trained  Scotch  shepherd;  but  while 
the  flock  did  remarkably  well  in  the  summer,  yet  most  of  them  perished 
during  the  following  winter,  not  from  exposure  nor  want  of  food,  but 
the  long  continued  and  frequent  intervals  when  the  sheep  are  obliged 
to  be  shut  up  tightly  from  the  fury  of  wintry  gales  laden  with  sleet  and 
rain  and  snow  causes  their  wool  to  sweat  and  fall  from  the  skin  in 
large  patches,  producing  an  emaciation  and  debility  from  which  the 
animal  seldom  fully  recovers.  Also,  the  general  dampness  everywhere 
under  foot  during  the  summer  season  in  many  good  grazing  sections  of 
Alaska  is  such  as  to  cause  an  abnormal  increase  of  the  hoofs,  so  that  the 
horny  toes  turn  and  grow  upward,  destroying  the  peace  and  comfort 
of  a  sheep  and  literally  confine  its  movements  and  destroy  its  thrifty 
lfe.| 

INTRODUCTION  OF  DOMESTICATED   SHEEP. 

The  domesticated  sheep  were  first  introduced  on  the  American  conti- 
nent by  the  Spanish  discoverers  and  conquerors.  On  the  second  voy- 
age of  Columbus  to  the  New  World  he  stopped  at  Gomera,  one  of  the 

*  Proceedings  of  U.  S.  National  Museum,  Vol.  7,  1884,  and  E.  W.  Nelson's  Report 
on  the  Natural  History  of  Alaska. 

t  "  Contributions  to  the  Natural  History  of  Alaska."     L.  M.  Turner,  1886. 
t  "  Our  Arctic  Province."    Henry  W.  Elliott,  1886. 
22990 2 


18  SHEEP   INDUSTRY    OF    THE    UNITED    STATES 

Canary  Islands,  October  5, 1493,  to  take  in  a  supply  of  wood  and  water. 
Here  he  purchased  also  calves,  goats,  and  sheep,  to  stock  the  island  of 
Hispaniola,  and  8  hogs,  from  which,  according  to  Las  Casas,  the  infi- 
nite number  of  swine  was  propagated  with  which  the  Spanish  settle- 
ments in  the  Western  World  subsequently  abounded.  His  live  stock 
was  landed  about  the  middle  of  December,  1493,  at  Isabella,  where  was 
founded  the  first  Christian  city  of  the  New  World.  Vessels  that  fol- 
lowed from  Spain  from  time  to  time,  bringing  supplies  for  the  colonies, 
included  sheep  in  their  cargoes,  which  were  landed  at  Hispaniola  and 
Cuba.  From  these  islands  sheep  were  carried  to  the  Isthmus  of  Pan- 
ama, and  in  1521  one  of  the  conditions  imposed  upon  those  who  pro- 
posed to  found  new  settlements  on  that  isthmus  was  that  some  respon- 
sible x^erson  was  to  come  forward  with  whom  an  agreement  for  settle- 
ment could  be  made 5  and  the  terms  were  that  "  within  a  time  specified 
there  must  be  from  10  to  30  settlers,  each  with  1  horse,  10  milch  cows, 
4  oxen,  1  brood  mare,  1  sow,  20  ewes  of  Castile,  6  hens  and  a  cock." 

On  Cortes'  return  from  Spain  to  the  City  of  Mexico,  in  1530,  misunder- 
standings arose  between  him  and  the  magistrates,  and  he  left  the  capi- 
tal in  disgust,  and  took  up  his  residence  in  the  city  of  Cuernavaca,  on 
the  southern  slope  of  the  Cordilleras,  overlooking  a  wide  expanse  of 
country,  the  fairest  and  most  flourishing  portion  of  his  own  domain. 
Here  he  devoted  himself  to  agriculture  and  the  improvement  of  a  vast 
estate. 

He  introduced  the  sugar  cane  from  Cuba,  and  it  grew  luxuriantly  in  the  rich  soil 
of  the  neighboring  lowlands.  He  imported  large  numbers  of  Merino  sheep  and  other 
cattle,  which  found  abundant  pastures  in  the  country  around  Tehnautepec.  His 
lauds  were  thickly  sprinkled  with  groves  of  mulberry  trees,  which  furnished  iiour- 
shiment  for  the  silkworm.* 

From  these  two  localities,  Panama  and  the  city  of  Cuernavaca,  went 
forth  sheep  in  great  numbers,  from  which  it  was  reported  to  the  home 
government  that  much  "  woolen  cloth  was  made  in  New  Spain  in  1560." 
These  Spanish  sheep  were  the  progenitors  of  the  immense  herds  in 
Mexico,  New  Mexico,  Utah,  and  Texas.  In  173G  there  were  over 
1,500,000  sheep  in  the  Mexican  State  of  Nuevo  Leon,  and  sheep-raising 
had  risen  to  great  importance  because  of  the  rapidly  increasing  woolen 
manufactures  of  Queretaro,  Puebla,  and  Yalladolid.  Sheep  formed  the 
chief  element  of  agriculture  in  New  Mexico  in  1750,  these  animals  be- 
ing raised  in  large  numbers,  both  for  wool  and  meat.  Of  the  wool  a 
coarse  cloth  was  made,  and  the  Indians  became  expert  weavers. 

Francisco  Pizarro,  early  in  January,  1531,  sailed  from  the  Bay  of 
Panama  on  his  third  expedition  for  the  conquest  of  Peru.  After  its 
subjugation  Spanish  sheep  from  Panama  were  taken  to  that  country. 
We  have  no  definite  date,  but  from  the  following  account  by  Garcilasso 
de  la  Yega,  it  was  before  1556.  Garcilasso  wrote  in  1600 : 

The  sheep  of  Castile,  which  we  call  so  to  distinguish  them  from  those  of  Peru,  to 
which  the  Spaniards  improperly  give  the  name  of  sheep,  since  they  are  neither  like 

*  "History  of  the  Conquest  of  Mexico."    William  H.  Prescott. 


EAST    OF    THE    MISSISSIPPI   RIVER.  19 

them  in  shape,  nor  color,  nor  anything  else,  as  we  have  shown  in  due  place;  these 
sheep,  I  say,  of  Castile,  I  know  not  when  they  were  first  imported  into  Pern,  nor  by 
whom.  The  first  that  I  ever  saw  were  in  the  fields  about  Cusco,  in  the  year  1556,  and 
were  then  sold,  one  with  another,  at  the  rate  of  40  pieces  of  8  a  head  ($40),  and  some 
of  the  prime  at  50;  and  were  brought  there  both  for  love  and  money,  as  the  goats 
first  were.  In  the  year  1560,  when  I  departed  from  Cusco,  mutton  was  not  as  yet 
sold  in  the  shambles  by  weight,  but  since,  in  letters  from  there,  dated  in  the  year 
1590,  they  write  me  that  a  sheep  was  then  sold  in  the  market  for  8  reals  of  8,  or  10  at 
most;  and  in  eight  years  since  sheep  are  fallen  to  4  ducats  a  head  and  under,  and 
now,  at  present  (1600),  are  so  common,  and  in  such  numbers,  that  they  are  worth  very 
little;  for  an  ewe  commonly  brings  forth  two  at  a  time,  and  often  three;  their  wool 
is  produced  in  that  quantity,  that  it  is  of  little  value,  and  is  not  worth  above  3  or  4 
reals  a  quarter  of  a  hundred.  I  know  not  if  they  have  learned  to  make  wethers  of 
them. 

Other  Spanish  writers  on  Peruvian  affairs  state  that  the  first  cows, 
bulls,  horses,  goats,  and  other  European  animals,  of  course  including 
sheep,  were  brought  across  the  Isthmus  of  Panama  to  the  upper  coast 
of  the  Pacific,  originally,  from  the  islands  of  San  Domingo  and  Cuba, 
whither  the  breeds  had  been  sent  from  Spain  for  the  purpose  of  propa- 
gating. From  Peru  the  Castilian  sheep  were  introduced  into  Chile, 
about  1550,  and  soon  became  general,  but  more  esteemed  by  the  Euro- 
pean settlers  for  their  flesh  than  their  wool,  and  in  small  numbers  con- 
sidered as  a  necessary  appendage  to  every  estate  where  the  language 
of  the  mother  country  was  spoken  in  the  mansion.  The  Castilian  sheep 
bred  upon  the  lowlands  of  Chile  are  very  different  from  those  located  on 
the  uplands.  Below,  they  grow  into  long-legged  and  long-backed  ani- 
mals with  small  bodies.  Comparatively  speaking,  the  mutton  is  also 
poor  and  the  wool  coarse  and  long,  whereas,  on  the  mountains  the  meat 
is  well  flavored,  with  something  of  a  game  taste,  and  the  fiber  of  the 
fleece  is  finer. 

From  the  same  original  depot  in  Peru  the  Castilian  sheep  were  driven 
to  Chuquisaca,  and  thence  across  the  South  American  continent  to 
Paraguay,  and  eventually  to  the  extensive  plains  bordering  upon  the 
long  stream  of  La  Plata. 

When,  in  1565,  Menendez  made  his  contract  with  Philip  the  Second, 
King  of  Spain,  to  conquer  and  colonize  Florida  in  three  years,  he  agreed 
to  take  with  him  500  men,  and  to  supply  them  with  500  negro  slaves, 
200  horses,  200  cattle,  200  hogs,  and  400  sheep.  Menendez  proceeded  to 
raise  the  necessary  funds  for  the  purpose,  in  which  he  was  still  further 
hastened  by  the  news  that  Florida  was  occupied  by  French  Huguenots. 
He  sailed  for  Florida  in  June,  1565,  with  a  fleet  of  eleven  ships,  leaving 
many  other  ships,  with  men  and  stores,  to  follow.  On  September  4  lie 
anchored  off  the  mouth  of  St.  Johns  Eiver,  and,  after  chasing  some 
French  vessels  next  day,  sailed  down  the  coast  to  an  inlet,  which  he 
named  San  Augustine.  Here  three  of  his  ships  debarked  troops,  guns, 
slaves,  and  stores.  The  negro  slaves  were  immediately  set  at  work 
with  pick  and  shovel  and  spade  to  provide  iutrenchments,  "  and,"  says 
Parkman,  "  such  was  the  birth  of  San  Augustine,  the  oldest  town  of 


20  SHEEP    INDUSTRY    OF    THE    UNITED    STATES 

the  United  States,  and  such  the  introduction  of  slave  labor  upon  their 
soil."  Spanish  sheep  were  among  the  stores  landed ;  how  many  is  not 
known.  From  that  day  until  Florida  passed  into  the  possession  of  the 
United  States  Spanish  sheep  were,  at  various  times,  introduced  into 
the  province,  and  to-day,  in  some  parts  of  the  State  and  in  southern 
Georgia,  the  sheep  preserve  traces  of  their  Spanish  origin. 

Spanish  sheep  were  introduced  into  California  in  1773,  and,  under  the 
care  of  the  Catholic  priests  in  charge  of  the  missions,  increased  rapidly, 
and  woolens  were  made  of  a  coarse  kind.  Vancouver,  who  visited  the 
coast  in  1792,  says : 

The  looms,  though  rudely  wrought,  were  tolerahly  well  contrived,  and  had  been 
made  by  the  Indians.  The  produce  is  wholly  applied  to  the  clothing  of  the  converted 
Indians.  I  saw  some  of  the  cloth,  which  was  by  no  means  despicable,  and  had  it 
received  the  advantage  of  fulling,  would  have  been  a  very  decent  sort  of  clothing. 

Diego  de  Borico,  governor  of  California  from  1794  to  1800,  made  a 
special  effort  in  1796-797  to  promote  the  raising  of  sheep  in  connection 
with  the  manufacture  of  cloth,  and  laws  were  enacted  providing  that 
good  sheep  be  selected  and  propagated.  Two  hundred  were  distributed 
at  Los  Angeles  in  1796.  Every  settler  at  San  Jose  was  required  to  keep 
three  sheep  to  every  other  animal.  The  breed  at  San  Francisco  was 
Merino,  and  better  than  elsewhere,  and  had  increased  in  numbers  from 
1,700  in  1790  to  over  6,000  in  1797.  In  1797  Borico  ordered  that  blan- 
kets made  at  the  missions  should  be  used  at  the  Presidio,  and  110  more 
obtained  from  Mexico ;  but  in  1799  he  disapproved  of  the  friars'  scheme 
of  building  a  fulling-mill. 

The  extent  of  sheep  husbandry  conducted  by  the  Catholic  priests  at 
the  missions  may  be  realized  when  it  is  stated  that  at  seventeen  of  these 
establishments,  located  on  a  line  near  the  seacoast  and  extending  from 
San  Diego  to  San  Francisco,  a  distance  of  500  miles,  there  were,  in  1825, 
the  period  when  the  missions  were  at  the  height  of  their  prosperity,  an 
aggregate  of  1,003,970  sheep,  not  including  flocks  of  sheep  owned  by 
the  ranchers,  which  were  quite  as  numerous  as  those  possessed  by  the 
church. 

Old  writers,  and  those  who  base  their  statements  on  old  authorities, 
speak  of  these  sheep  first  introduced  into  Mexico,  Florida,  and  Califor- 
nia as  the  Merino  sheep,  sheep  of  Castile,  or  the  best  sheep  of  Spain, 
but  some  recent  writers  affirm  that  they  were  not  the  Merino  but  the 
common  sheep  of  Spain.  George  W.  Bond,  in  a  communication  to  the 
Boston  Society  of  Natural  History,  May  17,  1876,  stated  that  he  had 
found  indubitable  confirmation  of  the  opinion  that  the  sheep  of  Spanish 
America,  both  North  and  South  (with  possibly  some  admixture  from 
Chile),  originated  from  the  churro,  or  coarse  sheep,  of  Spain,  and  not 
from  the  Merino.  The  churros  are,  according  to  Lasteyrie,  larger, 
longer,  and  higher  upon  the  legs;  they  have  a  head  smaller  and  more 
tapering;  these  parts  of  their  body  (legs  and  head)  are  without  wool; 
they  are  of  a  robust  habit  j  they  are  more  easy  to  nourish  j  they  bear 


EAST    OF    THE    MISSISSIPPI    RIVER.  21 

hunger  and  the  inclemency  of  the  seasons  better;  the  wool  is  straight 
and  longer,  much  less  fine,  and  much  inferior  in  value.  An  examina- 
tion of  the  native  wool  from  the  various  parts  of  South  America  gives 
evidence  of  a  descent  from  two  different  classes  of  sheep,  from  which  it 
is  inferred  by  some  that  one  class  has  descended  from  the  Merino,  de- 
ge  m>  rated,  it  is  true,  and  the  other  class  from  the  long-legged  churros, 
or  common  sheep,  of  Spain. 

VIRGINIA. 

Jamestown,  Va.,  was  settled  in  1607,  and  in  August,  1609,  the  Lon- 
don company  provided  the  colonists  with  sheep.  How  many  is  not 
known,  but  when  John  Smith,  later  in  the  year,  sailed  for  England,  it 
is  stated  that  there  were  in  the  colony  "  6  mares  and  a  horse,  500  or 
600  swine,  with  some  goats  and  sheep."  The  sheep  did  not  increase 
very  rapidly,  or  were  largely  destroyed  by  wolves,  for  in  1648  the  num- 
ber in  the  whole  colony  was  only  3,000,  but  producing  good  wool,  it  is 
said.  In  1657  it  was  enacted  u  that  no  mares  nor  sheepe  be  transported 
out  of  the  collonie  upon  such  penalties  as  shall  be  thought  fitt  by  the 
governor  and  council,"  and  in  1662,  Virginia,  by  statute,  prohibited  the 
exportation  of  wool,  and  as  an  encouragement  to  the  raising  of  sheep 
and  the  establishment  of  manufactures  offered  5  pounds  of  tobacco  (at 
that  time  Virginia  currency)  for  every  yard  of  woolen  cloth  made  in 
the  colony,  10  pounds  for  every  good  hat  made  of  wool  or  fur,  and  for 
every  dozen  pair  of  woolen  or  worsted  stockings.  In  1664,  because  of 
the  "  nakedness  of  the  country,"  occasioned  by  the  low  price  of  tobacco, 
caused  by  overproduction,  and  the  failure  of  all  efforts  to  raise  the 
price,  and  also  in  order  to  diversify  industries,  the  general  assembly 
established  in  each  county  looms  and  weavers,  each  county  at  its  own 
expense  to  set  up  a  loom  and  provide  a  weaver,  and  in  1668,  for  the 
better  converting  of  wool,  flax,  and  hemp,  the  commissioners  of  the 
county  courts  were  empowered  to  build  houses  for  educating  poor  chil- 
dren in  the  art  of  spinning  and  weaving,  and  they  were  likewise  author- 
ized to  set  at  this  Avork  all  children  of  indigent  parents. 

The  various  acts  for  the  inrprovenient  of  the  sheep  and  iron  industry 
could  not  alienate  the  Virginia  colonist  from  the  contin  ued  culture  of 
tobacco,  and  in  September,  1671,  this  repealer  was  put  on  the  statute 
book: 

Whereas  it  was  hoped  that  weavers,  tanners,  and  smiths  would  have  been  encour- 
aged with  greater  diligence  and  cheerfulness  to  have  improved  their  several  callings 
for  the  good  of  the  country  when  they  were  seucible  what  tender  care  was  taken  for 
supplying  them  with  materials  for  to  work  upon,  in  reference  to  which  the  exporta- 
tion of  wool,  hides,  and  iron  was,  by  an  act  of  assembly  (continued  the  three  and 
twcutyeth  of  March,  1661-2)  and  under  great  penalties  prohibited,  and  that  act 
strengthened  by  diverse  others  since,  but  noe  successe  answering  the  conceived 
hopes  and  apparent  losses  accruing  to  all  inhabitants  by  the  refusal  of  those  con- 
cerned to  buy  the  commodytes  aforesaid  *  *  *  all  acts  tending  to  the  restriction 
of  selling  or  exporting  of  any  of  the  aforesaid  commodities  stand  repealed  and 
everyone  permitted  to  make  the  best  he  can  of  his  owne  commodity. 


22         SHEEP  INDUSTRY  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES 

In  1682  it  was  found  by  experience  that  wool,  wool  felts,  skins,  hides, 
and  iron  were  very  necessary  and  profitable  for  the  support  of  the 
country,  and  that  it  would  be  found 

profitable  for  the  setting  to  work  of  many  men,  women,  and  children  which  lye 
idle  for  want  of  employment,  and  for  the  better  setting  to  work  the  poorer  and 
weaker  sort  of  people  of  this  country,  and  to  the  intent  that  the  full  and  best  use  of 
such  principal  native  commodities  may  come  and  redound,  and  be  unto  and  amongst 
the  inhabitants  of  the  same,  it  was  enacted  that  neither  wool,  hides,  nor  iron  should 
be  exported  under  heavy  penalties. 

And  it  was  further  enacted  that  for  the  "  better  and  further  encour- 
agement for  the  working  up  our  wool  into  cloth "  that  every  person 
making  a  yard  of  woolen  cloth  or  lincywoolcy,  three-fourths  yard  wide, 
should  have  6  pounds  of  tobacco,  and  for  every  well- wrought  hat  made 
of  wool  or  furs  10  pounds  of  tobacco,  and  for  every  dozen  pairs  of  men's  or 
women's  woolen  or  worsted  hose  12  pounds  of  tobacco.  This  law  was 
to  remain  in  force  until  November  10,  1685.  About  the  same  time  the 
price  of  wool  was  fixed  at  Sd.  per  pound,  washed  before  shearing.  The 
act  of  1682,  giving  premium  on  manufactures  of  wool,  hides,  and  iron, 
was  repealed  in  1684. 

When  England  imposed  an  excise  on  tobacco,  Virginia,  in  1687,  at- 
tempted to  retaliate  by  passing  acts  for  the  encouragement  of  domestic 
manufactures,  including  those  from  wool,  but  these  acts  were  disal- 
lowed by  the  English  king  as  "  hostile  to  English  interests."  In  April, 
1691,  the  assembly  put  an  export  duty  on  wool  of  sixpence  a  pound. 

John  Clayton,  who  wrote  of  Virginia's  products  in  1688,  says :  u  Their 
sheep  are  a  middling  size,  pretty  fine  fleeced  in  general,  and  most  persons 
of  estate  begin  to  keep  flocks  which  hitherto  has  not  been  much  regarded, 
because  of  the  wolves  that  destroy  them;  so  that  a  piece  of  mutton  is  a 
finer  treat  than  .either  venison,  wild  goose,  duck,  widgeon,  or  teal." 

Andros,  who  was  governor  from  1692  to  1698,  was  a  patron  of  manu- 
factures, and  in  1692  approved  acts  for  establishing  fulling  mills, 
which,  however,  were  rejected  by  the  English  government.  Governor 
Nicholson,  who  succeeded  Andros  in  1698,  was  not  so  favorably  in- 
clined to  manufactures  of  any  kind,  and  it  is  asserted  by  Beverly  that, 
instead  of  encouraging  them,  "he  sent  over  inhuman  and  unreasonable 
memorials  against  them,"  and  that  while  he  represented  their  tobacco 
crops  as  insufficient,  from  its  low  price  to  produce  them  clothing,  he 
recommends  Parliament  li  to  pass  an  act  forbidding  the  plantations  to 
make  their  own  clothing,"  which,  in  other  words,  is  desiring  a  chari- 
table law  that  the  planter  shall  go  naked. 

Beverly,  writing  early  in  the  eighteenth  century,  regrets  the  depend- 
ence of  Virginia  upon  the  mother  country  for  nearly  everything,  includ- 
ing clothing,  and  criticises  the  indisposition  of  the  assemblies  to  give 
that  encouragement  that  it  had  formerly  bestowed.  "  They  have  cloth- 
ing of  all  sorts  from  England,  as  linen,  woolen,  and  silk,  hats  and 


EAST   OF   THE    MISSISSIPPI   KIVER.  23 

leather.  *  *  *  Their  sheep  yield  good  increase  and  bear  good 
fleeces ;  but  they  shear  them  only  to  cool  them." 

Wolves  had  for  years  been  destructive  to  the  sheep,  and  numerous 
statutes  provided  rewards  for  their  extermination,  of  which  one  enacted 
in  1U97  is  a  sample:  "That  whereas  it  is  too  evident  that  wolves  do 
greatly  increase,  and  are  very  distructive  to  the  increase  of  most  sorts 
of  useful  creatures  in  this  country/7  it  was  provided  that  300  pounds  of 
tobacco  be  given  for  each  one  killed. 

Notwithstanding  the  assertions  of  Beverly  that  the  Virginians  de- 
pended upon  the  mother  country  for  clothing,  and  made  no  use  of  wool 
save  to  take  it  from  the  backs  of  the  sheep  to  cool  them,  there  is  not 
wanting  evidence  that  domestic  or  homespun  manufactures  were  in- 
creasing, so  much  so  that  in  1708  Edmund  Jennings,  deputy  governor 
of  Virginia,  wrote  to  the  home  government  that  the  consumption  of 
imported  clothing  was  diminishing,  and  the  manufacturing  spirit  of  the 
colonists  increasing,  and  he  hoped  the  English  merchants  would  so  far 
see  the  general  interest  of  the  nation  as  well  as  their  own  as  to  send  in 
continued  supplies  of  clothing — 

which  will  be  the  only  effectual  means  to  take  off  the  inhabitants  of  this  country 
from  going  on  woolen  and  linen  manufactures  of  their  own.  It  was  necessity  that 
forced  them  at  first  upon  this  course,  but  the  benefits  they  have  found  by  it,  in  the 
late  scarcity  of  goods  and  the  experience  they  have  gained  therein,  seems  to  have 
confirmed  in  them  too  great  an  inclination  to  continue  it,  insomuch  that  this  last 
year,  111  some  parts  of  the  country,  the  planting  of  tobacco  has  been  laid  aside  and 
the  improvement  of  the  manufactures  of  cotton,  woolen,  and  linen  followed  with  an 
unusual  alacrity  and  application. 

An  English  writer  who  had  traveled  in  America,  and  more  particu- 
larly in  Virginia  and  Georgia,  observed,  in  1767,  that  the  wool  of  North 
America  was  better  than  the  English,  at  least  in  the  southern  colonies; 
that  it  was  of  the  same  kind  with  the  Spanish  wool,  or  curled  and  friz- 
zled like  that,  and  might  be  rendered  as  fine  by  the  same  management: 

Sheep  likewise  maintain  themselves  in  the  southern  colonies  without  cost  or  trou- 
ble throughout  the  year.  They  have  already  made  cloth,  worth  12  shillings  a  yard, 
which  is  as  good  as  any  made  of  English  wool.  Some  of  their  wool  has  been  sent  to 
England,  where  it  sold  for  the  best  price.  If  the  Spaniards  should  manufacture  their 
own  wool,  England  may  be  supplied  from  America. 

This  statement  was  overdrawn  as  to  the  quality  of  Virginia  wool. 
It  certainly  was  not  as  fine  as  Spanish  wool,  nor  was  it  as  good  as  the 
English,  but  it  was  of  medium  fineness  and  susceptible  of  improve- 
ment. There  were  some  superior  sheep  on  the  plantations  of  opulent 
farmers  or  planters,  some  that  had  been  brought  over  from  England  in 
trading  vessels,  others  that  had  been  brought  from  the  West  Indies; 
but  as  a  rule  the  sheep  were  very  indifferent,  white,  black,  and  piebald, 
yielding  wool  of  a  very  varied  quality  and  light  in  the  fleece.  Just  be- 
fore the  war  of  the  Ee volution  more  attention  was  given  to  sheep  and 
slight  improvement  began. 


24  SHEEP   INDUSTRY    OF    THE    UNITED    STATES 

MARYLAND. 

Sheep  were  taken  to  Maryland  at  its  first  settlement,  of  the  same 
general  character  as  those  raised  in  Virginia,  and  they  had  similar 
treatment.  Their  flesh  formed  a  good  part  of  the  food  for  the  people, 
and  their  wool  was  used  in  homespun  manufacture.  Though  having 
nearly  8,000  people,  with  a  trade  employing  140  ships  in  1650,  there  was 
yet  no  home  manufacture  of  cloth,  nor  any  attempt  in  that  direction  for 
nearly  fifty  years  after,  the  supplies — except  homespun,  of  which  most 
families  made  more  or  less — being  derived  from  England  in  return  for  to- 
bacco, or  from  New  England  in  exchange  for  grain  and  other  provisions. 
It  would  appear  that  wool  was  exchanged  also,  for  in  1663  the  colonial 
assembly  found  it  necessary  to  pass  an  act  against  its  exportation, 
and  in  1682  bounties  payable  in  tobacco  were  authorized  for  the  en- 
couragement of  growing  flax,  hemp,  and  wool.  Necessity  turned  the 
minds  of  the  people  to  manufacturing.  A  murrain  among  the  stock  in 
1694-'95  cut  off  25,000  neat  cattle  and  upwards  of  62,000  hogs,  thus 
diminishing  their  resources  for  trade,  and  at  the  same  time  there  was 
an  increasing  difficulty  in  getting  supplies.  These  circumstances  threw 
the  colonists,  in  a  measure,  upon  their  own  resources  for  clothing. 
Sheep  were  plentiful,  and  the  wool  was  comparatively  good,  and  two 
years  later,  in  1697,  an  effort  was  made  in  the  counties  of  Dorchester 
and  Somerset  to  introduce  the  woolen  and  linen  manufacture,  but  it 
succeeded  only  in  attracting  the  reproachful  attention  of  the  EDglish 
Government  and  was  soon  abandoned,  the  colonial  assemblies  pleading 
in  excuse  of  the  weavers  that  they  were  driven  to  their  tasks  "  by  ab- 
solute necessity."  In  1750  the  sheep  of  Maryland  were  nearly  all  of 
one  breed,  of  which  not  one  could  be  found  in  1800.  They  were  light 
made  and  clear  boned,  giving  at  four  and  five  years  old  the  best  flavored 
mutton,  dark,  rich,  and  juicy.  The  wool  was  in  but  moderate  quanti- 
ties, yet  of  good  quality.  They  were  called  rat-tailed  sheep,  from  the 
tail  being  small  and  round. 

NEW  YORK. 

The  first  sheep  imported  into  New  York  or  the  New  Netherlands  were 
brought  from  Holland  by  the  Dutch  West  India  Company  in  1625,  Avheii 
the  Dutch  colonists  were  "  gladdened  by  the  arrival  of  two  large  ships 
freighted  with  cattle  and  horses,  as  well  as  swine  and  sheep,"  but  the 
charter  of  1629  forbade  the  colonists  to  manufacture  any  woolen  fabrics ; 
"not  a  web  might  be  woven  nor  a  shuttle  thrown,  on  penalty  of  exile." 
To  impair  the  monopoly  of  the  Dutch  weavers  at  Amsterdam  was  pun- 
ishable with  severe  and  heavy  penalties.  Under  these  circumstances 
there  was  no  encouragement  for  raising  sheep. 

Sheep  were  brought  from  Zealand  and  Texel  to  Eensselaerswyck  in 
1630.  But  little  progress  was  made  in  sheep-raising  on  the  Hudson  for 
many  years,  in  consequence  of  the  ravages  committed  by  dogs  and 


,  ••:. 


TEXEL  SHEEP. 

FROM  "CONCOURS    D^ANIMAUX    REPRODUCTEUR8,"  VOL.    II,  1856. 


0?  THE 

UNIVERSITY 


EAST   OF   THE   MISSISSIPPI   RIVER.  25 

wolves ;  in  fact  the  enterprise  was  almost  abandoned  and  tlie  sheep 
nearly  all  destroyed.  In  1643  there  was  not  over  a  score  of  sheep  in 
the  colony ;  in  1650  they  were  so  scarce  that  a  bearing  ewe  was  worth 
from  $8  to  $10,  an  extravagant  sum  in  those  days.  On  May  18,  1654, 
the  directors  at  Amsterdam  wrote  to  the  director- general  at  New  Am- 
sterdam that  an  edict  had  been  passed  for  the  promotion  of  the  increase 
of  sheep,  but  the  act  is  not  to  be  found  among  the  colonial  records. 

The  sheep  from  Zealand  and  the  Texel  were  of  that  kind  then  pre- 
vailing along  the  borders  of  the  German  seas  before  their  improvement 
by  the  introduction  of  the  Guinea  sheep  of  West  Africa  and  the  Bar- 
bary  States.  Those  sheep  were  of  large  frame,  capable  of  taking  on 
much  fat,  had  long  legs,  and  yielded  a  fleece  of  2  or  3  pounds  of  coarse 
wool  well  suited  to  the  manufacture  of  blankets  and  common  cloth. 
An  early  writer  thus  speaks  of  the  sheep  of  the  New  Netherlands  as 
they  appeared  in  1650 : 

Sheep  are  also  kept  in  the  New  Netherlands,  but  not  as  many  as  in  New  England, 
where  the  weaving  business  is  driven  and  where  much  attention  is  paid  to  sheep,  to 
which  our  Netherlander  pay  little  attention.  The  sheep  thrive  well  and  become 
fat  enough.  I  have  seen  mutton  so  exceedingly  fat  there  that  it  was  too  luscious 
and  offensive.  The  sheep  breed  well  and  are  healthy.  There  is  also  good  feeding 
in  summer  and  good  hay  for  the  winter.  But  the  flocks  require  to  be  guarded  and 
tended  on  account  of  the  wolves,  for  which  purpose  men  can  not  be  spared.  There 
is  also  a  more  important  hindrance  to  the  keeping  of  sheep,  which  are  principally 
kept  for  their  wool.  New  Netherlands  throughout  is  a  woody  country,  being  almost 
everywhere  beset  with  trees,  stumps,  and  brushwood,  wherein  the  sheep  pasture,  and 
by  which  they  lose  most  of  their  wool,  which  by  appearance  does  not  seem  to  be  out, 
but  when  sheared  turns  out  light  in  the  fleeces.  These  are  reasons  against  the 
keeping  of  sheep. 

This  writer  then  proceeds  to  give  reasons  why  the  inhabitants  keep 
more  goats  than  sheep,  which  succeed  best : 

Fat  sheep  are  in  great  danger,  when  suffered  to  become  lean;  of  goats  there  is  no 
danger.  Goats  also  give  good  milk,  which  is  always  necessary,  and  because  they 
cost  little,  they  are  of  importance  to  the  new  settlers  and  planters,  who  possess  small 
means.  Such  persons  keep  goats  instead  of  cows.  Goats  cost  little,  and  are  very 
prolific :  and  the  young  castrated  tups  afford  fine  delightful  meat,  which  is  alwayfc 
in  demand.* 

The  early  orders  against  weaving  were  so  severe  that  but  little 
progress  was  made  in  domestic  manufacture,  though  Dutch  matrons 
were  proud  in  their  display  of  blue,  red,  and  green  worsted  stockings 
Denton,  in  his  history  (1670),  says  that  the  inhabitants  did  much  weav- 
ing:  "  Everyone  make  their  own  linen  and  a  great  part  of  their  woolen 
cloth  for  their  ordinary  wearing." 

Governor  Cornbury  informed  the  home  government,  in  1707,  that 
making  woolen  goods  had  been  brought  to  great  perfection  in  the  prov- 
ince, and  he  thought  it  would  be  a  great  prejudice  to  England  in  a  few 
years  and  ought  to  be  taken  care  of  in  time.  "  They  already  make  good 
serges,  linsey-woolsey s,  and  in  some  places  they  begin  to  make  coarse 

*"  Description  of  the  New  Netherlands."    Adriaen  Van  der  Donck,  1650. 


26         SHEEP  INDUSTRY  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES 

cloth."  Caleb  Heathcote,  in  1708,  wrote  to  the  board  of  trade  that  the 
people  were  so  far  advanced  that  three-fourths  the  linen  and  woolen 
they  used  were  made  among  them.  This  increase  in  the  woolen  manu- 
facture was  not  pleasing  to  the  English  Government,  so  when  it  was 
proposed  to  settle  upon  the  waste  lands  of  New  York  some  of  the  ex- 
patriated people  of  the  German  Palatinate,  many  of  whom  were  weav- 
ers, there  was  an  apprehension  that  expressed  itself  in  the  records  of 
August  30, 1709: 

It  may  be  objected  should  these  people  (Palatines)  be  settled  on  tlie  continent  of 
America,  they  will  fall  upon  woolen  and  other  manufactures  to  the  prejudice  of  the 
manufactures  of  this  Kingdom  now  consumed  in  these  parts.  To  this  we  answer 
that  the  province  of  New  York,  being  under  Her  Majesty's  immediate  government, 
such  mischievous  practice  may  be  discouraged  and  checqued  much  easier  than  under 
any  proprietary  governments  on  the  said  continent,  as  has  been  found  by  experi- 
ence ;  and  as  a  further  provision  against  any  such  practice  a  clause  may  be  inserted 
in  the  several  patents  so  as  to  be  passed  and  the  said  Palatines  declaring  the  same  to 
be  void,  if  such  Palatine  shall  apply  himself  to  the  making  the  woolen  or  such  like 
manufactures. 

The  suggestion  was  adopted,  as  shown  by  the  following : 

That  the  governor  be  likewise  directed  to  grant  under  the  seal  of  that  province, 
without  fee  or  reward,  40  acres  per  head  to  each  family,  after  they  shall  have  repaid 
by  the  produce  of  their  labor  the  charges  the  public  shall  be  at  in  settling  and  sub- 
sisting them  there,  in  the  manner  as  hereinafter  proposed;  to  have  and  to  hold  the 
said  lands,  to  them  and  their  heirs  forever,  under  the  usual  quit-rent  to  commence 
and  be  payable  after  seven  years  from  the  date  of  each  respective  grant ;  and  further 
that  in  every  such  grant  there  be  an  express  proviso  that  the  lands  so  granted  shall 
be  seated  and  planted  within  a  reasonable  time,  to  be  therein  prefixed,  or  in  failure 
thereof  such  grant  to  be  void  and  revert  to  the  Crown;  and  for  the  better  preventing 
those  people  from  falling  upon  the  woolen  manufactures,  it  will  be  proper  that  in 
every  such  grant  a  clause  be  inserted  declaring  the  said  grant  to  be  void  if  such 
grantee  shall  apply  himself  to  the  making  the  woolen  or  such  like  manufacture. 

In  1715  Governor  Hunter  recommended  the  same  means  as  his  prede- 
cessors to  divert  the  people  from  the  manufacture  of  cloth,  of  which  the 
country  people  chiefly  wore  the  product  of  their  own  looms;  but,  as  it 
was  well  known  that  imported  goods  were  accounted  cheap  at  an  ad- 
vance of  100  per  cent  on  the  cost,  to  compel  them  to  wear  such  would 
be  too  severe  an  expedient.  He  had  never  known  the  homespun  to  be 
sold  in  the  stores.* 

In  1746  the  governor  of  New  YTork  reported  to  the  English  Govern- 
ment that  the  country  made  and  had  made  their  homespun,  so  termed, 
of  flax  and  wool,  to  supply  themselves  with  the  necessaries  of  clothing, 
and,  in  1767,  Governor  Moore  reported,  in  answer  to  what  manufactures 
had  been  carried  on  since  1734,  that  it  did  not  appear  that  there  was 
any  established  fabric  of  broadcloth  in  the  province,  and  that  some 
poor  weavers  from  Yorkshire,  who  came  over  lately  in  expectation  of 
being  engaged  to  make  broadcloth,  could  find  no  employment.  But 
there  was  a  general  manufacture  of  woolen  carried  on  which  consisted 

*  Bishop's  History  of  American  Manufactures. 


EAST    OF    THE    MISSISSIPPI    RIVER.  27 

two  sorts,  the  ftrst  a  coarse  cloth  entirely  woolen,  three-fourths 
yard  wide,  and  the  other  a  stuff  called  linsey-woolsey.  The  warp  was 
woolen  and  the  woof  linen,  and  but  a  very  small  quantity  of  it  was 
ever  sent  to  market.  The  custom  of  making  coarse  cloths  in  private 
families  prevailed  throughout  the  whole  province,  and  almost  in  every 
house  a  sufficient  quantity  was  manufactured  for  the  use  of  the  family, 
without  the  least  design  of  sending  any  of  it  to  market.  Every  house 
swarmed  with  children,  who  were  set  to  work  as  soon  as  they  were  able 
to  spin  and  card,  and  as  every  family  was  furnished  with  a  loom  the 
itinerant  weavers  who  traveled  about  the  country  put  the  finishing 
hand  to  the  work. 

NEW  JERSEY. 

In  the  neighboring  province  of  New  Jersey  sheep  were  introduced 
by  Swedes,  first  in  America  of  those  increasing  masses  which  now  bid 
fair  to  make  the  offspring  of  the  Scandinavian  races  more  numerous  in 
America  than  in  their  original  homes  in  Norway,  Sweden,  and  Denmark. 

In  1634  the  scattering  Swedish  settlements  in  the  Delaware  had  a 
few  sheep,  and  under  good  care  their  flocks  increased  and  multiplied. 

In  1642  the  counsellors  of  the  young  Queen  Christiana,  of  Sweden, 
in  giving  instructions  to  Governor  Printz,  who  was  about  to  plant 
another  colony  on  the  banks  of  the  Delaware,  said : 

Among  other  things  he  shall  direct  his  attention  to  sheep,  to  obtain  them  of  good 
kinds,  and  as  soon  as  may  be,  seek  to  arrange  as  many  sheepfolds  as  he  conveniently 
can,  so  that  presently  a  considerable  supply  of  wool  of  good  quality  may  be  sent 
over  to  this  country. 

In  1693  a  letter  from  one  of  the  colonists  to  friends  in  the  old  coun- 
try said :  "  Our  wives  and  daughters  also  busy  themselves  much  in 
spinning  both  wool  and  flax;  many  also  with  weaving."  Wool  at  that 
time  was  comparatively  cheap. 

The  Quakers  from  Yorkshire  and  London,  who  settled  Salem  and 
Burlington  counties  in  West  Jersey  in  1677,  with  a  population  second 
to  none  for  morality  and  industry,  soon  commenced  the  manufacture 
of  cloth,  and  in  1697  an  English  writer  informs  us  that  they  made 
"very  good  serges,  druggets,  crapes,  camblets  (part  hair),  and  good 
plushes,  with  several  other  woolen  cloths,  besides  linnen." 

Mutton  was  fat,  sound,  and  good,  being  only  fed  with  natural  grass, 
and  the  profit  of  raising  sheep  was  considerable.  They  were  not  sub- 
ject to  the  rot,  and  the  ewes  commonly,  often  the  first  time,  brought 
two  lambs  at  once.  The  wool  was  good,  but  not  enough  raised  to  supply 
the  manufacture,  for  which  purpose  considerable  quantities  were  pur- 
chased from  Ehode  Island  and  other  adjacent  places  at  6  pence  a 
pound. 

East  Jersey  was  not  so  forward  as  West  Jersey,  though  sheep  were 
quite  plentiful  at  the  end  of  the  seventeenth  century,  and  every  farm 
had  its  small  flock  to  supply  the  spinning-wheel  and  deck  the  family  in 


28  SHEEP   INBUSTEY    OF    THE    UNITED    STATES 

good  homespun  clothes.  The  sheep  were  mostly  of  the  kind  raised  in 
New  York.  In  February,  1703,  John  Clarke  received  a  grant  of  20 
acres  of  land  on  the  southern  branches  of  the  Bahway  Eiver  "  for  his 
encouragement  in  fitting  up  a  fulling-mill"  in  that  part  of  the  province. 
This  is  supposed  to  have  been  the  first  fulling-mill  set  up  in  the  limits 
of  the  State  of  New  Jersey. 

As  in  New  York  and  the  New  England  colonies,  so  in  east  and  mid- 
dle Jersey,  the  industries  of  the  family  were  of  the  most  complete  char- 
acter, and  each  homestead  produced  enough  to  supply  the  necessities 
of  all  the  members.  In  farming  communities  the  women  of  the  house- 
hold made  all  their  own  garments,  and  most  of  those  worn  by  the  men; 
spun  their  own  yarn  from  the  wool  of  their  own  sheep,  wove  the  family 
linen  and  woolen  goods,  and  at  spinning  parties  supplied  the  minister 
and  his  family  with  their  winter's  outfit.  Oaken  cases  in  the  roomy 
garrets  were  filled  to  bursting  with  woolen  outer  garments,  woolen  pet- 
ticoats, woolen  stockings,  and  woolen  caps  and  tippets.  After  the 
family  wants  and  those  of  the  minister  were  supplied,  the  surplus  was 
taken  to  the  nearest  town  and  either  bartered  for  other  goods  or  put  in 
the  hands  of  storekeepers  to  be  sold  on  commission. 

The  breeds  to  which  the  early  sheep  of  New  York  and  New  Jersey 
belonged  are  not  certainly  known,  but  they  were  doubtless  varied, 
depending  particularly  on  what  part  of  the  Old  World  the  settler  came 
from,  the  Swedes  probably  bringing  the  indifferent,  long-legged,  long- 
bodied  sheep  of  their  homes;  the  Dutch  the  sheep  of  Friesland  and  the 
Texel,  while  the  English  brought  those  of  the  country  adjoining  the 
ports  from  which  they  sailed.  As  the  two  provinces  passed  under  the 
English  rule,  English  sheep  gained  the  ascendency,  and  the  Swedish 
and  Dutch  sheep  had  nearly  disappeared  at  the  end  of  the  seventeenth 
century.  A  writer  early  in  the  eighteenth  century  says  of  the  sheep 
of  New  York  and  New  Jersey : 

They  are  of  the  large  English  sort.  They  are  washed  whenever  convenient,  and 
then  immediately  shorn,  once  a  year,  towards  the  end  of  April.  Their  wool  is  re- 
garded as  better  for  stockings  than  the  English.  The  flesh  is  generally  very  strong 
in  its  taste,  especially  in  old  sheep.  Some  persons  are  unable  to  eat  it. 

Great  improvement  was  made  upon  the  sheep  thus  described,  espe- 
cially in  New  Jersey.  Lying  between  the  two  cities  of  New  York  and 
Philadelphia,  whose  markets  demanded  good  mutton,  the  country  ad- 
joining them  soon  yielded  a  good  table  meat.  Indeed,  it  is  very  doubt- 
ful if  at  that  day  the  mutton  of  Gloucester,  Burlington,  and  Salein 
counties  could  be  equaled  anywhere  in  the  colonies,  nor  could  it  be 
greatly  surpassed  in  England.  The  wool  improved  with  the  flesh,  but, 
like  the  wool  of  other  colonial  flocks,  was  certainly  only  adapted  to  the 
coarser  purposes  to  which  it  was  applied  in  the  household  manufacture 
of  plain,  strong  fabrics  for  common  wear.  There  was  a  great  diversity 
in  the  sheep  of  the  two  provinces,  diversity  when  the  provinces  were 
compared  with  each  other,  and  diversity  when  counties  of  the  same 


EAST    OF    THE   MISSISSIPPI    RIVER.  29 

province  were  compared,  but  it  may  be  stated  in  general  terms  that 
I  these  old  sheep,  so  strong  in  taste  that  some  persons  could  not  eat 
I  them,  were  the  progenitors  of  the  stock  of  common  sheep  in  the  middle 
j colonies  about  1800,  known  as  "native  sheep,"  which  by  continued  ad- 
[  mixture  probably  contained,  the  blended  characteristics  of  the  several 
I  originals,  still  further  modified  by  crosses  with  smuggled  importations 

made  between  1783  and  1799. 

PENNSYLVANIA. 

It  is  uncertain  when  sheep  were  introduced  into  the  colony  of  Penn- 
sylvania; presumably,  it  was  at  its  first  settlement,  for  William  Penn, 
in  August,  1683,  writing  to  the  Free  Society  of  Traders,  says  the  colony 
had  no  want  of  horses,  some  of  which  were  good  and  shapely  enough; 
i  two  shiploads  of  them  had  gone  to  Barbadoes,  and  they  had  also  "plenty 
of  cow  cattle  and  some  sheep." 

Among  the  first  branches  of  industry  that  Penn  sought  to  ingraft 
upon  his  new  colony  was  the  manufacture  of  Linen  and  woolen  cloth. 
One  of  his  first  legislative  acts,  after  his  arrival  in  1682,  was  to  invest 
with  all  the  right  of.  citizenship  the  Dutch,  Swedes,  Finns,  and  other 
foreigners — amounting  to  about  3,000 — then  in  possession  of  the  coun- 
try. To  furnish  a  ready  market  for  the  domestic  products  of  his  people, 
especially  woolen  and  linen,  fairs  were  at  once  established,  to  be  held 
at  stated  times,  in  several  of  the  towns,  where  the  people  were  brought 
together  for  the  purposes  of  trade. 

Sheep,  for  the  support  of  this  industry,  multiplied  exceedingly  by  the 
end  of  the  century,  and  in  1698  fulling-mills  were  erected  to  treat  the 
wool,  and  woolen  stuffs  are  mentioned  as  one  of  the  domestic  or  house- 
hold manufactures,  and  ten  years  before  this  (1688)  weavers,  spinners, 
and  dyers  were  in  demand;  spinning  worsted  being  paid  for  at  2  shill- 
ings per  pound,  and  knitting  coarse  wool  stockings  half  a  crown  a  pair. 
Wool  combers  or  carders  received  12  pence  per  pound;  the  pay  of 
journeymen  tailors  was  12  shillings  per  week  and  "their  diet."  The 
earliest  mention  of  stocking  weaving  is  in  1723,  when  one  Matthew 
Burns,  of  Chester  County,  Pa.,  is  mentioned  as  having  served  John 
Camm  one  or  two  years  at  stocking  weaving,  during  which  time  Camm's 
stockings  obtained  some  repute.  In  1730  it  was  estimated  that  the 
farmers  made  nine-tenths  of  their  own  wearing  apparel  from  the  hemp, 
flax,  and  wool  of  their  farms,  and  in  addition  to  this  homespun  manu- 
facture, wool  and  flax  were  brought  from  Maryland  and  Virginia.  At 
this  time  Stephen  Atkinson  was  erecting  a  fulling-mill  at  Lancaster, 
and  many  were  in  operation  at  Columbia,  Ephrata,  and  in  Chester  and 
Bucks  counties,  and  other  parts  of  the  province.  Wool  was  less 
abundant  in  Pennsylvania  and  the  southern  provinces  than  in  New 
York,  New  Jersey,  and  New  England,  because  for  articles  of  clothing 
they  paid  more  particular  attention  to  the  raising  of  flax,  hemp,  and 
cotton. 


30  SHEEP   INDUSTRY    OF    THE   UNITED    STATES 

At  the  end  of  the  century  the  Pennsylvania  sheep  were  of  a  mixed 
variety,  descended  from  various  English  breeds;  they  were  generally 
smaller.  The  average  weight  of  the  sheep,  when  fat,  did  not  exceed 
48  pounds  net.  Some  were  known  to  run  up  to  112  pounds,  and  an 
exceptional  one  was  known  to  have  reached  130  pounds.  The  weight 
of  the  quarters  may  be  judged  from  that  of  the  whole.  The  common 
run  of  good  sheep  in  the  Philadelphia  market  weighed  60  pounds,  but 
80  pounds  the  carcass  was  not  uncommon.  The  price  of  mutton  in  that 
market  the  year  through  was  about  4J  cents,  and  the  price  of  sheep  in 
flocks,  when  poor,  about  $1.  The  mutton  from  the  hilly  lands  was  the 
best.  The  smaller  size,  if  well  fatted,  was  the  sweetest  and  best 
flavored.  It  was  considered  better  than  the  large  English  or  German 
mutton,  and  not  inferior  to  the  mutton  of  Wales.  The  best-flavored 
mutton  did  not  reach  the  Philadelphia  market;  the  largest  and  fattest 
was  to  be  found  there,  but  the  choicest  and  finest  meat  was  only  to  be 
had  at  a  distance,  in  the  neighborhood  of  hilly  or  relatively  barren 
countries.  The  heaviest  known  fleece  weighed  13  pounds  net.  The 
price  of  wool  upon  an  average  was  an  English  shilling  per  pound,  and 
3  pounds  to  a  fleece  was  about  the  average.  Homespun  cloth  was  good; 
some  of  it  was  equal  to  English  superfine;  but  most  of  the  wool  was 
only  calculated  for  the  coarser  kinds  of  cloth.  These  were  manufactured 
to  great  perfection  and  would  outlast  any  imported.  Few  of  the  slieep 
kept  their  prime  longer  than  seven  years.  The  average  weight  of  tal- 
low was  about  one-eighth  of  the  carcass,  if  the  sheep  was  well  fatted. 
The  time  of  yeaning  was  generally  from  the  middle  of  February  to  the 
end  of  May.  It  was  rare  for  a  ewe  to  lamb  twice  a  year.  The  fleeces 
were  clipped  once  a  year,  in  May  or  June,  and  sometimes  the  early 
lambs  were  sheared  in  July  or  in  the  beginning  of  August,  but.  this  was 
not  generally  done. 

DELAWARE. 

Sheep  were  introduced  into  this  province  by  the  Swedes  at  their  first 
settlement,  and  wool  was  an  important  and  indispensable  article  of 
household  economy.  The  sheep  were  of  the  same  kind  first  introduced 
into  New  Jersey,  and,  like  them,  gave  way  eventually  to  the  English 
sheep,  although  the  Friesland  sheep  are  believed  to  have  maintained 
their  hold  until  quite  a  late  day.  Rochefoucauld  says  of  them  in  1797  : 

The  slieep  of  this  country  produce  good  wool,  fine  and  short,  hut  the  fleece  seldom 
weighs  more  than  3  pounds;  it  is  worth  $1.50.  The  sheep  have  long  legs  and  very 
large  bones.  The  breed  might  be  much  improved  by  a  little  attention,  of  which  it  is 
well  deserving. 

Here,  as  elsewhere  in  Maryland,  Pennsylvania,  and  New  Jersey,  the 
owner  left  at  the  end  of  the  tail  a  bunch  or  tuft  of  wool,  like  the  tail  of 
a  lion.  This  was  a  matter  of  taste  and  to  enable  the  sheep  to  keep 
away  the  flies. 


EAST    OF    THE    MISSISSIPPI    RIVER.  31 

MASSACHUSETTS. 

English  sheep  were  probably  brought  into  the  plantations  of  Massa- 
chusetts Bay  between  1624  and  1629,  for  we  are  told  that  Edward  Wins- 
low  brought  the  first  neat  cattle  into  New  England  in  1624,  and  it  is 
reasonable  to  infer  that  sheep  accompanied  them.  In  1629  royal  per- 
mission was  given  to  ship  from  Southampton,  England,  140  cattle, 
horses,  sheep,  and  goats  to  Massachusetts  Bay,  and  early  in  the  spring 
of  1630  eleven  vessels,  having  on  board  1,700  persons,  with  live  stock, 
left  the  harbor  of  Southampton  for  New  England.  Most  of  the  emi- 
grants were  farmers,  and  settled  at  Lynn,  Charlestown,  Roxbury,  Dor- 
chester, Watertown,  Medford,  and  Boston,  and  from  the  time  of  their 
arrival  sheep  begin  to  be  mentioned  in  the  records.  Many  went  to 
Lynn,  principally  farmers,  and  possessed  a  large  stock  of  horned  cattle, 
sheep,  and  goats.  The  sheep,  goats,  and  swine  were  kept  on  Nahant, 
where  they  were  tended  by  a  shepherd.  Wolves  were  very  destructive, 
and,  November,  1630,  the  court  ordered  that  to  any  person  killing  one 
should  be  allowed  a  penny  for  each  cow  and  horse,  and  one  farthing 
for  each  sheep  and  swine  in  the  plantation.  This  indicates  that  sheep 
were  at  that  time  known  throughout  the  colony,  and  were  protected 
by  an  assessment  upon  them  for  the  destruction  of  their  greatest  enemy 
in  those  early  days,  and  they  became  objects  of  solicitous  care. 
How  many  were  landed  that  were  shipped  at  Southampton  does  not 
appear.  They  were,  generally  speaking,  well-formed  sheep,  bearing 
wool  of  a  medium  fineness,  compared  with  that  of  the  present  day,  and 
of  a  superior  quality  for  that  time.  From  the  place  of  shipment  and 
their  general  characteristics,  as  gleaned  from  historical  records,  we 
judge  that  the  first  sheep  of  Massachusetts  were  the  ancient  Wilt  shires, 
a  horned  sheep,  with  large  head  and  eyes,  Roman-nosed,  long-faced, 
wide  nostrils,  horns  falling  back  behind  their  ears,  chest  wide  and 
deep,  back  straight,  legs  long,  and  bones  large.  They  were  greedy 
feeders  and  slow  in  fattening,  but  when  fattened  they  occasionally  at- 
tained great  weight.  If  they  were  slow  in  feeding  they  were  excellent 
folding  sheep,  and  enabled  more  corn  to  be  grown  in  Wiltshire,  in  pro- 
portion to  its  size,  than  in  any  other  county  in  England,  and  to  this 
purpose  they  were  used  by  the  early  settlers  of  Massachusetts.  More 
valuable,  however,  than  anything  was  the  wool,  and  this  alone  would 
have  caused  choice  of  the  Wiltshire  for  the  new  settlements.  The 
Wiltshires  were  the  largest  breed  of  fine-wooled  sheep,  and  their  wool 
at  that  time  much  prized;  it  was  of  a  medium  length  and  fine,  and  the 
fleece  weighed  from  2  to  2J  pounds.  The  ewe  had  no  wool  beneath  the 
belly. 

In  July,  1631,  there  were  shipped  from  Barustable,  in  Devonshire, 
eight  heifers,  a  calf,  and  five  sheep.  In  1633  the  general  court  leased 
Noddles  Island  to  Samuel  Maverick  for  "a  fat  hog,  a  fat  wether,  or  40s. 
in  money  each  year,"  and  Maverick  raised  sheep  on  the  island,  and  the 
Boston  records  of  the  same  year  make  mention  of  keeping  the  sheep 


32         SHEEP  INDUSTRY  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES 

on  the  islands  in  the  harbor  to  protect  them  from  the  Indians  and 
wolves.  On  June  15,  1633,  thirty-four  Dutch  sheep  were  landed,  forty 
having  been  lost  at  sea;  and  in  1635  two  Dutch  schooners  brought  into 
the  colony  twenty-seven  Flanders  mares  at  £34  each,  sixty- three  heif- 
ers at  £12,  and  eighty-eight  sheep  (ewes)  at  50s.  each.  These  Dutch 
sheep  were  rather  large,  white  faced,  no  horns,  long  legged,  and  with  a 
light  fleece.  They  were  of  mixed  Holland  and  English  origin,  from  the 
lowlands  of  Holland  and  the  Texel.  They  were  similar  to.  if  not  iden- 
tical with,  those  introduced  into  New  York  four  or  five  years  previous. 

On  May  5,  1634,  quaint  Obadiah  Turner,  of  Lynn,  records  in  his 
diary:  " And  wee  doe  hope  soone  to  have  plentie  of  sheepe,  too,  for 
wool  as  well  as  for  meate.  And  our  women  can  do  ye  spinning  and 
weaving." 

By  the  inventory  of  Piscataqua  and  Norridgewock,  in  1635,  it  is 
shown  that  these  settlements  contained  ninety-two  sheep,  and  in  1640 
they  numbered  about  one  thousand  in  the  whole  colony.  Capt.  Ed- 
ward Johnson  in  his  "Wonder  Working  Providence,"  says  that  there 
were  twelve  thousand  neat  cattle,  and  three  thousand  sheep  at  this 
time;  that  previous  to  this  Watertown  had  "  some  store  of  sheepe  and 
goates."  Cambridge  had  "  cattle  neate  and  sheepe,  of  which  they  have 
a  good  flocke,  which  the  Lord  hath  caused  to  thrive  much  in  these 
latter  days,"  and  of  Concord,  in  1636,  "as  for  those  who  laid  out  their 
estate  upon  sheepe  they  sped  worst  of  any  at  the  beginning  (although, 
some  have  sped  the  best  of  any  now),  for  untill  the  land  be  often  fed 
with  other  cattell  sheepe  can  not  live." 

In  1641  beef,  pork,  and  mutton  were  plenty  in  many  houses,  and  "  for 
rayment  the  Lord  hath  been  pleased  to  increase  sheepe  extraordinarily," 
and  for  cloth  material  enough  to  make  it. 

Homespun  manufactures  had  been  carried  on  to  some  extent  before 
this  time,  for  the  records  of  the  probate  court  of  Suffolk  County  give 
instances  of  spinning-wheels  and  small  quantities  of  homemade  cloth 
as  being  inventoried  among  other  articles.  In  1642  there  were  flax, 
hemp,  and  wool  enough  to  furnish  the  people  clothing,  and  on  Septem- 
ber 26,  of  this  year,  the  author  of  "  New  England's  First  Fruits,"  writ- 
ing at  Boston,  says: 

And  having  a  matter  of  one  thousand  sheep,  which  prosper  well  to  begin  withal, 
in  a  competent  time  we  hope  to  have  woolen  cloth  there  made.  And  great  and 
small  cattle  being  now  very  frequently  killed  for  food,  their  skins  will  afford  us 
leather  for  boots  and  shoes  and  other  uses;  so  that  God  is  leading  us  by  the  hand 
into  a  way  of  clothing. 

The  writer's,  hopes  were  soon  realized,  for  in  the  next  year,  1643,  a 
fulling  mill  was  erected  at  Rowley,  between  Ipswich  and  Newbury,  "by 
Mr.  Rogers'  people,  who  were  the  first  that  set  upon  making  cloth  in 
this  western  world."  Eowley  was  settled  in  1638  by  about  twenty 
families  of  industrious  and  pious  people  from  Yorkshire,  England,  many 
of  whom  had  pursued  the  woolen  manufacture  in  the  old  country.  The 


EAST    OF   THE    MISSISSIPPI    RIVER.  33 

town  was  incorporated  in  1639,  and  soon  after  this  was  commenced  the 
manufacture  of  cloth.  Although  these  Eowley  people  were  from  the 
woolen  districts  of  England,  especially  the  seat  of  the  broadcloth  manu- 
facture, flax  and  cotton,  as  well  as  wool,  appear  at  first  to  have  formed 
a  considerable  part  of  their- raw  materials.  But  although  after  the  in- 
troduction of  fulling-mills  much  of  the  woolen  cloth  of  household  manu- 
facture was  worn  in  its  unfulled  and  unfinished  state,  the  mention  of 
the  Rowley  people  as  the  first  cloth-makers  must  be  understood  to  imply 
the  first  manufacture  of  fulled  and  dressed  cloth,  or  cloth  wholly  of 
wool,  of  which  none  was  previously  made.  Maverick,  in  1660,  describes 
these  Yorkshire  men  of  Eowley  as  a  very  laborious  people,  who  "  drive 
a  pretty  trade,  making  cloath  and  ruggs  of  cotton  wool,  and  also  sheep's 
wool,  with  which  in  a  few  years  the  country  will  abound  not  only  to 
supply  themselves  but  also  to  send  abroad.  This  town  aboundeth  with 
corne  and  cattle,  and  has  a  great  number  of  sheep." 

In  May,  1645,  two  years  after  the  erection  of  the  first  fulling-mill  at 
Rowley,  the  general  court  of  Massachusetts  made  an  order  for  the  care 
and  increase  of  sheep,  not  only  for  the  supplying  of  their  wants,  but 
with  a  view  to  trade  in  other  parts.  It  said: 

Forasmuch  as  woolen  cloth  is  so  useful  a  commodity,  etc.,  by  reason  of  the  cold 
winters,  and  being  at  present  scarce  and  deare,  and  likely  soon  to  be  so  in  parts 
where  we  can  expect  to  get  it,  by  reason  of  the  wars  in  Europe  destroying  the  flocks 
of  sheepe,  and  killing  and  hindering  the  trade  of  those  whose  skill  and  labor  tend  to 
that  end,  and  as  for  want  of  woolen  cloth  many  poor  people  have  suffered  cold  and 
hardship  and  impaired  their  health  and  some  hazarded  their  lives,  and  those  who 
had  provided  their  families  with  cotton  cloth  (not  being  able  to  get  the  other)  have 
by  that  means  had  some  of  their  children  much  scorched  by  fire,  yea,  divers  burnt  to 
death;  this  court,  therefore  (taking  into  consideration  our  present  condition  in 
that  particular,  as  also  having  an  eye  to  the  good  of  posterity,  knowing  how  useful 
and  necessary  woolen  cloths  and  stuff  would  be  for  our  more  comfortable  clothing, 
and  how  profitable  a  merchandise  it  is  like  to  be  to  transport  to  other  parts),  doth 
hereby  desire  all  towns  in  general  and  everyone  in  particular  within  the  jurisdiction, 
seriously  to  weigh  the  premises,  and  accordingly,  that  you  will  endeavor  the  pres- 
ervation and  increase  of  such  sheepe  as  they  have  already,  as  also  to  procure  more 
with  all  convenient  speed  into  the  several  towns  by  all  such  lawful  ways  and  means 
as  God  shall  put  into  their  hands,  and  for  the  better  effecting  thereof,  we  thinke  meete 
it  to  be  appointed  to  each  several  town,  being  assembled  together  to  know  who  will 
buy  ewe  sheep  at  the  rate  of  40«.  apiece,  under  three  years  old,  and  appoint  one  in 
each  town  to  take  the  names  and  return  them  by  the  7th  next  month  to  Mayor  Gib- 
son, his  house  in  Boston ;  and  further  it  is  desired  that  those  having  friends  in  Eng- 
land desiring  to  come,  would  write  them  to  bring  as  many  sheepe  as  convenient  with 
them,  which  being  carefully  endeavored,  we  leave  the  success  to  God. 

On  May  14, 1648,  the  general  court  made  an  order — 

That  forasmuch  as  the  keeping  of  sheepe  tends  to  the  good  and  benefit  of  the 
country,  if  they  were  carefully  preserved,  henceforth  it  shall  be  lawful  for  any  man 
to  keepe  sheepe  in  any  common,  accounting  five  sheepe  to  one  great  beaste,  and  if 
any  dogge  shall  kill  any  sheepe  the  owner  shall  either  hange  his  dogge  forthwith  or 
pay  double  damages  for  the  sheepe;  if  ye  dogge  hath  been  seen  to  course  or  bite  any 
sheepe  before,  not  being  sett  on,  and  his  owner  had  notice  thereof,  then  he  shall 
both  hange  his  dogge  and  pay  for  the  sheepe. 
22990 3 


34  SHEEP   INDUSTRY   OF   THE    UNITED    STATES 

What  a  great  boon  to  the  country,  could  such  a  law  be  enforced  to- 
day throughout  every  State  of  the  Union ! 

An  additional  order  was  made  in  October,  1648,  for  pasturing  the 
sheep  upon  the  commons,  which  reads : 

Whereas  the  keeping  of  sheep  tends  much  to  the  benefit  of  the  country,  and  may 
in  short  time  make  good  supply  towards  the  clothing  of  the  inhabitants,  and  foras- 
much as  all  places  are  not  fit  for  that  end,  it  is  ordered  that  it  shall  be  lawful  for 
any  man  to  keep  sheep  on  any  common,  be  it  for  cows,  oxen  or  otherwise,  and  the 
selectmen  were  to  clear  the  commons  for  sheep  pasture. 

Another  order  was  made  offering  bounties  for  the  killing  of  wolves,  j 
which  were  very  destructive  of  the  sheep.    For  every  wolf  killed  dur- 
ing the  ensuing  four  years  an  Englishman  was  entitled  to  at  least  30 
shillings,  and  an  Indian  20  shillings. 

In  1652  the  increase  of  sheep  in  the  vicinity  of  Boston  had  been  so 
great  that  Oharlestown  numbered  400  alone,  and  Lynn  had  consider- 
able flocks,  which  were  kept  at  Nahant,  under  a  common  shepherd.  In 
1654  the  general  court,  taking  into  consideration  athe  right  ordering 
or  woole,"  ordered  that  all  manner  of  persons  who  were  OAvners  of  sheep 
and  who  offered  wool  for  sale  should  be  enjoined  yearly  to  wash  their 
sheep  in  clear  water,  not  being  either  salt,  brackish,  or  dirty,  and  also 
that  care  be  taken  that  they  be  not  kept  in  dirty  or  sandy  ground  be- 
tween the  time  of  washing  and  shearing;  and  it  was  further  ordered 
that  in  making  up  the  fleeces  due  care  be  taken  that  no  short  locks  ain.1 
lumps  of  dirt  be  wound  up  therein,  upon  the  penalty  of  12  pence  per 
sheep. 

In  August,  1654,  sheep  appeared  to  be  unequal  to  the  demand  made 
upon  them  for  wool,  as  the  country  was  in  great  strait  for  clothing; 
and  as  the  most  likely  way  tending  to  a  supply  in  that  respect  was  in 
increasing  the  number  of  sheep,  it  was  ordered  by  the  general  court 
that  no  ewes  or  ewe  lambs  should  be  transported  out  of  the  country  to 
any  foreign  port  or  place  under  penalty  of  5  pounds  for  every  one  so 
exported:  but  under  certain  restrictions  they  could  be  sold  to  other 
colonies  in  confederation  with  Massachusetts;  and  it  was  further  or- 
dered that  no  rams  or  wethers  could  be  killed  until  they  were  2 
years  old,  and  this  order  was  to  be  "  published  by  a  drum  in  the  market 
place  of  Boston." 

Having  thus  provided  for  the  increase  of  sheep  the  general  court 
turned  its  attention  to  the  manufacture  of  the  wool  thereof,  and  in  1656, 
"  taking  into  serious  consideration  the  present  straits  and  necessities 
of  the  country  in  respect  of  clothing,  which  is  not  like  to  be  so  plenti- 
fully supplyed  from  foreign  parts  as  in  time  past,  and  not  knowing  any 
better  way  or  means  conducible  to  our  subsistence  than  the  improving 
as  many  hands  as  may  be  in  spinning  wool,  cotton,  flax,"  etc.,  ordered 
all  hands — 

Not  necessarily  imployed  on  other  occasions,  as  women,  girles,  and  boyes,  shall  and 
hereby  are  enjoyned  to  spin  according  to  their  skill  and  ability,  and  that  the  select- 


EAST    OF    THE ,  MISSISSIPPI    RIVER.  35 

men  in  every  towne  doe  consider  the  condition  and  capacity  of  every  family,  and 
accordingly  to  assess  them,  as  one  or  more  spinners.  And  because  severall  families 
are  necessarily  employed  the  greatest  part  of  their  time  in  other  business,  yet  if  op- 
portunities were  attended  some  time  might  be  spared,  at  least  by  some  of  them,  for 
this  work,  the  said  selectmen  shall  therefore  assess  such  families  at  half  or  quarter 
of  a  spinner,  according  to  their  capacities.  And  that  every  one  thus  assessed  for  a 
Avhole  spinner  doe,  after  this  present  year,  1656,  spin  for  30  weeks  every  yeare,  3 
pounds  per  week  of  linsey,  cotton,  or  wooliug,  and  so  proportionately  for  half  or 
quarter  spinners,  under  the  penalty  of  12d. for  every  pound  short;  and  that  the 
selectmen  shall  take  special  care  for  the  execution  of  this  order.  And  the  selectmen 
in  all  the  townes  within  this  jurisdiction  shall  have  power  to  make  such  orders  in 
their  respective  townes  for  the  clearing  of  commons  for  keeping  of  sheep,  as  also  for 
the  time  of  putting  rams  to  their  flocks,  as  they  shall  judge  meet;  and  it  is  hereby 
ordered  that  the  deputies  of  the  several  townes  impart  the  mind  of  this  court  to 
their  inhabitants  concerning  the  sowing  of  seeds,  both  of  hemp  and  flax. 

In  this  same  year  of  1656  the  first  weaver  to  settle  and  commence 
weaving  at  Lowell  was  encouraged  to  do  so  by  a  grant  of  30  acres  of 
land.  The  orders  made  by  the  general  court  and  increased  attention  to 
the  sheep  caused  a  gratifying  multiplication  in  the  flocks,  and  in  1658 
John  Josslyn,  in  his  voyages,  says  that  in  the  town  of  Blackpoint  alone 
there  were  700  or  800  sheep ;  and  John  Winthrop,  writing  in  1660,  says : 
"  This  country  also  is  now  well  stocked  with  horses,  cowes,  sheepe,  and 
goates."  By  1662  the  increase  had  been  so  great  and  the  consequent 
supply  of  wool  so  full  that  sheep  declined  in  value  to  one-fourth  of  what 
they  formerly  were  held  at,  and  the  general  court  reduced  the  tax  upon 
them,  as  shown  in  this  order: 

Whereas,  in  the  lawe,  sheepe  are  to  be  assessed  at  twenty -five  shillings  a  head,  and 
that  they  are  now  fallen  to  about  a  fourth  part  of  the  price  they  were  ordinarily  sold 
for,  whereby  many  are  discouraged  for  keeping  such  useful  creatures,  it  is  therefore 
ordered  by  this  court  and  the  authority  thereof  that  henceforth  the  rate  for  sheepe 
shall  be  at  ten  shillings  a  head. 

The  increase  of  sheep  in  Massachusetts  and  other  New  England  colo- 
nies did  not  escape  the  jealous  eyes  of  the  English  traders,  and  the  coun- 
cil for  foreign  plantations  made  complaint  that  the  trade  of  New  England 
was  in — 

no  way  managed  to  the  advantage  of  His  Majesty's  Crown.  They  pretend  an  ex- 
emption to  the  payment  of  customs,  and  importing  very  little  to  the  balance  of  their 
exportation ;  that  contrary  to  the  policies  and  restrictions  heretofore  observed  they 
have  increased  a  stock  of  sheep  to  nearly  one  hundred  thousand,  whereby  this  nation 
and  the  manufactures  thereof  are  become  less  necessary  to  them;  but  they  are  likely 
to  be  so  stored  with  wool  that  the  Dutch,  who  trade  freely  with  them,  may  supply 
themselves  from  thence. 

Those  who  had  a  few  sheep  kept  them  on  their  home  lots  and  about 
the  villages  until  the  number  was  so  much  increased  that  the  owners 
could  cooperate  and  pay  a  shepherd.  All  this  was  looked  to  by  the 
towns,  and  certain  tracts  were  laid  out  and  devoted  to  the  pasturage  of 
the  cattle  in  common  herds,  and  rules  laid  down  from  time  to  time  regu- 


36         SHEEP  INDUSTRY  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES 

latin  g  their  use.     For  instance,  on  April  16,  1638,  the  selectmen  of 
Boston,  in  view  of  a  scarcity  of  pasturage,  ordered — 

Forsoe  much  as  our  common  pasturing  is  but  scant  upon  thenecke  and  cow-keep- 
ings for  the  inhabitants  is  of  necessity,  that,  therefore,  all  the  sheepe  on  the  iiecke 
and  dry  cattell,  such  as  are  not  for  draught,  shall  be  had  away  from  off  the  necke  by 
the  laste  day  of  this  month,  in  penalties  for  every  head  after  that  time  11s.  a  weeke 
for  every  weeke  after,  and  the  sheepe  not. 

In  May,  1646,  it  was  ordered  that  there  should  be  kept  on  the  com- 
mons, by  the  inhabitants  of  the  town,  but  70  milk  cows,  and  that  no  dry 
cattle,  young  cattle,  or  horse  should  be  free  to  go  on  the  commons,  "but- 
one  horse  for  Elder  Oliver,"  and  it  was  further  ordered  that  if  any  de- 
sired to  keep  sheep,  they  "may  keep  foure  sheepe  in  lieu  of  a  cowe." 

The  herding  of  cows  under  care  of  a  keeper  was  a  common  custom  in 
all  New  England.  During  the  day  the  keeper  watched  them,  drove 
them  into  the  settlement  at  night  or  late  in  the  afternoon,  where  they 
were  milked  by  their  owners  night  and  morning,  and  then  turned  over 
to  the  care  of  the  cowherd  or  keeper,  who  drove  them  out  to  the  com- 
mons. The  cowherd  also  had  the  keeping  of  the  town  bull,  for  whose 
services  he  was  to  receive  2  shillings  and  sixpence  per  head  for  every 
cow,  he  to  pay  for  the  wintering  of  the  bull.  Boston  was  prosperous 
enough  in  1654  to  own  two  town  bulls,  and  Thomas  Alkok,  the  keeper, 
was  allowed  to  receive  sixpence  a  head,  with  "  power  to  gather  upon 
every  cowe."  At  first  the  same  person  who  kept  the  cows  watched  the 
sheep,  but  as  they  multiplied  there  was  a  division  of  labor,  the  cows  hav- 
ing a  "cow-heard"  and  the  sheep  a  "  sheep-yeard."  The  former  ranked 
the  highest.  The  latter,  in  1659,  was  allowed  "  6d.  for  every  sheep  and  2 
pence  for  every  lamb."  Sheep  were  not  allowed  to  be  kept  upon  the 
neck  without  a  keeper,  and  no  ram  was  permitted  there  after  the  10th 
of  June  until  the  1st  of  November.  Some  years  later  than  this,  "  for  the 
preventing  of  rams  going  with  the  ewes  out  of  due  season,  within  the 
district  of  Eumney  Marsh,"  it  was  ordered — 

That  whosoever  of  the  inhabitants  within  the  district  aforesaid  shall  finde  or  take 
up  any  ram  going  with  his  or  their  sheep,  at  any  time  from  the  10th  of  August  to 
the  10th  November  yearly,  such  ram  shall  be  forfeited  to  such  person  so  finding  and 
taking  up  the  same. 

The  connection  of  "Rumney  Marsh,"  an  exposed  neck  of  land,  with 
sheep  and  sheep  pasturago  leads  us  back  to  Roinney  Marsh,  Kent 
County,  England,  a  similar  tract  of  land  lying  near  the  sea  and  sus- 
taining more  sheep  than  any  other  tract  of  land  of  like  size  in  England. 
Men  of  Kent  came  about  this  time  and  before  to  this  part  of  Massa- 
chusetts, and  it  is  reasonable  to  infer  that  they  gave  .this  neck  of  land 
its  name  and  stocked  it  with  their  Komney  Marsh  or  Kentish  sheep, 
some  of  the  best  of  Old  England. 

The  outlying  towns  were  governed  by  the  same  general  orders  of  the 
court,  and  followed,  substantially,  the  customs  ol  Boston 5  they  had 
cowherds  and  shepherds,  and  followed  the  practice  of  common  herding 
and  keeping  town  bulls.  In  Andover  the  herdsmen  and  shepherds 


EAST    OF   THE    MISSISSIPPI    RIVER.  37 

were  assisted  in  watching  the  flocks  by  boys  and  girls,  who  were 
obliged  also  to  have  some  other  employment  meanwhile,  so  that  their 
time  might  not  be  wasted  or  habits  of  idleness  formed,  as  witness  this 
order  of  the  general  court: 

1642.  The  court  doe  hereupon  order  and  decree  that  in  every  towne  the  chosen  men 
are  to  take  care  of  such  as  are  sett  to  keep  cattle  that  they  are  to  sett  to  some  othei 
employment  withall,  as  spinning  upon  the  rock,  knitting  and  weaving  tape,  etc. ; 
that  boyes  and  girls  be  not  suffered  to  converse  together. 

Imagine,  if  one  can,  the  rocky  pastures  of  New  England  with  flocks 
and  herds  grazing  on  the  hillsides,  while  the  boys  and  girls,  seated  on 
the  rocks,  ran  the  spinning-wheel  and  did  household  knitting  without 
speaking  to  each  other. 

Perhaps  the  most  suggestive  and  interesting  process  in  all  this  common  herding 
was  in  the  folding  of  sheep  by  means  of  gates.  Lancaster  says  that  a  night  pasture 
fenced  to  keep  out  wolves  is  mentioned  about  1652  as  "  that  fence  set  up  by  the  co- 
partners." Rowley,  in  1648,  defines  the  right  to  sheep-gates,  i.  e.,  lengths  of  fence 
to  be  set  up  in  those  night  folds,  in  a  minute  and  very  curious  w%y.  "To  the  end 
that  every  man  may  have  an  equal  share  in  the  commons  according  to  purchase,  it 
is  agreed  that  every  1|  acres  house  lot  shall  have  1|  gates  (in  the  common  pasturage) ; 
that  every  2  acres  have  4$  gates;  3  acres  have  13£;  4  acres,  22;  6  acres,  45."  These 
sheep-gates,  thus  carrying  the  home  protection  of  the  farm  out  into  the  public  com- 
mon for  the  benefit  of  the  weakest  animal  administering  to  man's  wants,  fitly  sym- 
bolize the  spirit  of  the  New  England  Commonwealth.* 

The  system  of  folding  sheep  by  means  of  gates  was  carried  out  very 
elaborately  by  Xewbury.  First,  the  selectmen  divided  part  of  the  com- 
mons into  five  distinct  ranges  or  sheep-walks,  which  were  to  be  occu- 
pied by  five  flocks  of  sheep,  each  of  which  was  to  be  kept  within  its 
own  prescribed  limits  under  penalty  of  ~L2d.  a  head  for  every  sheep 
so  disorderly  (so  says  the  town  records)  as  to  be  out  of  place  night  or 
day.  Each  flock  was  under  the  care  of  a  shepherd,  hired  by  the  owners 
of  the  sheep.  The  following  agreement,  signed  by  eight  owners  of 
sheep  feeding  on  one  of  the  five  ranges,  shows  how  each  company 
managed  its  concerns : 

April  16,  1683. — At  a  legall  meeting  of  the  company,  whose  names  are  here  set  down, 
we  have  agreed  that  every  man  shall  take  his  full  turn  of  folding  for  this  year  in  order 
according  as  their  names  are  set  down ;  and  for  the  next  year  it  shall  begin  with  that 
man  that  had  no  benefit,  or  that  had  not  his  whole  benefit  of  folding  upon  his  corn, 
and  so  successively  from  year  to  year  till  every  man  hath  had  that  benefit  of  folding 
upon  his  corn  or  otherways  in  season.  And  also  it  is  agreed  that  every  man  shall 
bring  a  sufficient  gate  for  every  score  of  sheep  he  doth  bring  or  send  to  the  flock  be- 
longing to  this  company,  according  to  the  number  of  sheep  given  in  for  folding.  It 
is  also  agreed  that  Mr.  Nois  (Noyes)  and  Mr.  Garrish  shall  tack  account  of  every 
man's  sheep  and  proportion  to  every  man  his  share  of  folding,  and  to  conclude  the 
end  of  fouldiug  the  fifth  of  November  and  let  the  first  share  of  fouldiug  to  the  biggest, 
if  they  make  any  difference  in  every  man's  two  shares.  It  is  agreed  that  Evan  Mor- 
ris shall  keep  sheep  for  this  year,  1683,  and  he  is  to  have  six  shillings  a  week  in  pay, 
and  he  that  have  above  forty  in  the  fold  shall  give  him  one  shilling  out  of  the  whole 
in  money,  and  all  that  are  under  thirty  shall  pay  sixpence  in  money  a  man.  They 
whose  sheep  are  kept  shall  allow  him  his  dyett  besides  the  said  six  shillings  per  week 
where  the  sheep  are  folded. 

*  Economic  and  Social  History  of  New  England.     William  B.  Werdeu. 


38  SHEEP    INDUSTRY    OP    THE    UNITED    STATES 

This  company,  represented  by  eight  members,  comprised  sixteen  in- 
dividuals owning  704  sheep,  Capt.  Pierce  owning  105,  the  largest,  and 
John  Smith  but  12,  with  Cousin  Pettingill  a  good  second  with  but  14. 
llichard  Brown  and  Widow  Stickney  owned  24  each.  The  average 
number  of  each  person's  ownership  was  64,  which  is  inconsiderable  ex- 
cess of  the  average  ownership  in  the  colony  at  that  time,  which  did  not 
exceed  20  or  25. 

A  few  words  in  explanation  of  these  rules  for  folding.  The  necessity 
of  folding  the  sheep  securely  every  night  came  from  the  great  destruc- 
tion caused  by  the  wolves;  and  this  necessity  our  forefathers  turned 
to  the  advantage  of  their  corn  land  by  folding  the  sheep  upon  it. 

Having  set  the  day  upon  which  Shepherd  Morris  was  to  commence  his  services, 
which  this  year  was  the  23  of  April,  and  designated  the  man  who  was  to  have  the 
first  benefit  of  folding,  who  this  year  was  Richard  Brown,  each  one  of  the  company 
brought  to  his  corn  land  his  share  of  the  materials,  a  gate  for  every  score  of  sheep, 
with  which  they  set  up  the  pen.  After  remaining  there  the  prescribed  time,  it  was 
taken  down  and  set  up  on  Cousin  Pettingill's  land,  and  thus  it  passed  round  from 
one  to  another,  like  a  mug  of  flip  at  an  "  ordinary"  in  olden  time,  each  one  receiving 
upon  his  corn  or  corn  land  the  "full  benefit"  of  the  top  dressing,  which  700  sheep 
could  give.  Wherever  the  pen  was  erected  there  the  shepherd  was  to  have  his 
"dyett,"  and  thus,  like  a  menagerie,  or  traveling  circus,  he  and  his  animals  were  con- 
tinually in  motion.  At  other  times  and  in  other  places,  the  pen  was  erected  on  some 
part  of  the  common  land,  and  was,  after  a  suitable  time,  removed,  and  a  crop  of 
turnips  raised,  which,  in  the  fall,  were  divided  pro  rata  among  the  owners  of  the 
sheep.  Turnips  at  the  time,  and  for  half  a  century  afterward,  supplied  the  place  of 
potatoes.* 

Some  of  the  towns  did  not  have  sheep  enough  to  herd  until  near  the 
close  of  the  seventeenth  century ;  such  was  the  case  with  Hadley  and 
the  upper  towns  on  the  Connecticut,  where,  after  shepherds  were  em- 
ployed, the  sheep  were  folded  at  night  and  the  manure  was  paid  for  by 
those  on  whose  land  the  folds  or  pens  were  put  up.  In  Hatneld  the 
sheep  were  folded  in  hurdles,  or  movable  pens,  which  were  carried  from 
one  place  to  another.  Here  the  wages  of  a  shepherd  were  ordinarily 
12  shillings  per  week.  This  town  had  273  sheep  in  1691,  and  291  in 
1699.  The  flock  in  Hadley  increased  slowly.  In  Hatneld,  the  cow- 
keeper  and  shepherd  enjoyed  the  privileges  of  most  of  the  Sabbaths. 
In  1672  every  man  that  had  3  cattle  on  the  commons  was  to  take  his 
turn  in  keeping  the  herd  on  Sundays.  In  1693  the  shepherd  was  to 
take  the  sheep  every  tenth  Sunday,  and  the  owners  were  to  guard  them 
nine  Sundays  in  teu.t  Haverhill  had  similar  arrangements ;  a  shepherd 
for  the  town  flocks  in  1652  was  allowed  12  shillings  and  6  pence  per 
week,  to  be  paid  in  Indian  corn  and  butter.  He  was  "  to  keep  ye  heard 
faithfully  as  a  heard  ought  to  be  kept;  if  any  be  left  on  the  Sabbath 
when  ye  towne  worship,  they  who  keepe  ar,e  to  go  ye  next  day,  doing 
their  best  endeavore  to  find  them."  He  was  not  permitted  to  turn  his 
flock  into  the  pasture  on  the  Sabbath  until  the  "second  beating  of  the 

*  "  History  of  Newbury."    Joshua  Coffin. 
t"Judd's  History  of  Hadley." 


EAST   OF   THE   MISSISSIPPI   RIVER.  39 

(1  nun."  The  regulation  referred  to  cattle  alone,  probably,  for  it  is  not 
known  that  Haverhill  had  any  sheep  until  1684,  when  "the  proprietors 
of  the  Great  Plain,  thinking-  to  lay  down  the  said  field  for  some  years 
to  be  improved  for  a  sheep  pasture"  the  town  gave  them  leave  to  fence 
it.  choose  officers,  and  make  all  necessary  regulations  for  that  purpose. 
Three  years  later,  in  1687,  the  town  took  this  action : 

It  being  the  interest  and  desire  of  the  inhabitants,  for  the  sake  of  back,  belly,  and 
purse,  to  get  into  a  stock,  and  a  way  to  keep  a  stock  of  sheep,  in  which  all  en- 
deavors hitherto  have  been  invalid  and  of  no  eifect,  for  a  further  trial  the  selectmen 
have  hereby  power  granted  them  to  call  forth  the  inhabitants  capable  of  labor  with 
suitable  tools  and  in  suitable  companies,  about  Michaelmas,  to  clear  some  land  at 
the  town's  end,  sides,  or  skirts,  as  they  in  their  discretion  shall  think  meet  to  direct, 
to  make  it  capable  and  fit  for  sheep  to  feed  upon  with  the  less  hazard;  and  he  that 
is  warned  as  above,  and  doth  not  accordingly  come  and  attend  the  service,  shall  pay 
a  fine  of  2s.  per  day. 

The  great  hazard  of  sheep  raising  here,  as  in  other  towns,  was 
occasioned  by  the  ravages  of  wolves  among  the  flocks.  In  addition  to 
the  bounty  paid  by  the  colony  for  their  destruction,  Haverhill  for  a 
long  period  paid  40  shillings  for  every  wolf  killed  in  the  town.  ]^ew- 
bury,  in  1644,  ordered  that  for  every  wolf  killed  with  hounds  10  shillings 
should  be  paid,  and  if  with  a  trap,  or  otherwise,  5  shillings;  provided 
the  heads  were  brought  to  the  meeting  house  and  nailed  up  and  the 
constable  duly  notified;  and  in  the  Hampton  records  of  the  same  year 
is  found  this  similar  declaration:  "It  is  hereby  declared  that  every 
townsman  which  shall  kill  a  wolf  and  bring  the  head  thereof  and  nayle 
the  same  to  a  little  red  oak  tree  at  the  north  east  end  of  the  meeting 
house,  shall  have  10  shillings  a  wolfe  for  their  paynes."  Amesbury,  in 
1642,  offered  a  bounty  for  every  wolf  killed,  which  was  increased  to  20 
shillings  in  1687,  and  repealed  in  1696;  but  forty-two  years  later,  in 
1738,  a  bounty  of  5  pounds  was  voted  for  "every  wolf  that  shall  be 
killed,"  in  order  to  save  the  sheep  from  these  ravenous  beasts.  To  clear 
the  forests  of  these  pests  was  no  small  part  of  the  labor  of  the  primitive 
settler,  and  he  hunted  them  with  gun  and  traps.  A  mode  of  catching 
them  with  hooks  is  described: 

Four  mackerel  hooks  are  bound  with  brown  thread  and  wool  wrapped  around 
tlR-iii,  and  they  are  dipped  into  melted  tallow  till  they  are  as  big  and  round  as  an 
egg.  This  thing,  thus  prepared,  is  laid  by  some  dead  carcase,  which  toles  the  wolves. 
It  is  swallowed  by  them,  and  is  the  means  of  their  being  taken. 

By  the  end  of  the  seventeenth  century  sheep  had  so  far  multiplied 
that  all  wool  needed  for  domestic  purposes  or  homespun  manufacture 
was  abundant,  and  some  towns  had  a  surplus  for  trade  and  export. 
Particularly  was  this  the  case  with  Nantucket,  where  sheep  were  intro- 
duced in  1660,  at  its  first  settlement  by  the  proprietors,  and  where  a 
prosperous  business  was  carried  on  in  exporting  wool  until  1675,  when 
it  was  prohibited ;  most  families  had  looms  of  their  own ;  spinning-wheels 
were  common  and  fulling-mills  were  being  put  up  at  every  favorable 
point  on  the  small  streams.  Yet,  says  Weeden,  the  weaving  was  not 


40          SHEEP  INDUSTRY  OP  THE  UNITED  STATES 

confined  to  the  households,  but  weavers  were  established  in  various 
towns ;  much  of  the  manufactured  linsey-woolsey  was  made  with  linen 
warp  and  wool  weft,  or  filling.  Homespun  of  wool  for  men's  wear  was 
made  at  home  and  finished  in  the  fulling-mills  established  in  the  towns 
from  an  early  date,  as  at  Watertown  in  1662,  Andover  in  1673,  Ips 
wich  in  1675,  Salem  in  1675,  and  Newlmry  in  1687.  A  few  years  after 
the  latest  date  here  recorded  it  was  asserted  that  the  country  people 
and  planters  had  entered  so  far  into  making  their  own  woolens  that  not 
one  in  forty  but  wears  his  own  carding,  spinning,  etc.  Fulling-mills 
for  finishing  in  a  rough  way  the  hand- woven  woolens  were  starting  con- 
stantly in  the  different  districts.  The  most  complete  manufacturing 
establishment  was  that  of  John  Cornish,  of  Boston,  who  had  a  fulling- 
mill,  two  furnaces  for  dyeing  wool,  four  looms,  and  all  the  necessary 
accessories  for  combing  and  weaving.  The  inventory  of  his  estate, 
taken  March  2,  1695-'96,  showed  considerable  quantities  of  wool  and 
woolen  stuffs  of  most  every  description  and  color,  so  varied,  in  fact, 
that  they  give  evidence  that  Cornish  traded  his  manufactures  for  that 
of  others;  the  farmers  or  farmers'  wives  taking  in  raw  wool  or  spun 
worsted  and  exchanging  it  for  yarn  and  cloth.  Cornish  was  a  worsted 
comber  and  weaver,  the  pioneer  of  this  industry  in  New  England. 

The  manufacture  increased,  and  while  in  1689  not  a  twentieth  part 
of  what  the  country  needed  or  consumed  as  to  woolen  or  linen  clothing 
was  made  in  New  England,  thirty  years  saw  that  great  strides  had  been 
made,  and  not  only  had  the  colonists  "  fallen  upon  the  woolen  manu- 
facture," but  they  had  fallen  upon  the  making  of  beaver  hats.  When 
this  startling  fact  reached  the  London  company  of  hatters,  that  hats 
were  made  in  the  land  of  furs,  they  remonstrated,  and  their  craft  was 
protected  by  an  act  forbidding  hats  to  be  transported  from  one  planta- 
tion to  another.  In  1719  Samuel  Shute,  the  royal  governor  of  Massa- 
chusetts, informed  the  English  Government  that  in  some  parts  of  the 
province  "the  inhabitants  worked  up  their  wool  and  flax,  and  made  a 
coarse  cloth  for  their  own  use,"  and  that  there  were  hatters  in  the  mar 
itime  towns,  upon  which  Parliament  resolved  "that  erecting  manufac- 
tories in  the  colonies  tended  to  lessen  their  dependence." 

There  was  a  steady  increase  in  this  homespun  manufacture,  and  the 
quality  of  the  article  became  much  improved  and  was  worn  not  only  by 
the  farmers  and  those  in  the  middle  walks  of  life  but  also  by  the  well- 
to-do  and  opulent  of  the  colony.  Superior  wool  and  cotton  goods  were 
made  and  sold  by  John  Palmer  in  Boston  in  1746;  and  in  1749,  at  the 
fourth  anniversary  of  the  "Boston  Society  for  Promoting  Industry  and 
Frugality,"  300  "young  female  spinsters"  spun  at  their  wheels  on  Bos- 
ton Common,  and  weavers  were  at  their  looms.  Self  dependence  was 
asserting  itself,  and  not  only  was  American  wool  used  for  American 
clothes,  but  sheepskins  were  used.  John  Calef,  of  Charlestown,  in 
1747  made  sheepskin  breeches,  "cloth  colored  for  breeches  very  much 
upon  the  red."  In  1777,  after  the  war  of  the  Revolution  had  com- 


EAST    OF    THE    MISSISSIPPI    RIVER.  41 

inenced.  Massachusetts  prohibited  the  exportation  of  ruin,  molasses, 
cotton  or  woolen  goods,  wool,  leather,  and  many  necessary  articles  to 
be  retained  in  the  country,  and  New  Hampshire  laid  the  same  restric- 
tions. The  latter  colony  also  paid  much  attention  to  sheep  and  to  the 
woolen  manufacture,  the  kind  of  clothing  being  indicated  by  that  worn 
by  her  troops  in  the  army  in  the  year  1782.  "  White  woolen  cloth,  well 
milled  and  sheared,  three-fourths  wide,  7s.  per  yard;  eight-quarter 
blankets  for  soldiers,  21s.  per  yard ;  good  felt  hats,  5s." 

RHODE  ISLAND. 

We  have  no  definite  record  of  the  first  sheep  taken  into  Narragansett 
Bay  and  Providence  Plantations,  but  we  know  that  goats  went  with 
the  first  settlers  and  sheep  are  mentioned  soon  after.  That  they  were 
quite  plentiful  and  of  good  breed  we  judge  from  the  fact  that  they  bred 
rapidly  and  were  sought  after  by  the  Connecticut  settlers  as  early  as 
1648,  in  which  year  William  Coddington  sold  some  to  John  Winthrop, 
jr.,  and  on  their  delivery  accompanied  them  with  a  letter  which  pos- 
sesses some  interest : 

October  14,  1648. — I  have,  according  to  your  desire,  sent  you  but  ten  ewes ;  they  are 
all,  I  do  assure  you,  of  the  best  English  breed.  I  could  have  sent  you  longe  leged 
and  biger  sheepe,  but  these  are  better  bred.  I  have  sent  you  five  blacke  and  five 
whit.  I  judged  it  best  soe  to  doe,  you  not  expresseigne  your  desire  to  me.  They  are 
all  but  shearlings,  that  is,  one  yeare  old  at  last  lambinge  and  nowe  yeening  by  two, 
which  is  known  by  their  teeth,  none  of  them  havinge  above  two  brod  teeth.  I  have 
sent  you  a  rambe  lambe,  which  is  of  my  English  breed  likewise,  both  by  the  ewe  and 
rambe.  I  know  the  island  nore  the  countrie  could  not  have  furnished  you  with  such 
a  parsell  of  sheepe  out  of  my  hand.  *  *  *  I  am  glad  I  was  on  the  island  to  deliver 
you  your  sheepe  myselfe.  If  you  desire  to  have  more  whit  sheepe  than  blacke  then 
rambe  your  ewes  with  whit  rambs  ;  if  more  blacke  then  you  may  save  a  black  rambe 
out  of  your  herd  of  blacke  ewes,  but  by  all  means  put  not  to  your  rambes  till  the  lat- 
ter end  of  the  next  mounth,  November. 

John  Pynchon  and  others  bought  sheep  in  Narragansett  Bay  in  1655, 
for  the  settlements  in  Connecticut  and  for  the  towns  in  Massachusetts 
on  the  upper  waters  of  the  Connecticut  River,  and  in  1665  it  was  re- 
ported that  the  best  English  grass  and  the  most  sheep  were  in  this 
province,  the  ground  being  very  fruitful  and  the  ewes  bringing  ordi- 
narily two  lambs.  In  1678  wool  was  rated  at  6d.  per  pound,  which  was 
considered  as  an  overvaluation,  for  the  treasurer  was  allowed  to  pass  it 
at  ~>d.  In  1695  wool  was  taken  for  taxes  at  7Jd.  per  pound,  and  sheep 
one  year  old  were  taxed  at  5d.  per  score.  They  sold  at  from  4  to  6  shil- 
lings each.  In  1711  wool  was  11$.  per  pound.  Weeden  observes  that 
for  three-quarters  of  a  century  before  1760  the  diligent  housewives  sent 
to  Newport  for  wool.  They  made  woolen  cloths  for  garments  and  bed 
coverings,  and  they  knit  stockings.  They  worked  willingly  with  their 
hands,  and  every  house  in  the  country  was  a  factory. 

Of  all  the  colonies  Ehode  Island  took  the  lead  in  exporting  sheep;  60 
ewes  were  sent  to  South  Carolina  in  1726,  and  she  carried  on  the  trade 
extensively  with  Curacao  and  the  other  West  India  ports.  She  ex- 


42          SHEEP  INDUSTRY  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES 

ported  not  only  sheep  but  other  live  stock,  especially  horses,  in  the 
breeding  of  which  she  excelled.  In  July,  1733,  Capt.  Crow  sailed 
from  Ehode  Island  for  St.  Christophers,  having  on  deck  14  horses  and 
100  sheep.  The  vessel  was  wrecked,  and  horses  and  sheep  were  lost. 
The  frequent  accounts  of  such  disasters  indicate  the  extent  of  the  trade. 

Ehode  Island  exported  much  wool  also,  considerable  quantities  being 
sent  to  the  settlements  on  the  Delaware  in  West  Jersey  in  1G85,  where 
quite  a  nourishing  woolen  manufacture  had  sprung  up.  It  brought  6d. 
a  pound. 

Wool-growing  and  the  raising  of  flax,  and  the  manufacture  of  these 
staples  into  cloth,  were  encouraged  by  an  act  of  assembly  in  1751,  and 
later  other  acts  were  passed,  notably  encouraging  the  making  of  wool 
cards,  the  mainspring  of  homespun  industry. 

CONNECTICUT. 

Sheep  were  taken  into  Connecticut  by  the  first  settlers,  and  in  1640 
orders  were  made  for  their  improvement.  Their  multiplication  was  very 
slow,  and  they  were  of  a  very  poor  kind.  Governor  John  Winthrop,  jr., 
sought  their  improvement  by  a  purchase  from  William  Coddington,  of 
Ehode  Island,  in  1648,  of  which  mention  is  made  on  a  preceding  page. 
Sheep  continued  scarce,  and  in  1600,  to  encourage  the  raising  of  them, 
they  were  freed  from  the  taxes  paid  by  other  cattle,  and  grounds 
were  the  same  year  ordered  to  be  cleared  for  their  pasturage.  Ten 
years  afterward,  in  1G70,  "for  the  encouragement  of  rayseing  sheepe," 
the  general  court  of  the  colony  ordered  that  every  male  person  in  the 
several  plantations  14  years  old  and  upwards,  that  were  not  public 
officers,  should  work  one  day  in  June  of  each  year  in  cutting  down  and 
clearing  the  underwood  "that  so  there  may  be  pasture,"  and  the  towns- 
men in  the  respective  towns  were  to  "  appoint  the  places  where  they 
shall  worke,  in  the  highways  or  commons  or  other  places  agreed  upon." 
Heavy  fines  were  threatened  upon  all  who  neglected  this  duty. 

The  same  customs  for  the  care  of  sheep  prevailed  in  Connecticut  as 
in  Massachusetts.  When  they  were  but  few  they  ran  on  the  house  lot 
or  in  the  streets,  and  in  warm  days  collected  under  the  meeting-house, 
but  as  they  increased  in  numbers  the  town  took  cognizance  of  them 
and  regulated  their  keeping.  In  1693  the  general  court  ordered  that 
all  sheep,  cattle,  and  swine  above  a  year  old  should  be  marked  and 
the  marks  be  registered  in  the  town  book.  In  most  of  the  towns 
"viewers"  were  appointed,  whose  office  it  was  to  inspect  the  fields  and 
see  that  they  were  closed  so  as  to  "turn  creturs"  when  they  were  let 
out  in  the  spring;  and  a  kind  of  sheep  council  was  authorized,  acting 
independently  of  the  town,  yet  a  part  of  it. 

The  cloth  manufacture  made  but  slow  progress  in  Connecticut,  and 
not  until  the  close  of  the  century  do  we  find  any  evidence  of  fulling- 
mills.  The  town  book  of  Waterbury  contains  an  order  passed  January 
20, 1692-'93?  stating  that  "there  was  sequestered  the  great  brook  from 


EAST    OF   THE    MISSISSIPPI   RIVER.  43 

rMmau  Scot's  lot  down  to  Samuel  Hickox's,  jr.,  lot  for  to  build  a  fulling- 
mill."  There  is  no  evidence,  however,  that  such  a  mill  was  built  there 
before  the  year  1728  or  1730.  A  fulling-mill  was  built  on  Eahantic 
1  liver  in  1693  by  Peter  Heckley,  of  New  London,  which  was  the  first 
in  that  town.  The  same  town  in  1730  granted  to  Lieut.-Col.  John  Liv- 
ingston, of  that  place,  what  right  it  had  to  Sawmill  Brook  to  erect  a 

umill  and  fulling-mill  thereon;  and  in  1721  Thomas  Smith  obtained 
Ira  ve  to  erect  fulling  and  grist-mills  at  Upper  Alewive  Cove.  Trumbull 
^tates  that  in  1713  there  was  but  one  clothier  in  Connecticut,  and  the 
most  lie  could  do  was  to  full  the  cloth  that  was  made.  This  statement 
has  been  disputed  as  erroneous,  the  belief  being  that  there  were  many 
•lotliiers  and  fulling-mills  at  that  date.  Much  of  the  cloth  was  worn 
msheared  and  unpressed.  In  1736  John  Davis,  a  clothier  of  the  col- 
>ny,  proposed  to  "  instruct  the  people  in  the  process  of  woolen  manu- 
facture," but  no  particular  effort  was  made  in  that  direction. 

By  an  act  of  the  general  court  in  1716  no  one  person  was  permitted 
to  turn  more  than  50  sheep  on  the  highways  with  a  keeper  to  "  eat  up 
UK!  consume  the  herbage  thereon;"  but  an  act  of  May,  1730,  provided 
hat  the  owners  of  sheep  could  meet  within  certain  limits,  as  there  should 
be  occasion,  and  in  such  meetings  order  that  the  sheep  in  such  town 
should  be  put  together  in  a  flock  or  flocks  annually,  and  by  a  vote,  ac- 
•01  ding  to  the  number  of  sheep  held  by  them,  choose  a  clerk  to  make 
'iitries  of  the  sheep;  also  to  choose  sheep  masters  for  the  hiring  of  a 
shepherd,  and  letting  the  flock  to  fold,  to  restrain  ranis  from  going  at 
arge,  and  to  secure  flocks  from  dogs;  and,  six  years  later,  authority 
was  given  these  sheep  selectmen  to  kill  dogs.  In  1750  it  was  provided 
that  every  town  that  did  not  agree  to  keep  a  flock  should  have  the  same 
power  to  make  acts  relative  to  sheep  as  the  owners  of  sheep  had  that 
lived  within  the  limits  of  any  flock. 

Sheep  at  this  time  were  comparatively  plenty,  and  many  were  exported 
from  Xew  London.  A  fair  sample  of  a  well-to-do  farmer's  estate  shows, 
in  1748,  "four  negro  servants,  about  50  head  of  horned  cattle,  32  horses, 
mares,  and  colts,  and  812  sheep."  Notwithstanding  Coddington's  sale 
to  Wiuthrop  of  some  of  the  best  English  blood,  not  much  can  be  said  of 
the  sheep  of  Connecticut  at  the  middle  of  the  last  century.  One  of  the 
earliest  writers  on  American  agriculture  was  Dr.  Jared  Eliot,  a  preacher 
and  botanist.  He  was  grandson  of  John  Eliot,  the  apostle  of  the  In- 
dians, and  was  born  in  Connecticut  in  1685.  He  was  living  at  Killing- 
worth,  in  that  State,  in  1747,  and  in  the  following  year  began  the  pub- 
lication of  some  essays  upon  field  husbandry  in  New  England  which 
appeared  in  the  journals  of  that  day  and  attracted  much  attention. 
These  essays,  running  from  1748  to  1759,  were  collected  and  published 
in  a  volume  in  1760.  Almost  the  first  words  of  the  reverend  farmer- 
author  are: 

A  better  breed  of  sheep  is  what  we  want.  The  English  breed  of  Cotswool  sheep 
can  not  be  obtained,  or  at  least  without  great  difficulty;  for  wool  and  live  sheep  are 
contraband  goods,  which  all  strangers  are  prohibited  from  carrying  out  on  pain  of 


44         SHEEP  INDUSTRY  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES 

having  their  right  hand  cut  off.  I  have  one  ram  which  is  of  good  breed  in  part,  has 
had  no  better  keeping  than  our  ordinary  sheep  (I  was  of  the  mind  to  see  what  he 
would  do  Avith  mean  keeping) ;  notwithstanding  his  poor  keeping  two  years  he  is 
very  large  and  long,  has  line  wool,  and  last  shearing  time  afforded  a  fleece  of  6 
pounds.  AS  the  mixture  of  this  breed  with  our  ordinary  sheep  successively  will  run 
the  breed  quite  out,  so  putting  the  same  breed  together,  as  they  approach  nearer 
the  original,  the  true  breed  may  be  recovered. 

In  another  essay  lie  discusses  the  means  of  fertilizing  lands,  and 
adds  this  testimony  to  the  value  of  sheep  and  goats: 

Lambs  are  for  clothing,  and  goats  are  for  the  price  of  the  field.  They  are  excel- 
lent to  subdue  rough,  uncultivated  land.  They  are  in  their  nature  abundantly 
fitted  to  serve  that  useful  purpose;  they  destroy  bushes,  briars,  and  weeds.  By 
their  tread,  their  dung  and  urine,  which  is  very  hot,  they  sweeten  the  ground  to 
that  degree,  as  in  a  little  time  the  land  will  be  clothed  with  grass;  yet  that  a  piece 
of  land  subdued  by  them  will  thereby  be  doubled  in  its  value  or  price,  is  what,  per4 
haps,  hath  not  been  so  much  thought  of  as  would  be  proper. 

Household  manufactures  in  Connecticut  grew  with  the  increase  of 
sheep,  and  much  advance  was  made  in  the  linen  and  woolen  trades. 
" There  are  many  alive  at  this  day"  [1748],  says  Eliot,  "  who  remember 
since  the  linen  was  coarse  and  what  we  call  tow  cloth ;  the  other  cloth 
for  outer  garments,  linsey-woolsey ;  and  for  some  time  was  worn  with-] 
out  fulling  or  any  kind  of  dressing;  after  they  began  to  full  cloth,  for 
a  time  they  used  neither  tentering  nor  pressing;  they  only  stretched 
and  wound  the  cloth  hard  upon  a  smooth  log  of  wood.'7 

A  striking  and  touching  instance  of  the  most  primitive  homespun  or 
household  manufacture  of  Connecticut  is  thus  given  by  Weeden : 

A  dozen  sheep  and  one  cow  comprised  the  stock,  and  to  her  yield  of  milk  the  lat- 
ter added  service  at  the  plow.  Corn  bread,  milk,  and  bean  porridge  were  the  staples 
of  the  diet.  The  father  being  incapacitated  by  illness,  the  mother  did  the  work  in 
the  house  and  helped  the  boys  in  the  fields.  Once,  in  midwinter,  one  of  the  boysj 
needed  a  new  suit,  and  there  was  neither  money  nor  wool  in  the  house.  The  mother, 
sheared  the  half-grown  fleece  from  a  sheep  and  in  a  week  it  was  made  into  clothing. 
The  shorn  sheep,  so  generous  in  such  need,  was  protected  by  a  wrapping  made  of 
braided  straw.  They  lived  4  miles  from  the  meeting  house,  to  which  the  mother  and 
her  two  boys  walked  every  Sunday.  The  boys  became  Samuel  and  Eliphalet  Nott, 
one  a  famous  preacher,  one  the  president  of  Union  College. 

At  various  times,  from  1736  until  the  close  of  the  century,  Connecti-j 
cut  passed  acts  for  the  encouragement  of  sheep  husbandry  and  the 
woolen  manufactures  by  granting  bounties  for  cloth  made  and  exempt! 
ing  sheep  from  taxation  and  seizure  for  debt,  and  under  these  favoring 
acts  and  the  public  spirit  of  her  citizens  the  woolen  manufacture  was 
well  established  and  maintained  by  the  flocks  that  whitened  her  green] 
hillsides  and  fertile  valleys. 

The  "American  Husbandry,"  published  in  1776,  describes  the  wool  as 
"long  and  coarse,  and  manufactured  into  a  rough  kind  of  cloth,  which 
is  the  only  wear  of  the  province,  except  the  gentry,  who  wear  the  finer 
cloths  of  Great  Britain." 

From  some  imperfect  data  concerning  the  first  sheep  brought  to 
New  England  during  the  early  settlements,  it  is  presumable  that  they 


s4£ 


KENTISH  OR  ROMNEY  MARSH  SHEEP. 


EAST   OF   THE   MISSISSIPPI   RIVER.  45 

were  of  the  kind  common  to  England  at  the  time,  and  were  the  Wilt- 
shire, the  Eomney  Marsh,  the  Herefordshire,  the  Norfolk,  and  the  old 
Southdown  or  Sussex  sheep ;  at  least,  all  the  characteristics  of  these 
breeds  could  be  seen  in  the  different  flocks  in  the  eastern  and  middle 
States  at  the  beginning  of  the  present  century,  and  such  also  were  the 
sheep  of  New  York  prior  to  1804.  These  sheep,  as  they  appeared  when 
first  introduced  into  the  country,  are  now  extinct,  but  a  brief  descrip- 
tion is  necessary  to  show  the  foundation  upon  which  was  reared  our 
sheep  husbandry  and  upon  which  was  also  crossed  the  first  Spanish 
Merinos. 

The  old  Wiltshire  sheep  were  the  largest  of  the  fine-wooled  sheep  of 
England,  and  gave  a  fleece  seldom  exceeding  two  pounds  in  weight, 
and  which  was  much  prized.  They  had  large  horned  heads,  awkward, 
ungainly  bodies,  and  were  rather  greedy  feeders,  slow  in  fattening,  but 
occasionally  attaining  very  great  weight,  some  of  them  running  from 
195  to  250  pounds  when  fit  for  the  butcher.  They  were  excellent  fold- 
ing sheep,  and  enabled  more  corn  to  be  grown  in  Wiltshire,  in  propor- 
tion to  its  size,  than  in  any  other  county  in  England,  and  it  was  this 
virtue  that  gave  them  such  value  to  the  New  England  settlers,  for 
folding  on  corn  land  was  one  of  the  first  uses  to  which  sheep  were  put, 
and  the  system  pursued  in  their  old  Wiltshire  homes  by  the  first  set- 
tlers was  transferred  to  their  new  homes.  If  possible,  the  sheep  were 
turned  on  better  grass  a  little  while  before  they  were  folded,  and  had 
leisure  to  chew  the  cud  and  to  digest  their  food  during  the  hours  of 
ivst;  and  in  the  morning,  their  stomachs  being  emptied,  they  were  not 
only  able,  but  eager,  to  climb  hills  and  traverse  stony,  hard  pastures 
for  their  daily  sustenance.  The  ancient  Wiltshires  have  now  passed 
away,  but  their  blood,  flowing  through  the  veins  of  the  later  Wiltshire 
Downs,  is  now  with  us  in  the  improved  Hampshire  Downs. 

The  Roniney  Marsh  sheep  were  so  called  from  a  limited  tract  of  low 
reclaimed  land  on  the  southern  coast  of  Kent,  at  the  western  entrance 
to  the  Straits  of  Dover.  The  tract  is  14  miles  in  length,  and  at  its 
broadest  part  10  miles,  and  diked  from  the  overflowing  of  the  sea,  and 
consists  in  part  of  fertile  sand,  gravel,  or  peat,  but  essentially  of  a  deep, 
rich,  alluvial  clay,  bearing  the  grasses  and  other  herbage  plants  abund- 
antly, and  never  having  been  subjected  to  the  action  of  the  plow.  The 
grass  was  exceedingly  rank.  There  were  no  hedges  or  trees  to  afford 
shelter.  The  inhabitants  were  few  in  number,  and  mostly  employed  in 
tending  the  numerous  sheep  by  which  the  marsh  was  depastured,  and 
which  were  reared  in  greater  numbers  than  in  any  similar  space  in 
Great  Britain.  Sheep  were  kept  here  from  time  immemorial,  and  until 
within  the  present  century  were  not  much  changed.  They  had  long, 
thick  heads,  and  broad  foreheads  crowned  with  a  tuft  of  wool.  They 
were  flat-sided,  wide  on  the  loin,  with  narrow  breasts,  a  long,  thick  tail, 
with  large  feet  on  a  thick  leg.  Their  bones  were  large  and  the  neck 
and  body  long.  Their  wool  was  long  and  coarse,  coarsest  on  the  breast. 


46  SHEEP    INDUSTRY    OF   THE    UNITED    STATES 

They  were  ftivorites  with  the  butcher,  and  carried  much  internal  fat. 
They  were  very  hardy,  required  no  artificial  food  during  the  winter, 
except  a  little  hay,  and  were  particularly  adapted  to  the  exposed  posi- 
tion on  Boston  Bay,  where  they  are  supposed  first  to  have  been  known 
in  Massachusetts. 

The  old  sheep  of  Herefordshire  were  of  two  varieties,  the  Byeland 
being  the  distinguishing  one,  so  called  from  a  district  in  the  southern 
part  of  the  county  on  which  was  formerly  grown  a  great  quantity  of 
rye,  and  where  these  sheep  were  bred.  It  was  a  small  breed,  seldom 
exceeding  more  than  14  or  16  pounds  the  quarter  in  the  wether,  or  from 
10  to  13  pounds  in  the  ewe.  They  had  white  faces,  and  were  polled,  the 
wool  growing  close  to,  and  sometimes  covering  the  eyes.  The  legs  were 
small  and  clean;  the  bone  altogether  light,-  the  carcass  round  and  com- 
pact, and  peculiarly  developing  itself  on  the  loins  and  haunches.  The 
Kyeland  was  noted  for  the  softness  and  fineness  of  its  wool;  in  fact,  it 
was  long  regarded  as  the  finest  produced  in  Great  Britain,  and  was 
compared  to  that  of  Apulia  and  Tarentum.  The  weight  of  the  fleece 
rarely  exceeded  2  pounds.  The  By  elands  have  practically  disappeared 
from  English  sheep  husbandry.  Their  former  value,  arising  from  the 
value  of  their  wool  in  the  manufacture  of  native  cloth,  could  not  he 
maintained  against  the  finer  wool  of  Spain  and  Saxony,  and  as  mutton 
sheep  they  have  given  way  to  the  Leicesters  and  Southdowns.  The 
value  of  these  sheep  to  the  early  settlers,  principally  for  their  fine  wool, 
was  fully  appreciated,  and  traces  of  their  blood  were  visible  in  some 
parts  of  Massachusetts  and  New  York  as  late  as  1809  or  1810. 

The  aboriginal  sheep  of  Norfolk  and  Suffolk,  such  as  the  first  Ameri- 
can settlers  knew  them,  were  long  and  slender,  the  legs  long,  the  face 
and  legs  black  or  mottled — an  unmingled  and  intense  black  being  con- 
sidered as  a  proof  of  purity  of  blood;  the  face  was  long  and  thin,  flat 
on  the  forehead  and  pointed  at  the  muzzle;  the  countenance  lively,  and 
expressive  of  mingled  timidity  and  wildness.  The  horns  of  the  ewes 
and  wethers  were  of  a  middle  size,  and  generally  straight;  while  the 
horns  of  the  ram  were  long  and  beautifully  spiral,  like  those  of  the  old 
Wiltshire  ram.  They  had  wide  loins,  deficient  forequarters,  low 
shoulders,  and  a  sharp  and  unsightly  chine,  with  a  small  quantity  of 
short  and  fine  wool,  seldom  exceeding  2J  pounds.  The  wool  had  suffi- 
cient felting  properties  to  fit  it  for  being  made  into  coarse  cloths  neces- 
sary for  the  raiment  of  the  early  settlers.  They  fattened  readily,  and, 
like  the  old  Wiltshires,  were  exceedingly  valuable  as  folding  sheep. 
They  did  well  on  all  sorts  of  pastures,  and  were  very  wild  and  restless 
in  their  habits,  resembling  in  that  respect  as  well  as  in  their  general 
appearance  the  deer.  A  good  mutton  sheep,  producing  wool  suitable 
for  coarse  cloth,  picking  up  a  living  on  rough  land,  and  above  all  valJ 
able  as  a  folding  sheep,  they  were  deservedly  popular  and  were  widely 
known  in  New  England,  more  particularly,  however,  in  Ehode  Island 
and  eastern  Massachusetts.  The  breed  is  now  extinct;  in  England  it 


S»ckett  a  Wiibeims  b!ho  Co  Jlew 


OLD  NORFOLK  RAM. 


EAST    OF    THE    MISSISSIPPI    RIVER.  47 

has  been  superseded  by  the  improved  Suffolk  Downs  and  Southdowns; 
in  the  United  States  it  has  been  crossed  out  of  existence,  yet  its  black 
face  and  legs  were  quite  familiar  in  the  common  sheep  of  the  country 
at  the  beginning  of  the  present  century,  and  are  distinguishing  marks 
of  the  modern  improved  Suffolks.  The  plate  showing  a  ram  of  the  old 
Norfolk  breed  represents  him  as  he  appeared  at  the  beginning  of  the 
century  in  England,  when  some  improvement  had  been  made,  not  by 
crossing,  but  by  care  and  selection. 

The  old  Southdown  or  Sussex  sheep  were  polled,  but  it  is  thought 
probable  that  the  original  breed  were  horned.  The  dusky,  or  some- 
times black,  hue  of  the  heads  and  legs  not  only  proves  the  original 
color  of  the  sheep  and  perhaps  of  all  sheep,  but  the  late  period  at  which 
it  was  attempted  to  get  rid  of  this  dingy  hue.  Youatt  says  that  in 
almost  every  flock,  notwithstanding  the  great  care  which  is  now  taken 
to  prevent  it,  several  parti-colored  lambs  will  be  dropped ;  some  with 
large  black  spots,  some  half  black,  and  some  entirely  black.  A  writer 
in  the  "Annals  of  Agriculture"  states  that  he  had  frequently  twelve  or 
fourteen  perfectly  black  lambs,  although  he  never  kept  a  black  ram  or 
ewe.  From  this  he  draws  the  conclusion  that  their  original  color  was 
black ;  that  art  alone  produced  the  white  wool,  and  that  if  the  best  of 
the  Southdowns  were  left  in  a  wild  state  they  would  in  a  few  years  be- 
come black  again.  The  Southdowns  can  trace  their  ancestry  beyond 
the  time  of  William  the  Conqueror,  and  were  known  at  and  before  that 
time  as  grazing  over  the  southern  parts  of  England,  from  the  eastern 
shore  to  the  extreme  point  of  Cornwall,  and  particularly  on  a  long  range 
of  low,  chalky  hills  of  Sussex  known  as  the  South  Downs,  whence  their 
name.  These  sheep  were  of  a  small  size  and  not  well  shaped,  being  long 
and  thin  in  the  neck,  high  on  the  shoulders,  low  behind,  high  on  the 
loins,  down  on  the  rumps,  the  tail  set  on  very  low,  perpendicular  from 
the  hip  bones;  sharp  on  the  back;  the  ribs  flat,  not  bowing;  narrow  in 
the  forequarters,  but  good  in  the  leg,  although  having  big  bone.  The 
wool  was  fine,  weighing  about  2  pounds  to  the  fleece,  the  finest  being 
produced  on  chalky  soil,  and  the  mutton  was  excellent.  The  South- 
downs  were  good  folding  sheep;  not  as  good  as  the  Wiltshires  and 
the  Norfolks,  but  being  of  a  more  tractable,  contented  disposition,  they 
did  not  stray  so  far  from  home  to  become  the  prey  of  wolves  and  the 
constant  care  of  the  shepherd.  They  were  more  hardy  than  the  Nor- 
folks,  better  enduring  scarcity  of  food  and  the  inclemency  of  the  New 
England  weather,  and  produced  more  lambs  and  made  more  attentive 
mothers.  It  is  believed  that  the  best  sheep  of  Ehode  Island  and  east- 
ern Connecticut  were  generally  of  Southdown  blood,  and  that  the  black 
ewes  sold  by  William  Coddington  to  Governor  Winthrop  in  1648  were 
of  this  breed.  Black  sheep  had  peculiar  value  among  the  early  settlers 
in  some  localities,  inasmuch  as  the  wool  required  no  dyeing  when  made 
into  cloth,  and  was  considered  more  durable  in  that  state.  Many  peo- 
ple preferred  to  wear  their  cloths  of  undved  or  black  wool. 


48  SHEEP   INDUSTRY   OP   THE    UNITED    STATES 

From  the  mention  made  by  the  Eev.  Mr.  Eliot  of  the  Cotswold  sheep, ! 
and  of  his  reference  to  a  ram  he  had  of  the  pure  breed,  it  is  possible , 
that  that  blood  was  infused  into  some  of  the  Connecticut  flocks  about 
1750. 

THE   CAROLINAS. 

Sheep  were  taken  to  these  provinces  at  an  early  day,  and  were  gen- 1 
erally  of  a  superior  kind,  both  for  food  and  wool.  North  Carolina  pos- 
sessed some  of  the  better  kind  in  its  earlier  history,  which  were  very  | 
thrifty,  having  most  commonly  two  lambs  at  a  yeaning,  improving  much 
on  open  pastures.  The  mutton  generally  was  exceedingly  fat,  and  of 
good  relish.  The  wool  was  described  as  very  fine,  with  a  good  staple. 
The  women  made  of  it  woolen  cloth,  most  of  the  families  being  kept  in 
apparel,  so  that  they  had  no  occasion  to  run  into  the  merchants'  debt, 
or  lay  their  money  on  stores  for  clothing.  At  a  later  day  r  large  poi- 
tion  of  its  sheep  came  with  settlers  from  Virginia  and  partook  of  the 
general  character  of  the  sheep  of  that  colony,  including  a  strain  of  the 
old  Leicester.  In  South  Carolina  the  first  notice  we  have  of  the  use  of 
the  wool  is  in  1682,  when  some  parties  proposed  to  mix  it  with  the  na- 
tive silk,  producing  a  new  kind  of  stuff.  Many  of  the  sheep  were 
brought  from  England,  and  some  from  lihode  Island,  and  scattering 
notes  of  them  indicate  that  some  care  was  taken  in  the  choice  of  them.;' 
Lawson  said  in  1714  that  the  mutton  in  the  vicinity  of  Charleston  Avas 
good. 

GEORGIA.  ,  I 

Of  the  sheep  of  this  colony,  settled  in  1732,  not  much  has  been  re- 
vealed to  us  in  its  history.  The  mutton  was  pronounced  good,  and  it 
was  yet  scarce  in  1740,  commanding  4J$.  to  5$.  a  pound.  In  later  days 
the  wool  was  pronounced  superior  to  that  of  the  English  kind,  and  fur- 
nished homespun  garments  for  the  majority  of  the  people.  In  the 
southern  part  of  the  colony,  bordering  on  Florida  and  the  Spanish 
possessions,  the  Spanish  sheep  obtained  a  foothold,  which  they  have 
maintained  to  the  present  day;  they  have  degenerated,  it  is  true,  but 
are  still  hardy  sheep,  and  held  in  some  repute. 

EARLY  EFFORTS  AT  IMPROVEMENT. 

With  the  approach  of  the  Ee volution,  more  attention  was  paid  to  the 
raising  of  sheep.  A  feeling  of  independence  showed  itself  in  the  in- 
crease of  flocks,  that  the  domestic  manufacture  might  be  carried  on,J 
and  there  was  an  increased  demand  for  homespun  garments  from  those 
who  had  usually  worn  the  finer  products  of  the  British  looms.  The 
press  of  the  country  called  particular  attention  to  the  importance  of 
increasing  the  number  of  sheep  and  improving  them  by  selecting  the 
best  and  discarding  the  poorest,  and  he  was  no  patriot  \vho  continued 
to  wear  an  English  coat,  or  rather  a  coat  made  from  English  material. 


EAST    OF    THE    MISSISSIPPI    RIVER.  49 

In  particular  did  the  colonial  assemblies  and  the  General  Congress  take 
decided  action.  The  General  Congress,  which  met  September  5,  1774, 
requested  the  merchants  in  the  several  colonies  to  import  no  more  goods, 
and  all  the  people  to  use  their  utmost  endeavors  to  improve  the  breed 
and  increase  the  number  of  sheep  by  killing  as  few  of  them  as  possible, 
and  not  exporting  them,  but  selling  on  moderate  terms  to  their  neigh- 
bors who  might  need  them,  and  to  promote  the  agriculture  and  manu- 
factures of  the  country,  especially  that  of  wool.  The  Congress  of 
Deputies,  which  met  at  Annapolis  in  December  of  the  same  year,  re- 
solved to  encourage  the  breeding  of  sheep,  and  to  promote  the  woolen 
manufacture;  and  in  the  same  month  the  Provincial  Congress  of  Massa- 
chusetts recommended  the  people  to  improve  their  breed  of  sheep,  and 
the  greatest  possible  increase  of  the  same.  The  Assembly  of  Pennsyl- 
vania recommended  the  people  to  abstain  from  eating,  and  the  butchers 
from  the  killing,  of  sheep,  and  the  association  of  butchers  signed  an 
agreement  to  that  effect  in  December.  In  the  following  year  it  was 
ascertained  that,  in  consequence,  the  number  of  sheep  killed  was  20,000 
less  than  in  1774,  a  fact  speaking  well  for  the  people,  and  revealing  the 
taste  for  mutton  in  Philadelphia,  for  a  consumption  that  could  stand  a 
reduction  of  this  amount  must  have  been  considerable.  In  January, 
1775,  the  Provincial  Con  gress  of  South  Carolina  encouraged  the  raising 
of  cotton  and  wool  by  offering  generous  bounties,  and,  on  March  27, 
1775,  the  Convention  of  Virginia  agreed  unanimously,  and  proceeded 
to  urge  that,  after  the  1st  of  May  next,  no  persons  should  use  in  their 
families,  unless  in  case  of  necessity,  and  in  no  case  to  sell  to  butchers, 
or  kill  for  market,  any  sheep  under  4  years  old;  and  the  Georgia  Pro- 
vincial Congress,  in  July  of  that  year,  resolved  that  they  would  use 
their  utmost  endeavors  to  improve  the  breed  of  sheep  and  increase  their 
numbers,  and  to  that  end  would  kill  them  sparingly,  would  not  export 
them  to  the  West  Indies,  and  would  spare  their  surplus  to  their  neigh- 
bors ;  and  they  would  encourage  frugality  and  industry  and  promote 
agriculture  and  manufactures,  especially  that  of  wool.  In  New  Jersey, 
where  the  home  manufacture  was  considerable,  the  legislature,  recog- 
nizing the  fact  that  increasing  the  quantity  of  wool,  flax,  and  hemp 
might  be  of  similar  advantage  to  the  inhabitants,  enacted  that  a  bounty 
be  given  to  persons  raising  or  selling  the  same  in  the  State,  and  on  goods 
manufactured  from  sheep's  wool  the  bounty  was  to  be  1  shilling  per 
pound  to  all  raised  over  and  above  the  amount  required  for  their  own 
family  use. 

The  war  caused  a  deterioration  in  the  character  of  the  colonial  sheep 
and  retarded  the  increase.  The  constant  drain  upon  the  bone  and 
sinew  of  the  land  took  the  farmers  from  their  homes;  flocks  were  neg- 
lected or  completely  lost;  the  soldiery  destroyed  many  of  them,  and, 
save  near  the  large  cities,  the  quality  of  the  mutton  sensibly  declined. 

Immediately  upon  the  close  of  the  Revolutionary  war  many  citizens 
of  the  United  States  sought  to  improve  their  sheep  by  importations 
22990 4 


50  SHEEP    INDUSTRY    OF    THE    UNITED    STATES 

from  abroad  and  by  greater  care  of  those  already  possessed.    Much 
was  done  in  the  latter  respect,  but  England  was  too  jealous  to  permit 
any  of  her  improved  sheep  to  be  used  for  the  purpose  of  increasing  the 
wool  product  of  her  rivals,  and  prohibited  by  stringent  laws  their  ex-3 
portation  from  the  kingdom.    At  the  dictation  of  the  English  manu- 
facturers old  acts  were  revived  and  condensed  into  a  new  act  which 
passed  the  English  Parliament  and  received  the  royal  assent  in  1788, 
whereby  the  exportation  of  sheep  (except  wethers  for  sea  stock,  upon- 
special  license)  was  prohibited,  under  the  penalty  of  forfeiture  of  the^ 
sheep  and  the  vessel  carrying  them,  together  with  £3  sterling  for  every] 
sheep,  and  also  three  months7  solitary  confinement,  to  be  inflicted  onj 
every  person  concerned  or  assisting  for  the  first  offense,  and  heavier 
fines  and  imprisonment  for  repeated  transgressions.    Nor  could  sheep 
be  carried  across  any  tide  river  or  inlet  of  the  sea  within  the  kingdom 
without  bond  being  given  that  they  should  not  be  exported.    Means, 
however,  were  found  to  evade  this  law,  and  numbers  found  their  way; 
to  our  Atlantic  ports,  but  it  is  extremely  difficult  to  trace  them ;  nor  id 
it  a  matter  of  much  moment,  for  they  left  but  small  mark  upon  the 
native  flocks,  save  in  one  or  two  recorded  instances. 

Tench  Coxe,  writing  in  1704,  regretted  the  inattention  paid  to  thel 
raising  of  wool,  but  thought  it  must  become  much  more  abundant  as] 
the  country  became  populated.  Mutton,  he  contended,  was  the  bests 
meat  for  cities,  manufactories,  seminaries  of  learning,  and  poor-houses, 
and  should  be  given  by  rule,  as  in  England.  The  settlement  of  new] 
lands,  remote  from  water  carriage,  must  introduce  much  more  new] 
pasturage  and  grazing  than  had  been  before  necessary,  as  sheep,  horses,  j 
and  horned  cattle  would  carry  themselves  to  market  through  roads  im-^ 
passable  by  wagons.  The  foreign  restrictions  upon  our  trade  would 
also  tend  to  increase  the  number  of  sheep.  Horses  and  horned  cattle \ 
formerly  constituted  a  great  part  of  the  New  England  cargoes  for  the 
English  West  India  Islands;  then  these  animals  were  exported  to  those] 
places  in  smaller  numbers,  as  American  vessels  were  excluded  from  the] 
ports.  The  farms,  capital,  and  men  formerly  employed  in  raising  them] 
would  want  a  market  for  their  usual  quantity,  and  the  nature  of  that! 
country  being  unfit  for  grain,  sheep  of  necessity  would  occupy  a  greatj 
proportion  of  their  lands.  Though  sheep  were  bred  in  all  parts  on 
America,  yet — 

The  most  populous  scenes  in  the  Middle  States  and  the  Eastern  States  have  boon] 
long  settled,  and,  particularly  the  latter,  are  the  places  where  they  thrive  best.  In  j 
the  Eastern  or  New  England  States  they  form  one  of  the  greatest  objects  of  thefarm-1 
er's  attention  and  one  of  his  surest  sources  of  profit.  The  demand  for  wool,  which! 
has  of  late  increased  exceedingly  with  the  rapid  growth  of  our  manufactures,  will  addl 
considerably  to  the  former  great  profits  of  sheep ;  and  the  consumption  of  their  meat] 
by  the  manufacturers  will  render  them  still  more  profitable.* 

A  ISTew  England  writer,  three  years  later,  treating  of  the  sheep  of  the 


*"  A  View  of  the  United  States  of  America."    Tench  Coxe,     Philadelphia,  1794. 


EAST    OF    THE    MISSISSIPPI    RIVER.  51 

Eastern  States,  says:  "They  multiply  fast;  they  are  subject  to  but  few 
diseases  in  this  country;  their  flesh  is  excellent  food,  and  their  wool  of  the 
greatest  importance  to  this  nation,  in  which  the  woolen  manufacturing 
ought  to  be  encouraged,  an'd  may  be  carried  on  to  great  advantage,"  and 
he  proceeds  to  quote  from  Mortimer :  "  The  farmer  should  always  buy 
his  sheep  from  a  worse  land  than  his  own,  and  they  should  be  big-boned 
and  have  a  long,  greasy  wool."*  To  improve  the  wool  of  the  New  Eng- 
land flocks  Dr.  Deane  advised  that  no  lambs  be  kept  for  breeders  but 
such  as  bear  the  best  wool;  and  fine-wooled  ranis  should  be  procured 

distant  places  or  from  foreign  countries. 
Youatt,  in  his  exhaustive  treatise  on  sheep,  says  that — 

itil  tlie  introduction  of  the  Merinos  into  !N"orth  America  little  that  was  satisfactory 
>uld  be  affirmed  of  the  sheep  of  any  part  of  that  country.  Many  portions  of  the 
United  States,  and  even  of  Canada,  possessed  advantages  for  the  breeding  of  sheep 
that  were  not  surpassed  in  Europe.  The  country  was  undulating  or  hilly — the  in- 
closures  more  extensive  than  in  the  best  breeding  districts  of  England — almost  every 
pasture  furnished  with  running  water,  and  sheltered  more  or  less  by  trees  against 
the  summer's  sun;  yet  the  sheep  were  of  the  commonest  kind.  There  was  a  preju- 
dice agaiust  their  meat;  a  prejudice  against  them  altogether;  and  there  was  scarcely 
a  district  in  which  the  wool  was  fit  for  any  but  the  coarser  kind  of  fabrics.  It  might 
have  been  thought  to  be  the  policy  of  the  mother  country  to  foster  a  prejudice  of 
this  kind,  in  order  that  her  colonies  might  be  as  dependent  as  possible  upon  her; 
and  particularly  that  her  woolen  manufactures  might  then  find  a  ready  sale.  Ac- 
cordingly the  American  sheep,  although  somewhat  different  in  various  districts,  con- 
sisted chiefly  of  a  coarse  kind  of  Leicester,  and  those  were  originally  of  British 
breed. 

These  sheep  were  slow  in  arriving  at  maturity,  compared  with  the  im- 
proved English  breeds,  and  yielded,  when  fully  grown,  from  10  to  14 
pounds  of  a  middling  quality  of  mutton  to  the  quarter,  and  a  wool  only 
suited  to  the  coarsest  fabrics,  averaging,  in  the  hands  of  good  farmers, 
from  3  to  3J  pounds  to  the  fleece.  They  were  usually  long-legged, 
light  in  the  fore-quarter,  and  narrow  in  the  breast  and  back,  although 
some  rare  instances  might  be  found  of  flocks  with  the  short  legs  and 
some  approximation  to  the  general  form  of  the  improved  breeds.  The 
common  sheep  were  excellent  breeders,  often  rearing,  almost  entirely 
destitute  of  care  and  without  shelter,  100  per  cent  of  lambs,  and  in 
small  flocks  a  still  larger  proportion.  These,  too,  were  usually  dropped 
in  March  or  the  earlier  part  of  April.  Eestless  in  their  disposition, 
their  impuLience  of  restraint  almost  equaled  that  of  the  untamed  Ar- 
gali,  from  \T]:V!I  they  were  descended;  and  in  many  sections  of  our 
country  it  was  common  to  see  from  twenty  to  fifty  of  them  roving,  with 
little  regard  to  in  closures,  over  the  possessions  of  their  owner  and  his 
neighbors,  leaving  a  large  portion  of  their  wool  adhering  to  bushes 
and  thorns,  and  the  remainder  placed  nearly  beyond  the  possibility 
of  carding  by  the  tory-weed  and  burdock,  so  common  on  new  lands. 
The  old  common  stock  of  sheep,  as  a  distinct  family,  have  about  disap- 

*  "New  England  Farmer,  or  Georgical  Dictionary."  Samuel  Deane,  vice-president 
of  Bowdoin  College,  Worcester,  Mass.,  1797. 


52         SHEEP  INDUSTRY  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES 


peared,  having  been  universally  crossed,  to  a  greater  or  less  extent, 
with,  the  foreign  breeds  of  later  introduction.* 

The  Massachusetts  Society  for  Promoting  Agriculture,  in  a  paper  of 
1796,  called  attention  to  the  great  importance  of  improving  the  breed 
of  sheep,  remarking  that  the  attempts  heretofore  made  to  "mend  the 
breed"  were  few  and  evidently  not  well  conducted.  The  principal 
efforts  had  been  to  increase  the  size  of  animals,  which  had  not  always 
been  attended  with  increased  profit.  From  this  paper  we  learn  that 
the  great  Lincolnshire  rams  had  been  imported  and  were  said  to  be  ill 
flavored,  not  healthy,  and  ill  adapted  to  the  short,  sweet  food  of  the 
New  England  hills,  as  they  originally  fed  on  the  Lincoln  fens  or  low 
grounds.  It  was  suggested  that  the  Dorsetshire  breed  as  a  smaller  one 
was  more  desirable  5  it  was  not  then  known  in  America.  It  was  par- 
ticularly urged  upon  the  farmers  to  make  improvements  on  the  native 
stock  by  judicious  selection. 

The  same  society,  in  1799,  submitted  several  questions  to  the  farmers 
of  the  State.  Among  them  were,  What  kind  of  beasts  were  kept  on  the 
farms  and  in  what  numbers'?  The  inquiry  was  confined  to  medium 
farms,  and  the  answers  were  given  in  the  proceedings  of  the  society  in 
January,  1800.  For  convenience  they  are  grouped : 

(1)  One  to  2  horses ;  1  yoke  of  oxen ;  5  or  6  cows ;  10  sheep. 

(2)  One  to  2  horses;  15  cattle;  10  sheep. 

(3)  One  horse ;  4  oxen ;  6  or  7  cows ;  15  or  20  sheep. 

(4)  Two  horses ;  2  yoke  of  oxen ;  15  cows ;  15  or  20  sheep. 

(5)  Two  horses ;  15  cows ;  15  sheep. 

This  ratio  held  good,  not  only  in  Massachusetts,  but  throughout  all 
New  England.  The  average  farmer  had  one  or  two  horses,  from  one  to 
two  yoke  of  oxen,  and  from  ten  to  twenty  sheep.  The  sheep  ran  out 
and  fed  on  grass  when  they  could  get  it,  and  were  kept  through  the 
winter  on  hay,  corn,  turnips,  potatoes,  carrots,  and  pods,  straw  of  beans 
and  peas,  and  cornstalks.  It  was  not  the  choice  of  these  that  they  fed 
upon,  but  the  article  that  was  most  available  for  the  farmer  and  least 
needed  by  the  horses  and  cattle.  The  cost  of  the  sheep  was  from  $1.50 
to  $2  per  year,  and  the  cost  of  eight  sheep  equaled  that  of  one  cow. 
The  ordinary  weight  of  the  sheep  was  12  pounds  to  the  quarter,  worth 
4s.  The  largest  and  best  sheep  ran  28  pounds  per  quarter  and  sold  at 
Qd.  per  pound.  The  fleece  weighed  from  2  to  3  pounds. 

The  descendants  of  these  New  England  sheep,  known  in  our  day  as 
"  native  sheep,"  in  distinction  from  the  breeds  of  known  importation, 
were  of  two  kinds — one  with  white  faces  and  the  other  with  dark  faces 
and  legs.  The  first  was  preserved  in  the  eastern  part  of  the  country 
and  on  the  islands,  while  the  latter  are  known  in  the  valley  of  the  Con- 
necticut by  the  name  of  "  English  smuts  "  or  "  Irish  smuts."  These  last 
may  have  been  Southdowns,  imported  before  the  improvement  of  that 
celebrated  breed,  as  they  bear  many  of  their  characteristics,  and  might, 

*  "Sheep  Husbandry  in  the  South."    Henry  S.  Randall. 


EAST   OF    THE   MISSISSIPPI    RIVER.  53 

had  tliey  been  bred  with  the  care  and  perseverence  which  the  South- 
downs  received,  have  been  a  most  valuable  breed.* 

But  on  the  immediate  seaboard,  not  only  of  Massachusetts,  but  of 
Connecticut,  Rhode  Island,  Long  Island,  Xew  Jersey,  and  far  to  the 
southward,  the  sheep  were  of  a  motley  variety.  Our  seamen  would 
often  bring  a  rani  or  ewe  or  a  pair  from  the  countries  that  they  visited, 
and  thus  in  time  the  flocks  near  the  coast  became  extremely  various. 

At  the  close  of  the  century  the  sheep  of  Virginia  were  generally  de- 
scendants of  those  brought  into  the  colony  before  the  Revolution,  with 
the  exception  of  a  few  Irish  sheep  which  had  been  smuggled  into  the 
country.  The  Irish  sheep  were  large  and  fine,  but  were  not  much  ex- 
tended. The  generality  of  the  sheep  were  good,  yielding  a  fair  quan- 
tity of  wool  and  good  mutton,  better  wool,  according  to  George  Wash- 
ington, than  that  raised  elsewhere  in  the  country. 

It  may  be  stated  that,  as  a  general  thing,  very  little  attention  was 
paid  to  sheep  in  any  of  the  States  about  the  year  1800.  Every  farmer 
had  a  certain  number  of  them,  sufficient  to  furnish  him  with  wool  for 
domestic  uses.  It  was  not  his  interest  to  have  more,  for  as  manufac- 
tures had  not  arisen  and  it  would  not  bear  exportation,  wool  was  an 
article  scarcely  marketable  in  large  quantities.  The  drovers,  also,  to 
make  up  a  lot  of  fat  wethers,  had  to  travel  from  farm  to  farm,  picking 
up  a  few  here  and  a  few  there.  Ko  attention  being  paid  to  their  im- 
provement, the  practice  prevailed  universally  of  selecting  the  very  finest 
vsheep  for  the  table,  and  the  butchers  were  allowed  to  do  the  same  from 
the  flocks.  The  farmers  did  then  with  sheep  as  many  do  now  with 
potatoes — they  selected  the  poorest  and  smallest  for  seed. 

The  man  who,  of  all  others,  was  the  first  to  improve  the  breed  of  native 
.sheep,  of  which  we  have  record,  was  George  Washington.  Few  ever 
possessed  so  keen  a  love  for  the  farm  and  for  rural  pursuits  and  a 
greater  pride  in  the  profession  of  a  farmer  than  he,  and  before  the  war 
he  was  known  in  London  as  the  most  reliable  planter  in  Virginia.  Im- 
mediately after  the  peace  of  1783,  and  his  return  to  the  occupation  of  a 
farmer,  he  paid  particular  attention  to  his  breed  of  sheep,  of  which  he 
usually  kept  from  700  to  800,  and  from  which  he  realized  upon  the  aver- 
age over  5  pounds  of  wool  to  each  sheep.  He  was  a  correspondent  of 
Arthur  Young,  of  England,  who  at  the  close  of  the  last  century  was 
the  most  intelligent  and  advanced  farmer  of  England — a  great  traveler, 
very  observant,  and  a  voluminous  writer  on  agricultural  matters. 

Writing  to  Arthur  Young,  from  Mount  Vernon,  on  December  4,  1788, 
Washington  says: 

I  would  willingly  Lave  sent  you  a  lock  of  the  wool  of  my  sheep,  agreeably  to  your 
desire,  but  it  is  all  wrought  into  cloth,  and  I  must  therefore  defer  it  until  after  the 
next  shearing.  You  may  expect  it  by  some  future  conveyance.  A  manufacturer 
from  Leeds,  who  was  lately  here,  judges  it  to  be  of  about  the  same  quality  with  the 
English  wool  in  general,  though  there  is  always  a  great  difference  in  the  fineness  of 

*  Report  of  Massachusetts  Board  of  Agriculture,  1860. 


54         SHEEP  INDUSTRY  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES 

different  parts  of  the  same  ilcece.  I  can  not  help  thinking  that  increasing  and  iui-  . 
proving  our  breed  of  sheep  would  be  one  of  .the  most  profitable  speculations  we 
could  undertake;  especially  in  this  part  of  the  continent,  where  we  have  so  little 
winter  that  they  require  either  no  day  fodder,  or  next  to  none;  and  where  we  are 
sufficiently  distant  from  the  frontiers  not  to  be  troubled  with  wolves  or  other  wild 
vermin,  which  prevent  the  inhabitants  there  from  keeping  flocks.  Though  we  do 
not  feed  our  sheep  upon  leaves,  as  you  mention  they  do  in  some  parts  of  France,  yet 
we  can  not  Avant  for  pastures  enough  suitable  for  them.  I  am  at  a  loss,  therefore,  to 
account  for  the  disproportion  between  their  value  and  that  of  black  cattle,  as  well 
as  for  our  not  augmenting  the  number.  So  persuaded  am  I  of  the  practicability  and 
advantage  of  it,  that  I  have  raised  near  two  hundred  lambs  upon  my  farm  this  year.  I 
am  glad  to  find  that  you  are  likely  to  succeed  in  propagating  the  Spanish  breed  of  sheep 
in  England,  and  that  the  wool  does  not  degenerate;  for  the  multiplication  of  useful 
animals  is  a  common  blessing  to  mankind. 

Washington  sent  the  wool  mentioned  in  this  letter,  after  his  next 
shearing  of  1789,  and  it  was  put  into  the  hands  of  English  manufactur- 
ers, who  pronounced  it  to  be  equal  in  quality  to  the  Kentish  wool.  The 
fleeces  weighed  on  an  average  5J  pounds. 

In  his  correspondence  at  this  time  Washington  expressed  the  opinion 
that  it  was  better  to  raise  sheep  and  black  cattle  than  horses,  and  on 
November  22,  1789,  in  communicating  to  Governor  Beverly  Eandolpli, 
of  Virginia,  a  proposal  of  some  parties  to  establish  a  woolen  manufac- 
tory in  Virginia  did  not  pretend  to  determine  how  far  the  plan  might 
be  advisable  or  practicable,  or  whether  any  public  encouragement  should 
be  given  to  the  enterprise,  but  he  had,  however— 

no  doubt  as  to  the  good  policy  of  increasing  the  number  of  sheep  in  every  State. 
By  a  little  legislative  encouragement  the  farmers  of  Connecticut  have,  in  two  years 
past,  added  100,000  to  their  former  stock.  In  my  late  tour  through  the  Eastern  States 
I  found  that  the  manufacturers  of  woolens  (for  the  manufacture  of  woolens  is  car- 
ried on  there  to  a  very  considerable  extent  and  advantage)  preferred  the  wool  raised 
in  Virginia  for  its  fineness  to  that  raised  in  more  northern  parts  of  the  continent.  If 
a  greater  quantity  of  wool  can  be  produced,  and  if  the  hands,  which  are  often  in  a 
manner  idle,  could  be  employed  in  manufacturing  it,  a  spirit  of  industry  might  be 
promoted,  a  great  diminution  might  be  made  in  the  annual  expenses  of  individual 
families,  and  the  public  would  eventually  be  exceedingly  benefited. 

The  woolen  manufactory  referred  to  in  this  letter  of  Washington  was 
that  of  Col.  Jeremiah  Wadsworth,  at  Hartford,  Conn.,  where,  between 
September,  1788,  and  September,  1789,  about  5,000  yards  of  cloth  were 
made,  some  of  which  sold  at  $5  a  yard.  Washington  records  in  Iris 
diary : 

Their  broadcloths  are  not  of  the  first  quality  as  yet,  but  they  are  good,  as  are  their 
coatings,  cassimeres,  serges,  and  everlastings.  Of  the  first,  that  is,  broadcloth,  I 
ordered  a  suit  to  be  sent  to  me  at  New  York,  and  of  the  latter  a  whole  piece,  to  make 
breeches  for  my  servants.  All  the  parts  of  this  business  are  performed  at  the  manu- 
factory except  the  spinning.  This  is  done  by  the  country  people,  who  are  paid  by 
the  cut. 

George  W.  Parke  Custis  records  that  when  Washington  was  inaugu- 
rated President  of  the  United  States,  April  30,  1789,  he  was  wholly 
clothed  in  goods  of  American  manufacture,  and  he  is  said  to  have  read 
his  address  to  Congress  in  the  ensuing  January  (1790)  in  a  full  suit  of 


EAST    OF    THE    MISSISSIPPI    RIVER.  55 

.  broadcloth  made  at  the  Hartford  factory  and  presented  by  the  proprie- 
tors. 

From  some  correspondence  between  Washington  and  some  prominent 
farmers  of  Pennsylvania,  Maryland,  and  Virginia,  seeking  information 
which  he  was  collecting  for  Mr.  Arthur  Young,  we  learn  that  sheep 
were  worth  from  6s.  to  12s. ;  mutton  3d.  per  pound,  and  wool  Is.  per 
pound.  Turkeys  were  2s.  each,  and  chickens  3s.  per  dozen.  He  writes 
again  to  Young  from  Philadelphia,  June  18,  1792: 

Sheep  thrive  very  well  in  the  Middle  States,  though  they  are  not  exempt  from  dis- 
eases and  are  often  injured  by  dogs,  and  more  so,  as  you  approach  the  mountains,  by 
•Wolves.  Were  we  to  use  horses  less  and  oxen  more  on  our  farms  (as  they  do  in  the 
New  England  States),  we  should,  unquestionably,  find  our  account  in  it;  yet,  strange 
as  it  may  seem,  few  are  in  the  practice  of  the  latter;  and  none  push  the  raising  of 
sheep  to  the  extent  they  might  and  ought  to  do.  The  fact  is  we  have,  in  a  manner, 
everything  to  learn  that  respects  neat  and  profitable  husbandry. 

Bakewell's  breed  of  sheep  are  much  celebrated,  and  deservedly,  I  presume;  but  if 
intrusted  to  a  common  bailiff  (or  with  us  is  called  an  overseer)  they  would,  I  should 
apprehend,  soon  degenerate,  for  want  of  that  care  and  attention  which  is  necessary 
to  preserve  the  breed  in  its  purity.  But  the  great  impediment  is  in  the  British  stat- 
utes; these  discourage  men  of  delicacy,  in  this  country,  from  attempting  what  might 
involve  the  master  of  a  vessel  in  serious  consequences  if  detected  in  the  breach  of 
them.  Others,  however,  less  scrupulous,  have  attempted  to  import  English  rams  Avith 
success,  and  by  this  means  our  flocks  in  many  places  are  much  improved — mine,  for 
instance,  though  I  never  was  concerned,  directly  or  indirectly,  in  the  importation  of 
one,  further  than  by  buying  lambs  which  have  descended  from  them. 

Mr.  Young,  in  reply  to  the  various  papers  sent  him  by  Washington, 
giving  price  of  land,  stock,  cereals,  and  other  produce,  with  the  mode 
and  cost  of  farming,  remarks: 

You  have  the  unaccountable  circumstance,  I  see,  as  well  as  England,  of  mutton  be- 
ing dearer  than  beef.  Horses,  not  oxen,  being  almost  universal  with  us,  makes  it  yet 
more  stange.  I  know  from  experiments  made  with  considerable  care  that  if  they 
were  at  the  same  price  the  farmer  would  have  more  profit  by  producing  mutton  than 
by  producing  beef;  yet  is  mutton  by  many  per  cent  higher  priced;  but  sheep  give  you 
another  profit  in  their  wool,  and  a  third  in  their  fold.  The  former  with  us  is  infa- 
mously depressed  in  price,  but  not  in  America,for  your  wool  at  Is.  per  pound  is  33  per 
cent  higher  than  it  would  sell  for  in  England.  Why,  then,  surely  you  should  raise 
those  products  that  sell  well,  and  wool  sells  better  (of  course  in  quantity)  than  any- 
thing else  you  have.  With  mutton  at  3(7.  per  pound  and  wool  at  1».  there  can  be  no 
comparison  between  sheep  and  any  other  application  of  land.  But  there  must  be  a 
market  for  mutton,  and  to  effect  that  you  should  get  Bakewell's  breed,  which  fatten 
so  readily  on  very  good  land  that  a  common  application  of  it  is  salting,  to  use  in- 
stead of  bacon.  The  provincial  assemblies  of  France  have  employed  smugglers  to  get 
(badly  chosen;  English  sheep.  Half  the  kings  of  Europe  have  done  the  same,  to  get 
Spanish  sheep;  both  very  wisely.  I  hope  your  American  assemblies  will  be  equally 
wise  and  take  care  that  the  food  produced  in  the  State  is  applied  in  the  breeds  that 
will  best  pay  for  it. 

This  and  other  letters  on  the  same  subject,  which  were  submitted  to 
Thomas  Jefferson,  then  Washington's  Secretary  of  State,  for  his  com- 
ment and  information,  had  such  an  effect  upon  that  gentleman,  who 
also  raised  sheep,  that  he  concluded  to  "push  the  number  of  sheep" 
on  his  own  plantation,  acknowledging  that  he  "  had  never  before  con- 
sidered, with  due  attention,  the  profit  from  that  animal." 


56         SHEEP  INDUSTRY  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES 

Richard  Peters,  at  Belmont,  6  miles  from  Philadelphia,  could  see  but 
little  prospect  for  sheep  husbandry.  There  was  no  sale  for  any  great 
quantity  of  mutton ;  the  people  kept  too  many  dogs;  the  dryuess  of 
the  season  burned  up  the  pasture  for  a  great  part  of  the  year,  and  the 
long  winters  rendered  their  keeping  expensive  and  subjected  the  animal 
to  numberless  disorders.  He  had  tried  the  English  sheep,  which  stood 
the  climate  badly  and  soon  degenerated.  As  to  the  fleece,  it  was  scant, 
3  pounds  per  sheep  being  an  overcalculation.  Wool  was  in  some  de- 
mand just  then,  but  it  had  been  unsalable.  He  was  in  hopes  that 
manufactures  would  increase  the  demand,  but  the  prospect  was  distant. 
None  were  kept,  within  his  knowledge,  but  in  small  numbers  and  as  a 
variety  in  a  farmer's  stock.  They  were  close  feeders  and  "  destroy  pas- 
ture prodigiously."  Upon  this  latter  assertion  Arthur  Young  makes 
note  that  "this  idea  shows  how  little  they  know  of  sheep." 

In  a  subsequent  communication  to  Washington  Mr.  Peters  expressed 
the  opinion  that  if  the  sheep  business  was  carried  on  to  much  extent 
there  would  be  a  necessity  for  exportation.  The  establishment  of  con- 
siderable manufactures  would  take  off  part  of  the  mutton  of  the  flocks, 
besides  using  up  the  wool.  There  was  but  little  or  no  export  of  wool  to 
foreign  parts,  which  was  consumed  at  home,  where  excellent  coarse 
cloths  were  made,  in  which  a  great  proportion  of  the  farmers  were  clad. 
A  variety  of  other  woolen  fabrics  was  also  made.  Returning  to  the 
subject  of  the  destruction  by  sheep  of  pasturage,  he  knew  that  they  did 
not  eat  so  much  in  proportion  as  other  beasts,  and  their  dung  was  re- 
markably fertilizing ;  but  they  bit  close,  and  the  droughts  and  heats  of 
summer,  which  were  long  and  periodical,  burned  up  the  roots.  It  was 
a  generally  received  opinion,  in  which  he  concurred,  that  they  destroyed 
pasture,  and  it  was  not  found  that  "the  more  sheep  we  keep  the  more 
we  may ; "  in  fact,  the  converse  was  true.  In  countries  where  it  was  an 
object  and  where  there  were  better  systems  of  farming  with  dripping 
seasons  it  might  be  otherwise.  But  in  the  state  of  things  at  that  time 
(1793)  he  adhered  to  his  former  opinion — that  distributing  sheep  in 
small  numbers  to  every  farmer  would  do  better  than  any  other  plan. 
He  knew  that  better  care  could  be  taken  of  them  in  that  way,  for  the 
farmer  could  and,  in  fact,  did  attend  to  them  without  interfering  too 
much  with  his  other  affairs.  Invariably  the  sheep  of  the  small  flocks 
looked  the  best  and  had  the  most  wool.  With  twenty  sheep  to  each 
farm  capable  of  supporting  them  Judge  Peters  thought  we  might  raise 
a  "prodigious  number;"  and  then  he  dropped  off  on  to  the  subject  of 
dogs,  "too  many  being  uselessly  kept  by  the  wealthy  and  not  a  few  by 
poor  people,  who  do  not  feed  them."  The  law,  it  was  true,  gave  dam- 
ages for  the  loss  of  sheep  by  dogs,  but  the  farmers  rarely  prosecuted 
these  cases;  being  content  Avith  the  first  loss  they  preferred  losing  the 
value  of  their  sheep  than  to  be  fleeced  by  the  lawyers  in  prosecuting 
for  damages. 

Washington  was  a  careful  and  methodical  farmer,  keeping  strict  and 
minute  accounts  and  adhering  to  the  adage  to  take  care  of  the  pennies 


EAST    OF    THE    MISSISSIPPI    RIVER.  57 

and  the  pounds  would  take  care  of  themselves.  During  his  absence 
from  Mount  Vernon,  while  serving  as  President  of  the  United  States, 
residing  at  New  York  and  Philadelphia,  he  exacted  weekly  reports  from 
his  overseer  and  gave  weekly  directions  as  to  the  management  of  his 
estate.  He  kept  a  sharp  watch  on  the  price  of  flour  at  Alexandria  and 
the  amount  of  butter  used  in  the  family;  cautioned  his  overseer  not  to 
trust  the  neighbors  for  the  services  of  his  Spanish  jackass,  and  thought 
some  of  his  slaves  ate  too  much  bacon,  and  that  the  servant  in  charge 
of  the  butter  either  used  too  much  of  it  or  sold  it  at  the  tavern  in  Alex- 
andria, when  he  made  the  weekly  trip  to  that  place  to  sell  small  prod- 
uce and  lay  in  supplies  such  as  sugar,  salt,  and  nails.  His  frequent 
references  to  his  sheep  are  interesting.  On  April  6,  1794,  he  writes  to 
Mr.  Pearce,  his  overseer: 

I  am  sorry  to  find  that  my  chance  for  lambs  this  year  is  so  bad.  It  does  not  ap- 
pear to  me  by  the  reports  that  I  shall  have  more  than  a  third  of  what  I  had  last  year. 
'What  this  can  be  ascribed  to  is  beyond  my  comprehension,  unless  it  be  for  want  of 
rams.  Let,  therefore,  at  shearing  time,  a  selection  of  the  best  be  formed,  and  other- 
wise promising  ram  lambs  be  set  apart  (in  sufficient  numbers)  to  breed  from,  and 
wh'.-n  they  are  fit  for  it,  cut  the  old  ones  and  turn  them  aside  to  be  disposed  of.  At 
shearing  time,  also,  let  there  be  a  thorough  culling  out  of  all  the  old  and  indifferent 
she •»•[>  from  the  flocks,  that  they  may  be  disposed  of,  and  thereby  save  me  the  morti- 
fication of  hearing  every  week  of  their  death,  which  is  the  more  vexatious  as  1  was 
Tail  glit  to  believe  that  every  indifferent  sheep  was  drawn  for  this  purpose  last  spring, 
notwithstanding  the  loss  of  them  which  has  been  sustained  the  past  winter,  and, 
indeed,  unto  the  present  moment. 

On  June  8,  1794,  he  writes : 

So  far  has  it  been  from  my  practice  or  policy  to  sell  off  the  forward  ewe  lambs, 
that,  in  order  to  prevent  it,  I  would  not  suffer  any  lambs  to  be  disposed  of  at  all  un- 
less it  was  the  very  later  runts.  My  plan,  while  it  was  in  my  power  to  attend  to 
these  matters  myself,  was  to  be  sparing  of  the  lambs,  even  for  my  own  table,  and 
never  to  kill  the  females;  to  keep  the  ewe  lambs  (especially  the  later  ones)  from 
tht  rams  the  first  year;  to  separate  the  rams  from  the  ewes  at  sh(e)aring  time  (to  be 
returned  at  a  proper  season),  and,  at  sh(e)aring  time  also,  to  cull  over  and  remove  to 
a  pasture  by  themselves  all  the  sheep  above  a  certain  age,  and  all  such  as  appeared 
to  be  upon  the  decline,  that,  after  receiving  the  summer's  run,  and  such  aid  as  could 
otherwise  be  afforded  them,  they  might  be  disposed  of  to  the  butchers,  reserving 
enough  for  the  use  of  the  family. 

The  flock  seems  to  have  deteriorated,  and  Washington  writes,  May 
15,1796: 

I  do  not  now  know  where  to  advise  you  to  get  supplied  with  good  rams.  *  *  * 
But  this  ought  not  to  deter  you  from  the  purchase  of  (at  least)  one  good  ram,  to  go 
to  a  score  or  more  of  your  choicest  ewes — from  such  an  experiment  and  beginning 
you  might,  by  the  year  following,  have  ranis  enough  for  the  whole  flock.  This 
method  I  pursued  some  years  ago  to  the  very  great  advancement  of  my  breed  of 
sheep. 

On  Washington's  return  to  private  life  in  1797,  he  found  tliat  his 
sheep,  numbering  800  in  1788,  and  producing  5J  pounds  of  wool,  had 
dwindled  down  to  not  more  than  200,  producing  about  2J  pounds  of 
wool  each.  While  as  a  rule  the  mutton  of  Yirgiuia  was  deemed  excel- 
lent, that  raised  by  Washington  exceeded  all  other  in  its  sweetness 
and  delicacy,  and  was  universally  extolled  by  those  who  had  the  pleas- 


58         SHEEP  INDUSTRY  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES 

ure  to  accept  the  hospitalities  of  Mount  Vernon.  The  best  mutton  of 
the  State  was  originally  derived  from  the  sheep  of  Curagao,  imported 
many  years  before  and  generally  extended.  The  tail  was  considerd  a 
great  delicacy,  though  not  so  large  as  that  of  the  Barbary  race.  Wash- 
ington had  some  fine  descendants  of  this  breed,  and  he  mixed  into  his 
flock  some  West  India  sheep,  presented  by  a  gentleman,  Mr.  Athol,  of 
Antigua 5  these  sheep  were  perfectly  hairy,  much  resembling  deer,  and 
bearing  delicious  mutton.  These  tropical  strangers  soon  lost  their  hair, 
which  was  replaced  by  a  soft  wool. 

As  far  as  their  mutton-producing  qualities  were  concerned,  Washing- 
ton's sheep  could  not  be  excelled  by  any  south  of  Philadelphia,  and  it 
was  when  he  sought  their  improvement  in  the  direction  of  wool  that  a 
friend  furnished  the  means  of  so  doing.  As  early  as  1791,  there  was, 
in  the  vicinity  of  Baltimore,  a  remarkable  breed  of  sheep,  owing  its  ex- 
cellence to  the  importation  of  Persian  sheep  and  breeding  from  them 
on  the  common  sheep  of  the  country.  A  gentleman  of  Baltimore 
County,  in  a  letter  of  October  19, 1791,  says :  "  I  have  a  remarkable 
breed  of  sheep,  which  hath  been  produced  by  adding  to  my  flock  a  Per- 
sian ram.  The  other  day  I  separated  from  the  rest  twelve  wethers. 
These  I  intend  to  kill  this  winter.  They  appeared  so  uncommonly  fat 
and  large  that  I  was  induced  to  weigh  them  alive :  154, 177,  188,  181, 
168, 157, 168,  174, 155, 172,  152,  169=2,015  pounds,"  or  an  average  of 
168  pounds.  The  name  of  the  owner  is  not  known,  but  supposed  to  be 
Col.  O'Donnell.  Be  this  as  it  may,  in  1797,  Col.  O'DonneU,  of  Balti- 
more, or  a  Mr.  Barry,  presented  Washington  a  Persian  ram  and  ewe 
imported  direct  from  the  East  Indies.  Washington  bred  from  this  ram 
and  ewe  and  also  introduced  the  ram  into  his  flock  of  fine  sheep. 
Death  closed  his  career  before  he  could  give  his  countrymen  the  result, 
but  Thomas  Diggs,  one  of  his  neighbors,  gave  his  opinion  that  the 
resulting  breed,  for  American  purposes,  were  far  superior  to  either  the 
Merino  or  Persian  5  and  although  less  in  size  and  perhaps  weight  of 
fleece,  the  quality  of  their  wool  was  fully  as  good  for  the  fabric  of  com- 
mon broadcloths  of  England  as  any  which  had  come  under  his  obser- 
vation in  the  principal  clothing  counties  of  England — Yorkshire,  Wilt- 
shire, Gloucester,  or  Somerset — the  last  furnishing  the  finest  and  most 
delicate  broadcloths  and  cassimeres. 

Washington's  live  stock  was  sold  in  1802,  and  the  sheep  were  scat- 
tered. G.  W.  P.  Custis  purchased  some  of  them,  including  two  imported 
Leicester  ewes  and  the  Persian  ram,  paying  for  the  latter  $50,  a  sum  in 
those  days  for  a  sheep  deemed  the  effect  of  enthusiasm  or  folly.*  The 

*We  copy  the  following  from  the  Washington  Federalist,  No.  345,  July  26, 1802: 
"At  the  late  sale  of  Gen.  Washington's  stock  the  following  prices  were  given : 

The  largest  imported  bull  sold  for $334 

The  second  size 115 

Two  cows  for 205 

Imported  ram 33 

Imported  sheep,  each 13 


EAST    OF    THE    MISSISSIPPI    RIVER.  59 


rain  liad  not  been  iu  the  Mount  Vernon  Hocks  a  long  time,  but  bis  get 
had  wonderfully  improved  the  form  and  greatly  increased  the  length  of 
staple  in  the  flocks,  and  made  better  mutton. 

THE   ARLINGTON    LOXG-WOOLED   SHEEP. 

The  improvement  inaugurated  by  Washington  was  continued  by 
George  Washington  Parke  Custis,  of  Arlington,  who,  from  the  Mount 
jpV'ernon  stock,  "a  relic  of  him  whose  labors  for  the  happiness  and  pros- 
perity of  his  country  ceased  only  with  his  life,"  produced  a  superior 
feheep,  known  as  the  Arlington  improved  or  Arlington  long-wooled 
Rieep.  Mr.  Custis  says  of  the  race  thus  derived  that  they  combined 
many  of  the  finest- qualities  desirable  in  sheep — a  wool  of  great  length 
and  fine  texture,  and  a  form  uniting  compactness  of  body  with  little 
offal.  These  sheep  were  of  good  constitution,  fed  well,  and  carried  fat 
on  the  best  parts,  of  good  size,  and  fully  sufficient  for  the  generality  of 
pasturage.  These  qualities  could  be  increased  to  keep  pace  with  the 
improvements  of  the  soil;  were  this  not  the  case,  Mr.  Custis  remarks — 

the  race  might  degenerate  for  the  want  of  proper  keep.     When  we  consider  that 
me  soil  which  supports  the  miserable  and  degenerate  race  of  sheep  common  in 
thK  country  would  at  the  same  time  give  nourishment  to  a  superior  sort,  the  ad- 
vantages of  improvement  must  be  "evident  to  every  mind.     Indeed  the  whole  merit  in 
ieuee  of  breeding  consists  in  producing  an  animal  which  shall   yield  the  most 
piorit  at  the  least  expense.     The  famous  sheep  of  Bake  well,  which  rank  so  high  in 
th-  scale  of  European  improvements,  are  remarkable  for  being  good  feeders,  and  de- 
riving sustenance  where  others  would  perish.     All  improved  animals  have  a  tendency 
ten.  from  their  superior  form,  and  the  great  object  of  breeders  has  been  to  correct 
the  form  so  as  to  dispose  of  the  fat  upon  the  most  beneficial  parts,  and  leave  the  least 
ile  quantity  of  offal.  *     *    Our  sheep  are,  generally  speaking,  lamentably 

'"lit  in  the  desirable  qualities  just  mentioned,  their  bone  being  very  dispropor- 
l  to  the  weight  it  has  to  sustain,  and  unnecessarily  large  for  an  animal  which 
;  ins  no  labor.     For  this  reason  the  farmer  complains  of  his  mutton  not  bringing 
i  good  price,  but  the  butcher  who  disposes  of  it  by  the  pound  very  wisely  cal- 
culates the  weight  of  his  purchase,  and  does  not  buy  from  appearance  alone.     Thus  a 
sh'-ep.  to  appearance  very  large,  may  weigh   but  very  little.     From  a  slight  view  of 
the  necessary  requisites  in  breeding  improved  stock  for  the  market,  I  again  return  to 
the  more  patriotic  considerations  of  the  fleece,  having  barely  called  in  the  preceding 
r« -marks  to  aid  the  cause. 

Mr.  Cast  is  bred  the  Arlington  long-wooled  sheep  with  particular  ref- 
erence to  the  market,  so  as,  if  possible,  to  leave  no  exception  to  the  gen- 
eral introduction  of  their  fleece,  and  the  manner  in  which  he  went  to 
the  improvement  of  his  sheep  he  has  left  on  record.  The  Persian  from 
whence  this  stock  was  originally  derived,  carried  a  wool  of  great  length, 
but  coarse,  yet  possessed  a  high  form  and  good  constitution.  Upon 
this  long  wool  and  good  form  Mr.  Custis  engrafted  the  fine  and  thick 
wool  of  Bakewell,  his  capital  premium  ram  of  1805,  and  invariably  bred 
this  ram  upon  his  descendants,  thus  following  the  doctrines  introduced 
and  practiced  at  Dishley  as  far  as  then  known.  Previous  to  the  insti- 
tution of  the  premiums  in  1805,  he  had  so  far  succeeded  in  the  improve- 
ment of  his  own  domestic  stock  as  to  produce  a  very  capital  rani,  which 


60         SHEEP  INDUSTRY  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES 

at  the  shearing  of  April,  1806,  liad  wool  measuring  14  inches  on  the  back, 
and  whose  size  was  also  very  great.  This  capital  sheep  was  transferred 
to  the  White  House  in  the  county  of  New  Kent,  Va.,  where  his  long- 
wooled  race  was  improved  by  crossing  on  it  animals  of  finer  quality  iii 
the  fleece.  Mr.  Custis  thought  that  he  had  rather  reversed  the  usual 
practice,  and  started  a  new  system,  in  commencing  with  the  long  though 
coarse  wool,  but  he  found  it  attended  with  the  happiest  effects,  and 
ventured  to  recommend  it  as  the  more  speedy  aud  certain  method  of 
breeding  fine  long-wooled  sheep.  The  Arlington  Improved,  derived 
from  the  same  source,  lost  nothing  in  the  fineness  of  their  wool  by  being 
originally  descended  from  ancestors  whose  fleece  was  less  fine.  On  the 
contrary,  Mr.  Custis  argued  that,  unless  a  race  so  desirable  as  theirs 
could  be  had  at  once,  the  best  method  would  be  to  rear  one  upon  the 
foundation  of  coarse  long-wooled  sheep.  If  breeding  were  pursued  from 
the  fine,  yet  short-wooled  sheep  alone,  very  many  causes  would  neces- 
sarily occur  before  the  staple  could  be  lengthened,  and  the  quality  at 
the  same  time  retained,  but  in  founding  a  stock  upon  long-wooled  the 
material  quality  of  length  would  be  possessed  at  once,  and  with  it  prob- 
ably fineness.  William  H.  Foote,  of  Hayfield,  had  a  hornless  ram  of  the 
Arlington  Improved,  and  from  this  ram,  which  was  a  very  superior 
one,  and  some  fine  breeding  ewes  at  Arlington  was  formed  the  founda- 
tion of  a  flock  from  which  went  some  fine  animals  to  various  parts  of 
Virginia  and  Maryland. 

Bakewell,  the  prize  ram  of  one  year  old,  bred  by  Col.  Thomas  L.  Lee, 
of  Loudoun,  was  exhibited  at  Arlington  sheep- shearing  April  30,  1805, 
where  he  was  shorn.  The  weight  of  his  fleece  was  12  pounds,  5  ounces ; 
gross  weight  of  carcass,  140  pounds ;  the  ordinary  length  of  his  wool 
was  11  inches  5  extreme  length,  13  inches  5  the  extreme  length  of  the 
animal,  from  the  nose  to  the  buttock,  was  4  feet,  9  inches;  girth  of  body, 
3  feet  7  inches,  and  length  of  foreleg,  from  the  brisket  to  the  ground,  12J 
inches.  These  measurements  were  made  after  shearing.  It  was  hoped 
that  after  anointing  him,  a  method  very  prevalent  in  Europe,  his  fleece 
the  next  year  would  reach  16  pounds.  Mr.  Custis  tersely  describes  him 
as  a  lengthy  sheep,  short  legs,  no  horns. 

Four  ewes  shown  by  Mr.  Custis  at  this  time,  and  bred  by  him  from 
the  imported  ram  upon  the  improved  Mount  Yernon  breed,  sheared  re- 
spectively 7J,  7J,  6f ,  and  6J  pounds  of  wool.  A  rain  lamb  2J  months 
old  weighed  87J  pounds. 

Although  these  weights  appear  but  small  when  compared  with  the 
English  stock,  yet,  when  the  scale  of  improvement  between  the  two 
countries  is  balanced,  and  the  subject  considered  comparatively  and 
with  due  reference  to  the  progress  and  means  of  improvement  in  each, 
they  will  appear  even  respectable  in  the  country  the  most  distinguished 
in  the  world,  and  in  which  the  science  of  agriculture  and  rural  economy 
had  been  carried  to  an  extent  unparalleled. 

At  the  annual  meeting  and  sheep-shearing,  April  30, 1806,  many  gen- 


EAST    OF    THE    MISSISSIPPI   RIVER.  61 

tlemeii  attended  from  the  adjoining  counties,  and  the  premium  for  the 
finest  ram  lamb  of  one  year  old  was  adjudged  to  a  lamb  bred  by  Lud- 
well  Lee,  of  Belmont,  Loudoun  County.  This  prize  lamb,  part  Bakewell 
and  part  Arlington  Improved,  possessed  fine  proportions,  with  a  fleece 
of  good  quality,  close  and  well  packed,  though  rather  short.  His  gross 
weight  was  161  pounds,  weight  of  fleece,  7f  pounds.  The  fleeces  of  the 
season  ran  light,  owing  to  the  mildness  of  the  preceding  winter.  The 
fleeces  of  the  Arlington  prime  ewes  averaged  5  pounds. 

Mr.  Custis  inaugurated  these  annual  sheep-shearings  for  the  benefit 
of  his  country.  At  an  early  period  he  became  much  interested  in  the 
improvement  of  the  breed  of  sheep.  Col.  Humphreys,  the  American 
minister  at  Madrid,  had  recently  introduced  the  fine-wooled  Merino 
sheep  into  the  United  States.  Mr.  Custis  saw  the  great  advantage  that 
his  country  might  derive  from  the  cultivation  of  fine  wool,  and  the 
establishment  of  manufactures  of  cloth,  and  in  1803  inaugurated  an  an- 
nual convention  for  the  promotion  of  agriculture  and  domestic  manu- 
facture, known  throughout  the  country  by  the  name  of  Arlington  sheep- 
shearing.  These  gatherings  were  at  Arlington  springs,  a  large  fountain 
of  living  water  that  gushed  from  beneath  the  shade  of  a  venerable  oak, 
not  far  from  the  banks  of  the  Potomac.  There,  for  many  years,  on  the 
30th  of  April,  the  annual  shearing  took  place.  A  large  concourse  of 
people  would  assemble  to  participate  in  or  witness  the  ceremonies. 
Toasts  were  drank,  speeches  were  made,  and  prizes,  provided  at  the  sole 
expense  of  Mr.  Custis,  were  distributed  among  those  who  presented  the 
best  specimens  of  sheep  or  wool,  and  domestic  manufactures.  These 
were,  it  is  believed,  the  first  prizes  ever  offered  for  such  objects  in  the 
United  States.  Under  the  great  war-tent  of  Washington,  many  of  the 
noblest  men  of  the  land  assembled  on  these  festivals,  when  they  and 
the  entire  concourse  were  entertained  in  a  most  generous  manner  by 
the  host,  who  usually  made  a  stirring  speech  appropriate  to  the  occa- 
sion. In  one  of  them  he  said,  prophetically:  "America  shall  be  great 
and  free,  and  minister  to  her  own  wants  by  the  employment  of  her  own 
resources.  The  citizen  of  my  country  will  proudly  appear  when  clothed 
in  the  produce  of  his  native  soil."  It  must  be  remembered  that,  at  that 
time,  every  yard  of  broadcloth  worn  in  the  United  States  was  imported 
from  Europe. 

In  May,  1807,  four  lambs  of  the  Arlington  Improved  Long-Wooled  breed  were 
brought  to  the  shearing,  all  bred  from  the  Bakewell  prize  ram  of  1805. 

A  one-year-old  ewe,  whose  carcass  weighed  7£  pounds  to  the  quarter,  sheared  7 
pounds  of  wool  9  inches  in  length. 

A  one-year-old  lamb,  weighing  10^  pounds  to  the  quarter,  sheared  1\  pounds  of 
fleece,  wool  9  inches  in  length. 

A  ewe  lamb,  one  year  old,  whose  carcass  weighed  8±  pounds  per  quarter,  gave  5£ 
pounds  of  fleece,  8  inches  in  length. 

A  ram  lamb,  one  year  old,  whose  carcass  gave  11  pounds  per  quarter,  gave  7£  pounds 
of  fleece,  8  inches  in  length. 


62  SHEEP   INDUSTRY    OF    THE    UNITED    STATES 

In  the  shearing  of  the  following  year  (1808)  the  result  was  thus  given : 


Gross 
weight. 

Length 
of  wool. 

Product. 

First 

Pounds. 

85 

Inches. 
13 

Pounds.  . 

Second 

78 

15 

-(i; 

Third                          

100 

11 

61 

Fourth 

85 

8 

S1 

Fifth                                 

98 

11 

Sixth 

78 

13 

gf 

Seventh                           -  

70 

lOi 

5i 

Eighth        

78 

122 

5! 

76 

12 

(!1 

These  were  all  shearling  ewes  and  each  had  produced  a  lamb  which 
she  was  then  suckling.  The  average  shows  a  pound  of  wool  for  every 
14  pounds  7  ounces  gross  weight  of  carcass,  while  one  of  the  old- 
fashioned  sheep,  weighing  158  pounds  gross,  produced  5J  pounds  of 
wool,  or  one  pound  of  wool  for  every  30  pounds  gross  weight  of  carcass. 

At  this  shearing  Lawrence  Lewis,  John  Tayloe,  Hay  ward  Foote,  and  William  Alex- 
ander, all  gentlemen  farmers,  showed  one-year  lambs. 

Lawrence  Lewis,  of  Woodlawn,  Va.,  exhibited  Dishley,  his  sire,  of  the  Arlington 
long-wooled  race,  bred  by  Mr.  Custis;  weight  on  the  hoof,  140  pounds;  weight  of 
fleece,  G£  pounds. 

Hay  ward  Foote,  of  Hayfield,  Va.,  lamb  Badger,  of  the  Arlington  long-wooled 
race ;  weight  on  the  hoof,  105  pounds ;  weight  of  fleece  9f  pounds. 

John  Tayloe,  of  Mount  Airy,  Va.,  showed  a  lamb  called  Superb,  his  dam  a  ewe  of 
Col.  Dorsey's  stock  (well  known),  by  a  ram  of  Tayloe's  own  breed;  weight  on  the 
hoof,  130  pounds ;  weight  of  fleece,  8£  pounds. 

William  Alexander,  of  Preston,  Va.,  showed  lamb  Preston,  of  the  home  breed; 
weight  on  the  hoof,  149  pounds :  weight  of  fleece,  7f  pounds. 

Tayloe's  lamb  was  2  feet  8f  inches  high,  and  5  feet  10f  inches  in  length. 

Alexander's  lamb  was  2  feet  5£  inches  high,  and  5  feet  lOf  inches  in  length. 

The  Dorsey  breed  here  mentioned  seems  to  have  been  a  local  variety, 
confined  to  the  country  lying  between  Washington  and  Baltimore.  It 
had  its  origin,  apparently,  with  Col.  Dorsey,  and,  from  the  meager 
accounts  we  have  of  it,  was  a  superior  mutton  sheep.  A  shearing  of  7 
ewes,  a  cross  on  this  breed  and  the  Oalvert  County  breed,  took  place 
at  Eose  Mount,  Prince  George  County,  Md.,  on  May  25,  1809,  with  the 
following  result : 

Pounds. 

5  ewes,  1  year  old,  fleece  each 6£ 

1  ewe,  1  year  old,  fleece 8 

1  ewe,  3  years  old,  fleece 7£ 

The  wool  was  clean  and  of  good  quality,  and  the  lambs  made  prime 
mutton.  They  were  easy  feeders,  not  remarkable  for  size,  but  well 
formed  and  particularly  noted  for  their  clean  wool. 


EAST    OF    THE    MISSISSIPPI    RIVER. 


63 


At  the  next  annual  shearing,  April  29,  1809,  3  tup  lambs  were  shorn 
for  the  premiums : 


. 

Weight 
on  hoof. 

Weight 
of  fleece. 

William  Fitzhugh  Ravenwood,  Va.,  Columbus  

Pounds. 
130| 

Lbs.    oz». 

Dr  W  A  Dain^erfield  Notlev  Hall  Md    Home  Tooke 

132 

fg       g 

John  Scott  Sti  aw  berry  Hill  Va.,  Palafox  

165 

t5      13 

^Washed. 


t  Unwashed. 


The  premium  was  awarded  to  Palafox. 

At  the  sixth  anniversary  of  the  Arlington  sheep  shearing,  April  30, 
1810,  sheep  were  shown,  but  not  of  notable  character  either  as  to  size, 
form,  or  fleece;  but  as  indicating  the  interest  in  domestic  manufactures 
it  may  be  stated  that  many  ladies  of  Virginia  and  Maryland  exhibited 
home-made  yarns,  stockings,  and  cloth,  and  the  Alexandria  Gazette 
reports  that  "  a  ball  of  woolen  yarn,  exquisitely  spun,  and  weighing  a 
pound,  was  sold  for  the  enormous  price  of  $4." 

At  the  seventh  annual  shearing,  April  30, 1811,  four  tup  lambs  were 
shown,  but  one  only  was  of  native  blood,  Coton,  bred  and  exhibited 
by  Mrs.  Lee,  of  Loudoun  County,  Va.  The  weight  of  this  lamb,  un- 
shorn, was  145  pounds,  and  it  gave  a  fleece  of  8  pounds  of  unwashed 
wool.  Three  mixed-blood  Merinos  were  shown,  and  for  purpose  of 
comparison  their  weight  and  yield  of  wool  is  given: 


Weight, 
unclipt. 

Fleece. 

D.  McCarthy  Chichester,  Fairfax  County,  Va.,  showed  Columbus,  one-quarter 

Lbs.  oz. 
Ill    5 

Lbs.  oz. 
6    4 

John  C.  Scott,  Fairfax  County,  Va..  showed  Fairfax  one-half  Merino  . 

94    0 

6    0 

George  Mason,  Gunston  Hall,  Va.,  showed  Gunston,  one-quarter  Merino  

123    8 

6    3} 

All  the  fleeces  are  given  as  unwashed,  and  the  premium  was  awarded 
to  John  C.  Scott's  Fairfax  for  the  largest  proportion  of  fine  wool  to  the 
carcass. 

And  here,  digressing  but  slightly  from  the  Arlington  shearings,  it  is 
well  to  put  on  record  some  figures,  as  shown  at  the  fair  of  the  Colum- 
bian Agricultural  Society  of  Georgetown,  held  within  rifle-shot  dis- 
tance of  Arlington,  and  having  the  same  patrons,  with  similar  objects 
in  view.  At  their  fair  May  16, 1810,  22  lambs  of  the  common  breed 
were  exhibited,  and  the  three  best  are  thus  recorded : 

(1)  Weight,  undipped,  53  Ibs.  5  ozs. ;  weight  of  fleece,  unwashed,  4  Ibs.  13  ozs. 

(2)  Weight,  undipped,  83  Ibs. ;  weight  of  fleece,  unwashed,  3  Ibs,  14  ozs. 

(3)  Weight,  undipped,  135  Ibs,  8  ozs. ;  weight  of  fleece,  unwashed,  6  Ibs.  12  ozs. 

These  three  received  the  premiums  as  to  quantity  of  wool  and  quality 
in  proportion  to  carcass. 


64  SHEEP    INDUSTRY    OF    THE    UNITED    STATES 

At  the  fair  of  tliis  society  held  at  Georgetown,  May  15, 1811,  five  can- 
didates entered  for  the  premium  for  fine-wooled  sheep. 


Gross 
weight. 

Weight 
of  fleece. 

Pounds. 
103J 

Pounds. 

Thomas  Peter's  Montgomery            .         

84J 

Bazil  Darby's  Jack. 

1311 

9| 

R  Brooks's  Hopewell                                                 

93i 

4J 

Mr  Cliichester's 

94^ 

51 

These  were  all  of  the  Merino  breed,  and  the  weight  of  fleece  is  given 
as  unwashed.  The  premium  for  the  best  was  awarded  to  Mason's  Po- 
tomac Chief,  of  Humphreys  breed,  and  the  second  premium  to  Brooks's 
Hopewell,  a  half  blood  Merino  ram  of  Dupont's  breed. 

The  candidates  for  the  long-wooled  premiums  were  seven  in  number: 

Mr.  Marbury's  ram  lamb,  160  pounds,  washed ;  fleece,  7  pounds  6  ounces. 
Mr.  Gibson's  ram  lamb,  130  pounds,  unwashed;  fleece,  7  pounds  6  ounces. 
William  Bowie's  ram  lamb,  121  pounds,  washed ;  fleece,  11  pounds  12  ounces. 
Bazil  Darby's  ram  lamb,  131  pounds,  washed;  fleece,  9  pounds  5  ounces. 
I.  Duckett's  ram  lamb,  111  pounds,  washed;  fleece,  8  pounds  12  ounces. 
I.  Duckett's  ram  lamb,  121  £  pounds,  washed ;  fleece,  8  pounds  9  ounces. 
Gibson's  Pizarro,  ram  lamb,  120J  pounds,  unwashed;  fleece,  7  pounds. 

Jacob  Gibson  received  the  first  premium  for  a  two-toothed  ram  lamb 
of  long-wooled  breed  for  his  long-wooled  ram  Pizarro  of  the  Calvert 
County  breed.  The  second  premium  of  $40  for  a  two-toothed  ram  lamb 
of  the  long-wooled  breed  was  awarded  to  William  Bowie,  of  Prince 
George  County,  Maryland,  for  his  long-wooled  ram  of  the  common 
breed. 

At  the  fair  of  the  same  society  held  May  22,  1812,  the  premiums  for 
the  long-wooled  sheep  were  awarded  to  Calvert's  lamb  weighing  108 
pounds,  with  a  fleece  of  12  pounds  0  ounces,  and  to  William  Marbury 
for  a  sheep  weighing  157  pounds  8  ounces,  carrying  a  fleece  of  11  pounds 
14  ounces. 

From  this  digression  to  the  sheep  of  his  neighbors  we  return  partic- 
ularly to  those  of  Mr.  Custis,  of  Arlington.  In  the  improvement  of  his 
sheep  Mr.  Custis  tells  us  that  he  had  in  view  the  most  wool  for  the  least 
flesh,  and  bred  upon  that  idea.  Wool  being  in  his  eye  the  national,  the 
patriotic,  the  useful  object  in  view,  all  other  considerations  gave  place 
to  its  superior  merits,  and  he  strictly  adhered  to  the  principle  that  the 
sheep  which  yielded  most  wool  for  least  body  was  the  best  and  most  desir- 
able animal  for  the  country.  To  the  argument  that  he  should  abandon 
this  idea  and  give  more  size  to  his  stock  he  replied:  "He  that  breeds 
beyond  his  pasturage  is  like  him  that  lives  beyond  his  income,  and  in- 
vites ruin  upon  himself  and  his  descendants."  His  pasturage,  though 
indifferent,  was  yet  better  than  most,  and  its  situation  admirably  adapted 
to  sheep  by  possessing  variety  and  soundness,  and  hills  which  afforded 
good  places  for  repose.  Bakewell,  the  premium  ram  of  1805,  used  by 
Mr.  Custis  after  that  date,  weighed  150  pounds,  and  yielded  12  pounds 


EAST    OF    THE    MISSISSIPPI    RIVER.  65 

I  5  ounces  of  excellent  wool.  He  had  a  superior  form  and  his  lanibs 
|  proved  his  value.  It  was  by  means  of  this  superior  sheep  that  Mr. 
;  Custis  bred  away  the  hair  of  his  improved  Persian  stock  and  at  the 
i  same  time  retained  the  length,  by  which  it  resulted  that  the  stock  had 
•  the  qualities  of  much  wool  of  great  length,  good  texture,  and  a  good 
form,  together  with  size  adapted  to  most  of  our  soils,  and  not  too  large 
l  for  any. 

In  the  year  1808  Mr.  Custis  issued  a  prospectus  or  "  plan  for  dispos- 
ing of  the  Arlington  improved  sheep,  so  as  to  promote  the  woolen  man- 
ufacture of  the  United  States,  and  thereby  advance  the  most  impor- 
tant interests  of  our  country."  He  proposed  to  sell  one  hundred  lambs, 
at  820  each,  and  invest  the  money  in  a  fund,  the  interest  of  which  should 
be  appropriated  to  an  annual  premium  for  the  benefit  of  the  American 
woolen  manufacture.  The  premium  was  to  be  given  for  the  best  ten 
yards  of  American  manufactured  broadcloth,  to  be  made  of  American 
wool  alone,  to  be  the  width  of  the  best  European  broadcloth,  and  of  a 
national  blue  color,  and  the  premium  was  to  continue  as  long  as  the 
present  form  of  the  American  government  shall  exist.  And  of  so  much 
importance  was  the  matter  conceived  to  be  that  two  of  the  four  judges 
to  award  the  premium  were  to  be  appointed  by  the  President  of  the 
United  States,  who  was  to  have  one-fifth  of  the  premium  cloth.  The 
laudable  desires  of  Mr.  Custis  were  but  partially  realized  as  far  as  the 
Arlington  sheep  were  concerned,  for  now  we  begin  to  see  at  his  shearings 
Merino  sheep  which  carry  off  all  the  first  premiums  and  eventually 
drive  his  sheep  from  public  favor,  which,  however,  they  partially  re- 
gained in  later  years.  They  were  not  generally  appreciated  by  the 
farmers  of  Virginia  and  Maryland,  and  Mr.  Custis  was  so  disgusted 
with  this  want  of  appreciation  that  when  Chancellor  Livingston,  in  1810, 
offered  him  some  half-blood  Merinos  for  the  improvement  of  his  sheep, 
particularly  those  of  Smith  Island,  soon  to  be  noted,  he  declined  the 
generous  offer  on  the  ground  that  his  efforts  to  assist  his  native  State 
had  been  so  little  regarded  that  it  would  be  an  injustice  to  accept  a  gift 
likely  to  be  so  little  appreciated,  and  that  would  do  much  more  good 
•elsewhere.  He  did,  however,  accept  from  Chancellor  Livingston  a  Me- 
rino ram,  full-blooded,  having,  as  he  said  in  May,  1810,  "  long  since  con- 
ceded his  partiality  for  the  Merino"  and  was  "  desirous  of  promoting 
that  valuable  race." 

The  effect  of  the  Merino  breed  now  being  adopted  throughout  the 
country  is  shown  in  the  eighth  anniversary  of  the  Arlington  sheep 
shearing,  April  30, 1812,  when  the  following  rams  received  premiums: 

Alphomo. — Owned  by  L.  Lewis,  of  Woodlawn,  Va.,  one-half  Merino,  weight,  114£ 
pounds ;  wool,  5  pounds,  washed. 

Roderick  Dim. — Owned  by  George  Mason,  of  Gunstou  Hall,  one-half  Merino, 
weight,  129^  pounds;  wool,  9  pounds  12  ounces,  unwashed. 

Don  Eoderic. — Owned  by  Thomas  Peter,  District  of  Columbia,  three-fourths  Me- 
rino, weight  92£  pounds;  wool,  5  pounds  7  ounces,  unwashed. 

Mount  Fernon.— Owned  by  W.  A.  Daingerfield,  Notley  Hall,  Md.,  one-fourth 
Merino,  weight  111  pounds;  wool  5£  pounds,  unwashed. 

22990 5 


66         SHEEP  INDUSTRY  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES 

Four  ewes  of  the  same  Arlington  Improved  were  shown  and  received 
prizes.  Two,  owned  by  Mr.  Daingerfield,  weighed  each  98J  and  89| 
pounds,  and  sheared  respectively  5  pounds  and  8  pounds  12  ounces  of 
unwashed  wool.  Two  owned  by  L.  Lewis  weighed  60f  and  75  pounds 
each,  and  sheared  respectively  4  pounds  8  ounces  and  4  pounds  1  ounce 
of  washed  wool. 

The  shearings  at  Arlington  were  continued  for  a  few  years,  when  the 
thieves  and  dogs  made  such  havoc  with  Custis's  beautiful  flock  that  it 
was  reduced  to  two.  These,  in  the  language  of  the  owner,  "  long  ranged 
over  the  hills  of  Arlington  in  solitary  state." 

The  imported  Persian  rani  and  ewe  purchased  by  Mr.  Custis  at  the 
sale  of  Washington's  stock  in  1802  both  died  at  Arlington,  leaving  for 
breeding  in  fact  but  one  pure-bred  ram,  which  was  sent  to  the  estate  of 
George  Oalvert,  at  Eiverdale,  near  Bladensburg,  Md.  Calvert  bred 
from  this  and  raised  some  very  fine  sheep,  and  we  find  that  in  May, 
1812,  the  Columbian  Agricultural  Society,  at  Georgetown,  awarded  him 
a  premium  of  $60  for  the  best  two-toothed  ram  lamb  of  the  long-wooled 
breed,  for  his  ram  lamb  of  the  Persian  breed  crossed  on  the  sheep  of  the 
country. 

While  it  is  true  that  no  full-blooded  descendants  of  the  Arlington 
sheep  are  now  known,  it  is  nevertheless  the  fcict  that  they  did  much  to 
improve  the  sheep  of  Virginia  and  have  left  their  traces,  distinct  and 
healthy  in  some  cases,  but  generally  showing  a  deterioration  unless 
crossed  with  modern  improved  breeds.  A  writer  in  Niles's  Eegister,  in 
1814,  states  that  Mr.  Custis,  of  New  Kent,  Va.,  had  recently  sheared 
from  the  backs  of  two  sheep  of  the  Arlington  long-wooled  sheep,  21 
pounds  and  2  ounces  of  excellent  wool,  for  which  he  deserved  great 
praise  for  his  perseverance  and  attention  to  this  most  useful  breed  of 
sheep,  "  of  far  more  importance  than  the  Merino  as  bearing  wool  of  the 
proper  quality  for  the  ordinary  clothing  of  the  people  at  large,  blankets, 
etc." 

Another  locality  in  Virginia  where  the  Arlington  sheep  attained  much 
popularity  was  in  Loudoun  Valley  and  Shenandoah  Valley,  and  it  main- 
tained its  position  for  many  years,  and  in  1824  it  was,  with  the  Merino 
and  Tunis  sheep,  considered  as  most  noted  and  valuable.  There  is 
preserved  an  account  of  a  sheep- shearing  in  1824,  in  the  Shenandoah 
Valley: 

Pounds. 

9  fleeces  full  blood  or  seven-eighths  Merino 58f 

8  fleeces  Arlington  long-wool,  cross 73| 

8  fleeces  Arlington  long-wool  cross 553. 

8  fleeces  Arlington  long-wool  cross 66f 

8  fleeces  Arlington  long-wool  cross 56f 

8  fleeces  Arlington  long-wool  cross 62^ 


49  374^ 

Average  weight  of  the  Merino  fleeces  6J  pounds,  unwashed;  average 
weight  of  the  Arlington  long-wool  cross,  7/0-  pounds,  unwashed. 


EAST    OF    THE    MISSISSIPPI    RIVER.  67 

These  Arlington  sheep  yielded  a  pound  of  wool  to  every  14  pounds 
7  ounces  of  carcass,  while  the  old  country  kind  yielded  only  a  pound  to 

I  every  30  pounds  gross  weight. 

Mr.  Custis  took  great  prfde  in  his  sheep  and  in  his  annual  shearings, 
and  embraced  every  opportunity  of  calling  the  attention  of  his  countrymen 
to  the  importance  of  sheep  husbandry  and  of  home  manufactures.  When 

i  the  difficulties  growing  out  of  the  European  wars  were  cutting  off 
our  usual  supplies  from  abroad,  and  the  public  attention  was  being 
turned  to  home  manufacture,  he  wrote  and  published  in  1808  "  An  Ad- 
dress to  the  People  of  the  United  States  on  the  importance  of  encourag- 
ing Agriculture  and  Domestic  Manufactures."  In  this  little  work  he  gave 
an  account  of  the  improvement  of  the  Arlington  sheep,  also  a  statement 
of  tlie  sheep  on  Smith  Island,  which  he  claimed  had  much  credit  for 
good  wool. 

THE   SMITH  ISLAND  SHEEP. 

These  sheep  roamed  perfectly  wild  on  an  island  of  the  name  lying  off 
the  coast  of  Virginia,  near  the  capes.  The  island  contains  between 
3.000  and  4,000  acres,  and  one-half  of  it  was  woodland  when  Mr.  Custis 
wrote.  The  origin  of  the  sheep  inhabiting  this  island  is  unknown; 
they  were  probably  put  there  about  1780,  and  fostered  and  improved 
by  the  hand  of  nature,  for,  that  its  wool  was  superior  to  the  average 
wool  of  Virginia  seems  to  admit  no  doubt.  It  was  even  described  as 
the  first  in  the  world,  and  as  exciting  the  praise  and  astonishment  of 
all  who  saw  it.  In  1807  James  Madison  says  of  the  fleece:  "I  have 
always  considered  them  as  among  the  best  in  point  of  fineness,  though 
not  of  weight,  which  the  American  flocks  yield."  It  was  longer  than 
the  Spanish,  being  in  full  growth  from  5  to  9  inches  in  length,  and  in 
some  instances,  much  more.  In  quantity  it  was  vastly  superior,  the 
sheep  yielding  twice  as  much,  and  frequently  more.  If  the  Merino  ex- 
ceeded it  in  fineness  of  grain,  yet  the  island  sheep  carried  wool  so  fine 
as  to  answer  every  purpose  to  which  the  other  could  be  appropriated, 
and  so  much  larger  in  quantity  as  to  yield  a  better  profit  to  the  breeder. 

The  soil  of  Smith  Island,  though  sandy,  was  in  many  parts  ex- 
•tremely  rich  and  productive  of  a  succulent  herbage,  which  supported 
the  stock  at  all  seasons,  and  this,  completely  sheltered  by  the  wood, 
was  not  parched  in  summer  nor  frozen  in  winter,  thus  preserving  for- 
age the  year  round.  Along  the  coast  also  were  abundant  scopes  of 
pasturage,  producing  a  short  grass  in  summer,  which  was  peculiarly 
grateful  to  the  palate  of  the  sheep.  In  addition  to  the  grasses  of  the 
inland  glades  and  of  the  coast  were  various  shrubs  and  plants,  par- 
ticularly the  myrtle  bush,  upon  which  the  animals  appeared  to  browse 
with  great  relish.  Access  to  salt  was  a  great  advantage.  The  stock 
on  the  island  were  wild  cattle  and  sheep  principally;  hogs  were  pro- 
hibited because  they  destroyed  the  lambs;  and  of  some  horses  put 
on  to  breed  many  years  before,  but  two  remained  in  1808.  The  sheep 


68  SHEEP    INDUSTRY    OF    THE    UNITED    STATES 

as  well  as  the  cattle  were  perfectly  wild,  and  so  unconscious  of  the  care 
of  man  as  to  fly  at  his  approach.  They  were  taken  twice  a  year,  spring 
and  fall,  by  certain  stratagems,  and  sheared  at  eacli  time,  after  which 
they  were  again  turned  loose.  The  wool  compared  very  favorably  with 
that  of  the  Merino  and  many  fabrics  manufactured  from  the  latter  at 
a  great  price  could  be  made  from  the  former  for  much  less.  It  was  as 
white  as  snow,  and  perfectly  silky  and  soft  to  the  touch,  and  of  deli- 
cate grain.  Their  flesh  was  very  highly  flavored  and  popular;  whether 
this  would  continue  if  the  animals  were  domesticated  was  doubted, 
since  the  flavor  was  thought  to  be  due  both  to  habits  and  food.  The 
bone  was  remarkably  small  and  they  weighed  well  and  fattened  sooner 
than  sheep  of  other  kind. 

At  one  time  Mr.  Oustis  proposed  founding  a  breeding  station  on 
Smith  Island  for  the  improvement  and  dissemination  of  these  sheep, 
and  issued  an  elaborate  prospectus  calling  attention  to  their  great  value 
in  all  parts  of  the  country,  particularly  in  the  southern  latitudes  of 
Virginia,  the  States  of  Kentucky,  Tennessee,  Mississippi,  and  all  south- 
ward thereof.  Upon  the  sea  islands  of  Georgia  and  the  Carolinas  it 
was  thought  they  might  be  pastured  to  great  advantage,  and  very  many 
situations  then  lying  idle  and  unprofitable  could  be  turned  to  use  by 
the  introduction  of  this  valuable  race  of  animals.  They  were  so  active 
in  pursuit  of  food  that  they  could  cover  a  great  space  of  ground  in  a 
very  short  time,  and  would  browse  upon  many  plants  ordinarily  con- 
verted to  no  use  whatever.  Finally,  in  situations  similar  to  their  native 
island,  they  could  be  supported  without  any  expense,  and  where  the 
climate  was  colder  and  the  pasture  less  abundant  they  would  be  found 
to  subsist  at  least  as  well  as  any  other  species.  But  nothing  came  of 
the  proposition.  Early  in  1802  the  number  of  sheep  on  the  island  was 
between  500  and  600,  but  depredations  and  other  casualties  very 
much  reduced  these  figures  by  1805,  and  still  more  by  1808.  They 
rapidly  decreased  after  that  time,  and  the  variety  became  extinct.  The 
Arlington  long-wooled  had  a  longer  existence,  and  was  perpetuated  to 
a  much  later  day.  A  variety  founded  upon  it  now  invites  consideration. 

FREDERICK   SHEEP. 

The  Frederick  sheep,  so  called  from  the  county  in  Virginia  where  they 
were  bred  to  a  great  improvement,  were  a  large  and  valuable  variety, 
bred  by  R.  K.  Meade.  They  were  a  cross  of  the  Merino  upon  the 
Arlington  long-wooled  sheep.  In  1808  a  number  of  the  farmers  of  Fred- 
erick County  associated  for  the  purpose  of  encouraging  domestic  manu- 
factures and  improving  the  breed  of  sheep.  Before  this  little  attention 
had  been  paid  to  either  of  these  objects.  Some  families  had  made  coarse 
clothing,  and  a  few  farmers  had  made  some  slight  efforts  to  improve  their 
flocks ;  but  the  most  of  them  viewed  their  sheep  as  a  stock  of  little  value, 
and  ran  to  the  stores  for  all  their  clothing.  At  the  first  annual  meeting 
on  May  227  1809,  Kjcbard  K,  Meade  was  the  only  member  who  had  a 


EAST    OF    THE    MISSISSIPPI    RIVER. 


69 


lamb  tliat  ho  was  not  ashamed  to  show.  He  exhibited  one  that  weighed 
on  foot  1^9  pounds  and  produced  a  fleece  of  9  pounds  (5  ounces  of  washed 
wool.  On  May  21,  1810,  the  second  annual  meeting  was  held,  when  live 
lambs  were  shown. 


Weight 
011  foot. 

Fleece. 

Pounds. 
180 

Pounds. 

M 

Biclnrd  li  Meade's  lamb              

156 

9 

169 

160 

8i 

DO                          

134 

gf 

The  fleeces  from  these  lambs  were  weighed  in  the  dirt.  They  were, 
however,  unusually  clean.  Mr.  Ridgeway's  and  Dr.  Mackay's  were 
about  quarter-blooded  Barbary.  Mr.  Meade's  and  Mr.  Kelson's  were 
from  Mr.  Custis's  Bakewell.  Three  months  after  this  Mr.  Eidgeway 
weighed  two  of  his  lambs,  twins,  at  five  months  old.  One  weighed  115 
pounds,  and  the  other  116  pounds.  There  were  descendants  of  his  prize 
ram,  weighing  180  pounds.  The  wool  of  the  Barbary  sheep  of  Fred- 
erick County  was  vastly  superior  in  point  of  quality  to  the  native  wool. 

At  the  exhibition  on  May  28,  1811,  the  sheep  showed  an  improve- 
ment. The  weight  of  the  sheep  on  the  hoof  and  that  of  their  fleeces 
are  again  given: 


Weight 
on  the 
hoof. 

Weight 
of  fleece. 

D  Kid^eway's  lamb   

Pounds. 
185 
187 
176 
165 
166 
124 
164 

Pounds. 
*10i 
*6 

*8; 

*8 

*8 

ss 

l5o 

Do                                     

Richard  K  Meade'  a  lamb 

Do                     .                            .                

Do 

:  "On  washed. 


t  Washed. 


D.  Ridgeway  was  awarded  the  first  premium  of  $30  for  his  185-pound 
lamb  for  size,  form,  quantity  and  quality  of  wool,  and  Mr.  Meade  was 
awarded  a  premium  of  $30  for  the  "  greatest  average  quantity  of  wool 
hhorn  from  the  whole  of  his  flock,  consisting  of  50  head  at  least."  Mr. 
M«-ade  had  91  head  of  sheep,  and  they  averaged  5  pounds  3  ounces  of 
washed  wool. 

In  1828,  Mr.  Meade  published  a  statement  in  a  Winchester,  Va., 
paper,  from  which  we  learn  that  his  flock  was  built  upon  the  remnants 
of  an  English  breed  imported  before  the  Revolution  (and  highly  cele- 
brated for  mutton  qualities),  crossed  by  the  Arlington  long-wooled,  im- 
proved by  Mr.  Custis  from  the  Persian  stock  of  Mount  Vernon.  When 
he  began  the  improvement  he  had  124  sheep,  averaging  8J  pounds  of 
wool  too  long  for  ordinary  purposes.  The  flock  was  next  crossed  by 
the  large  French  and  small  Spanish  Merino,  until,  during  the  fine-wool 


SHEEP  INDUSTRY  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES 


mania,  it  was  found  that  too  great  a  sacrifice  had  been  made  in  that 
direction.  This  error  was  rectified  by  introducing  into  the  flock  some 
of  the  progeny  of  that  remarkable  sheep,  Frederick  Bakewell,  weigh- 
ing 200  pounds.  The  lost  mutton  and  wool  were  thus  restored,  and  a^ 
system  of  in-and-in  breeding  was  followed  until  1828,  when  Mr.  Meade! 
thought  he  had  established  a  permanent,  valuable  variety,  and  offered! 
it  to  the  country. 

At  that  time  the  sheep  presented  a  fine  form ;  the  carcass  averaged 
about  165  pounds  of  good  palatable  flesh.  The  rams  produced  13 £ 
pounds  of  wool;  the  average  of  a  flock  of  one  hundred  was  8|  pounds. 
One  ram  lamb  of  first  shear  produced  14  pounds  of  wool ;  his  carcass^ 
weighed  162  pounds.  From  a  later  statement  by  Mr.  Meade,  July  22,1 
1831,  we  learn  that  his  whole  flock  that  year,  130  in  number,  averaged 
8  pounds  of  wool;  that  28  sheared  an  average  of  10£  pounds  each,  and 
some  of  the  heaviest  fleeces  weighed  16 J  pounds.  Mr.  Meade  contin- 
ued the  improvement  to  the  time  of  his  death,  February,  1833,  and  his 
sheep  became  deservedly  popular  and  were  becoming  widely  dissemi- 
nated through  the  Shenandoah  Valley  in  Virginia,  the  C  a  toe  ton  Valley 
in  Maryland,  and  the  Cumberland  in  Pennsylvania.  Some  found  their 
way  into  other  parts  of  Virginia  and  Maryland,  and  into  Ohio.  Sev- 
eral years  after  Mr.  Meade's  death  sheep  bred  from  his  flock  gave  fleeces 
weighing  as  much  as  18  pounds  each. 

A  ram  and  five  ewes  of  this  variety,  direct  descendants  of  Mr.  Meade's 
flock,  were  weighed  and  sheared  at  Spout  Eun,  Clark  County,  May  18, 
1839,  with  the  following  result: 


Weight 
of 
carcass. 

Weight 
of 
fleece. 

Ram 

Pounds. 
174 

Pounds, 
5 

Ewe  

196 

5 

Ewe 

174 

6 

Ewe  

190 

Ewe 

164 

5 

Ewe  

164 

5 

Only  two  of  these  were  considered  above  the  average  of  the  flock 
from  which  they  were  taken.  The  wool  was  clean  washed,  and  the  ewes 
were  all  suckling  lambs.  The  rani  was  a  yearling. 

Far  different  from  the  Arlington  sheep  and  from  this  valuable  im- 
provement upon  it,  beautiful  to  look  upon  and  eminently  useful,  was  a 
breed  of  cripples  which  now  claims  our  attention. 

THE  ANCON   OR   OTTER   SHEEP. 

Seth  Wright,  who  owned  a  small  farm  on  the  banks  of  Charles  River, 
about  16  miles  from  Boston,  kept  a  little  flock  of  common  sheep  com- 
posed of  1  rani  and  15  ewes.  In  the  year  1791,  one  of  the  ewes  pro- 
duced a  male  lamb  of  singular  appearance,  differing,  for  no  assignable 


EAST    OF    THE    MISSISSIPPI    RIVER.  71 

reason,  from  its  parents  by  a  disproportionately  long  body  and  short 
bandy  legs,  wheiice  it  was  unable  to  emulate  its  relatives  iii  tlieir  seal 
ing-  the  neighbors7  fences  and  luxuriating  in  forbidden  pastures.  The 
neighboring  farmers  recognizing  this  excellent  characteristic  of  the  ne\\ 
sheep,  advised  Mr.  Wright  to  kill  his  old  ram  and  reserve  the  younger 
one  for  breeding,  which  advice  was  followed.  The  first  season,  two 
lambs  only  were  yeaned  in  his  likeness.  In  the  following  years,  a  num- 
ber more,  distinguished  by  the  same  peculiarities.  Hence  proceeded  a 
strongly  marked  variety  in  this  species  of  animals,  before  unknown  in 
the  world.  It  was  called  by  the  name  of  the  Otter  breed.  This  name  was 
given  from  a  real  or  imaginary  resemblance  to  that  animal,  in  the  short- 
ness of  the  legs  and  length  of  the  back,  supposed  by  some  to  have  been 
caused  by  an  unnatural  intercourse;  by  others,  perhaps  as  fancifully, 
from  fright  during  gestation.  It  is  only  certain  that  otters  were  then 
sometimes  seen  on  the  banks  of  this  river.  They  have  since  disappeared. 
Dr.  Shattuck,  who  in  1811  dissected  one  of  these  sheep  for  the  pur- 
pose of  ascertaining  the  properties  and  qualities  which  distinguished 
them  from  the  common  kind,  says  that  the  sheep  weighed,  just  before  it 
was  killed.  45  pounds.  The  most  obvious  difference  in  its  skeleton 
from  the  skeleton  of  the  common  sheep,  so  far  as  a  superficial  observa- 
tion extended,  consisted  in  the  greater  looseness  of  the  articulations, 
the  diminished  size  of  the  bones ;  but  more  especially  in  the  crookedness 
of  its  forelegs,  which  caused  them  to  appear  like  elbows.  Dr.  Shattuck 
called  them  ancon,  from  the  Greek  word  which  signifies  elbows.  On 
dissecting  the  sheep  he  could  not  forbear  noticing  the  comparatively 
flabby  condition  of  the  subscapularic  muscles,  which  would  partially 
account  for  the  great  feebleness  of  the  animal  and  its  consequent 
quietude  in  pasture.  The  inequality  of  form  seemed  to  be  confirmed 
in  the  blood.  Experiments  in  crossing  changed  the  strain,  or,  to  allow 
the  expression,  amalgamated  the  qualities  of  those  of  other  breeds,  so 
as  to  produce  a  mixed  or  mongrel  race  in  too  few  instances  to  form  an 
exception  to  the  theory.  Col.  David  Humphreys,  of  Connecticut,  who 
reported  this  singular  animal  to  the  Philosophical  Society  of  England, 
said  that  when  both  parents  were  of  the  Otter  or  Ancon  breed,  the 
descendants  inherited  their  peculiar  appearance  and  proportions  of 
form,  and  he  had  heard  of  but  one  questionable  case  of  a  contrary 
nature.  The  small  number  of  cases  where  the  young  were  said  to  par- 
take in  part,  but  not  altogether,  the  characteristics  of  their  breed, 
would  not  invalidate  the  general  conclusions  established  on  experience 
in  breeding  from  a  male  and  female  of  distinct  kind.  When  an  Ancon 
ewe  was  impregnated  by  a  common  ram,  the  increase  resembled  wholly 
either  the  ewe  or  the  ram.  The  increase  of  a  common  ewe,  impregnated 
by  an  Ancon  ram,  followed  entirely  the  one  or  the  other,  without  blend- 
ing any  of  the  distinguishing  and  essential  peculiarities  of  both.  The 
most  obvious  difference  between  the  young  of  this  and  other  breeds 
consisted  in  the  shortness  of  the  legs  of  the  former ;  which,  combined 


72  SHEEP   INDUSTRY    OF    THE    UNITED    STATES 

with  debility  or  defect  of  organization,  often  made  them  cripples  in 
mature  age.  Frequent  instances  occurred  in  which  common  ewes  had 
twins  by  Ancon  rams,  one  of  which  exhibited  the  complete  marks  and 
features  of  the  ewe,  the  other  of  the  ram.  The  contrast  was  rendered 
singularly  striking  when  one  short-legged  and  one  long-legged  lamb, 
produced  at  a  birth,  were  seen  sucking  the  dam  at  the  same  time.  The 
Ancons  kept  together,  separating  themselves  from  the  rest  of  the  flock 
when  put  into  inclosures  with  other  sheep.  The  Ancon  lambs  were  less 
capable  of  standing  up  to  suck  without  assistance,  when  first  yeaned, 
than  others.  Here,  then,  was  a  remarkable  and  well-established 
instance,  not  only  of  a  very  distinct  race  being  established,  but  of  that 
race  breeding  true  at  once,  and  showing  no  mixed  forms,  even  when 
crossed  with  another  breed.  By  taking  care  to  select  Ancons  of  both 
sexes  to  breed  from,  it  became  easy  to  establish  this  well-marked  race, 
and  there  is  every  reason  to  believe  it  could  have  been  prolonged,  had 
circumstances  demanded  it. 

Although  the  Ancons  arrived  somewhat  later  at  maturity  they  were 
said  to  live  as  long  as  those  of  our  common  flocks,  unless  in  some 
cases  where  by  reason  of  their  debility  and  decrepitude  their  health 
was  impaired  and  their  lives  shortened.  To  whatever  cause  it  may  be 
attributed,  whether  arising  from  defect  in  vertebra,  muscle,  joint,  or 
limb,  it  is  certain  that  they  could  neither  run  nor  jump  like  other  sheep. 
They  were  more  infirm  in  their  organic  construction,  as  well  as  more 
awkward  in  their  gait,  having  their  forelegs  always  crooked,  and  their 
feet  turned  inward  as  they  walked.  It  was  also  observed  that  the 
rams  were  commonly  more  deformed  than  the  ewes. 

This  breed  was  looked  upon  as  a  valuable  acquisition  from  the  fact 
that  they  were  less  able  than  others  to  get  over  fences.  In  New  Eng- 
land, beyond  which  they  rarely  migrated,  there  were  few  commons, 
no  hedges,  no  shepherds,  and  no  dogs  whose  business  it  was  to  watch 
flocks.  The  small  farms  were  inclosed  by  wooden  and  stone  fences. 
These  were  generally  too  low  to  prevent  active  sheep  from  breaking  out 
of  pastures  into  meadows  or  grounds  under  cultivation.  Crops  were 
injured  and  farmers  discouraged.  Hopes  were  entertained  that  this 
would  be  remedied,  and  these  hopes  were  partially  realized. 

On  the  other  hand,  the  drovers  complained  of  the  great  difficulties 
of  driving  these  cripples  to  market,  and  the  butcher  that  the  carcass 
was  smaller  and  less  salable  than  the  common  sheep.  It  was  com- 
monly not  so  fat.  It  did  not  fatten  so  readily,  owing,  probably,  to  less 
facility  in  moving  about  for  gathering  food.  In  taste  it  differed  but 
little  from  other  mutton. 

There  was  much  variation  in  the  fleece,  not  exceeding  in  quality  and 
quantity  that  of  the  common  sheep,  that  from  a  cross  of  an  Ancon  ewe 
and  Merino  ram  being  very  silky  and  of  the  general  quality  of  a  quar- 
ter-blood Merino.  Daniel  Holbrook,  Derby,  Conn.,  made  some  exper- 
iments with  this  sheep  and  the  Merino  which  are  of  interest  and  must 


EAST    OF    THE    MISSISSIPPI    RIVER.  73 

be  quoted  entire.     His  statement  was  given  to  the  public  in  October, 
1805. 

In  the  year  1800  I  purchased  a  pair  of  sheep  called  the  Otter  breed.  This  breed  of 
sheep  are  well  known  by  some,  b"ut  I  presume  are  unheard  of  by  many  others.  They 
gem-rally  have  long,  round  bodies,  thick  necks  and  breasts,  broad  hips,  very  short 
l«-^s  that  stand  wide  apart  and  some  of  them  bend  outwards.  They  can  not  run  or 
leap  fences  as  well  as  others,  and  mine  have  about  the  same  quantity  of  wool  as  the 
other  kind,  and  some  finer.  My  lambs  by  those  rams  with  other  sheep  have  gener- 
ally been  either  of  the  Otter  or  common  kind,  but  in  some  instances  they  partake 
partly  of  the  shape  of  both,  and  I  think  these  ameliorate  the  breed.  In  October, 
1802, 1  obtained  one  of  the  Spanish  Merino  rams  imported  by  Col.  Humphreys,  and 
put  him  with  part  of  my  sheep,  and  by  this  means  in  the  spring  of  1803  had  some  of  the 
half- blooded  lambs.  Soon  after  these  lambs  had  come,  I  put  them  and  their  dams 
with  my  other  sheep  and  lambs  and  kept  them  together  through  the  summer,  and  in 
the  fall  separated  these  lambs  with  my  others  from  the  old  sheep,  and  to  keep  them 
through  the  winter.  In  the  summer  they  were  manifestly  different,  and  they  win- 
tered much  better  than  my  other  lambs  that  lay  with  them,  and  at  shearing  yielded 
one-fifth  more  in  weight  of  wool  on  an  average  than  my  other  sheep,  and  the  quality 
far  superior.  The  wool  was  spun  in  my  own  family.  It  was  carded  and  made  into 
cloth  at  Col.  Humphreys7  mill,  and  was  pronounced  equal  to  the  best  English  broad- 
cloth at  from  $6  to  $6.50  per  yard. 

The  Ancons  were  widely  disseminated  in  New  England  at  the  begin- 
ning of  the  present  century  and  their  numbers  large,  but  on  the  intro- 
duction of  the  Merino  they  rapidly  declined  and  were  represented  in 
1876  by  a  small  flock  of  8  in  Ehode  Island.  It  had  been  perpetuated 
through  many  generations  during  a  period  of  eighty-five  years. 

The  perpetuation  of  this  Aucon  variety  by  the  hand  of  man  is  one 
of  the  facts  adduced  by  Darwin  to  show  that  man  can  by  selection 
cause  great  variation  in  animals  under  domestication ;  can  mold  an 
accidental  variety  into  a  permanent  one,  in  fact.  From  this  and  other 
similar  facts  he  lays  down  a  proposition  which  should  never  be  lost  sight 
of  by  the  intelligent  breeder  and  upon  the  due  observance  and  applica- 
tion of  which  much  of  his  success  depends : 

Although  man  does  not  cause  variability  and  can  not  even  prevent  it,  he  can 
select,  preserve,  and  accumulate  the  variations  given  to  him  by  the  hand  of  nature 
almost  in  any  way  which  he  chooses ;  and  thus  he  can  certainly  produce  a  great  re- 
sult. Selection  may  be  followed  either  methodically  and  intentionally,  or  uncon- 
sciously and  unintentionally.  Man  may  select  and  preserve  each  successive  varia- 
tion, with  the  distinct  intention  of  improving  and  altering  a  breed,  in  accordance 
with  a  preconceived  idea;  and  by  thus  adding  up  variations,  often  so  slight  as  to 
be  imperceptible  by  an  uneducated  eye,  he  has  effected  wonderful  changes  and  im- 
provements. It  can,  also,  be  clearly  shown  that  man,  without  any  intention  or 
thought  of  improving  the  breed,  by  preserving  in  each  successive  generation  the 
individuals  which  he  prizes  most,  and  by  destroying  the  worthless  individuals, 
slowly,  though  surely,  induces  great  changes.  As  the  will  of  man  thus  comes  into 
play,  we  can  understand  how  it  is  that  domestic  races  of  animals  and  cultivated 
races  of  plants  often  exhibit  an  abnormal  character,  as  compared  with  natural 
species;  for  they  have  been  modified  not  for  their  own  benefit,  but  for  that  of  men.* 

The  decade  from  1800  to  1810  constituted  an  era  in  American  prog- 
*  "  The  variations  of  Animals  and  Plants  under  Domestication. "    Charles  Darwin. 


74  SHEEP    INDUSTRY    OF   THE    UNITED    STATES 

ress.  The  wars  of  Europe  and  the  consequent  disturbance  of  Ameri- 
can commerce  stimulated  domestic  manufactures  and  renewed  the  dis- 
position to  improve  the  breed  of  sheep.  The  idea  found  expression  in 
the  papers  of  the  day  and  in  the  formation  of  societies  for  encouraging 
agriculture,  more  particularly  that  branch  of  it  relating  to  live  stock. 
One  great  impediment  to  the  increase  of  sheep  had  been  the  antipathy 
of  Americans  to  mutton  as  -an  article  of  food  5  an  antipathy  naively 
admitted  by  Tench  Coxe,  in  1794,  when  he  contended  that  it  was  best 
for  "  seminaries  of  learning  and  poorhouses,  and  should  be  given  by 
rule."  Mutton  was  appreciated  by  the  more  opulent  classes  of  the 
towns  and  the  country,  but  it  was  not  popular  with  the  masses  and  the 
yeomen  of  the  country,  for  a  prejudice  had  been  generated  that  it  was 
the  poor  man's  food,  and  that  its  presence  on  his  table  was  an  indica- 
tion of  his  poverty.  This  prejudice,  singularly  enough,  was  more 
marked  among  small  farmers  than  elsewhere,  who  ate  fat  pork  the  year 
round,  but  Avho,  though  possessing  from  ten  to  twenty  sheep,  looked  for 
troublous  times  ahead  if  they  could  see  the  bottom  of  the  pork-barrel. 
The  papers  combated  this  prejudice,  admitting  that  the  people  of  the 
country  had  generally  a  dislike  to  mutton,  because  what  ^Esop  said  of 
tongues  was  true  with  respect  to  mutton,  "if  it  is  good,  it  is  the  best 
of  animal  food;  if  bad,  good  for  nothing."  It  was  pointed  out  that  to 
incline  the  people  to  eat  mutton  it  was  necessary  to  have  a  good  breed 
of  sheep,  and  to  have  a  good  breed  of  sheep  it  was  necessary  that  the 
people  should  eat  mutton.  Which  of  these  ought  to  be  considered  the 
cause  and  which  the  effect  was  left  to  speculation,  but  it  was  urged 
that  sheep  should  be  raised  for  the  sake  of  the  wool.  A  good  annual 
fleece  would  pay  a  sufficient  rent  for  the  pasture,  and  if  the  flesh  were 
sold  cheap  the  poor  would  soon  relish  it,  especially  as  it  would  every 
year  become  better  by  the  improvement  made  on  the  breed.  Then 
should  the  wool  be  protected  by  a  duty,  flannel  would  be  a  very  profit- 
able manufacture  to  begin  with,  and  thus  it  would  come  about  that 
while  the  manufacturer  was  eating  the  farmer's  mutton  he  was  also 
making  in  return  the  clothing  for  the  farmer's  family.  Variations  on 
this  theme  filled  the  papers  from  Massachusetts  to  Georgia. 

The  improvement  from  1800  to  1806  was  very  marked,  and  farmers 
took  a  pride  in  furnishing  the  papers  with  the  weight  of  their  sheep  and 
their  fleece  and  the  excellence  of  their  mutton ;  but  the  greatest  lever 
to  improvement  was  the  formation  of  agricultural  societies  and  the  in- 
stitution of  fairs  where  live  stock  and  domestic  manufactures  were 
shown  and  competed  for  preference  and  premiums.  These  societies 
brought  together  some  of  the  best  thought  and  experience  of  the  coun- 
try, and  the  fairs  excited  a  healthy  rivalry  and  advertised  the  stock  of 
some  enterprising  breeder  to  his  neighbors. 

The  South  Carolina  Agricultural  Society,  the  first  of  its  character  in 
the  United  States,  took  a  great  interest  in  the  breeding  of  sheep  and 
raising  fine  wool,  and  was  the  first  to  offer  a  premium  for  the  introduc- 


EAST    OF    THE    MISSISSIPPI    RIVER. 

lion  of  Merino  sheep  in  1785.  It  did  not  get  the  desired  Merino,  but  it 
greatly  encouraged  the  improvement  of  the  native  or  old  English  sheep, 
which  yielded  a  tine  wool  but  not  a  heavy  fleece.  In  June,  1807,  a  cor- 
respondent laid  before  the- society  six  pieces  of  cloth  manufactured  in 
Rhode  Island  from  South  Carolina  wool  shorn  from  65  sheep.  The 
wool  weighed  189J  pounds,  or  an  average  of  3  pounds  to  a  sheep,  and 
was  valued  at  25  cents  per  pound  when  cleaned  and  prepared  for  weav- 
ing. The  South  Carolina  wool  was  considered  superior  to  English  wool, 
and  it  was  found  so  well  adapted  to  mixing  with  cotton  that  renewed 
attention  was  called  to  the  breeding  of  sheep,  and  on  October  20, 1808, 
the  governor  advocated  an  extension  of  domestic  manufactures,  partic- 
ularly for  all  articles  of  clothing,  for  which  cotton  and  the  rapidly  in- 
creasing breeding  of  sheep  gave  them  the  material.  In  May  preced- 
ing, Henry  Izard,  further  to  improve  the  fme-wooled  sheep  of  the 
State,  bought  a  Merino  ram  of  Dr.  James  Mease,  of  Philadelphia. 

In  April,  1809,  several  prominent  gentlemen  of  Philadelphia  and 
vicinity,  for  the  purpose  of  ascertaining  what  cattle  of  improved  breeds 
were  in  the  country  and  to  give  opportunity  for  the  more  easjr  diffu- 
sion of  valuable  stock,  formed  themselves  into  what  they  termed  the 
*•  Pennsylvania  Society  for  Improving  the  Breed  of  Cattle,77  and  issued 
an  address  setting  forth  the  objects  for  which  they  organized.  They 
set  out  with  the  declaration  that  although  the  cattle  of  the  Northern 
States  in  general  were  the  best  formed  in  the  country,  and  with  the  ad- 
vantage of  good  pasture  made  as  good  beef  as  any  part  of  the  world 
could  boast  of,  yet  it  could  not  be  denied  that  there  was  much  room  for 
improvement,  which  was  not  to  be  wondered  at,  when  it  was  considered 
that  in  England,  where  the  attention  of  numerous  persons  had  been 
successively  directed  to  the  improvement  of  every  species  of  domestic 
animals,  it  was  acknowledged  by  the  best  authorities  that  even  at  that 
day  good  cattle  were  extremely  scarce  and  commanded  very  high  prices. 
The  present  was  considered  a  favorable  time  for  the  commencement  of 
a  change  in  stock,  and  it  was  thought  many  circumstances  combined  to 
render  the  undertaking  highly  propitious.  The  attention  of  more  per- 
sons of  capital  than  formerly  was  then  directed  to  the  cultivation  of  the 
earth;  the  taste  for  education  and  the  means  of  obtaining  it  were  rap- 
idly diffusing  throughout  the  country;  the  spirit  for  settling  our  new 
lands  was  yearly  increasing;  population  was  augmenting  to  a  degree 
unexampled,  owing  to  the  enjoyment  of  peace,  the  productiveness  of 
labor,  and  the  freedom  and  equality  of  our  religious  and  political  insti- 
tutions, which  invited  the  peaceful  and  oppressed  from  all  nations  to 
our  shores. 

There  was,  moreover,  another  advantage  of  infinite  consequence,  the 
experience  of  European  improvers.  Their  plans  of  procedure  were  be- 
fore the  world ;  the  errors  they  had  committed  had  been  pointed  out, 
and  comparison  showed  the  superiority  of  the  present  improved  stock 
over  the  former  breeds  abroad  and  in  some  respects  over  our  own.  It 


76         SHEEP  INDUSTRY  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES 

was  therefore  easy  to  avoid  the  errors  which  others  had  acknowledged, 
and  to  pursue,  without  fear  of  failure,  a  line  of  conduct  grounded  upon 
principles  which  their  experience  as  well  as  our  own  had  shown  to  be 
correct. 

It  was  assumed  that  the  different  dispositions  and  qualities  of  cattle 
were  well  known  to  all  who  had  had  any  experience  in  the  business  of  graz- 
ing.  Some  would  come  to  maturity  or  fatten  much  sooner  than  others  j' 
in  some  the  finer  and  more  valuable  parts  were  the  heavier,  while  in 
others  they  were  lighter  and  coarser.  If,  then,  was  considered  the  great 
difference  in  the  profits  to  the  breeder  or  grazier  in  rearing  or  feeding 
one  or  the  other  kind  of  animals,  the  importance  of  propagating  that 
breed  which  possessed  the  more  valuable  qualities  would  be  apparent. 
" Repeated  observations,"  says  the  address,  "have  established  the 
point  that  such  qualities  are  generally  connected  with  certain  forms,  and 
as  the  knowledge  of  those  forms  was  hitherto  only  to  be  obtained  by  a 
course  of  experience,  sometimes  at  much  cost,  or  certainly  at  more  cost 
than  was  desirable,  the  society  are  preparing  a  publication,  which, 
among  other  papers,  will  contain  the  information  requisite,  and  also 
directions  and  remarks  tending  materially  to  assist  the  endeavors  of 
those  who  are  disposed  to  commence  the  improvement  of  farm  stock." 

This  society  was  successfully  launched,  and  on  June  9,  1809,  offered 
premiums  for  superior  cattle,  hogs,  and  sheep.  A  premium  of  $50  was 
offered  "  to  the  person  who  shall  introduce  and  keep  for  hire  in  the 
counties  of  Philadelphia  or  Delaware  a  full-bred  rani  of  the  ISTew Leices- 
ter breed,"  and  a  premium  of  $100  "to  the  person  who  shall,  by  selec- 
tion and  admixture,  originate  a  breed  of  sheep  from  our  native  stock 
which  shall  fatten  most  speedily  and  produce  the  most  and  finest  wool." 
It  was  thought  unnecessary  to  offer  any  premium  for  Merino  sheep  as 
"  the  public  ought  to  be  fully  aware  of  the  very  great  and  growing  im- 
portance of  this  invaluable  breed." 

At  the  first  semi-annual  shows  of  this  society,  held  in  July  and  Octo- 
ber, 1809,  some  of  Humphreys'  Spanish  Merino  sheep  were  exhibited, 
and  some  Irish,  Tunis  or  Barbary,  New  Leicester  or  Bakewell,  and 
Southdown. 

On  November  1,  1809,  Joseph  Kent,  Thomas  Cramplin,  Henry  May- 
nadier,  John  Mason,  and  Tench  Kinggold  formed  a  society  at  George- 
town, D.  0.,  for  the  purpose  of  encouraging  home  manufactures  and  the 
rearing  of  domestic  amimals  by  inviting  exhibitions  and  distributing 
premiums.  The  first  general  meeting  was  held  November  28,  1809, 
under  the  name  of  the  "  Columbian  Society  for  the  promotion  of  Domes- 
tic Economy,"  and  the  counties  of  Stafford,  Prince  William,  Fairfax, 
and  Loudoun  in  Virginia,  the  District  of  Columbia,  and  the  adjoining 
counties  in  Maryland  were  well  represented  by  their  most  substantial  citi- 
zens. At  an  adjourned  meeting,  December  13, 1809,  it  was  determined 
to  give  premiums  for  domestic  manufactures  and  for  improved  live 
Btock,  of  which  there  was  to  be  given : 

One  hundred  dollars  for  the  best  two-toothed  ram  lamb. 


EAST    OF    THE    MISSISSIPPI    RIVER.  77 

Eighty  dollars  for  the  next  best  two-toothed  ram  lamb. 

Sixty  dollars  for  the  third  best  two-toothed  ram  lamb. 

Best  as  to  quantity  of  wool  for  the  carcass. 

The  first  exhibition  of  this  society  took  place  at  Georgetown,  May  16, 
1810,  and  was  largely  attended  by  the  planters  of  the  adjacent  country 
and  the  national  officials,  including  the  President  of  the  United  States 
and  members  of  his  cabinet.  The  sheep  shown  and  the  prizes  awarded 
have  been  given  on  a  preceding  page. 

The  Berkshire  (Mass.)  County  fair  and  cattle  show  was  atypical  New 
England  institution.  It  was  organized  in  1809,  and  the  meetings  were 
held  at  Pittsfield.  The  exercises  began  by  a  procession  to  the  church, 
where  prayer  was  offered,  hymns  and  patriotic  odes  sung,  and  appro- 
priate addresses  delivered.  Then  an  adjournment  was  effected  to  the 
show  grounds,  where  live  stock  and  domestic  manufactures  were  on 
exhibition.  Sheep  were  favorite  animals  and  attracted  a  good  share  of 
attention,  for  woolen  mills  had  been  established  and  the  growth  of  fine 
wool  was  encouraged.  Most  of  the  sheep  shown  were  Merinos  or  mixed 
bloods.  At  the  first  show,  October,  1810,  283  sheep  were  exhibited  by 
Elkunah  Watson,  David  Humphreys,  Mr.  Colt,  and  others,  most  of  them 
of  Merino  blood,  and  a  few  fall-blooded  Southdown  and  Amsterdam 
rams,  and  ewes,  and  two  half-blood  Irish  ewes,  the  fleeces  of  which 
weighed  7  pounds  14  ounces  and  7  pounds  8  ounces,  respectively. 

Some  scattering  notices  gleaned  from  the  papers  of  the  day,  serve  as 
landmarks  in  the  march  of  improvement.  In  1809  Alexander  Stuart, 
of  Maryland,  had  five  fleeces,  which  yielded  him  43  pounds  of  wool.  In 
1807  Mr.  Covenhoes,  of  Middletown,  K.  J.,  raised  from  20  ewes  54 
lambs,  and  in  1808,  from  the  same  number  of  ewes,  60  lambs.  The 
ewes  had  lambs  twice,  and  some  of  them  twins  at  each  time.  In  1809 
a  sheep  owned  by  Mr.  Melvin,  of  Georgia,  sheared  14  pounds  of  wool 
16  inches  long,  and  a  traveler  in  the  back  parts  of  that  State  informed 
Dr.  Mease  that  he  found  at  the  bottom  of  the  Iron  Mountain  a  district 
abounding  with  sheep,  the  fineness  of  whose  wool  excited  his  admira- 
tion. The  people  had  everything  they  wished  for.  They  bought  noth- 
ing but  salt.  Their  houses  were  filled  with  clothing  from  the  fine  wool 
mentioned,  mixed  with  cotton,  and  all  raised  and  woven  by  themselves. 
A  traveler  further  south,  in  the  Mobile  district,  says  that  in  1809  sheep 
were  scarcely  known.  There  were  probably  100  head  among  the  set- 
tlers in  Washington  County.  The  few,  however,  which  were  kept  were 
healthy  and  thriving;  but  the  wool  was  generally  coarse,  and  had  a 
tendency  in  many  cases  to  be  hairy.  At  the  yearly  sheep- shearing  "at 
the  clover  field,"  near  Trenton,  ^N".  J.,  one  ram  weighed  on  foot  173 
pounds,  and  gave  8  pounds  of  wool.  A  ewe  of  123  pounds  gave  11 
pounds  of  wool. 

Early  in  1809  a  gentleman  of  Philadelphia,  who  did  not  wish  to  go 
beyond  his  own  resources,  yet  anxious  to  bear  a  liberal  portion  of  the 
expense,  proposed  to  send  two  ships  to  Africa  to  import  into  the  South- 
ern States  a  number  of  camels,  and  among  their  qualities  which  he 


78      SHEEP  INDUSTRY  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES 

thought  would  recommend  them  was  their  hair,  which  "  being  annually 
renewed  will  afford  a  material  for  manufactures  highly  desirable,  and 
of  more  value  than  Merino  wool/'  and  the  public  liberality  which  had 
attended  the  attempt  to  introduce  the  Merino  sheep,  it  was  thought, 
Would  serve  as  an  encouragement  to  those  who  desire  to  join  in  the 
enterprise. 

MAREXGO   SHEEP. 

In  1810,  Jacob  Gibson,  of  Easton,  Md.,  advertised  an  improved  breed 
of  sheep  known  as  the  Marengo.  He  asked  $30  per  pair,  and  warranted 
they  should  weigh  270  to  300  pounds,  and  yield  from  18  to  22  pounds 
of  wool.  By  an  article  in  the  Eastern  Star  it  appears  that  101 J  pounds 
of  wool  were  sheared  in  May,  1810,  from  12  ewes  loaned  by  Mr.  Gibson 
to  Governor  Lloyd,  and  that  a  ram  lamb  of  the  same  breed  sheared  11 J 
pounds.  The  ewes  loaned  to  Mr.  Lloyd  (who  had  a  Merino  ram)  were 
preferred  on  account  of  the  quality,  not  the  quantity,  of  their  wool. 

THE   TUNIS  OK   BROAD-TAILED   BARBARY  SHEEP. 

John  Adams  records  in  his  diary,  while  at  Paris  in  1782,  that  "as  Mr. 
Curson  talked  of  going  to  Marseilles,  Mr.  Laurens  advised  him  to  send 
to  America  some  Barbary  sheep.  He  says  he  had  one  in  Carolina,  but 
never  could  make  the  American  rams  go  to  that  sheep."  If  Mr.  Curson 
acted  upon  Mr.  Laurens's  advice  there  is  no  record  of  the  fact.  In  1799, 
when  Gen.  William  Eaton  was  United  States  consul  at  Tunis,  at  his 
request,  and  out  of  compliment  to  the  United  States,  the  Bey  of  Tunis 
permitted  to  be  taken  from  his  farm  in  the  interior  of  the  country  a 
number  of  broad-tailed  Barbary  or  Mountain  Tunis  sheep  for  shipment 
to  the  United  States.  Eight  or  ten  were  placed  on  board  the  man-of- 
war  Sophia,  Capt.  Henry  Geddes,  on  May  3,  1799,  but  only  one  pair 
survived  the  voyage  to  arrive  in  the  Delaware  Eiver.  These  were 
placed  by  Timothy  Pickering,  Secretary  of  State,  into  the  hands  and 
keeping  of  Judge  Eichard  Peters,  of  Belmont,  near  Philadelphia,  who 
kept  and  bred  from  them  and  gave  free  use  of  the  full-blood  rams  to 
those  who  chose  to  avail  themselves  of  the  privilege.  His  pastures 
were  soon  overburdened  with  ewes  brought  from  far  and  near,  and  the 
improved  breed  was  extensively  propagated  in  Pennsylvania  and  the 
neighboring  States,  many  pure  bloods  being  sent  as  far  south  as  South 
Carolina.  Those  who  availed  themselves  of  the  benefit  were  not,  as  a 
general  thing,  sufficiently  conscious  of  the  value,  save  that  they  found 
the  broad  tail%  excited  curiosity,  and  procured  a  ready  sale  for  the 
lambs.  The  original  ram,  after  Judge  Peters  had  bred  from  him  some 
excellent  sheep,  was  sent  to  his  friend,  Gen.  Hand,  for  the  use  of  that 
gentleman  and  the  farmers  of  Lancaster  County.  Several  victualers 
of  Philadelphia,  discovering  the  superiority  of  the  mutton  over  that  of 
all  other  sheep,  both  in  quality  and  price,  made  up  a  purse  and  offered 
any  sum  that  Judge  Peters  would  choose  to  fix  for  the  ram,  intending 


THB 

UNIVERSITY 


EAST    OF    THE    MISSISSIPPI   RlVER.  79 

to  breed  lambs  for  tlie  market,  but  lie  did  not  think  it  consistent  with 
his  ideas  of  propriety  to  accept  it;  nor  did  he  wish  the  lambs  killed^ 
and  his  object  in  increasing  the  numbers  and  spreading  the  breed  thus 
defeated.  He  gave  Up  the,  management  of  his  farm  to  his  neighbor 
and  tenant,  Thomas  Bones,  on  shares,  and  with  it  the  full-blooded  sheep. 
Neither  the  tenant  nor  those  succeeding  him  held  the  sheep  in  proper 
estimation,  though  every  endeavor  was  made  to  impose  it  upon  them; 
and,  notwithstanding  the  great  demand  for  the  breed,  the  lambs  were 
sold,  year  after  year,  to  the  butchers  at  the  prices,  or  nearly  so,  given  for 
those  bred  from  common  sheep.  It  was  not  until  about  1809  or  1810 
that  Judge  Peters's  tenant  discovered  their  value,  by  the  greatly  in- 
creasing demand  for  them,  which  was  much  greater  than  could  be 
supplied.  This  demand  was  created  by  the  experience  of  those  who 
had  been  convinced,  by  their  own  observation,  of  their  superior  excel- 
lence. The  flock  was  so  reduced  that,  in  a  pecuniary  point  of  view,  this 
late  conviction  of  the  value  of  the  breed  was  to  Judge  Peters  of  very 
little  importance,  but  his  tenant  took  pains  to  recover  his  lost  time  and 
opportunity.  Others,  however,  had  been  more  careful  to  preserve  the 
highly  valuable  race.  These  facts  were  mentioned  by  Judge  Peters  in 
1810  to  account  for  these  sheep  not  being  very  extensively  known  and 
estimated  up  to  that  time.  His  endeavors  at  getting  the  sheep  into 
credit  were  for  a  long  time  very  unpromising ;  he  had  insensibility  as 
well  as  prejudice  to  combat;  nor  did  they  readily  yield. 

"  Experience  in  the  affairs  of  the  world  too  often  shows,"  remarked 
Judge  Peters,  "that  whatever  intrinsic  merit  a  salable  article  may 
possess,  the  price  in  the  market  is  the  criterion  by  which  its  value  is 
generally  estimated,"  and  it  is  not  unlikely  that  his  object  of  spreading 
this  breed  of  sheep  and  inducing  care  and  attention  to  them  would 
have  been  (taking  mankind  as  we  find  them)  more  effectually  accom- 
plished by  demanding  large  sums  for  even  the  few  he  could  have  sold, 
or  hired  out  as  tups,  at  high  prices.  If  any  new  proofs  of  this  view  of 
the  subject  were  wanting  the  daily  instances  of  purchases  at  prices 
novel  and  astonishing  in  the  country  made  of  the  Spanish  Merino 
would  afford  them.  The  zeal  prevailing  in  the  community  for  the 
breeding  of  this  or  any  other  estimable  addition  to  our  stock  of  domes- 
tie  animals  did  not  exist  at  the  time  the  Tunis  sheep  made  their  first 
appearance,  but  in  1810  the  prospect  was  flattering  for  all  good  breeds 
of  sheep,  and  particularly  for  the  Merino,  which  impressed  all  with  the 
value  of  its  wool. 

In  Spain,  where  the  Merino  was  bred  particularly  for  its  wool,  the 
Tunis  or  Barbary  sheep  supplied  the  tables  of  the  wealthy  with  mutton. 
Onr  country  is  extensive  enough  for  many  different  races,  and  some 
may  thrive  where  others  will  not.  Experience  had  shown  that  in  the 
South,  notably  in  South  Carolina,  the  Tunis  sheep  descended  from 
Judge  Peters's  stock  was  preferred  to  all  others,  and  here  and  in  i^orth 
Carolina  they  were  bred  pure.  For  reasons  connected  with  the  im- 


80         SHEEP  INDUSTRY  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES 

provement  of  our  native  or  common  sheep,  and  for  the  purpose  of  calling 
public  attention  to  the  Tunis  mountain  sheep,  without  interfering  Avith 
the  views  of  those  who  preferred  others,  Judge  Peters,  on  May  8, 1810, 
read  before  the  Philadelphia  Society  for  Promoting  Agriculture  a  paper 
setting  forth  the  specific  distinction  of  these  sheep  as  compared  with 
the  broad-tailed  African  sheep  in  general,  which  were  much  inferior j) 
Some  of  the  latter  had  at  various  times  between  1800  and  1810  come 
into  the  country ;  but  all,  as  far  as  can  be  learned  (except  some  Persian 
sheep),  were  of  an  unprofitable  race.  Judge  Peters's  experience  and 
observation  as  to  the  Tunis  mountain  sheep  were  founded  on  a  knowl-i 
edge  of  them  for  a  period  of  thirteen  years.  The  benefits  arising  from 
their  propagation  had  accrued  in  the  greatest  degree  to  others,  for  the 
advantages — except  in  the  real  pleasure  and  solid  satisfaction  derived 
from  even  partial  success — had  been  small  indeed.  He  claimed  no 
merit  over  others,  but  considered  a  reasonable  emolument  the  just 
reward  for  all  those  who  risk  or  labor  in  laudable  pursuits.  He  did  not 
aim  at  establishing  this  breed  of  sheep  on  the  depreciation  of  other 
good  breeds,  being  only  desirous  that  it  should  take  its  proper  rank 
among  them,  not  hesitating  to  avow  his  opinion  that  the  Tunis  sheep 
would  in  the  long  run  compete  with  any  in  fleece  and  carcass  together, 
from  the  same  ground  in  equal  times.  The  increased  price  of  better 
wool  in  1810,  with  all  that  was  said  of  its  presumed  stability,  did  not 
shake  his  opinion.  Plenty  or  scarcity  of  an  article,  and  shifting  demand 
for  it,  operated  on  prices. 

As  to  the  fleeces  of  the  Tunis  sheep,  the  fact  was  maintained  that 
no  better  homemade  cloth  could  be  shown  than  that  made  from  selected 
parts  of  it,  and  especially  that  afforded  by  the  cut  next  the  pelt.  It 
was  better  than  any  obtained  from  the  common  sheep.  Some  of  the 
fleeces  would  have  three  cuts,  of  about  1J  to  2  inches  long  each.  Many 
of  them  were  of  this  description,  and  more  were  short  and  fine,  of 
which  gloves  and  stockings  were  made  equal  to  fleecy  hosiery.  Its 
advocates  claimed  that  no  wool  produced  superior  fabrics  for  common 
use,  for  which  the  cut  next  the  pelt  was  used.  Some  fleeces  were  furry 
next  the  pelt,  like  beaver,  but  consisting  of  very  fine-fibered  wool. 

The  mutton  of  the  Tunis  mountain  sheep  was  the  finest  and  best  in 
the  Philadelphia  market,  and  the  proportion  of  flesh  to  size  of  the  ani- 
mal was  remarkably  great.  There  was  but  little  offal,  the  pure-bred 
sheep  being  hornless  and  its  bones  small.  It  laid  its  fat  on  profitable 
points,  not  only  on  the  tail  but  generally  distributed  through  the  whole 
carcass.  It  did  not  show  the  suet  on  the  kidneys  as  much  as  did  some 
other  sheep,  but  the  fat  was  well  mixed  with  the  flesh,  which  was  of 
the  most  inviting  color,  and  marbled  in  a  striking  degree.  The  tal- 
low hardened  again  after  melting.  Its  tail,  which  at  times  weighed, 
prepared  for  cooking,  from  6  to  8  pounds,  when  properly  dressed  was 
a  feast  for  an  epicure  and  rivalled  only  by  the  tail  of  a  young  beaver 
when  free  from  the  fishy  or  sedgy  taint  to  which  it  is  subject  at  cer-. 


EAST    OF   THE    MISSISSIPPI   RIVER.  81 

I  tain  seasons.    Judge  Peters  gives  the  characteristics  of  these  sheep  as 

(they  came  under  his  observatiou.  They  were  better  set  with  wool 
?  than  any  other  with  the  exception  of  the  Merino,  and  did  not  shed 
|  it  like  common  sheep.  Th^  wool  was  sufficiently  fine  for  all  common 
i  purposes  and  could  be  applied  without  mixture  with  other  wool  to  more 
[uses  than  that  of  the  Merino  or  the  common  sheep.  The  average 
I  weight  of  the  fleeces  was  from  5  to  5J  pounds  washed  wool,  washed 
I  be  fore  shearing;  some  flocks  well  cared  for  averaged  6  pounds,  and 
|  individual  sheep  of  pure  blood  gave  8,  9,  and  10  pounds.  The  wool 
I  was  fine  and  from  it  Judge  Peters  made  white  homemade  blankets 
and  flannel  of  great  excellence. 

These  sheep  were  hardy,  bearing  heat  or  cold  better  than  the  com- 
mon sheep,  fattened  with  less  food  and  much  quicker,  and  would  bear 
to  be  kept  fat  without  being  diseased  far  beyond  any  other.    The  car- 
cass was  heavy,  but  not  coarse.    The  heaviest  ewe  coming  under  his 
observation  weij  \ed  182  pounds  alive,  when  sheared.    Her  fleece,  clean 
washed,  weighed  8J  pounds.     She  was  half-blood.    A  half-blood  ram, 
a  twin,  at  18  months  old,  weighed  214  pounds.    The  Tunis  ewes  were 
the  smallest,  and  generally  carried  the  finest  fleeces.    They  were  gentle 
and  quiet  and  kept  in  good  condition  upon  coarse  food,  and  were 
[  healthy,  a  diseased  one  being  very  rare.    It  was,  like  the  Merino,  a 
j  peculiar  genus  and  race  of  sheep.    Those  who  valued  them  reconciled 
I  themselves  to  colored  wool,  though  the  greatest  proportion  was  white. 
The  lambs  werft  white,  red,  tawny,  bluish,  and  black,  but  the  fewest  ot 
i  the  latter.    All  (except  the  black)  grew  white  in  the  general  color  of 
I  the  fleece,  though  most  commonly  colored  in  spots,  and  either  tawny  or 
I  black  generally  marked  the  cheeks  and  shanks,  and  sometimes  the 
whole  head  and  face.    By  attentive  selection  and  proper  management 
.  these  sheep  could  be  raised  as  white  as  any  other,  but  in  most  cases 
,  there  remained  in  spots  a  cast  or  trace,  a  tawny  tinge.    The  butchers 
of  Philadelphia  testified  that  while  they  had  killed  many  sheep  of  all 
kinds,  the  broad-tailed  Tunis  was  the  best,  compared  with  the  general 
run  of  that  animal  in  the  Philadelphia  market.    They  fattened  in  the 
flesh  and  on  the  ribs  far  superior  to  most  others.    The  rough  fat  was 
fas  great  in  qaantity  as  in  any  common  sheep,  and  very  white.    The 
lambs  sold  the  highest  of  any  in  the  market  and  were  more  sought 
after.    An  unsound  sheep  was  unknown.    A  ram  lamb  1  year  old,  a 
.  half  blood,  gave  23  pounds  to  the  quarter  well  furnished  with  rough  fat. 
A  three-quart*!  blood  ewe  gave  20  pounds  to  the  quarter,  and  a  spring 
lamb  14£  pounds.    Maj.  Keybold,  of  Delaware  County,  bought  a  three- 
quarter  blood  rain  of  this  breed  weighing  214  pounds.    The  wool  of  the 
full  or  high  blood,  or  when  crossed  with  good  fleeced  sheep,  was  in 
great  estimation,  and  yielded  more  to  the  fleece,  the  flock  through,  than 
any  other  breed  known.     P.  Reybold  had  killed  upward   of   2,000 
Tunis  sheep,  and  also  killed  BakewelFs  New  Leicester  and  Wall's 
breed  and  the  St.  John's,  and  in  fact  all  the  various  kinds  of  sheep,  but 
22990 6 


82         SHEEP  INDUSTRY  OP  THE  UNITED  STATES 

the  Tunis  was  the  best  of  all  for  meat  and  sold  more  readily  than  any 
other.  Another  butcher  confirms  all  these  statements,  "  save  that  I 
have  known  some  sheep,  especially  some  of  the  Leicester  breed  from 
New  Jersey,  lay  on  fat  as  well;"  but  the  lambs  were  always  fine,  and 
the  meat  the  best  color  of  any  mutton  he  ever  knew. 

Full  twenty  years  after  these  statements  were  made,  Philadelphia 
butchers  still  testified  to  the  great  value  of  this  blood  by  the  assertion 
that  their  market  was  never  so  well  supplied  with  early  fat  lambs  as; 
after  the  introduction  and  spread  of  that  breed  by  Judge  Peters. 

When  Judge  Peters  sent  the  ram  to  his  friend  Gen.  Hand,  at  Lan-j 
caster,  the  Germans  there  would  not,  at  first,  permit  any  connection 
with  their  ewes.  Gen.  Hand  was  obliged  to  buy  30  or  40  to  set  an 
example.  The  Germans  considered  it  as  an  unnatural  connection,  but 
when  the  Philadelphia  butchers  sought  for  the  lambs,  and  good  prices 
were  given  for  them  and  the  wool,  they  changed  their  opinion  and  put 
money  in  the  purse  by  raising  them. 

The  original  ram  and  ewe — Garamelli  and  Selima — were  both  killed  by 
dogs,  the  ewe  giving  a  lamb  at  16.  "  They  will,  perhaps,"  says  Judge 
Peters,  "  become  memorable  as  the  first  emigrants  to  our  country  from 
this  branch  of  the  extensive  family  of  the  Laticundce." 

Some  data  concerning  the  crosses  of  the  Tunis  sheep  are  preserved. 
In  the  spring  of  1809  Dr.  Kent,  of  Prince  George  County,  Md.,  sheared 
11  pounds  of  fine  wool  from  a  yearling — a  cross  with  a  common  sheep 
and  a  half-blood  Tunis  ram.  On  October  30,  1810,  John  Tayloe,  of 
Mount  Airy,  Eichmond,  Va.,  offered  for  sale  "a  beautiful  flock"  of  ram 
lambs  from  the  Barbary  he  had  mixed  with  the  finest  Virginia  ewes. 

In  the  spring  of  1825  a  wether  4  years  old,  mixed  Leicester  and  Tunis 
blood,  was  sold  in  the  market  at  Trenton,  N.  J.,  for  $90,  and  when  re- 
tailed brought  the  butcher  $122.40.  The  total  weight  of  the  quarters 
was  148  pounds.  The  saddle  weighed  83  pounds,  and  was  sold  for  $83; 
the  skin  and  fleece  19J  pounds,  $20,  and  the  other  parts  $19.40.  The 
rough  tallow  weighed  26  pounds. 

At  the  time  Judge  Peters  called  public  attention  to  his  Tunis  sheep 
the  Merino  craze  was  upon  the  country  and  absorbed  nearly  all  the 
interest  of  the  farmers  and  speculators.  In  addition,  the  usual  short- 
sighted practice  among  farmers  of  selling  to  the  butchers  or  in  the 
markets  the  best  lambs  and  sheep  and  keeping  only  the  most  unsal- 
able, deteriorated  the  breed  most  lamentably,  and  those  who  had  charge 
of  Judge  Peter s's  flock  had  their  share  in  this  culpability.  Several 
butchers  posted  breeders  from  his  stock  in  New  Jersey  and  Delaware. 
The  progeny  were  slaughtered  in  the  markets.  This  naturally  dimin- 
ished the  multiplication  of  the  breed,  yet  the  number  produced  from 
the  original  pair  was  surprising,  even  under  circumstances  not  always 
encouraging,  and  the  blood  was  extensively  diffused.  But  for  the  in- 
troduction of  the  fine-wooled  Merino,  these  Tunisian  sheep  would  prob- 
ably have  been  disseminated  throughout  the  United  States,  and  in 


EAST   OF   THE    MISSISSIPPI  RIVER.  83 

some  of  them  have  become  the  prevailing  flocks.  They  were  bred  pure 
in  Pennsylvania,  North  and  South  Carolina,  and  about  1820  there  was 
a  sharp  revival  of  the  demand  for  them.  Judge  Peters's  flock  had  some- 
what deteriorated,  but  at  the  Pennsylvania  cattle  show,  June  4  and  5, 
1822,  John  Hare  Powell  exhibited  21  sheep  of  this  blood  which  retained 
a  large  portion  of  the  excellence  of  the  original  importation  of  Col. 
Pickering.  Mr.  Powell  stated  that  they  arrived  early  at  maturity,  car- 
ried good  fleeces,  afforded  delicate  mutton,  laid  their  fat  well  within,  and, 
except  the  Southdown  and  the  Leicester,  were  more  easily  kept  than 
any  sheep  he  could  find.  The  great  objection  to  them  was  the  obstruc- 
tion opposed  to  procreation  by  the  un  wieldly  excrescence  adhering  to 
their  tails.  If  an  ewe  lost  her  lamb  early  in  the  season  the  chance  of 
impregnation  was  very  small.  Various  expedients  had  been  resorted 
to  in  vain  to  remove  the  difficulty,  which,  when  the  animal  was  fat  and 
thoroughbred,  it  was  impossible  to  obviate,  even  by  the  assistance  of 
the  shepherd's  hand.  Mr.  Powell  had,  he  believed,  the  remnant  of  the 
best  flock  which  could  at  any  time  have  been  found  in  Pennsylvania. 
He  had  crossed  them  with  Beane's  mixed  Leicester  and  Southdown 
stock,  and  hoped  to  obtain  the  hardiness  and  fine  mutton  of  the  Tunisian 
with  the  better  form,  smaller  bone,  wider  chest,  longer  fleece,  early 
maturity,  and  singular  tendency  towards  fat  of  some  of  the  best  indi- 
viduals of  the  other  family,  without  the  useless  incuinbrance  of  the 
heavy  and  broad  tail,  for  it  was  absurd  to  propagate  a  race  of  animals 
carrying  a  fifth  quarter  in  the  tail,  which,  however  delicate  to  the  palate 
of  a  Turk,  was  not  likely  to  become  fashionable  in  America. 

The  Tunis  sheep  now  had  the  New  Leicester  and  Southdown  to  con- 
tend with,  and  made  but  little  headway,  though  its  advocates  claimed 
it  as  the  "farmer's  sheep"  and  the  most  profitable  of  all  breeds,  giving 
a  fleece  far  superior  to  that  of  common  sheep  and  a  carcass  far  better 
than  that  of  any  other.  As  the  Leicester  sheep  increased  in  number 
and  decreased  in  price,  the  Tunis  sheep  and  its  crosses  gradually  dis- 
appeared. It  left  its  traces  in  Pennsylvania,  however,  as  late  as  1852, 
where  it  was  still  a  hardy  race,  and  the  first  crosses  with  the  common 
sheep  were  thought  to  be  particularly  valuable  as  early  lambs  for 
market. 

In  1807  or  1808,  Commodore  Barron,  of  the  U.  S.  Navy,  brought  some 
Tunis  sheep  into  Virginia  and  the  District  of  Columbia,  but  they  were 
inferior  to  those  bred  by  Judge  Peters,  and  the  effort  to  perpetuate  the 
pure  blood  was  a  total  failure,  the  physical  impediment,  the  broad  tail 
of  the  ewe,  forbidding  it.  This  was  the  case,  also,  in  later  importations, 
as  in  1823,  John  S.  Skinner,  editor  of  the  American  Farmer,  at  Balti- 
more, who  had  a  pair  presented  him,  expressed  his  disappointment  in 
them,  both  as  to  their  capacity  to  procreate  and  the  quality  of  the  wool, 
which  gave  Judge  Peters  the  impression  that  they  were  not  the  true 
Tunis  mountain  sheep,  for  from  these  he  had  experienced  no  trouble  in 
their  procreation,  and  as  to  the  wool,  his  own  Tunis  sheep  bore  fleeces 


84         SHEEP  INDUSTRY  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES 

not  only  far  more  abundant,  bnt  incomparably  more  valuable  than  those 
of  the  best  common  sheep. 

Ex-President  Jefferson  had  a  Tunis  ram  and  ewe  brought  direct  on  a  ij 
Government  vessel,  and  his  experience  was  similar  to  that  of  others 
who  failed  to  perpetuate  the  pure  blood.    He  describes  them  as  of  low 
stature,  round    bodies,  fall  fleeces,  of  good  quality,  hardy,  thrifty, . 
always  fat,  and  of  high-flavored  flesh.    But  the  ewe  would  never  breed, , 
her  massive  tail  never  admitting  the  commerce  of  the  ram.    He  bred  I 
from  the  ram,  in-and-in,  for  more  than  ten  years  with  a  different  race^ 
and  found  that  when  a  ewe  got  to  be  about  seven-eighths  pure  blood  i 
the  same  obstacle  became  so  enlarged  as  to  prevent  further  procreation. 
He  continued  this  breed  for  the  use  of  the  table,  and  because  the  wool  > 
was  as  good  as  that  of  the  ordinary  sheep. 

It  may  here  be  stated  that  at  the  time  Jefferson  possessed  the  Tunis 
sheep  he  had  also  had  under  his  observation  the  broad-tailed  sheep 
from  the  Cape  of  Good  Hope,  with  broad  tails  turned  up  like  that  of  ai 
nicked  horse,  long  legs,  light  bodies,  and  slight  fleeces;  and  those  from 
Algiers,  of  somewhat  less  stature  and  better  form  and  size. 

In  August,  1822,  Hon.  Dudley  L.  Pickman,  of  Salem,  presented  a^ 
ram  lamb  of  the  long-wooled,  broad-tailed  sheep  of  Africa  to  the  Massa- 
chusetts Agricultural  Society,  but  we  have  no  further  record  of  it. 

In  September,  1825,  13  broad-tailed  or  Tunisian  sheep  were  landed 
at  New  York.  They  were  procured  from  the  interior  of  Africa  by: 
Capt.  Creighton,  of  the  U.  S.  S.  Cyane,  at  considerable  expense  and 
with  no  small  trouble,  and  sent  out  for  the  purpose  of  introducing  here 
a  species  said  to  be  highly  valuable,  not  only  for  the  wool  but  the  flesh. 
The  tail  was  described  as  having  a  very  singular  appearance,  being  in 
some  instances  from  8  to  10  inches  in  breadth,  forming  when  cooked  a] 
most  delicate  and  delicious  food.  A  pair  of  these  was  sent  to  Gen.  Van 
Rensselaer,  of  Albany. 

In  1835,  at  Brookland  Wood  farm,  9  miles  from  Baltimore,  there  was 
a  small  flock,  a  cross  between  the  Leicester  sheep  and  a  Barbary  ram, 
imported  by  Commodore  Eodgers,  from  which  Mr.  Caton  bred.  The 
old  ram  was  dead,  but  his  brown-legged  and  brown-faced  sous  and 
daughters  remained;  "they  are  hardy  and  thrifty  animals,  bear  a| 
fruitful  fleece,  and  yield  for  the  shambles  a  carcass  at  once  sweet,  juicy, 
and  savory."* 

The  Tunis  sheep,  and  other  varieties  of  the  African  broad- tailed,  have* 
from  time  to  time  been  imported  into  America,  but  owing  to  difficulties 
elsewhere  stated  have  made  but  little  permanent  impression  upon  ourS 
flocks.    About  the  beginning  of  the  year  1841  the  Boston  Society  of 
Natural  History  received  from  D.  S.  McCauley,  United  States  consul 
at  Tripoli,  two  rare  varieties  of  African  sheep.    Three  of  these  animals, 
a  ram,  a  ewe,  and  a  lamb,  were  covered  with  a  close,  thick  wool,  and 
were  fine  specimens  of  the  four-horned  variety  from  Benzari,  in  the 

•Farmer  and  Gardener,  Baltimore,  September  29,  1835. 


EAST    OF   THE   MISSISSIPPI   RIVER.  85 

Tripoli  agency.  They  were  also  distinguished  by  the  great  length  of 
their  tail,  which  attained  15  pounds,  resembling  marrow  in  its  substance 
i  and  was  esteemed  by  epicures.  The  fourth  specimen  was  a  Fezzan  ram, 
f  clothed  with  hair,  which  formed  a  mane  upon  the  neck  and  shoulders 
!  and  attained  several  inches  on  the  dewlap.  In  the  nature  of  the  hair 
[this  animal  approaches  the  goat,  as  well  as  in  ftielong  and  slender  legs, 
while  the  projecting  nose  and  recurved  horns  eminently  distinguishes 
the  variety.* 

For  many  years  a  variety  of  these  broad-tailed  African  sheep  was 
cultivated  in  South  Carolina  and  Georgia,  in  the  first-named  State  by 
Col.  Eichard  Singleton  and  in  the  last-named  by  Eichard  Peters. 
James  W.  Watts,  of  Cartersville,  Ga.,  in  a  communication  to  the  Ameri- 
can Farmer,  under  date  of  October  14, 1858,  said  that  he  then  had  a  flock 
of  very  rare  breed,  known  as  the  African  broad-tailed,  which  he  obtained 
from  a  flock  in  South  Carolina,  the  only  one  he  knew  of  in  the  United 
States,  formerly  owned  by  Col.  Singleton,  and  bred  from  several  impor- 
tations made  by  him  from  the  coast  of  Africa  by  crossing  on  the  com- 
mon sheep.  They  were  remarkably  hardy  and  appeared  to  be  exempt 
from  the  snuffles,  and  while  other  sheep  were  driven  to  the  shade  by  the 
heat  of  the  sun  they  grazed  with  impunity  and  did  not  suffer.  When 
pure  bred  and  kept  very  fat  (as  they  were  apt  to  be  if  they  had  half  a 
chance),  the  great  weight  of  their  tails  offered  a  barrier  to  the  buck, 
but  this  was  obviated  by  a  little  management.  Mr.  Watts  regarded 
them  as  an  excellent  cross  on  common  sheep  for  all  purposes.  They 
yielded  a  good  fleece  of  coarse  wool,  which  they  held  well  till  shearing 
time,  which  many  other  breeds  did  not.  Mr.  Watts  afterwards  removed 
to  South  Carolina,  and  in  a  letter  from  Laurens  County,  in  that  State, 
under  date  of  December  22, 1877,  said  that  he  was  still  breeding  the 
African  broad-tailed,  and  that  if  the  principal  object  in  raising  sheep 
was  mutton  for  the  market  he  would  certainly  recommend  them,  because 
they  mature  earlier;  and  were  the  question  one  of  long  combing  wool  for 
his  lorality  he  would  cross  the  Cotswold  ewe  with  the  broad-tailed  rani 
"  for  all  the  range  of  the  country  here  this  side  of  the  Blue  Eidge."  On 
the  rich  bottom  lands  of  the  coast  he  suggested  the  cross  with  the  Cots- 
wold,  which  would  give  a  variety  that  would  thrive  in  any  climate  South. 

The  Tunis  sheep  is  but  one  of  the  several  subordinate  varieties  which 
may  be  referred  to  the  Barbary  race  or  Guinea  sheep,  and  of  which 
specimens  have  been  brought  into  this  country,  among  which  may  be 
mentioned  such  as  the  Morocco  breed  with  long  wool,  the  hair  on  the 
neck  short,  undulating,  and  of  a  rufous-brown  color ;  the  ears  small  and 
horizontal;  the  horns  small,  turning  spirally  outwards,  the  scrotum 
forming  two  separate  sacs,  and  the  general  color  white  marked  with 
liver-colored  brown.  This  is  the  first  African  sheep  that  approaches 
the  expectations  naturally  raised  respecting  those  fine  rams  which  were 
crossed  with  the  Spanish  ewes  centuries  ago,  giving  a  breed  that  re- 

*  American  Farmer,  February  17,  1841. 


86         SHEEP  INDUSTRY  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES 

sembles  tlie  sire  in  increased  size  and  beauty  of  form  and  tlie  dam  ml 
the  softness  of  the  wool,  a  proof  not  to  be  disputed  of  the  value  of  tha 
Barbary  sheep  at  that  time.  The  whole  of  the  northern  coast  of  Africa ; 
presents  scarcely  a  native  African  sheep  that  deserves  cultivation,  with 
the  exception  of  the  Morocco  breed.  From  time  to  time  specimens; 
have  been  imported,  but  more  as  curiosities  than  as  additions  valuable  '-. 
to  our  sheep  and  wool  industry. 

Some  Syrian  broad-tailed  sheep  were  brought  into  the  United  States : 
in  1809,  and  again  in  1810,  but  they  have  left  no  record.  Others  were 
brought  in  later,  and,  in  1840,  Thomas  B.  Jacobs,  of  Lancaster  County, 
Pa.,  reported  that  he  had  been  very  successful  in  raising  fall-blooded 
and  half-blooded  Syrian  sheep  from  the  stock  imported  by  Commodore 
Elliott  in  1838,  and  he  thus  describes  them : 

The  sheep  are  of  the  description  called  broad-tails,  from  the  extraordinary  size  of 
the  tail.  It  is  highly  prized  for  mutton.  It  had  also  a  fine  fleece  of  remarkably 
long  wool,  which  is  very  superior  for  many  manufacturing  purposes.  A  pair  of  these 
sheep  yielded  9  pounds  of  wool  last  summer  (1839)  of  fine  staple. 

On  August  29,  1811,  George  Ferris  &  Co.,  of  New  York,  offered  at 
public  sale  a  full-blooded  Woodland  or  Egyptian  rani,  one  year  old, 
a  breed,  said  the  advertisement,  "  which  bids  fair  to  excel  in  value  all 
the  Merino  rams  ever  imported."  It  was  of  larger  size,  produced  more 
wool,  and  the  meat  was  better  than  the  Merino.  The  tail  of  this  ram 
was  said  to  be  12  inches  in  breadth,  and  would  weigh  40  to  50  pounds. 

Of  far  more  importance  were  some  straggling  introductions  of  Eng- 
lish, Irish,  and  continental  breeds.  Great  Britain  had  stringent  laws 
against  the  exportation  of  sheep  from  her  ports,  despite  which  an  occa- 
sional one  found  its  way  into  the  United  States. 

IRISH   SHEEP. 

The  large  long-wooled  sheep  of  Ireland  found  its  way  across  the  At- 
lantic towards  the  close  of  the  last  century ;  first  made  its  appearance 
in  Virginia,  where  it  was  known  as  early  as  1789,  and  then  showed 
itself  in  various  parts  of  the  Middle  States  and  New  England.  In 
Virginia  it  wasbut  partially  extended,  but  where  known  much  esteemed 
for  its  size.  A  ram  of  this  breed  only  2  years  old  was  sheared  by 
Capt.  Amos  Eainger,  of  Barre,  Worcester  County,  Mass.,  in  1802,  which 
produced  llj  pounds  of  the  finest  wool.  His  sire  was  brought  from 
Ireland  by  Capt.  Rainger.  This  phenomenal  fleece,  for  that  time,  was 
considered  as  a  great  improvement,  and  the  particular  attention  of  the 
farmers  of  the  country  was  called  to  this  invaluable  sheep. 

In  July,  1809,  two  rams  and  two  ewes  of  this  Irish  breed  were  ex- 
hibited at  the  first  show  of  the  Pennsylvania  Society  for  the  Improve- 
ment of  Breeds  of  Cattle,  held  at  Philadelphia.  One  of  the  rams  was  G 
years  old,  and  of  great  size.  He  was  the  sire  of  a  wether  fattened  and 
killed  early  that  spring,  whose  live  weight  was  276  pounds.  One  of 
the  two  rams  was  sold  to  a  Mr.  Sloane,  of  New  Jersey,  for  $45,  and  a 


/      '-$i*~z 


WICKLOW  MOUNTAIN  SHEEP. 

FROM  "  DOMESTIC  ANIMAU8  OF  GREAT  BRITAIN. ' 


EAST   OF   THE    MISSISSIPPI   RIVER. 


87 


ewe  was  sold  for  $25.  A  lamb  of  this  breed,  raised  near  Philadelphia, 
when  4  months  old  weighed  94  pounds. 

Among  the  sheep  shown  at  the  Pittsfield  fair,  Massachusetts,  June 
6,  1810,  by  Samuel  H.  Wheeler,  of  Lanesboro,  were  two  half-blood 
Merino  and  Irish  ewes,  whose  fleeces  weighed  7  pounds  14  ounces  and 
7  pounds  8  ounces. 

While  these  sheep  were  few  in  numbers  in  Virginia,  and  none  fur- 
ther south,  and  of  comparative  rarity  in  New  England  and  New  York, 
they  were  known  in  New  Jersey  and  Pennsylvania,  particularly  in  the 
vicinity  of  Philadelphia,  and  principally  in  Gloucester  County,  of  the 
former,  and  at  Westchester,  in  the  latter  State.  Among  the  breeders 
at  Westchester  were  C.  &  E.  Jeffries,  who  imported  an  Irish  ram  about 
1807.  In  March,  1812,  Francis  Hitchman  killed  seven  of  these  sheep 
that  he  had  raised  from  Jeffries7  ram  and  the  common  sheep  of  the 
country.  The  weights  of  these  sheep  are  given: 


Skin. 

Fat. 

Meat. 

Total. 

One  

Pounds. 
15 

Pounds. 
26i 

Pounds. 
115 

Pounds. 
1561 

Two                                   

20 

25 

149 

194 

Three 

161 

23i 

133 

173 

Four                                                                .                               . 

15* 

34| 

139 

189i 

Five  

19* 

22 

105 

146 

Six                                                                .                    

15* 

211 

120 

157 

Seven     

16 

27 

115 

158 

In  October,  1812,  seven  Irish  sheep  were  killed  in  Gloucester  County, 
whose  aggregate  weight  was  1,297  pounds,  or  an  average  of  186  pounds 
11  ounces,  one  of  the  seven  weighing  201  pounds.  That  weight  was  ex- 
ceeded in  November,  1812,  when  three  were  sold  in  the  Philadelphia 
market  weighing,  respectively,  197, 200J,  and  205  pounds  live  weight. 

NEW  LEICESTER   SHEEP. 

The  old  Leicester  sheep  were  known  in  Virginia  at  an  early  day,  if 
they  did  not,  indeed,  form  the  foundation  of  most  of  her  flocks.  Previous 
to  the  war  of  the  Eevolution  some  individuals  of  the  Bakewell  improved 
or  New  Leicester  sheep  were  brought  into  the  colonies,  principally  into 
New  Jersey  and  Virginia,  but  they  had  no  general  effect  upon  the  sheep 
husbandry  of  that  day,  and  at  the  close  of  the  war  the  blood  had  run 
out.  The  stringent  English  laws  against  the  exportation  of  sheep  from 
the  British  Isles  prevented  the  American  agriculturist  from  participat- 
ing in  the  great  improvement  made  in  the  English  sheep  from  1750  to 
1810,  yet,  under  some  difficulties  and  at  much  risk,  these  laws  were 
broken  and  evaded,  and  cunning  or  enterprising  sea  captains  and 
others  smuggled  sheep  out  of  British  ports  and  landed  them  in  America. 
Washington,  as  it  appears,  had  some  descendants  of  the  smuggled 
stock,  particularly,  as  he  says,  of  the  Bakewell  (Leicester)  breed.  The 
New  Leicester  was  also  sparingly  known  in  the  vicinity  of  Philadel- 


00  SHEEP    INDUSTRY    OF    THE    UNITED    STATES 

pliia  as  early  as  1800 ;  but  it  does  not  appear  that  at  that  time  they  were 
bred  pure  anywhere  within  the  limits  of  the  United  States.  A  ram  or 
two  would  be  introduced  into  a  flock  and  half-bloods  produced,  which 
would  show  great  improvement;  but  nowhere  was  there  a  pure  full- 
blood  New  Leicester  flock.  The  only  known  flock  in  America  was 
owned  by  Rev.  Mr.  Toofy,  an  enterprising  clerical  farmer  from  England, 
who  brought  a  few  choice  Bakewell  sheep,  rams  and  ewes,  to  Quebec 
about  1799  or  1800.  A  gentleman  of  Maryland  was  offered  the  privilege 
of  some  from  the  same  flock,  but  declined  to  avail  himself  of  it  on  the 
ground  that  it  would  entail  too  much  trouble. 

In  1806  John  Hart,  of  Cheshire,  Mass.,  succeeded  in  getting  from 
England  a  ram  of  the  New  Leicester  breed,  and  in  the  k'atunm  of  1807 
offered  half-blood  rains  of  his  get  at  $30  per  head.  Some  half-bloods 
are  noted  at  about  the  same  time  at  Philadelphia  and  also  in  Virginia. 

About  1805  or  1806  Capt.  Beanes,  of  New  Jersey,  succeeded  in  ship- 
ping some  rams  and  ewes  from  England,  full-blooded  New  Leicesters. 
He  disposed  of  them  to  Oapt.  George  Farmer,  a  retired  sea  captain  and 
shipowner,  then  living  011  a  fine  farm  on  the  banks  of  the  Earitan 
Eiver,  opposite  New  Brunswick,  N.  J.  The  worthy  sea  captain  was  an 
intelligent  and  progressive  agriculturist  and  a  careful  breeder,  maintain- 
ing a  pure  flock  which  became  widely  known  and  fully  appreciated. 
Miles  Smith  owned  a  farm  adjoining  Capt.  Farmer's,  and  purchased 
from  him  some  of  the  new  sheep. 

Capt.  Farmer  sold  his  rams  at  $1,000  each,  and  made  some  few  sales 
at  these  figures,  but  his  usual  mode  was  to  let  them,  which  he  did 
readily  at  from  $150  to  $200  the  season.  By  the  sale  of  a  few  rams  and 
ewes  and  the  letting  of  others  the  New  Leicester  or  "  Fanner's  sheep,  n 
as  it  became  known,  was  distributed  throughout  New  Jersey  and  par- 
tially through  Pennsylvania.  In  December,  1808,  one  of  the  rams 
hired  at  $200  for  the  season  by  a  farmer  near  Newton,  was  killed  by 
dogs.  He  weighed  250  pounds,  and  his  fleece  10  pounds.  A  ewe  of 
Miles  Smith's  flock  was  shorn  at  the  fair  of  the  Pennsylvania  Cattle 
Society  in  the  summer  of  1809,  by  James  Mease,  and  attracted  much 
attention  by  its  exhibition  of  the  points  of  the  New  Leicester — small 
head,  small  bone,  and  plump  body.  Crosses  on  the  native  sheep  or  on 
those  imported  from  continental  Europe  were  frequent.  In  May,  1809,  K. 
Smith,  of  Freehold,  N.  J,  sheared  from  11  yearling  ewes,  a  uross  between 
Farmer's  Leicester  and  native  ewes,  81J  pounds  of  washed  wool,  and 
in  the  same  month  the  produce  of  Helder  ewes  and  a  full  blood 
Farmer's  Leicester  ram  made  this  showing:  One  ram  gave  a  fleece  of 
8J  pounds,  and  weighed  on  the  hoof  after  shearing  163  pounds.  A  ewe 
weighed  on  the  hoof  128  pounds  and  gave  a  fleece  of  10^  pounds.  Sir 
John,  a  yearling  ram,  clean  washed  and  dry,  weighed  on  foot  175J 
pounds,  and  his  fleece  weighed  11  pounds.  It  may  be  noted  that  these 
sheep  were  brook- washed  and  then  dried  just  before  shearing. 

A  successful  breeder  of  sheep  was  Joseph  Cooper,  of  Flemiugtou, 


••         '-: 


THE  NEW  LEICESTER  SHEEP. 


LEICESTER  EWE. 

(ENGLISH  ENGRAVING.) 

FROM  "  HOR8E8,  CATTLE,  SHEEP  AND  SWINE." — CURTIS,   18 


EAST   OF   THE   MISSISSIPPI   RIVER.  89 

N.  J.  He  bred  from  Leicester  rains  hired  of  Capt.  Farmer  at  $200 
the  season  for  three  years  preceding  1809.  When  he  died,  and  his 
flock  was  sold  at  auction  in  October  of  that  year,  many  persons  attended 
the  sale  from  Pennsylvania,*  Delaware,  and  New  Jersey.  Ninety-eight 
sheep,  crosses  between  Leicester  rams  and  native  ewes,  were  sold  for 
$927.05,  the  highest-priced  ewe  going  for  $20.30. 

A  ram  and  some  ewes  were  shown  at  the  Pennsylvania  Cattle  Show 
in  April,  1810,  and  in  June  the  same  year  B.  B.  Cooper,  of  Gloucester 
County,  New  Jersey,  showed  a  yearling  ram,  a  cross  between  one  of 
Farmer's  rams  and  a  Helder  ewe,  which  weighed  144  pounds — carcass 
135  pounds,  5  ounces;  fleece  8  pounds,  11  ounces.  In  December,  1810, 
there  was  a  public  sale  at  Bushkill,  near  Philadelphia,  of  80  sheep,  full 
blood,  seven-eighths,  three-fourths,  one-half  blood  Merino  rams  and 
ewes,  and  several  ewes  of  the  Bakewell  or  Dishley  breed,  and  a  very 
fine  seven  eighths  Bakewell  ram. 

The  New  Leicester  lost  none  of  its  good  qualities  in  the  hands  of 
Capt.  Farmer,  and  those  who  purchased  from  him  or  used  his  rams  saw 
in  the  descendants  sheep  that  fattened  with  great  ease  and  produced 
wool  much  esteemed  for  combing  and  the  manufacture  of  worsted,  while 
the  American  or  native  breed  were  difficult  to  fatten  and  produced  a 
wool  greatly  inferior,  not  only  as  to  quality,  but  in  quantity.  Lambs 
at  three  months  old  sold  for  $4  to  $5,  while  those  of  native  breed  rarely 
commanded  half  that  sum,  more  commonly  about  a  third. 

The  increasing  interest  in  sheep,  both  as  mutton  and  wool  producers, 
caused  a  greater  attention  to  their  care  and  in  the  selection  of  animals 
to  breed  from,  and  as  Capt.  Farmer  had  the  only  pure  flock  of  Leicesters 
in  the  United  States  the  demand  upon  him  from  the  neighboring  States, 
and  from  the  progressive  agriculturists  of  his  own  State,  was  very  large. 
For  some  years  his  farm  was  the  center  from  which  these  improved 
sheep  found  their  way  into  many  parts  of  the  United  States,  and  tradi- 
tion reaches  us  that  in  every  respect  they  equaled  their  English  ances- 
tors in  all  their  good  qualities.  Tradition  also  informs  us  that  both 
Capt.  Farmer  and  his  neighbor,  Miles  Smith,  were  large  purchasers  of 
the  Merino,  and  that  at  the  time  of  the  former's  death,  in  1818,  both  the 
Merino  and  the  Leicester,  as  a  full-blood  sheep,  ceased  to  graze  upon 
their  farms.  How  far  tradition  is  to  be  relied  upon  we  can  not  say, 
but  as  to  Mr.  Smith  we  do  know  that,  in  April,  1811,  he  imported 
seventy  Merino  sheep  from  Lisbon,  which  were  taken  to  his  farm  on  the 
Baritan. 

TEXEL  SHEEP. 

North  of  the  Cape  of  Good  Hope,  in  the  rich  and  sickly  countries  of 
the  negroes  of  the  western  coast  of  Africa,  the  sheep  are  in  great  num- 
bers, and  of  character  as  distinct  from  those  of  Asia  and  Europe  as 
other  quadrupeds  of  the  same  countries.  There  are  two  very  marked 
varieties.  One  is  of  small  size,  not  more  than  half  the  size  of  the  or- 


90  SEEEP   INDUSTRY   OF   THE    UNITED    STATES 

dinary  sheep,  and  covered  with  short  hair  like  a  goat,  without  any  wool, 
and  with  tails  like  swine;  with  a  sort  of  mane  like  a  lion  on  the  neck, 
and  so  on  the  rump,  and  a  bunch  at  the  end  of  the  tail.  Some  of  them 
have  singular  enlargements  on  the  cheek,  throat,  and  sometimes  on  the 
forehead.  They  were  familiar  to  the  slave-traders,  who  carried  them 
away  as  sea- stock  along  with  their  human  victims,  and  many  of  them 
found  their  way  into  the  West  India  Islands.  Their  flesh  was  not  very 
palatable,  but  it  was  infinitely  better  than  nothing.  This  was  the  case  in 
their  native  home,  but  transportation  improved  them,  and  those  of  Cu4 
ra^ao  were  so  highly  esteemed  that  they  were  imported  into  the  States 
of  Virginia,  South  Carolina,  and  Georgia,  to  the  great  improvement  of 
the  mutton.  They  were  very  prevalent  in  Virginia  during  the  latter 
half  of  the  last  century,  and  Washington  had  some  in  his  flock  at 
Mount  Vernon. 

But  the  most  numerous  breed  of  Guinea  sheep  is  of  a  far  different 
character.  The  male  is  horned,  the  horns  generally  forming  a  semicir- 
cle, with  the  points  forward  5  the  females  are  hornless.  In  the  early 
part  of  the  seventeenth  century  the  Guinea  sheep  were  taken  into  the 
islands  on  the  Danish  coast  and  into  Friesland  and  crossed  with  the 
native  sheep,  producing  the  Mouton  Flandrin  or  Texel  sheep,  of  great 
size,  beauty  of  form,  and  abundant  produce  of  fine  wool.  They  were 
very  prolific  and  gave  good  milk.  In  their  native  country  these  sheep 
had  a  long,  gaunt  form,  but  under  better  treatment  they  became  a 
large,  well-shaped  animal,  indicative  of  the  rich  pastures  and  moist 
climate  in  which  they  had  been  fed  in  the  drained  lakes  of  Holland. 
Dutch  traders  brought  these  sheep  to  the  American  colonies  before  the 
Eevolution,  and  many  were  imported  into  New  York  and  Philadelphia 
from  1807  to  1820,  and  were  very  popular  as  a  mutton  sheep  in  the  city 
markets.  The  cross  on  the  Texel  sheep  with  a  dash  of  the  Tunis  broad- 
tailed  was  considered  very  superior. 

In  Holland  they  were  crossed  with  some  of  the  larger  native  breeds ; 
the  English  long-wooled  sheep,  and — 

particularly  the  Roinney,  contributed  more  to  their  amelioration,  and  they  are  now 
a  singular,  but  in  many  respects  a  valuable,  breed.  They  have  somewhat  decreased 
in  size ;  they  are  seldom  more  than  2  feet  6  inches  in  height ;  they  are  polled,  with 
long  pendant  ears ;  the  leg  is  rather  inclined  to  be  long ;  the  tail  is  short  and  large, 
and  covered  with  wool;  the  fleece  averages  from  10  to  12  inches  in  length,  but  it  is 
far  from  being  fine,  and  is  devoted  to  the  preparation  of  coarser  goods. 

FRIESLAND   SHEEP. 

Similar  to  the  Texel  sheep,  but  of  a  superior  size,  is  another  Holland 
sheep,  descended  from  a  cross  of  the  Guinea  sheep  with  that  of  East 
Frieslaud,  whence  its  name.  It  has  a  greater  mixture  of  the  English 
blood,  stands  2  or  3  inches  higher  than  the  Texel,  is  without  horns, 
and  has  a  long,  small  tail,  generally  devoid  of  wool.  The  sheep  of  this 
breed  are  not  inclined  to  fatten,  are  very  prolific,  and  give  a  rich  milk, 
much  used  by  the  Dutch  and  Flemings  in  the  manufacture  of  a  good 


EAST   OF   THE   MISSISSIPPI   RIVER.  91 

quality  of  c,liee.se.  As  to  the  wool  and  the  general  character  of  this 
sheep  we  quote  from  a  work  published  in  1763,  and  given  as  a  note  by 
JTouatt: 

It  unites  in  itself  the  perfections  belonging  to  every  other  breed  without  their 
defects;  its  walk  is  firm;  its  deportment  noble;  its  form  well  proportioned  in  all  its 
parts,  announcing  a  good  constitution  and  a  healthy  temperament,  and  exempt  from 
the  maladies  so  common  to  other  breeds.  The  length  of  its  wool  is  in  proportion  to 
its  height,  and  it  does  not  disfigure  the  animal  as  in  the  English  sheep,  whose  fleece 
is  a  burdensome  weight,  especially  at  the  return  of  spring.  The  Flemish  sheep 
carries  nothing  about  him  that  in  the  least  detracts  from  his  beauty.  His  wool  is 
white  and  without  spot — it  is  of  a  dazzling  whiteness;  he  is  contented  every- 
where— everywhere  he  becomes  a  citizen  of  the  place  he  inhabits. 

Touatt  could  not  permit  such  praise  for  anything  not  English,  and 
thus  comments  on  the  Fleming's  words : 

,  It  is  a  good  kind  of  sheep  enough,  but  it  owes  much  of  its  value  to  English  blood; 
and,  after  all,  the  Belgians  and  the  Dutch  are  compelled  to  import  annually  3,500,000 
pounds  of  British  wool,  in  order  to  make  that  of  this  unrivaled  sheep  available  for 
the  manufacture  of  the  finest  stuffs.  The  average  price  of  this  kind  of  sheep  in  store 
condition  was  about  18  livres  at  that  time,  and  30  livres  when  fat,  and  the  carcass 
weighed  from  90  to  130  pounds. 

The  Friesland  sheep  were  known  in  the  United  States  before  the 
present  century,  and  many  of  them  were  introduced  early  in  the  present 
century  and  crossed  on  our  common  sheep,  were  very  popular,  and  car- 
ried off  many  prizes  at  fairs  and  shows  in  Pennsylvania,  Maryland,  and 
Virginia.  Some  of  these  have  been  noted.  From  its  long,  slim  tail, 
generally  devoid  of  wool,  it  was  frequently  called  the  rat-tailed  sheep. 
The  wool  of  the  Friesland  sheep,  as  it  appeared  in  the  United  States, 
was  14  to  16  inches  long,  and  silky,  very  fine  for  its  length,  and  some 
instances  are  recorded  where  a  sheep  gave  16  pounds  to  the  fleece. 
They  grew  to  a  great  size.  The  ewes,  which  were  milked  twice  a  day, 
gave  a  quart  each  time,  and  they  brought  forth  every  year  from  two  to 
four  lambs.  This  breed  was  confined  to  a  limited  area,  but  continued 
for  many  years.  In  June,  1825,  a  Mr.  Smith  showed  at  the  ^laryland 
fair  twenty-three  fleeces  of  Friesland  sheep,  weighing  204£  pounds,  or 
an  average  of  8  pounds  14  ounces  each.  The  wool  was  of  excellent 
quality. 

THE  TEESWATER  SHEEP. 

Upon  the  rich  lowlands  bordering  the  river  Tees  in  the  east  of  Eng- 
land there  was  originally  bred  a  tall,  clumsy  sheep,  without  horns,  and 
with  white  face  and  legs.  Their  bones  were  small  compared  with  those 
of  other  large  breeds,  but  supported  a  thicker,  firmer,  and  heavier  body 
than  its  size  would  indicate;  wide  upon  the  back,  somewhat  round  in 
the  barrel,  and  yielding  a  heavier  carcass  than  any  other  sheep,  but 
proportionally  longer  in  growing  to  perfection;  the  meat,  however,  finer 
grained  than  could  be  expected  from  such  an  animal.  The  wool  of  the 
old  Tees  water  was  remarkably  long,  rough,  and  heavy,  yet  so  loosely 
was  it  set  upon  the  skin  that  the  fleece  seldom  weighed  more  than  9 


92         SHEEP  INDUSTRY  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES 

pounds.  The  ewes  were  very  prolific,  commonly  bearing  twins,  some- 
times three  at  a  birth,  and  cases  are  recorded  where  a  single  animal 
brought  forth  16  lambs  in  four  years.  These  sheep  prospered  most 
in  small  flocks,  in  pastures  with  cattle.  They  were  bred  to  some  extent 
about  1808  to  1815,  in  Burlington  County,  New  Jersey,  and  in  the; 
vicinity  of  Philadelphia,  and  attained  a  high  degree  of  excellence  and 
popularity,  and  traces  of  them  lingered  for  many  years  afterward,  until 
the  New  Leicester  and  the  Southdown  completely  superseded  and  sup! 
planted  them. 

THE   SOUTHDOWN. 

About  the  close  of  the  past  century  an  advertisement  appeared  in  a 
Philadelphia  paper  announcing  the  arrival  of  some  Southdown  sheep.: 
The  owner  stated  that  they  were  animals  of  the  pure  breed,  but  hej 
could  not  tell  how  he  got  them,  from  whose  flock  in  the  old  country 
they  came,  who  brought  them,  nor  in  what  ship  they  came,  as  it  would 
subject  the  vessel  to  confiscation  and  the  parties  involved  to  fines  and 
imprisonment.  These  were  probably  the  first  pure-bred  Southdowua 
introduced  into  the  United  States. 

In  1803  Dr.  Eose  commenced  a  system  of  wool- growing  with  a  small 
flock  of  Southdown  sheep.  These  were  introduced  by  him  and  estab-' 
lished  on  his  large  estate  in  the  town  of  Fayette,  Seneca  County,  New' 
York.  They  did  remarkably  well,  and  the  blood  was  diffused  through- 
out the  county  and  that  portion  of  the  State.  In  1813  Dr.  Eose  crossed 
his  Southdown  flock  with  the  Spanish  Merino,  and  again  about  1826  by 
the  Saxony  Merino. 

Other  breeds  of  sheep,  such  as  the  Lincolnshire,  the  Devonshire,  and 
the  Wiltshire,  come  across  our  inquiries  between  1800  and  1810,  but  in 
such  an  indistinct  manner  that  they  can  not  be  definitely  traced.  The 
Lincolnshire  was  similar  to  the  Teeswater  j  were  a  large-carcassed  sheep 
and  carried  more  wool  than  any  others.  They  had  no  horns,  had  white 
faces,  long,  thin,  and  weak  carcass,  the  ewes  weighing  from  14  to  2$ 
pounds  the  quarter  5  the  three  year-old  wethers  from  20  to  30  pounds. 
They  had  thick,  rough,  white  legs,  large  bones,  thick  pelts  and  long 
wool,  from  10  to  18  inches,  and  weighing  from  8  to  14  pounds  per  fleece 
and  covering  a  slow-feeding,  coarse-grained  carcass  of  mutton.  Some  of 
these  unshapely,  ill-favored  animals  had  been  imported  before  1796,  but 
being  ill-adapted  to  New  England  pasturage  they  did  not  thrive  and  were* 
generally  abandoned.  The  Devonshire  sheep,  noticed  as  occurring  in] 
Massachusetts  about  1800  to  1810,  it  would  be  difficult  to  define.  Therej 
were  many  varieties  known  to  Devonshire  at  that  time,  most  of  them, 
going  through  radical  changes,  in  a  transition  state,  in  fact.  They  werei 
mostly  in  great  affinity  with  the  old  Dorset  sheep,  and  had  white  faces; 
and  legs,  generally  horned,  but  some  without  horns.  They  were  small 
in  the  head  and  neck,  and  small  in  the  bone  everywhere,  the  carcass 
narrow  and  flat-sided,  and  they  weighed  when  fat  from  9  to  12  pounds. 


HAINES,   DEI- 


SOUTH   DOWN    RAM. 
DOMESTIC  ANIMALS  OF  GREAT  BRITAIN/'— LOW. 


..- 


;>.          -       -~ 


^ 
- 


EAST    OF   THE    MISSISSIPPI    RIVER.  93 

per  quarter.  The  fleece  weighed  3  or  4  pounds  in  the  yolk  and  the  wool 
was  short,  but  with  a  coarse  and  hairy  tup.  They  were  very  hardy 
and  their  mutton  was  delicate.  The  Dartmoor  and  the  Exmoor  were 
the  two  leading  varieties,  and  from  them  it  is  probable  Massachusetts 
derived  the  few  Devonshire  sheep  that  crossed  some  of  her  flocks. 

Some  sheep  bred  on  the  islands  along  the  New  England  coast  were 
of  a  peculiar  kind,  though  descended  from  the  common  sheep  of  the 
mainland.  Among  these  may  be  mentioned  the  variety  of  the  Naushan 
Island,  which  Josiah  Bradlee,  in  the  Boston  Sentinel  of  August  22, 
•  1810,  said  would  mix  better  with  the  Spanish  Merino  than  any  other 
breed,  the  cross  at  four  to  five  months  old  being  well  shaped,  and  for 
thickness  and  firmness  of  wool  equal  to  any  sheep  of  the  mixed  breed 
in  Massachusetts. 

Chancellor  Livingston  in  the  second  edition  of  his  "  Essay  on  Sheep," 
published  in  1810,  said  that  very  little  of  the  long  wool,  of  sufficient 
strength  to  bear  combing,  of  which  were  made  worsteds  and  serges, 
was  raised  in  the  United  States,  nor  did  he  think  it  well  calculated  for 
the  climate,  unless  it  be  on  the  seacoast,  and  some  of  the  rich  meadows 
on  the  borders  of  rivers,  or  the  luxuriant  pastures  that  were  found  in 
parts  of  the  Eastern  States.  The  demand  for  this  wool  was  yet  small 
and  would  probably  continue  long  to  be  so,  because  worsted  cloths 
could  be  furnished  cheaper  from  Europe,  and  particularly  from  Eng- 
land, where  the  long-wooled  sheep  were  the  prevailing  stock,  and  where, 
for  ages,  they  had  been  in  the  habit  of  working  it  to  advantage;  and 
because  fine  woolens  were  much  warmer  and  softer,  and  would  therefore 
maintain  a  preference  for  articles  of  clothing.  Wool  of  a  medium 
length,  that  is,  too  short  for  combing  and  too  long  for  fine  clothes,  was 
best  adapted  to  hosiery,  and  such,  for  the  most  part,  was  the  wool  of  the 
United  States,  the  native  short- wooled  flocks  having  from  1780  to  1809 
been  injured  by  an  intermixture  with  the  long-wooled  ranis  that  had 
occasionally  been  imported  from  England,  Ireland,  and  Holland.  These, 
without  giving  long  wool,  had  spoiled  the  short  wool,  which  formed  a 
strong  feature  in  the  character  of  our  common  sheep.  While  we  had 
no  established  manufactories,  and  wool  was  applied  chiefly  to  hosiery, 
to  the  clothing  of  servants,  and  to  greatcoats  and  working  cloths  for 
laborers,  no  distinction  was  made  in  the  price  or  quality,  and  therefore 
every  farmer  was  solicitous  to  get  that  breed  of  sheep  which  yielded 
the  greatest  quantity  of  wool. 

It  is  estimated  that  in  1810  there  were  in  the  United  States  about 
7.000,000  sheep,  of  which  Vermont  had  450,000 ;  Massachusetts,  399,1 82 ; 
Connecticut,  400,000;  and  Pennsylvania  1,469,918.  The  numbers  in 
other  States  are  not  definitely  known ;  they  were  quite  large  in  New 
York  and  New  Jersey,  and  diminished  the  further  we  go  southward. 

The  general  character  of  these  sheep  has  been  told  in  the  preceding 
pages.  In  the  Eastern  and  Middle  States  and  along  the  Atlantic  sea- 
board States  as  far  south  as  Georgia  and  westward  over  the  Alleghanies 


94 


SHEEP    INDUSTRY    OF    THE    UNITED    STATES 


as  far  as  English- speaking  settlers  bad  gone,  they  were  mixed  descend-! 
ants  of  various  English  breeds,  with  a  few  individuals  of  improved] 
varieties  in  favored  localities,  and  were  of  the  long-wooled  type.  South: 
of  Georgia  to  the  waters  of  the  Gulf  of  Mexico,  in  the  pine  woods  of  the 
South  Atlantic  and  Gulf  coast,  in  the  Southwest,  in  Texas,  and  away 
across  the  continent  to  the  Pacific  coast,  were  found  the  degenerate 
descendants  of  the  early  Spanish  importations,  the  American  scrub  of 
the  present  day,  fast  disappearing  under  good  breeding  and  Merino 
crosses.  A  few  Merino  sheep  were  to  be  found  in  Massachusetts,  New^ 
York,  Connecticut,  Pennsylvania,  New  Jersey,  Delaware,  and  Ohio.  A 
new  era  in  sheep  husbandry  now  opened,  with  the  Merino  as  its  founcla-j 
tion,  and  to  its  history,  introduction,  and  dissemination  we  shall  devote^ 
some  space,  after  a  brief  sketch  of  the  household  woolen  industry  which] 
it  was  destined  to  supplant. 

Number  of  sheep  and  value  thereof  exported  from  the  United  States  from  the  year  ending^ 
September  SO,  1790,  to  year  ending  September  30,  1S16. 


Tear. 

Number. 

Valuation. 

Value  per 
head. 

Year. 

Number. 

Valuation. 

Value  pen 
head.  \ 

1790 

10  058 

$17  039 

$1  69 

1804 

12  456 

$30  000 

$2  4u 

1791     

10  880 

1805  

6  091 

15  000 

2  46 

1792 

12  213 

1806 

6  544 

16  000 

2  44 

1793 

12,  064 

1807    .    .... 

5  698 

14  000 

2  45 

1794  

9,577 

1808  

1,531 

4,000 

2.61 

1795 

6  494 

1809       .  ... 

3  221 

8  000 

2  48: 

1796  

6,140 

1810  

4,613 

12,  000 

2.  60 

1797 

3  291 

1811  . 

5  801 

20  000 

3  44 

1798  

4,808 

1812  

3,572 

9,  000 

2.52 

1799 

9,  733 

1813 

934 

2  000 

2  14 

1800  

9,455 

1814  

1,  669 

5,000 

3.00 

1801 

11  621 

1815 

9  710 

30  000 

3  09f 

1802  

12,157 

1816  

17,  280 

49,  000 

2.83 

1803 

13  677 

55  000 

4  02 

CHAPTER   II. 

THE  HOUSEHOLD  WOOLEN  INDUSTRY— 1607-1800. 

Many  of  the  American  colonists  brought  with  their  sheep  their  spin- 
?;nmg-  wheels  and  looms  and  a  knowledge  of  spinning  and  weaving,  and 
|one  of  their  first  cares  was  to  obtain  an  ample  supply  of  materials  for 
I  their  clothing.  For  the  first  years,  both  in  Virginia  and  in  New  Eng- 
^  land,  sheep  were  not  in  sufficient  numbers  to  furnish  wool,  for  which, 
;  and  other  raw  materials,  the  settlers  were  compelled  to  depend  upon 
:  Dutch  ships  which  came  across  the  ocean  to  trade,  and  from  the  mother 
•  country,  paying  for  wool  and  cloth  with  tobacco,  tar,  potash,  boards, 
and  other  products  of  the  forest  and  field.  When  sheep  multiplied  and 
wool  could  be  obtained  the  spinning-wheel  and  the  loom  were  brought 
;  into  play,  and  from  that  day  to  the  present  throughout  this  country 
;  and  Canada  the  country  people  have  manufactured  a  portion  of  their 
I  coarser  clothing.  It  would  be  well  did  they  do  more  of  it. 

The  diminished  intercourse  with  England,  consequent  upon  the  stop- 
page of  emigration  about  1642,  and  the  uncertain  means  of  communi- 
cation, turned  the  particular  attention  of  the  colonists  to  the  manufac- 
ture of  their  own  linen  and  woolen  cloth,  and  the  more  than  paternal 
royal  governors  and  colonial  assemblies  never  wearied  of  giving  orders 
for  the  preservation  and  propagation  of  sheep,  the  importation  of  cot- 
ton from  Barbadoes,  the  saving  of  hemp  and  flax,  and  the  fabrication 
of  these  raw  materials  into  clothing.  The  first  of  these  orders  appears 
to  have  been  made  by  the  general  court  of  Massachusetts  May  13, 1640, 
and  had  reference  only  to  linen  and  cotton  cloth,  or  the  product  of  those 
materials  combined. 

The  court,  taking  into  serious  consideration  the  absolute  necessity  for  the  raising 
of  the  manufacture  of  linen  cloth,  doth  declare  that  it  is  the  intent  of  this  court 
that  there  shall  be  an  order  settled  about  it,  and  therefore  doth  require  the  mag- 
istrates and  deputies  of  the  several  towns  to  acquaint  the  townsmen  therewith, 
and  to  make  inquiry  what  seed  is  in  every  town,  what  men  and  women  are 
skillful  in  the  braking,  spinning,  weaving;  what  means  for  the  providing  of  wheels ; 
and  to  consider  with  those  skillful  in  that  manufacture,  and  what  course  may  be 
taken  for  teaching  the  boys  and  girls  in  all  towns  the  spinning  of  the  yarn,  and  to 
return  to  the  next  court  their  several  and  joint  advice  about  this  thing.  The  like 
consideration  would  be  had  for  the  spinning  and  weaving  of  cotton  wool. 

This  order  pointed  to  the  manufacture  of  a  cloth  which  then  formed 
the  principal  apparel  of  the  English  people,  a  mixture  of  linen  and  cot- 
ton under  the  name  of  fustian,  dimity,  etc.  There  were  many  similar 
orders  made  by  the  assemblies  of  other  colonies,  which  have  been  par- 

95 


96         SHEEP  INDUSTRY  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES 

tially  given  in  a  preceding  chapter,  all  tending  to  the  encouragement  of 
household  manufacture.  In  March,  1642-'43,  an  act  intended  to  favor  j 
the  New  England  colonies  passed  the  English  House  of  Commons.  It  ex- 
empted from  duties,  subsidies,  and  taxation  all  merchandise  intended 
for  their  use,  and  all  colonial  produce  thence  exported  to  England.  This 
ordinance  had  its  intended  effect  in  stimulating  the  industry  of  the  colo- 
nists, yet  it  probably  rather  obstructed  than  promoted  the  domestic 
manufacture  of  clothing  and  other  staple  articles  of  English  export.  It 
furnished  facilities  for  a  cheap  and  constant  supply  of  English  manu- 
factures, and  rendered  the  colonists  simply  producers  of  raw  materials. 
The  confirmation  of  the  law,  in  a  modified  form,  became  a  few  years  after 
the  foundation  of  the  famous  act  of  navigation.* 

Following  this  act  of  the  English  Government  but  one  year  was  the 
first  regular  or  systematic  attempt  at  an  improved  manufacture  of 
woolen  cloth  made  by  the  people  of  Eowley,  who  built  the  first  fulling- 
mill  erected  in  the  North  American  colonies,  the  mill  said  to  have  been 
put  up  by  John  Pearson  about  1643,  just  above  the  head  of  the  tide  on 
Mill  Elver,  where  it  was  still  in  operation  in  1809,  and  a  cedar  tenter- 
post,  brought  by  the  settlers  from  England,  still  remained  perfectly 
sound.  This  appears  to  have  been  the  first  place  at  which  woolen  cloth 
was  made  in  New  England  by  people  from  the  seat  of  the  broadcloth 
manufacture  of  Old  England,  "  many  of  them  having  been  clothiers  in 
England,  till  their  zeal  to  promote  the  Gospel  of  Christ  caused  them  to 
wander." 

Other  falling-mills  followed  the  erection  of  the  first  at  Eowley.  A 
second  was  built  at  Watertown  in  1662,  which  was  sold  the  next  year 
to  Thomas  Leveran,  a  cloth-worker  from  Dedham,  in  Essex  County, 
England.  In  1681  one  was  erected  at  Dedham,  Mass.;  another  at 
Watertown  in  1686 ;  one  at  New  London,  Conn.,  in  1693 ;  one  in  Eahway, 
N.  J.,  in  1703,  and  many  about  this  time  in  Pennsylvania  by  the  Quaker 
emigrants  from  Yorkshire  and  other  cloth  districts,  among  whom,  in 
1698,  were  enumerated  dyers  and  fullers,  comb  and  card  makers,  spin- 
ners and  weavers.  The  first  fulling-mill  of  Virginia  appears  to  have 
been  set  up  about  1692.  Their  multiplication  in  all  the  colonies  from 
this  time  forbids  further  enumeration. 

Fulling  is  an  important  process  connected  with  the  making  of  woolen 
cloth,  and  concerning  it  and  wool  carding  deserves  brief  notice.  As  is 
well  known,  the  manufacture  of  wool  consists  of  two  principal  branches,1 
the  woolen  manufacture  proper  and  the  manufacture  of  worsted,  both 
based  upon  the  qualities  and  character  of  the  wool  employed,  and  more 
particularly  upon  its  length  of  fiber  or  staple.  The  worsted  manufac- 
ture requires  a  wool  of  long  staple  and  firm  fiber,  little  disposed  to 
shrink,  curl,  or  felt  in  process  of  weaving  or  finishing.  Wool  of  a  long 
staple  is  the  produce  of  a  peculiar  variety  of  sheep  and  varies  in  the 
length  of  its  fibers  from  3  to  8  inches.  The  Leicester,  Eonmey  Marsh, 

*  History  of  American  Manufactures.    J.  L.  Bishop,  vol.  i,  p.  303. 


EAST    OF    THE    MISSISSIPPI    RIVER.  97 

f 

and  other  breeds  of  sheep  known  to  the  first  settlers  of  the  country 
furnished  this  "  long  wool,"- which  was  prepared  for  spinning  by  a  proc- 
ess of  combing,  which  is  either  manual  or  .mechanical,  its  object  being 
to  disentangle  the  fibers  and  tufts  and  dispose  them  as  nearly  as  pos- 
sible in  parallel  form. 

The  ordinary  cloth  manufacture,  on  the  other  hand,  employs  a  short, 
fine  wool,  the  filaments  of  which  are  capable  of  being  fulled  or  felted 
together  without  loss  of  elasticity  in  the  fabric.  This  wool,  previous 
to  being  spun,  undergoes  the  operation  of  carding,  like  cotton,  whereby 
the  fibers  are  disentangled  and  arranged  in  a  light,  orderly  lap  or  roll, 
ready  to  be  drawn  out  into  regular  threads.  The  beauty  of  the  woven 
fabric  depends  upon  the  fineness  and  smoothness  of  the  yarn,  and  this 
upon  the  regularity  and  perfection  of  the  carding,  which  again  is  mainly 
influenced  by  the  quality  of  the  cards  and  of  the  wool. 

The  falling  of  cloth  is  commenced  by  scouring  the  fabric  in  water 
holding  in  suspension  an  aluminous  clay  called  fullers'  earth,  or  other 
detergent,  to  absorb  the  grease.  It  is  then  washed  and  beaten  by 
heavy  wooden  mallets  in  a  trough,  soap  and  hot  water  being  copiously 
used  in  the  operation,  whereby  the  cloth  acquires  body  and  thickness 
by  a  shrinking:  or  condensing  of  the  web  nearly  one- third  in  its  length 
ami  one-half  in  its  width.  This  milling  or  felting  which  cloth  under- 
goes in  the  fulling  stock  renders  the  web  close  and  compact,  and  in- 
creases its  beauty  and  firmness,  and  is  due  to  the  peculiar  imbricated 
or  serrated  structure  of  the  filaments  of  wool,  which  become  thereby 
closely  and  inextricably  united,  as  is  more  perfectly  seen  in  hat  bodies 
and  the  felted  cloths  now  made  without  spinning  or  weaving. 

At  the  present  day  in  regular  woolen  factories,  many  of  which  in  the 
United  States  are  very  large  and  complete  establishments,  conducted 
with  the  same  system  that  prevails  in  those  of  cotton,  all  the  operations 
of  scouring,  carding,  spinning,  weaving,  dyeing,  and  fulling  are  con- 
ducted on  the  p  eniises.  But  in  early  times,  and  in  some  States  and 
most  rural  parts  at  this  day,  where  much  of  the  domestic  wool  is  spun 
and  woven  ir«  families,  sometimes  all,  and  at  others  a  part,  of  these 
1  processes  were  carried  on  in  the  household,  the  wool  being  carded  by 
hand-cards,  Frpun,  woven,  and  dyed  in  the  family,  and  worn  without 
fulling  or  dressing.  In  other  cases  the  wool,  after  being  sorted,  picked, 
and  oiled,  was  sent  to  the  carding-mill  and  returned  in  rolls  to  be  spun 
and  woven,  aftei  which  it  was  again  sent  to  the  mill  to  be  fulled,  dyed 
(if  not  dyed  i^  the  wool),  and  finished.* 

The  manufacture  of  wool  in  the  colonies  properly  began  with  the  first 
erection  of  fulling-mills,  the  woolen  webs  of  the  handlooms  of  the  private 
families  bcint:  carried  to  these  mills  to  receive  body  and  thickness  and 
a  better  finish.  This  wool  from  inferior  sheep  made  homespun  cloth  of 
the  coarsest  icmtl,  but  it  was  durable  and  comfortable.  Fulling-mills 
increased  very  rapidly  in  number  until  every  neighborhood  seems  to 

*  ID  croductioa  to  the  Eighth  Census,    Manufactures.    1860. 
22990 7 


98         SHEEP  INDUSTRY  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES 

% 

have  had  one,  while  every  family  had  its  loom  and  every  woman  was  a 
weaver ;  there  were  also  many  weavers  who  wove  on  their  hand-looms 
for  the  public,  and  some  who  traveled  about  from  house  to  house  plying 
their  trade. 

William  B.  Weeden,  in  his  Economic  and  Social  History  of  New 
England,  gives  the  inventory  of  the  estate  of  John  Cornish,  of  Boston, 
indicating  him  to  have  been  the  pioneer  of  the  worsted  combing  and 
weaving  industry  in  the  New  World,  with  a  mill  fitted  up  quite  complete 
for  the  tirne,1695-'96. 

An  inventory  of  the  estate  of  John  Cornish,  late  of  Boston,  in  New  England,  deceased, 
taken  the  2d  day  of  March,  1695-^96. 

Imprimis.  &  s. 

40  pounds  of  worsted,  at  3s.  9d 7  10 

56  pounds  of  white  yarne,  at  Is.  3d 3  10 

54  pounds  of  coverlet  yarne,  at  Is.  Id 2  14 

54  pounds  of  mixed  colored  combed  wool,  at  2s.  9d 7  08 

6  pounds  of  blue  combed  wool,  at  2s.  9^ 0  16 

62  pounds  of  white  combed  wool,  at  2s 6  04 

8  pounds  of  blue  combed  wool,  wanting  cleaning,  at  2s.  Qd 1  00 

279  pounds  of  draw  white  wool,  at  Is.  9^ 24  08 

36  pounds  of  course  refuse  wool,  at  5d 0  15 

A  parcel  of  pinion  and  course  wool . .                      0  15 

82  pounds  of  copperas,  at  2d 0  13 

34  pounds  of  galls,  at  ISd 2  11 

70  pounds  of  redwood,  at  Is  . .                                                      310 

60  pounds  of  potash,  at  6d 1  10 

35  pounds  of  madder,  at  Is 1  15 

230  pounds  of  fustick,  at  18s 2  13 

4  looms  and  tackling 8  00 

2  pair  of  combs,  1  wrinch,  warping  bar,  and  scame .' 2  10 

2  furnaces 16  00 

1  horse,  1  cart,  and  the  tackle  to  it 7  00 

2  saddles  and  bridles 1  10 

A  case  of  pistols,  holsters,  1  gun,  and  3  swords 5  00 

2  pieces  of  serge,  containing  45  yards  per  piece,  40  yards,  woven 8  10 

149  yards  of  serge,  at  3s.  Qd  per  yard 26  01 

40  pounds  pewter,  at  12d! 2  00 

1  piece  of  kersey,  26  yards,  at  3s.  Orf.  yard 4  n 

4  beds,  bolsters,  and  pillows 8  00 

3  pair  of  curtains 3  00 

3  bedsteads 1  00 

10  pairs  of  sheets 3  00 

1  jack,  2  pits,  1  pair  andirons,  fire  shovel,  tongs,  and  2  trammels 3  00 

2  pots,  2  kettles,  and  1  skillet 2  00 

1  case  of  drawers,  3  trunks,  1  chest,  2  tables,  cradle,  12  chairs,  napkins,  etc  5  00 

Books 0  10 

Barrels,  tubs,  and  lumber 0  06 

2  pairs  of  scales 0  16 

His  wearing  apparel 15  00 

One  fulling  mill,  house,  and  land  to  thorn 60  00 


Total 247    13 


EAST   OF    THE    MISSISSIPPI    RIVER.  99 

The  inventory  of  Cornish  [says  Weeden]  reveals  the  exact  processes  of  his  busi- 
'ness.  He  dyed  wool,  using  two  furnaces,  and  he  comhed  it,  either  colored  or  white. 
Doubtless  the  spinning  was  done  in  the  homesteads  of  eastern  Massachusetts  by  the 
dames,  or  the  daughters  of  the  dames,  who  had  been  taught  in  spinning  classes.  The 
farmers  might  have  taken  home^he  clean  "top"  wool,  from  which  the  "noil"  or  short 
fiber  had  been  cleaned  by  the  two  pairs  of  combs  worked  by  two  men,  on  the  market 
day.  Another  day  they  would  bring  iu  the  spun  worsted,  taking  their  pay  in  cloth 
ami  yarn.  The  wool  might  bo  their  own  or  "  put  out"  by  Cornish  for  the  spinning. 
E\  ideiitly  he  traded  his  manufactures  for  that  of  others;  he  combed  and  wove,  but 
}K  did  not  card  or  spin.  The  "white"  and  coverlet  yarns  were  carded  in  the  home- 
steads; hand  cards  were  very  common.  Dyeing  in  two  furnaces,  combing  with  two 
c"! n  i is,  weaving  with  four  looms,  a  detached  and  independent  fulling-mill,  would 
make  a  considerable  business.  Serge  was  in  the  looms;  when  finished  it  would  be 
worth  3s.  Qd.  per  yard.  It  was  worsted  or  partly  worsted.  He  had  one  piece  of  ker- 
fey,  probably  of  carded  stock,  and,  probably,  obtained  by  ex  change  in  the  operations 
of  the  fulling-mill.  He  was  a  worsted  comber  and  weaver.  John  Cornish  was — so 
far  as  is  known— the  first  organizer  of  this  industry  in  these  busy  lands. 

An  effort  was  made  in  1697  to  introduce  the  manufacture  of  woolen 
cloth  in  the  counties  of  Somerset  and  Dorchester,  in  Maryland,  which 
was  renewed  ten  years  later.  Neither  attempt  had  permanent  success, 
but  nevertheless  occasioned  some  complaints  in  England,  as  did  like 
efforts  in  Virginia  and  other  colonies,  the  English  Government  holding 
that  such  manufactures  and  all  acts  tending  to  encourage  them  were 
contrary  to  the  acts  of  navigation. 

American  manufactures  had  slow  growth,  partly  owing  to  the  scar- 
city of  proper  labor,  but  more  particularly  to  the  restrictive  measures 
of  the  English  Government;  and  yet  the  latter  was  the  incentive,  at  a 
later  day,  to  their  development. 

In  the  sixteenth  and  seventeenth  centuries  England  was  struggling 
for  the  mastery  of  the  seas,  the  direction  of  commerce,  and  the  monopoly 
of  manufactures.  Holland  was  her  rival.  During  the  middle  and  latter 
part  of  the  sixteenth  century  the  Dutch  provinces  rose  to  industrial 
and  commercial  greatness,  and  their  ports  the  chief  depots  and  them- 
selves the  principal  carriers  of  the  world.  Though  destitute  of  forests 
they  built  more  ships  than  all  Europe  besides;  without  mines  they  were 
the  largest  dealers  in  all  metals;  planting  no  vineyards  they  monopo- 
lized the  wine  trade.  Producing  almost  no  grain  of  any  kind,  yet,  when 
in  season  of  scarcity,  France  or  England  needed  supplies  of  corn,  they 
looked  not  to  Poland  or  Livonia,  where  it  grew,  but  to  the  cities  of  the 
Dutch,  where  they  were  always  sure  to  find  a  ready  and  plentiful  store 
in  the  best  supplied  granaries  of  Europe.  Without  fields  of  flax  the 
cities  swarmed  with  linen- weavers ;  destitute  almost  of  sheep,  Holland 
became  the  center  of  all  woolen  manufactures.  And  such  were  the  re- 
pute of  their  fabrics  and  the  superior  facilities  of  their  universal  navi- 
gation and  intercourse  with  other  countries  that  English  and  Flemish 
merchants  often  knew  no  better  way  to  forward  their  goods  to  remote 
places  than  to  send  them  first  to  Amsterdam,  whence  they  were  either 
reexported  or  purchased  by  the  Dutch  for  their  own  consumption. 


100  SHEEP    INDUSTRY    OF   THE    UNITED    STATES 

Previous  to  their  assertion  of  national  independence,  the  commerce  of 
the  Dutch  did  not  extend  beyond  the  confines  of  Europe.  But  new 
regions  of  traffic  were  now  open  to  their  dauntless  enterprise,  and  in 
1595  ships  sailed  into  the  East  Indies  and  competed  with  Spain  and 
Portugal  for  trade  in  those  parts,  a  competition  that  was  successful, 
notwithstanding  the  claim  of  Spain  to  exclusive  rights  of  navigation  in 
the  Indian  seas. 

In  1609,  Grotius  published  his  memorable  assertion  of  the  common 
freedom  of  the  sea  to  all  nations.  Its  immediate  object  was  to  over- 
throw the  Spanish  claim  to  the  exclusive  navigation  of  the  Indian  and 
Pacific  oceans,  and  to  establish  as  part  and  parcel  of  the  public  law  of 
Europe  the  right  of  every  neutral  flag  to  trade  in  those  and  all  other 
seas.  Spain  refused  to  yield  its  claim  even  in  preliminary  negotiation, 
and  never  in  fact  until  it  had  been  stripped  of  half  its  colonial  depend- 
encies and  utterly  beaten  in  every  quarter  of  the  world  by  the  free- 
trading  Dutch  and  compelled  to  buy,  for  their  own  use,  nutmegs,  cloves, 
and  mace  from  their  hated  rivals. 

From  this  time  Holland  grew  in  maritime  power  and  almost  monopo- 
lized the  carrying  trade  of  the  world.  Her  vessels  were  found  in  all 
the  seas  and  traded  in  the  ports  of  New  England,  New  York,  Maryland, 
and  Virginia.  England  was  jealous,  and  pretexts  were  not  wanting  to 
destroy  a  rival  with  whom  it  could  not  successfully  compete.  The 
causes  of  the  commercial  greatness  of  Holland  were  forgotten  in  envy 
at  its  success. 

It  ceased  to  appear  as  the  gallant  champion  of  the  seas  against  Spain  and  became 
envied  as  the  successful  rival.  The  English  Government  resolved  to  protect  the 
English  merchants.  Cromwell  desired  to  confirm  the  maritime  power  of  his  country, 
and  St.  John,  a  Puritan  and  a  republican  in  theory,  though  never  averse  to  a  limited 
monarchy,  devised  the  first  act  of  navigation,  which,  in  1651,  the  politic  Whitelocke 
introduced  and  carried  through  Parliament.  Henceforward  the  commerce  between 
England  and  her  colonies,  and  between  England  and  the  rest  of  the  world,  was  to  be 
conducted  in  ships  solely  oAvned  and  principally  manned  by  Englishmen.  Foreign- 
ers might  bring  to  England  nothing  but  the  products  of  their  respective  countries, 
or  those  of  which  their  countries  were  the  established  staples.  The  act  was  leveled 
against  Dutch  commerce  and  was  but  a  protection  of  British  shipping;  it  contained 
no  clause  relating  to  a  colonial  monopoly  or  specially  injurious  to  an  American  col- 
ony. Of  itself  it  inflicted  no  wound  on  Virginia  or  New  England.  In  vain  did  the 
Dutch  expostulate  against  the  act  as  a  breach  of  commercial  amity ;  the  parliament 
studied  the  interests  of  England  and  would  not  repeal  laws  to  please  a  neighbor.* 

A  naval  war  followed  which  proved  disastrous  to  Holland,  and  Eng- 
land gained  a  supremacy  on  the  seas,  which  she  has  since  maintained, 
and  established  on  a  firm  footing  the  British  commercial  policy — pro- 
tection to  British  shipping— which  many  years  before  she  had  essayed 
but  not  successfully  accomplished.  The  English  and  Dutch  war  lasted 
from  1051  to  1G54,  and  one  of  the  first  acts  of  the  English  Government 
directly  affecting  colonial  trade  was  in  1GGO,  when  it  was  enacted  that 
"no  merchandise  shall  be  imported  into  the  plantations  but  in  English 

*  Sawcroft's  History  of  the  United  States,  vol.  I,  p.  145. 


EAST    OF    THE    MISST^fr't1!    !11VER.'  101 


vessel  s,  1  1  a  v  i  gated  by  E  n  glishmenpu  i/ler'  pei^fohof  :  C  »r-f  oiture."  This 
restrictive  act  was  followed  in  16G3  by  an  act*  wb'ich  'proMbited  the  im- 
portation of  any  commodity,  the  growth,  production,  or  manufacture  of 
Europe,  into  the  British  plantations,  but  what  was  laden  in  England,  in 
English  ships,  manned  in  most  part  by  Englishmen.  Thus  the  colonists 
were  compelled  to  buy  in  England  not  only  all  English  manufactures, 
but  everything  else  that  they  might  need  from  any  soil  but  their  own. 
The  motive  of  this  act  is  avowed  in  its  preamble  : 

The  maintaining  a  greater  correspondence  and  kindness  between  the  subjects  at 
home  and  those  in  the  plantations,  keeping  the  colonies  in  a  firmer  dependence  upon 
the  mother  country  ;  making  them  yet  more  beneficial  to  it  in  the  further  employment 
and  increase  of  English  shipping  and  seamen,  and  in  the  vent  of  English  woolen  and 
other  manufactures  and  commodities  ;  rendering  the  navigation  to  and  from  them  more 
safe  and  cheap  ;  and  making  this  kingdom  a  staple  not  only  of  the  commodities  of 
the  plantations,  but  also  of  the  commodities  of  other  countries  and  places  for  their 
supply;  it  being  the  usage  of  other  nations  to  keep  their  plantation  trade  exclusively 
to  themselves. 

These  acts  were  enforced  in  the  colonies  and  had  the  effect  to  stimu- 
late woolen  manufacture  and  intercolonial  trade.  The  activity  of  New 
England  shipping  was  not  liked  by  the  English  merchants,  and  at  their 
instance  Parliament  resolved,  in  1673,  to  exclude  New  England  mer- 
chants from  competing  with  the  English  in  the  markets  of  the  Southern 
plantations  5  the  liberty  of  a  free  traffic  between  the  colonies  was  taken 
away,  and  several  enumerated  commodities  taken  from  one  colony  to 
another  were  subjected  to  a  duty  equal  to  or  equivalent  to  the  duty  on 
the  consumption  of  these  commodities  in  England.  Adverse  legislation 
went  farther,  and  America  was  forbidden,  by  an  act  of  Parliament,  not 
merely  to  manufacture  those  articles  which  might  compete  with  the 
English  in  foreign  markets,  but  even  to  supply  herself,  by  her  own  in- 
dustry, with  those  articles  which  her  position  and  her  resources  enabled 
her  to  manufacture  with  success. 

The  feeble  attempts  of  the  colonists  to  make  a  portion  of  their  own 
clothing  from  their  abundant  raw  materials  attracted  the  attention  of 
the  royal  governors,  and  was  not  unnoticed  in  England.  Governor 
Nicholson,  of  Virginia,  in  1698,  suggested  the  prohibition  of  the  cloth 
manufacture  in  the  colonies,  and  other  royal  governors  gave  similar 
counsels  on  the  subject  of  this  and  other  industries  and  watched  the  de- 
velopment of  the  arts  with  a  vigilance  which  betrayed  the  jealousy  of 
colonial  manufactures,  especially  that  of  inferior  wool  into  coarse  cloth- 
ing. But  inferior  as  was  the  wool,  and  feeble  as  was  the  attempt  to 
manufacture  it  into  coarse  home-made  clothing,  the  English  merchant 
and  manufacturer  made  complaints,  because  some  of  the  product  began 
to  be  exported  to  foreign  markets  formerly  supplied  by  England,  and  an 
act  passed  the  British  Parliament  in  which  the  existence  of  such  a  nian- 
faeture  in  the  colonies  is,  for  the  first  time,  recognized  on  the  statute 
book.  This  act  is  thus  noted  by  Mr.  Bancroft: 

In  1699,  the  system,  which  made  England  the  only  market  and  the  only  storehouse 
for  the  colonies,  received  a  new  development  by  an  act  of  Parliament,  which  reached 


102  'c^HEEP   iroT}!ff&tf;*OF    THE   UNITED    STATES 


the  door  of  ^y(^|rtiiyb^t^4;^itlyKiJfehgr9>  and  embodied  the  despotic,  will  of  a  self* 
islmess  kneXvMuoaly  ^^ligkly'civiiized  life.  As  yet,  the  owners  of  land  were  not  snfm 
ficiently  pledged  to  the  colonial  system.  Wool  was  the  great  staple  of  England,  a.mif| 
its  growers  and  manufacturers  envied  the  colonies  the  possession  of  a  flock  of  sheep,  :: 
a  spindle,  or  a  loom.  The  preamble  to  an  act  of  Parliament  avows  the  motive  for  a 
restraining  law  in  the  conviction  that  colonial  industry  would  "  inevitably  sink  the 
value  of  lands  "  in  England.  The  mother  country  could  esteem  the  present  interest 
of  its  landowners  paramount  to  natural  justice.  The  clause  which  I  am  about  to 
cite  is  a  memorial  of  a  delusion  which  once  pervaded  all  western  Europe,  and  which 
has  already  so  passed  away  that  men  grow  incredulous  of  its  former  existence  :  "  After 
the  first  day  of  December,  1699,  no  wool,  or  manufacture  made  or  mixed  with  wool, 
being  the  produce  or  manufacture  of  any  of  the  English  plantations  in  America, 
shall  be  loaded  in  any  ship  or  vessel,  upon  any  pretense  whatsoever  —  nor  loaded  upon 
any  horse,  cart,  or  other  carriage  —  to  be  carried  out  of  the  English  plantations  to 
any  other  of  the  said  plantations  or  to  any  other  place  whatsoever."  The  fabrics  of 
Connecticut  might  not  seek  a  market  in  Massachusetts,  or  be  carried  to  Albany  for 
traffic  with  the  Indians.  An  English  sailor  finding  himself  in  want  of  clothes  in  an 
American  harbor,  might  buy  there  forty  shillings'  worth  of  woolens,  but  not  more  ; 
and  this  small  concession  was  soon  repealed.  Did  a  colonial  assembly  show  favor  to 
manufactures,  the  board  of  trade  was  sure  to  interfere.  Error,  like  a  cloud,  must  be 
seen  from  a  distance  to  be  measured.  Sorners  and  Locke  saw  no  wrong  in  this  legis- 
lation, as  Jeremy  Taylor  and  Berkeley  had  seen  none  in  that  which  established  the 
Anglican  church  in  Ireland.  England  sought  with  foreign  states  a  convenient  tariff; 
in  the  colonies  it  prohibited  industry.  The  interests  of  landlords  and  manufac- 
turers, jointly  fostered  by  artificial  legislation,  so  corrupted  the  public  judgment  that 
the  intolerable  injustice  of  the  mercantile  system  was  not  surmised. 

In  Virginia,  the  poverty  of  the  people  compelled  them  to  attempt  coarse  maimfae-l 
tures,  or  to  go  unclad;  yet  Nicholson,  the  royal  governor,  advised  that  Parliament 
should  forbid  the  Virginians  to  make  their  own  clothing.  Spottswood  repeats  the 
complaint:  "  The  people,  more  of  necessity  than  of  inclination,  attempt  to  clothe 
themselves  with  their  own  manufactures;''  adding  that  "it  is  certainly  necessary  to 
divert  their  application  to  some  commodity  less  prejudicial  to  the  trade  of  Great 
Britain."  In  1701,  the  charter  colonies  were  reproached  by  the  lords  of  trade  "  with 
promoting  and  propagating  woolen  and  other  manufactures  proper  to  England." 
The  English  need  not  fear  to  conquer  Canada;  such  was  the  reasoning  of  an  Ameri- 
can agent;  for  in  Canada,  "  where  the  cold  is  extreme,  and  SUOAV  lies  so  long  on  the  ] 
ground,  sheep  will  never  thrive  so  as  to  make  the  woolen  manufactures  possible, 
which  is  the  only  thing  that  can  make  a  plantation  unprofitable  to  the  crown."  The 
policy  was  continued  by  every  administration. 

The  companion  to  share  this  restriction  in  the  trade  and  manufacture 
of  wool  was  Ireland.  The  English  manufacturer  had  become  jealous  of 
that  long-  suffering  oppressed  country,  and  an  act  was  passed  this  same 
year  of  1699  prohibiting  the  exportation  of  woolen  goods  from  Ireland 
to  foreign  parts  : 

It  was  acknowledged  that  the  same  intended  not  only  to  suppress  all  exportation 
of  woolens  from  Ireland,  but  utterly  to  discourage  the  progress  of  their  manufacture 
there,  lest  in  time  they  should  be  able  to  work  up  all  their  own,  and  England  be  de- 
prived of  its  usual  supply  from  thence  ;  that  this  was  but  an  act  of  self-preservation 
in  England,  the  mother  -country,  which,  therefore,  as  such,  had  a  right  to  dictate, 
not  only  in  that  particular,  but  some  others,  and  moreover  to  command  a  monopoly 
of  their  raw  wools.* 

*  Bishop's  History  of  Woolen  Manufactures. 


EAST    OF    THE    MISSISSIPPI    RIVER.  103 

The  act  of  KJ90,  whieh  was  but  one  of  ninny  early  restrictive  measures 
which  t'nun  tliat  time  beeame  a  settled  policy  in  regard  to  colonial  in- 
dustry, compelled  their  people  to  employ  their  wool  in  coarse  but  sub- 
stantial household  fabrics,  but  kept  them  wholly  dependent  upon 
England  for  the  finer  products  of  the  loom,  a  dependence  that  has  not 
ceased,  for,  notwithstanding  the  great  strides  made  by  the  American 
industry,  the  United  States  is  still  the  largest  foreign  consumer  of 
British  woolens. 

It  is  thought,  however,  by  some  that  the  law  was  probably  less 
instrumental  in  checking  the  disposition  to  manufacture  at  that  time 
than  it  would  have  been  in  an  advanced  stage  of  the  business.  On 
account  of  the  remoteness  of  the  colonies  from  the  sovereign  state,  and 
the  great  extent  of  their  seacoast,  it  would  have  proved  no  more 
effectual  in  preventing  an  exportation  for  which  they  were  prepared 
than  the  laws  of  Parliament  then  were  against  the  exportation  of  wool 
from  Great  Britain.  It  was  thought,  a  few  years  later,  that  about 
five-eighths  of  the  entire  English  wool  crop,  in  defiance  of  the  laws, 
found  its  way,  surreptitiously,  into  the  markets  of  France  and  the 
Continent.  There  is  little  doubt  that  the  liberality  of  Great  Britain 
towards  her  colonies,  in  permitting  one-half  and  often  the  whole  of  the 
duties  paid  on  foreign  linens  and  other  goods  imported  into  Engand 
to  be  drawn  back  upon  their  exportation  to  the  colonies;  and  still  more, 
the  giving  of  large  bounties  for  the  importation  thence  of  naval  stores 
and  certain  materials  of  manufacture,  had  more  influence  at  this  period 
in  diverting  them  from  manufactures  with  a  view  to  exportation  than 
any  prohibitory  enactments.* 

While  it  is  true  that  the  colonists  were  somewhat  diverted  from  man- 
ufactures because  they  could  not  export  them,  the  fact  was  not  over- 
looked that  they  were  diligent  in  homespun  industry  for  home  use,  and 
Lord  Cornbury-,  the  royal  governor  of  New  York,  urged  the  policy  of 
encouraging  the  purchase  of  English  goods  by  exchanging  them  for 
colonial  naval  stores.  And  he  gave  as  an  additional  reason  for  recip- 
rocal trade : 

Besides,  the  want  of  wherewithal  to  make  return  to  England  put  them  upon  a 
trade  which,  I  am  sure,  will  hurt  England  in  a  little  time;  for  I  am  well  informed 
that  upon  Long  Island  and  Connecticut  they  are  setting  up  a  woolen  manufacture, 
and  I  myself  have  seen  serge  made  upon  Long  Island  that  any  man  may  wear.  Now, 
if  they  begin  to  make  serge  they  will,  in  time,  make  coarse  cloth  and  then  fine;  we 
have  as  good  fuller's  earth  and  tobacco-pipe  clay  in  this  province  as  any  in  the 
world;  how  far  this  will  be  for  the  service  of  England  I  submit  to  better  judgment; 
but,  however,  1  hope  I  may  be  pardoned  if  I  declare  my  opinion  to  be  that  all  these 
colleneys  which  are  but  twigs  belonging  to  the  main  tree  (England)  ought  to  be 
kept  entirely  dependent  upon  and  subservient  to  England,  and  that  can  never  be  if 
they  are  suffered  to  go  on  in  the  notions  they  have,  tha*,  as  they  are  Englishmen,  so 
they  may  set  up  the  same  manufactures  here  as  people  may  do  in  England;  for  the 
consequence  will  be  if  once  they  can  see  they  can  clothe  themselves,  not  only  com- 
fortably, but  handsomely,  too,  without  the  help  of  England,  they  who  are  already 

*  Bishop's  History  of  American  Manufactures. 


104  SHEEP    INDUSTRY    OF    THE    UNITED    STATES 

not  very  fond  of  submitting  to  government  would  soon  think  of  p-itting  in  execu-r 
tion  designs  they  had  long  harbored  in  their  breasts.     This  will  not  seem  strange. 
when  you  consider  what  sort  of  people  this  country  is  inhabited  by.  * 

Gornbury's  successors  were  equally  urgent  upon  the  point.  Gover-3 
nor  Hunter,  in  1715,  advised  the  English 'Government  that  the  coun- 
try people  were  clothed  chiefly  in  their  home  product,  but  to  compel 
them  to  wear  imported  goods  would  be  too  severe  an  expedient,  and 
that  their  attention  should  be  drawn  from  the  home  manufacture  to  the 
production  of  naval  stores.  A  letter  from  New  England  to  the  board 
of  trade  in  the  same  year  was  in  similar  strain.  It  mentions  that  6,000 
barrels  of  tar,  pitch,  and  turpentine  were  sent  home  that  year  by  one 
fleet,  but  that  nine  years  before  the  great  scarcity  jvnd  dearness  of 
woolen  goods,  which  sold  at  200  per  cent  advance,  had  forced  them  to 
set  up  a  very  considerable  manufactory,  still  in  being,  for  "  stuffs,  ker- 
seys, linsey-woolsey s,  flannels,  buttons,  etc.,"  by  which  the  importa- 
tion of  the  provinces  of  New  England  had  been  decreased  £50,000  per 
annum.  That  an  Englishman  had  lost  this  opportunity  for  trade  was 
mortifying,  and,  that  a  like  occasion  should  not  again  arise,  the  Ameri- 
can market  was  ever  after  kept  well  supplied  with  English  goods,  and 
the  discouragement  of  American  manufactures  persistently  insisted 
upon  and  avowed  as  the  settled  policy  of  the  Government. 

The  cloth  made  at  this  time  was  chiefly  of  the  stout  <inO  coarser  kind, 
linen  and  woolen  mixed,  more  remarkable  for  service  than  for  show. 
The  material  was  mostly  grown  upon  the  farms,  the  breaking  of  the 
flax  and  gathering  of  the  wool  being  done  by  the  men,  -wlille  the  card- 
ing, spinning,  and  weaving  were  done  by  the  female  portion  of  the 
family.  The  kerseys,  linsey-woolseys,  serges,  and  druggets,  made  of 
wool  mixed  with  flax  or  tow,  formed  the  outer  clothing  or  a  great  part 
of  the  population  during  the  winter  season.  The  richer  class  used  im- 
ported broadcloth,  often  white  or  undyed,  manufacturer!  in  England, 
and  linens  made  in  Ireland  and  Scotland  and  on  the  continent. 

From  the  early  settlement,  and  especially  at  this  time,  many  persons 
wore  the  furs  and  skins  of  wild  animals.  These  were  dressed  in  differ- 
ent ways  and  formed  into  garments  variously  ornamented.  Elk  and 
deer  skins,  particularly,  were  much  valued,  being  easily  made  into  un- 
tanned  leather,  soft  and  warm,  and  worn  in  extreme  cold  \vith  the  hair 
next  the  person.  Much  use  was  made  of  this  material,  to  which,  in 
fact,  the  early  colonists  were  not  unaccustomed,  for  in  England  at  that 
day  leather,  dressed  as  buff  and  in  other  styles  and  worn  as  doublets, 
breeches,  or  vests,  formed  a  considerable  part  of  the  clot  Ling  of  some 
classes.  The  American  colonists  wore,  for  a  long  period,  waistcoats  and 
breeches  of  Indian-dressed  skins,  a  custom  which  survived  until  the 
Revolution  and  formed  the  uniform  of  many  of  the  Continental  regi- 
ments, the  Buckskins.  These  garments  continued  in  use  until  after 
the  era  of  Independence,  and  buckskin  breeches,  buckskiu  waistcoats, 

*  Governor  Cornbury  to  Lords  of  Trade.     1705. 


EAST    OF    THE    MISSISSIPPI    RIVER.  105 

and  a  combination  of  buckskin  and  other  leather  could  be  found  in  the 
wardrobes  of  many  of  the  most  wealthy  and  noted  men  of  the  day. 
>'or  was  the  use  of  this  material  confined  to  the  men.  The  women 
wore  leather  jerkins  and  petticoats  very  largely,  and  in  some  of  the 
colonies  the  clothing  of  ttie  bed  was  almost  entirely  of  leather. 

Towards  the  year  1730  the  colonists  again  began  to  attempt  some 
rude  manufactures  of  linen  and  woolen  cloths,  iron,  paper,  hats,  etc.,  for 
their  own  use,  but  the  British  manufacturers  and  merchants  again  com- 
plained, and  in  consequence  of  their  representations  the  House  of  Com- 
mons, in  1731,  directed  the  Board  of  Trade  and  Plantations  to  make 
inquiry  and  report  "  with  respect  to  laws,  manufactures  set  up,  or  trade 
carried  on  by  the  colonies,  detrimental  to  the  trade,  navigation,  or  man- 
ufactures of  Great  Britain."  The  report  made  in  response  to  this  order, 
February,  1731-732,  furnishes  the  fullest  particulars  extant  respecting 
the  manufacture  of  cloth  at  that  period : 

In  New  England,  Xew  York,  Connecticut,  Rhode  Island,  Pennsylvania,  and  in  the 
county  of  Somerset,  in  Maryland,  they  have  fallen  into  the  manufacture  of  woolen 
cloth  and  linen  cloth  for  the  use  of  their  own  families  only ;  for  the  product  of  these 
colonies  being  chiefly  cattle  and  grain,  the  estates  of  the  inhabitants  depended 
wholly  on  farming,  which  could  not  be  managed  without  a  certain  quantity  of  sheep, 
and  their  wool  would  be  entirely  lost  were  not  their  servants  employed  during  the 
winter  in  manufacturing  it  for  the  use  of  their  families.  Flax  and  hemp  being  like- 
wise easily  raised,  the  inhabitants  manufactured  them  into  a  coarse  sort  of  cloth, 
bags,  traces,  and  halters  for  their  horses,  which  they  found  did  more  service  than 
those  they  had  from  any  part  of  Europe.  However,  the  high  price  of  labor  in 
America  rendered  it  impracticable  for  people  there  to  manufacture  their  linen  cloth 
at  less  than  20  per  cent  dearer  than  that  which  is  exported  from  home  for  sale.  It 
were  to  be  wished  that  some  expedient  might  be  fallen  upon  to  direct  their,  thoughts 
from  undertakings  of  this  nature;  so  much  the  rather  because  these  manufactures, 
in  process  of  time,  may  be  carried  on  in  greater  degree,  unless  an  early  stop  be  put 
to  their  progress  by  employing  them  in  naval  stores.  Wherefore  we  take  leave  to 
renew  our  repeated  proposals  that  reasonable  encouragement  be  given  to  the  same. 
Moreover,  we  find  that  certain  trades  carried  on  and  manufactures  set  up  there  are 
detrimental  to  the  trade,  navigation,  and  manufacture  of  Great  Britain.'  For  the 
state  of  these  plantations  varying  almost  every  year,  more  or  less  so  in  their  trade 
and  manufactures,  as  well  as  in  other  particulars,  we  thought  it  necessary  for  His 
Majesty's  service  and  for  the  discharge  of  our  trust  from  time  to  time  to  send  gen- 
eral queries  to  the  several  governors  in  America,  that  we  might  be  the  more  exactly 
informed  of  the  condition  of  the  plantation,  among  which  were  several  that  related 
to  their  trade  and  manufactures,  to  which  we  received  the  following  returns,  viz : 

The  governor  of  New  Hampshire,  in  his  answer,  said  that  there  were  no  settled 
manufactures  in  that  province,  and  that  their  trade  principally  consisted  in  lumber 
and  fish. 

The  governor  of  Massachusetts  Bay  informed  us  that  in  some  parts  of  this  province 
the  inhabitants  worked  up  their  wool  and  flax  into  an  ordinary  coarse  cloth  for  their 
own  use,  but  did  not  export  any.  That  the  greatest  part  of  the  woolen  and  linen 
clothing  worn  in  this  province  was  imported  from  Great  Britain,  and  sometimes  from 
Ireland ;  but  considering  the  excessive  price  of  labor  in  New  England,  the  merchant 
could  afford  what  was  imported  cheaper  than  what  was  made  in  the  country.  There 
were  also  a  few  hat  makers  in  the  maritime  towns,  and  that  the  greater  part  of  the 
leather  used  in  that  country  was  manufactured  among  themselves,  etc. 

They  had  no  manufactures  in  the  province  of  New  York  that  deserve  mentioning ; 


106  SHEEP   INDUSTRY    OF    THE    UNITED    STATES 

their  trade  consisted  chiefly  in  furs,  whalebones,  oil,  pitch,  tar,  and  provisions.  No 
manufactures  in  New  Jersey  that  deserve  mentioning,  their  trade  being  chiefly  in 
provisions  shipped  from  New  York  and  Pennsylvania.  The  chief  trade  of  Pennsyl- 
vania lay  in  their  exportation  of  provisions  and  lumber,  no  manufactures  being 
established,  and  their  clothing  and  utensils  for  their  houses  being  all  imported  from 
Great  Britain.  By  further  advices  from  New  Hampshire,  the  woolen  manufacture 
appears  to  have  decreased;  the  common  lands,  on  which  the  sheep  used  to  feed, 
being  now  appropriated,  and  the  people  almost  wholly  clothed  with  woolen  from 
Great  Britain.  The  manufacture  of  flax  into  linens,  some  coarse  and  some  line,  daily 
increased  by  the  great  resort  of  people  from  Ireland  thither,  who  are  skilled  in  that 
business.  By  late  accounts  from  Massachusetts  Bay,  in  New  England,  the  assembly 
have  voted  a  bounty  of  30  shillings  for  every  piece  of  duck  or  canvas  made  in  the 
province.  Some  other  manufactures  are  carried  on  there,  as  brown  holland,  for 
women's  wear,  which  lessens  the  importation  of  calicoes,  and  some  other  sorts  of 
East  India  goods.  They  also  make  some  small  quantities  of  cloth,  made  of  linen  and 
cotton,  for  ordinary  shirting.  By  a  paper-mill  set  up  three  years  ago,  they  make  to 
the  value  of  £200  sterling  yearly.  There  are  also  several  forges  for  making  bar  iron, 
and  some  furnaces  for  cast-iron  or  hollow  ware,  and  one  slitting  mill  and  a  manu- 
facture for  nails.  The  governor  writes,  concerning  the  woolen  manufacture,  that  the 
country  people,  who  used  to  make  most  of  their  clothing  out  of  their  own  wool,  do 
not  now  make  a  third  part  of  what  they  wear,  but  are  mostly  clothed  with  British 
manufacture.  The  surveyor-general  of  His  Majesty's  woods  writes  that  they  have 
in  New  England  six  furnaces  and  nineteen  forges  for  making  iron,  and  that  in  this 
province  many  ships  are  built  for  the  French  and  Spaniards  in  return  for  rum, 
molasses,  wines,  and  silks,  wliich  they  truck  there  by  connivance.  Great  quantities 
of  hats  are  made  in  New  England,  of  which  the  company  of  hatters  in  London  have 
complained  to  us  that  great  quantities  of  these  hats  are  exported  to  Spain,  Portugal, 
and  our  West  India  Islands.  They  also  make  all  sorts  of  iron  for  shipping.  There 
are  several  still-houses  and  sugar  bakeries  established  in  New  England. 

By  the  last  advices  from  New  York  there  are  no  manufactures  there  that  can  affect 
Great  Britain.  There  is  yearly  imported  into  New  York  a  very  large  quantity  of  the 
woolen  manufactures  of  this  Kingdom,  for  their  clothing,  which  they  would  be  ren- 
dered incapable  to  pay  for  and  would  be  reduced  to  the  necessity  of  making  for 
themselves  if  they  were  prohibited  from  receiving  from  the  foreign  sugar  colonies 
the  money,  rum,  molasses,  cocoa,  indigo,  cotton,  wool,  etc.,  which  they  at  present 
take  in  return  for  provisions,  horses,  and  lumber,  the  produce  of  that  province  and 
of  New  Jersey,  of  which  he  affirms  the  British  colonies  do  not  take  above  one-half. 
But  the  company  of  hatters  of  London  have  since  informed  us  that  hats  are  manu- 
factured in  great  quantities  in  this  province. 

By  the  letters  from  the  deputy  governor  of  Pennsylvania  he  does  not  know  of  any 
trade  in  that  province  that  can  be  considered  injurious  to  this  Kingdom.  They  do 
not  export  any  woolen  or  linen  manufactures,  all  that  they  make,  which  are  of  a 
coarse  sort,  being  for  their  own  use.  We  are  further  informed  that  in  this  province 
they  built  many  brigantines  and  small  sloops,  which  they  sell  to  the  West  Indies. 

The  governor  of  Rhode  Island  informs  us,  in  answer  to  our  queries,  that  there  are 
iron  mines  there,  but  not  a  fourth  part  enough  to  serve  their  own  use;  but  he  takes 
no  notice  of  any  manufactures  there.  No  returns  from  the  governor  of  Connecticut. 
But  we  find  by  some  accounts  that  the  produce  of  this  colony  is  timber,  boards,  all 
sorts  of  English  grain,  hemp,  flax,  sheep,  black  cattle,  swine,  horses,  goats,  and 
tobacco;  that  they  export  horses  and  lumber  to  the  West  Indies  and  receive  in  return 
sugar,  salt,  molasses,  and  ruin.  We  likewise  find  that  their  manufactures  are  very 
inconsiderable,  the  people  being  generally  employed  in  tillage,  some  few  in  tanning, 
shoemaking,  and  other  handicrafts;  others  in  building  and  in  joiners',  tailors',  and 
smiths'  work,  without  which  they  could  not  subsist.  No  report  is  made  from  Caro- 
lina, the  Bahama,  or  the  Bermuda  isles. 


EAST   OF   THE   MISSISSIPPI   RIVER.  107 

From  tlif  foregoing  state  it  is  observable  that  there  are  more  trades  carried  on  and 
manufactures  set  up  in  the  provinces  on  the  continent  of  America  to  the  northwnrd 
of  Virginia,  prejudicial  to  the  trade  and  manufactures  of  Great  Britain,  particu- 
larly in  New  England,  than  in  any  other  of  the  British  colonies ;  which  is  not  to  be 
wondered  at,  for  their  soil,  climate,  and  produce  being  pretty  nearly  the  same  with 
ours,  they  have  no  staple  commodities  of  their  own  growth  to  exchange  for  our  manu- 
factures, which  puts  them  under  greater  necessity,  as  well  as  under  greater  tempta- 
tions, for  providing  themselves  at  home ;  to  which  may  be  added  in  the  charter  gov- 
ernments the  little  dependence  they  have  upon  the  mother  country,  and  consequently 
the  small  restraints  they  are  under  in  any  matters  detrimental  to  her  interests.  And 
therefore  we  humbly  beg  leave  to  repeat  and  submit  to  the  wisdom  of  this  honorable 
House  the  substance  of  what  we  formerly  proposed  in  our  report  on  the  silk,  linen, 
and  woolen  manufactures  hereinbefore  recited,  namely,  whether  it  might  not  be 
expedient  to  give  these  colonies  proper  encouragement  for  turning  their  industry 
to  such  manufactures  and  products  as  might  be  of  service  to  Great  Britain,  and  more 
particularly  to  the  production  of  naval  stores. 

There  is  little  doubt  that  the  manufacturing  industry  of  the  colonies 
at  this  time  greatly  exceeded  that  mentioned  in  the  foregoing  report, 
for  knowing  full  well  that  the  information  given  would  be  used  to  their 
disadvantage,  the  manufacturers  understated  the  truth,  a  fact  so  well 
known  in  England  that  English  merchants  complained  of  it. 

In  the  year  following  this  report  (1732),  England  sent  new  instructions 
to  all  the  colonial  governors  to  consent  to  no  acts  of  assembly  which 
might  injuriously  affect  the  trade  of  the  kingdom  or  might  give  colo- 
nial traders  any  preference  over  British  merchants ;  and  a  particular 
account  was  required  of  all  manufactures  set  up,  traffic  carried  on,  or 
laws  made,  likely  to  prove  disadvantageous  to  the  mother  country. 
The  parliamentary  prohibition  to  manufacture  in  America  woolen  goods 
for  exportation  from  one  colony  to  another  did  not  extend  to  and  in- 
clude hats,  an  article  beginning  to  be  largely  produced  in  some  of  the 
eastern  and  middle  colonies.  But  the  English  hatters  were  awake  and 
alive  to  the  growing  trade,  and  they  had  it  cut  short,  not  only  by 
placing  hats  under  the  same  restrictions  with  other  woolen  goods,  but 
by  forbidding  any  colonial  hatter  to  take  more  than  two  apprentices  at 
once. 

The  result  of  this  act  was  a  quiet  evasion  of  it,  and  hats  continued 
to  be  exported  to  other  provinces,  and  not  unfrequently  to  foreign 
countries.  Felts,  which  were  the  ordinary  wear  of  the  people,  were 
made  in  large  quantities,  and  much  of  the  business  being  carried  on  in 
interior  towns  where  sheep  were  abundant  and  wool  was  cheap,  the 
manufacture  was  less  exposed  to  official  scrutiny  than  in  the  seaports. 
Another  effect  of  this  and  other  restrictive  acts  was,  that  the  women 
more  generally  learned  to  weave  and  spin,  and  a  large  quantity  of 
woolen,  hemp,  and  linen  cloth,  and  other  goods  was  made  in  the  pri- 
vacy of  the  household  throughout  all  the  colonies.  Nearly  every  family 
wove  a  part  or  the  whole  of  its  own  clothing  and  blankets,  and  many 
more  skilled  in  the  art  had  many  pieces  over  and  above  their  own 
wants  to  sell  to  the  merchants.  The  law  could  not  successfully  invade 
the  home. 


108        SHEEP  INDUSTRY  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES 

In  1750  a  factory  of  woolen  hats  in  Massachusetts  was  declared  a  nui-j 
sauce  and  suppressed.  "Parliament  could  club  down  the  ripening! 
fruit  which  hung  in  plain  sight  on  the  branches,  but  the  million  buds 
forming  in  secret  under  the  bark,  which  a  favoring  time  would  eventu-1 
ally  bring  out  into  bloom,  were  beyond  its  reach.77  Although  the  tex- 
tile inventions  of  Arkwright  and  others  were  early  adapted  to  the 
spinning  and  weaving  of  woolen  fabrics  in  England,  the  British  statute 
of  1750,  prohibiting  the  exportation  of  tools  and  utensils  used  in  the 
silk  and  woolen  manufactures  under  severe  penalties,  rendered  it  nearly 
impossible  to  obtain  them.  Few  improvements  were  made,  therefore, 
in  the  manufactures  of  wool,  although  an  occasional  attempt  was  made 
to  produce  fine  cloth.  Even  the  dressing  of  the  common  cloth  in  full- 
ing-mills of  that  day  was  performed  imperfectly  and  with  great  labor. 
Gig-mills  for  teazles  were  scarcely  used  here  up  to  the  end  of  the  last 
century.  The  price  to  farmers  for  fulling  and  dressing  homespun  cloth 
was  40  to  iQ  cents  a  yard. 

An  English  writer  of  this  period  (1759-760),  referring  directly  to 
Massachusetts,  says : 

Like  tlie  rest  of  the  colonies,  they  also  endeavor  to  make  woolens,  but  have  not 
yet  been  able  to  bring  them  to  any  degree  of  perfection ;  indeed,  it  is  an  article  in 
which  I  think  they  Avill  not  easily  succeed,  for  the  American  wool  is  not  only  coarse, 
but,  in  comparison  to  the  English,  exceedingly  short.  Upon  the  best  inquiry  I 
could  make,  I  was  not  able  to  discover  that  anyone  had  ever  seen  a  sample  of  Amer- 
ican wool  longer  than  7  inches,  whereas,  in  the  counties  of  Lincoln  and  Leicester, 
they  are  frequently  22  inches  long.  In  the  southern  colonies,  at  least  in  those  parts 
where  I  traveled,  there  is  scarcely  any' herbage,  and  whether  it  is  owing  to  this  or 
to  the  excessive  heat  I  am  ignorant;  the  wool  is  short  and  hairy.  The  northern 
colonies  have,  indeed,  greater  plenty  of  herbage,  but  are  for  some  months  covered 
with  snow,  and  without  a  degree  of  attention  and  care  in  housing  the  sheep,  and 
guarding  them  against  accidents  and  wild  beasts,  it  would  be  difficult  to  increase 
their  numbers  to  any  great  amount.  The  Americans  seem  conscious  of  this  fact,  and, 
notwithstanding  a  very  severe  prohibition,  continue  to  procure  from  England  every 
year  a  considerable  number  of  rams  in  order  to  improve  and  multiply  the  breed. 
*  *  *  I  think,  therefore,  upon  the  whole,  that  America,  though  it  may  with  par- 
ticular care  and  attention  produce  small  quantities  of  tolerably  good  wool,  will  yet 
never  be  able  to  produce  it  in  such  plenty  and  of  quality  as  to  serve  for  the  necessary 
consumption  of  its  inhabitants.* 

The  reverend  author  was  apparently  not  aware  of  the  fact  that  the 
staple  of  7  inches  that  he  condemned  was  better  for  carding  and  felting 
in  the  goods  generally  made  in  Massachusetts  and  the  middle  colonies 
than  the  22-inch  Lincoln  and'  Leicester  wools  which  he  recommended. 
And,  although  it  is  true  that  the  Americans  did  not  make  woolen  cloths 
to  any  great  degree  of  perfection,  they  did  make  coarse,  strong,  and 
durable  goods,  wearing  equal  to  any  imported  from  England.  And  this 
manufacture  or  household  work  was  general  throughout  the  colonies, 
and  had  our  author  the  good  or  bad  fortune  to  preach  to  any  congrega- 


*  Travels  through  the  Middle  Settlements  in  North  America,  1759-'GO.     Rev.  An- 
drew Burnaby. 


EAST    OF    THE    MISSISSIPPI    RIVER.  109 

tion  outside  the  seacoast  towns  he  would  have  seen  that  his  auditors, 
men  and  women,  19  out  of  20,  were  clothed  in  apparel  of  their  own 
make,  from  the  hat  on  the  head  to  the  shoes  on  the  feet,  and  that  the 
woolen  garments,  most  of  them,  were  dyed  yellow  with  the  bark  of  the 
hickory. 

The  dyes  used  at  this  time  and  for  many  years  subsequently  were 
mostly  those  easily  obtainable  on  the  farm.  To  dye  scarlet,  madder 
was  used;  1  pound  of  madder  fresh  from  the  garden  would  dye  2  pounds 
of  wool.  The  wool  was  washed  clean,  then  boiled  about  fifteen  minutes 
in  strong  alum  water,  and  the  madder  was  boiled  in  thin  bran  water. 
The  wool  dipped  from  the  alum  water  and  then  put  in  the  bran  water 
was  boiled  fifteen  or  twenty  minutes,  and  washed  out  in  softsoap  suds 
after  it  was  cool.  By  leaving  out  the  alum,  a  good  brown  color  was 
obtained.  A  crimson  color  was  obtained  by  taking  2  gallons  of  the  juice 
of  pokeberries,  when  they  were  quite  ripe,  and  adding  half  a  gallon  of 
strong  vinegar,  to  dye  1  pound  of  wool,  which  must  be  first  washed 
very  clean  with  hard  soap.  The  wool,  when  wrung  dry,  was  put  into 
the  vinegar  and  pokeberry  juice,  and  simmered  in  a  copper  vessel  for 
one  hour,  then  taken  out  and  let  drip  and  spread  in  the  sun  to  dry. 
The  hickory  and  the  butternut  furnished  familiar  colors.  The  madder, 
pokeberry,  and  hickory  were  used  also  in  the  household  manufacture, 
when  it  was  endeavored  to  impart  some  finish  to  the  goods,  but  in  many 
cases  the  wool  was  undyed  and  the  garment  was  quite  as  valuable. 

An  English  official,  who  made  some  note  of  the  growing  desire  among 
the  colonists  to  do  their  own  manufacturing,  to  the  detriment  of  the 
English  trader,  gives  some  insight  into  the  state  of  manufactures  at  this 
time: 

Upon  actual  knowledge,  therefore,  of  these  northern  colonies,  one  is  surprised  to 
find  that,  notwithstanding  the  indifference  of  their  wool  and  the  extravagant  price 
of  labor,  the  planters  throughout  all  New  England,  New  York,  the  Jerseys,  Pennsyl- 
vania, and  Maryland  (for  south  of  that  province  no  knowledge  is  here  pretended) 
almost  entirely  clothe  themselves  in  their  own  woolens,  and  that  generally  the  peo- 
ple are  sliding  into  the  manufactures  proper  to  the  mother  country,  and  this  not 
through  any  spirit  of  industry  or  economy,  but  plainly  for  want  of  some  returns  to 
make  to  the  shops;  that  their  trade,  so  valuable  to  Great  Britain,  should,  contrary 
to  the  policy  of  all  other  nations,  be  suffered  to  run  off  into  clandestine  channels, 
and  that  colonies,  on  which  the  fate  of  this  country  will  be  found  to  depend,  should, 
without  the  least  regard  to  influence  of  impressions  early  made  on  the  human  mind, 
be  suffered  to  remain  in  this  day  under  these  little,  factious  democracies  which  had 
their  first  rise  in  the  republican  ideas  of  licentious  times. 

That  "  little,  factious  democracies,"  the  outcome  of  "  licentious  times," 
should  clothe  themselves  and  "  slide  "  into  manufactures  proper  to  the 

)ther  country  was  an  apparition  that  alarmed  every  British  store- 
Deeper,  and  the  greedy  British  trader  had  his  alarms  embodied  in  the 
acts  of  the  British  Parliament  suppressing  American  industry  and 
American  trade. 

The  rigid  enforcement  of  statutes  whose  sole  object  was  to  keep  the 


110        SHEEP  INDUSTRY  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES 

Americans  a  race  of  farmers  and  foresters  to  raise  raw  materials  for 
British  manufacturers  and  naval  stores  for  British  shipping,  making 
them  depend  upon  British  factories  for  their  clothing  and  British  ships 
for  their  trade,  was  detrimental  to  American  prosperity,  humiliating  to 
American  pride,  and  could  not  continue  forever.  No  nation  can  raise 
enough  agricultural  products  to  pay  for  all  that  it  consumes.  The 
American  colonies  in  their  highest  prosperity  could  not  and  did  not  do 
it.  They  never  exported  to  England  enough  to  pay  what  they  bought 
of  her,  and  made  up  the  difference  in  money  which  they  received  lor 
large  quantities  of  provisions  sold  to  the  West  Indies,  in  defiance  of 
the  British  laws  prohibiting  such  trade.  The  consequence  was  an  im- 
poverishment of  the  colonies,  a  severe  drain  on  their  resources.  In 
1760  the  imports  from  England  exceeded  $12,000,000;  the  exports  to 
England  amounted  to  less  than  $4,000,000.  In  1771  the  imports  were 
$20,000,000;  the  exports  less  than  $7,000,000. 

The  growing  homespun  or  household  industry  received  a  new  and 
healthy  impulse  through  the  non-importation  agreement  entered  into 
just  before  the  outbreak  of  the  Kevolution,  when  great  efforts  were  made 
to  increase  the  product  of  wool  and  other  material  and  to  encourage 
the  household  economy.  A  very  complete  fulling  and  dyeing  establish- 
ment was  nearly  completed  by  Tunis  Popham,  at  Jamaica,  Long  Island, 
in  1764,  and  in  October  of  the  same  year  it  was  said  that  a  company 
had  established  a  woolen  factory  at  Hernpstead,  Long  Island,  where 
broadcloths  of  any  color  could  be  supplied  equal  in  quality  and  cheaper 
than  any  imported.  But  these  attempts  of  Yorkshire  weavers  to  manu- 
facture broadcloths  on  Long  Island  did  not  succeed.  It  is  not  supposed, 
however,  that  their  ill  success  could  be  attributed  to  want  of  patronage, 
as  it  was  deemed  patriotic  then  to  use  articles  of  domestic  product 
almost  exclusively,  and  in  the  following  year  a  society  was  formed  in 
New  York  to  encourage  the  home  manufactures  of  woolens,  the  en- 
thusiastic members  of  which  signed  a  pledge  not  to  buy  imported  cloth 
and  not  to  eat  the  meat  of  sheep  or  lamb.  The  great  want  of  the 
country  was  a  supply  of  wool ;  and  the  killing  of  sheep  was  discouraged 
by  this  society  and  by  public  sentiment  in  order  not  to  diminish  the 
source  of  supply.  Homespun  cloth  became  the  rage  and  continued 
so  for  some  time,  and  British  imports  fell  off. 

Most  of  the  colonies  now  encouraged  wool  raising  and  manufacture 
by  local  statutes,  exempting  sheep  from  taxation,  protecting  them  from 
dogs,  and  giving  premiums  for  spinning  and  weaving.  In  1770  the 
graduating  class  of  Harvard  College  attended  commencement  exercises 
dressed  in  black  cloth  of  New  England  manufacture,  but  this  was 
probably  of  inferior  grade,  nothing  else  than  the  common  domestic 
cloth  made  in  nearly  every  family  and  which  formed  the  staple  product 
of  the  country  for  ordinary  wear.  The  woolens  made  consisted  of  two 
kinds,  one  a  strong,  coarse,  all-wool  cloth,  three-quarters  wide,  which 
was  sometimes  fulled^  but  was  often  worn  undyed  and  undressed;  the 


EAST    OF   THE    MISSISSIPPI    RIVER.  Ill 

other  a  kind  called  linsey-woolsey,  made  of  linen  warp  and  woolen  woof. 
I  The  manufacture  of  that  day  was  of  the  most  simple  description.  The 
wool,  being  washed,  was  combed  as  nearly  straight  as  possible  by  two 
cards,  with  leather  backs  -and  wire  teeth,  held  in  the  hands  of  the 
worker.  The  wool  was  detached  from  the  cards  in  a  long  soft  roll, 
which  was  then  made  into  yarn  upon  the  simple  spinning-wheel  of  those 
days,  known  now,  unfortunately,  merely  as  a  curiosity  to  ornament  an 
antiquarian  corner  in  the  home.  A  large  light  wheel,  kept  constantly 
in  motion  by  the  hands  of  the  woman  worker  and  afterwards  by  her 
foot  by  means  of  a  treadle,  caused  a  single  spindle  to  revolve  with  great 
velocity,  giving  to  the  yarn  its  twist,  the  hands  of  the  operator  regulat- 
ing the  supply  of  wool  and  consequent  size  of  the  yarn.  The  cloth  was 
taken  from  the  hand  loom  and  the  weaver  to  the  fuller  and  the  fulling- 
mill,  of  which  nearly  every  community  had  one,  who  was  the  only  one 
in  the  industry  carrying  on  his  business  publicly  and  for  a  number  of 
customers.  The  fuller  was  also  a  dyer,  whose  colors  were  not  always 
fast  and  would  run.  "  Bright  colors  were  liked  by  gentlemen  for  coats 
in  that  age,  bright  blue,  scarlet,  claret  color,  etc.  But,  while  a  great 
deal  of  cloth  was  made  of  those  hues,  it  always  behooved  the  owner  of 
the  coat  to  keep  out  of  the  rain."* 

An  early  instance  of  factory-made  cloth  is  noted  in  the  following  an- 
nouncement, made  in  the  Essex  (Salem,  Mass.)  Gazette  of  May  1, 1770: 

Last  Thursday,  the  premium  of  four  guineas  on  the  best  piece  of  Broad  Cloth 
bro't  to  Edes  &  Gills'  Printing  office,  in  Boston,  for  sale,  of  twelve  yards  long  and 
seven-quarters  wide,  was  adjudged  to  Mr.  Toby,  Cambridge  &  Co.,  of  Lynn,  who, 
from  the  first  of  June,  1769,  to  the  first  of  May,  1770,  have  made  upwards  of  five  hun- 
dred yards  of  Broad  Cloth,  and  upwards  of  three  thousand  yards  of  Narrow  Cloth, 
from  the  first  of  April,  1769,  to  the  first  of  April,  1770. 

It  is  barely  possible  that  the  Harvard  graduating  class  purchased 
their  black  cloth  of  the  above  firm,  whose  factory  was  so  near  them. 
Of  the  extent  of  manufactures  in  the  colonies,  previous  to  the  Eevolu- 
tion,  we  have  no  reliable  statistics.  It  had  not  then  become  the  busi- 
ness, nor  was  it  considered  worth  the  trouble,  to  go  from  house  to  house 
and  through  the  log  huts  and  cottages  of  the  poor  to  count  their  yarns 
and  their  stockings,  and  "  to  mark  the  humble,  yet  great  efforts,  which 
were  silently,  but  securely,  working  the  independence  of  a  future 
mighty  nation."  Before  the  revolutionary  disputes  commenced  the  peo- 
ple had  begun  to  feel  that  they  would  be  compelled  to  render  them- 
selves less  dependent  upon  Great  Britain,  and  companies  were  formed 
for  the  encouragement  of  domestic  manufactures,  particularly  manu- 
factures of  woolen  goods.  The  first  business  of  the  Pennsylvania  as- 
sembly, in  the  session  of  1774,  was  the  passing  of  resolutions  to  prevent 
butchers  from  killing  sheep,  recommending  frugality  and  attention  to 
domestic  manufactures,  and  announcing  their  determination  as  indivicl^ 
uals  to  have  no  dealings  with  those  who,  in  consequence  of  the  scarcity 

*  Industrial  History  of  the  United  States,    Albert  S.  Bolles. 


112  SHEEP   INDUSTRY    OF    THE    UNITED    STATES 

(which  appeared  approaching)  should  raise  the  price  of  their  goods. 
In  the  city  of  Philadelphia  alone,  the  number  of  sheep  used  in  1775 
was  20,000  less  than  hall  been  used  in  the  preceding  year,  which  was 
due  to  the  patriotic  resolve  of  the  inhabitants  not  to  eat  mutton,  that 
the  sheep  might  be  preserved  for  its  wool.  At  Savannah,  Ga.,  there 
was  an  association  entered  into  by  the  deputies  of  the  provincial  con- 
gress "to  encourage  frugality,  economy,  and  industry,  and  to  promote 
agriculture,  the  art  and  manufacture  of  America,  especially  that  of  wool ; 
and  to  discountenance  and  discourage  every  species  of  extravagance 
and  dissipation,  especially  horse  racing  and  gaming." 

The  General  Congress  of  the  colonies  in  October,  1774,  "under  the 
sacred  ties  of  virtue,  honor,  and  love  of  country,"  pledged  themselves 
and  their  constituents  not  to  import  British  goods,  and  to  use  their  ut- 
most endeavors  to  improve  the  breed  and  increase  the  number  of  sheep, 
by  killing  as  few  of  them  as  possible  and  not  exporting  them,  but  sell- 
ing on  moderate  terms  to  their  neighbors  who  might  need  them,  to 
practice  economy  and  industry,  and  to  promote  the  agriculture  and 
manufactures  of  the  country,  especially  that  of  wool.  These  resolutions 
met  with  unanimous  approval  of  the  people,  and  those  who  disregarded 
them  were  published  as  enemies  to  public  liberty.  All  the  dwellings 
and  workshops  in  the  land  felt  the  stimulating  effect  of  these  resolves, 
and  industry  was  awakened.  The  congress  of  deputies  which  met  at 
Annapolis  in  December,  1774,  renewed  the  resolution  to  encourage  the 
breeding  of  sheep  and  to  promote  the  woolen  manufacture,  which  was 
followed  by  Massachusetts  the  same  month,  which  colony  recommended 
the  people  to  improve  their  breed  of  sheep  and  secure  the  greatest  pos- 
sible increase  of  them;  the  use  of  their  own  woolen  manufactures,  and 
a  careful  sorting  of  the  wool,  so  that  it  might  be  manufactured  as  much 
as  possible  into  the  best  goods;  the  establishment  of  one  or  more  man- 
ufactures of  wool-combers7  combs;  the  use  of  domestic  hosiery,  and  the 
use  of  their  own  manufactures  and  those  of  their  sister  colonies  in  pref- 
erence to  all  others. 

South  Carolina  encouraged  the  raising  of  cotton  and  North  Carolina 
encouraged  manufactures  by  offering  premiums,  among  which  was  one 
of  £100  for  six  pieces  of  woolen  cloth,  well  dressed,  each  piece  25  yards, 
and  Essex  County,  Ya.,  offered  a  bounty  of  £50  to  any  person  who 
would  produce  500  pairs  of  men's  and  women's  stockings  manufactured 
in  the  county,  one-third  to  be  worth  Is.,  one-third  worth  2s.,  a  third 
worth  3s.,  sterling,  a  pair;  the  county  to  have  the  refusal  of  them  at 
75  per  cent  on  these  prices. 

The  province  of  Virginia  followed  the  action  of  Massachusetts,  else- 
where stated,  and  urged  the.  importance,  wisdom,  and  necessity  of  a 
State  in  providing  Ayithin  itself  a  supply  of  articles  necessary  for  sub- 
sistence, clothing,  and  defense,  and  recommended  that  no  persons 
should  use  in  their  families,  unless  in  case  of  necessity,  and  in  no  case 
to  sell  to  butchers  or  kill  for  market,  any  sheep  under  four  years  old; 


EAST    OF    THE    MISSISSIPPI    RIVER.  113 

that  the  woolen,  cotton,  and  linen  manufacture  ought  to  be  encouraged, 
especially  coating,  flannel,  blankets,  rugs  or  coverlets,  and  hosiery,  and 
that  fulling  mills  should  be  erected ;  also  mills  for  breaking,  swingling, 
and  softening  hemp  and  fla-x. 

At  the  beginning  of  the  Eevolution  the  household  industry  of  the 
New  England  colonies  and  some  parts  of  New  York,  Pennsylvania,  New 
Jersey,  and  the  southern  colonies  was  nearly  or  quite  equal  to  the  ordi- 
nary wants  of  the  inhabitants  for  clothing,  but  as  the  struggle  went  on 
the  health  and  comfort  of  the  soldiers  suffered  for  the  want  of  suitable 
woolens,  which  became  very  scarce  and  dear,  causing  many  appeals  to 
the  people  to  increase  their  stock  of  sheep  and  supplies  of  wool  and 
other  materials  and  to  promote  the  fabrication  of  cloth  for  the  bodies  of 
their  destitute  countrymen  in  camp  and  in  the  field.  It  was  suggested 
that  the  cloth  be  dyed  brown.  A  man  who  furnished  his  own  blanket 
was  allowed  $2,  and  was  permitted  to  take  it  away  with  him  at  the  end 
of  the  campaign. 

Wool  rose  rapidly  in  price,  and  its  deficiency  in  the  manufactures  of 
the  country  was  apparent  in  the  contributions  for  the  army.  An  in- 
stance to  the  point: 

A  letter  from  Samuel  Wetherill,  jr.,  to  the  Board  of  War,  in  May  (1777),  informs 
them  that,  in  consequence  of  the  unexpected  rise  in  the  price  of  wool  and  labor,  he 
would  be  unable  to  comply  with  a  contract  made  for  a  supply  of  cloth  at  a  time  when 
he  supposed  prices  were  at  the  highest.  He  had  a  factory,  including  dye-house,  full- 
ing-mill, etc.,  in  South  Alley,  between  Market  and  Arch  and  Fifth  and  Sixth  streets, 
where  he  carried  on  the  manufacture  of  woolens,  and  soon  after,  if  not  at  that  time, 
of  cottons  and  chemical  products.  "Wool  being  then  Is,  Qd.  a  pound,  with  a  prospect 
of  its  becoming  10«.,  he  could  not  furnish  for  less  than  27«.  6<7.  such  cloth  as  he  had 
engaged  to  supply  at  20s.  the  yard.  He  rendered  an  account  the  next  month  for 
cloth  furnished,  including  some  samples  of  superfine  red  and  coating;  but  the  extreme 
scarcity  of  wool,  he  says,  almost  discouraged  him  from  proceeding  with  the  woolen 
branch  of  his  business.  Those  who  had  engaged  to  sell  him  wool  at  Is.  6d.  thought 
it  too  cheap,  and  his  spinners  and  weavers  in  each  branch  had  doubled  their  wages. 
He  could  continue  to  make  it,  however,  at  an  adequate  price.  These  prices,  which 
were  doubtless  provincial  currency,  and  the  fact  that  all  the  operations  of  carding, 
spinning,  shearing,  etc.,  were  manual  operations,  and  that  40  to  50  cents  was  the 
usual  price  for  fulling  and  dressing  a  yard  of  cloth,  enable  us  to  comprehend  that, 
with  an  empty  exchequer  and  doubtful  credit,  Congress  found  no  little  inconven- 
ience in  providing  supplies  of  clothing  and  other  necessaries.* 

The  suffering  of  the  army  at  Valley  Forge  in  the  winter  of  1778,  half- 
clad  and  freezing,  is  known  to  every  American  schoolboy,  and  damp- 
ened the  ardor  of  the  people.  Manufacturers  could  not  get  supplies  of 
wool  and  would  not  dispose  of  what  little  stock  they  had  to  a  Govern- 
ment whose  currency  was  rapidly  depreciating  and  whose  cause  seemed 
almost  hopeless.  But,  thanks  to  our  French  alliance,  money  was  raised 
in  France  and  in  the  Netherlands  on  French  security,  and  English 
goods,  principally  cloths,  were  purchased  in  Holland  and  shipped  to 
America.  More,  however,  was  done  by  the  women  of  America,  for  the 

*  Bishop's  History  of  American  Manufactures. 
22990 8 


114        SHEEP  INDUSTRY  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES 

patriotic  cause  was  anchored  to  every  fireside  in  the  land.  While  the 
men  fought  or  toiled  in  the  fields  the  women  kept  alive  the  household 
industry,  sheared  the  sheep,  and  made  shirts,  drawers,  and  stockings 
of  wool,  woolen  mittens  and  tippets,  and  wool  caps  with  generous  ear- 
tabs. 

Peace  had  a  depressing  effect  upon  the  woolen  manufactures.  The 
factory  industry  had  languished  and  almost  perished  during  the  long 
and  impoverishing  war,  and  to  crown  the  disaster  the  English  mer- 
chants poured  immense  quantities  of  goods  into  the  American  markets, 
swamping  the  little  American  manufacture  that  had  survived  and 
draining  the  country  of  its  resources  to  pay  for  them.  And  the  more 
certainly  to  crush  the  American  manufacturer  and  establish  the  English 
goods  some  of  them  sold  in  the  markets  of  Boston  and  New  York  25 
per  cent  cheaper  than  in  London. 

During  the  war  increased  attention  had  been  given  in  some  quarters 
to  wool- growing  and  cotton-culture,  and  the  household  industry  had 
been  preserved  and  extended.  During  the  same  period  great  improve- 
ment had  also  been  made  by  the  English  in  their  manufacture  by  the 
use  of  improved  machinery.  When  it  was  sought  to  obtain  this  machin- 
ery for  the  American  manufacturer  the  English  Parliament  set  its  face 
against  it  by  reenacting  a  statute  made  in  1774  and  extending  and 
strengthening  it  to  the  effect  that  any  person  who  packed  or  put  on 
board  any  vessel,  or  caused  to  be  brought  to  any  place  in  order  to  be 
put  on  a  vessel,  with  a  view  to  exportation,  "  any  machine,  engine, 
tool,  press,  paper,  utensil,  or  implement,  or  any  part  thereof,  which 
now  is  or  hereafter  may  be  used  in  the  woolen,  cotton,  linen,  or  silk 
manufacture  of  this  Kingdom,  or  goods  wherein  wool,  cotton,  linen,  or 
silk  are  used,  or  any  model  or  plan  thereof,"  should  forfeit  every  such 
machine,  the  goods  packed,  and  £200,  and  be  imprisoned  for  twelve 
months.  The  same  penalties  were  laid  against  having  in  custody  or 
power,  or  collecting,  making,  applying  for,  or  causing  to  be  made,  any 
such  machinery,  and  the  forfeitures  were  to  go  to  the  use  of  the  in- 
former after  the  expenses  of  prosecution  were  satisfied.  This  act  was 
passed  in  1781,  and  the  next  year  a  similar  one  was  passed  against  the 
exportation  of  machinery  or  tools  used  in  the  manufacture  of  linen  and 
cotton. 

In  1786  wool  or  stock  cards  not  exceeding  4s.  per  pair  and  spinners' 
cards  not  exceeding  Is.  6d.  per  pair,  used  in  the  woolen  manufacture, 
were  allowed  to  be  exported,  a  condescension  induced  from  the  fact  that 
the  Americans  were  then  making  very  good  articles  in  that  line,  a  manu- 
facture with  which  the  English  manufacturer  desired  to  compete,  and, 
if  possible,  drive  to  the  wall.  The  various  enterprises  now  attempted 
and  the  efforts  made  to  obtain  improved  machinery  can  not  be  particu- 
larized in  the  scope  allowed  in  this  report.  Suffice  it  to  say  that  they 
were  numerous,  but  that  the  English  statutes,  vigilantly  enforced,  along 
with  those  against  enticing  artificers  to  emigrate,  proved  obstacles  too 


EAST    OF    THE    MISSISSIPPI    RIVER.  115 

serious  to  be  overcome  and  delayed  the  introduction  and  use  of  the  new 
machinery. 

Meanwhile  English  and  East  India  goods  glutted  the  American  mar- 
kets, drained  the  country  of  money  to  pay  for  them,  and  built  up  a  debt 
that  was  onerous.  A  necessity  for  the  creation  of  domestic  manufac- 
ture was  apparent  and  deeply  felt.  Cotton  was  increasing  in  the 
South,  sheep  were  multiplying  in  the  Middle  States  and  at  the  East, 
and  their  wool  was  fairly  good.  The  foundation  was  good,  but  the  su- 
perstructure was  wanting.  Newspapers  and  public  men  impressed  the 
importance  of  the  subject,  and  the  farmer  and  laborer  hoped  for  its  fru- 
ition, that  the  field  of  agricultural  products  might  be  extended  and  indus- 
try encouraged. 

When  direct  statistics  are  wanting,  as  at  this  point,  other  facts  can 
be  used  to  advantage.  That  a  variety  of  manufactures  from  domestic 
and  foreign  materials  struggled  into  existence  in  1787  to  1789  is  evinced 
by  the  well-known  cultivation  or  production  in  those  years  of  flax, 
hemp,  and  wool,  furs,  skins,  tallow,  and  importations  of  raw  material, 
with  but  small  exports,  a  showing  that  enables  us  to  infer  that  the  ex- 
tent of  our  manufactures  equaled  the  amount  at  least  of  the  raw  mate- 
rial produced  in  the  country.  Artisans'  tools  and  all  machinery  were 
i  exempt  from  duty,  and  in  many  States  an  artificer  was  allowed  the  right 
I  of  citizenship  upon  his  declaration  of  intention  to  pursue  his  calling. 
Frequent  acts  wereypassed  in  the  several  States  encouraging  the  rais- 
ing of  sheep,  principally  for  their  protection,  by  imposing  heavy  taxes 
on  dogs,  acts  that  were  repealed  and  reenacted  according  as  patriotism 
and  the  public  good  or  the  spirit  of  the  demagogue  moved  the  mind  of 
the  legislator.  Prior  to  this  time  lambs  were  not  generally  shorn  the 
first  year,  but  in  1787  it  was  advised,  as  being  better  for  the  animals,  and 
as  tending  to  the  increase  of  the  quantity  of  wool  to  shear  them. 

Among  the  early  manufactures  of  the  country  and  one  of  the  most 

successful  was  that  of  hosiery.    Knit  stockings  were  known  in  England 

[as  early  as  1533,  although  ordinarily  cloth  hose  were  worn.    Worsted 

stockings  were  not  known  until  some  time  after,  and  at  the  time  of  the 

first  English  colonization  of  America  were  certainly  not  possessed  by 

one  in  a  thousand.    Yet  "  among  the  articles  of  outfit  provided  in  1629 

to  be  shipped  to  New  England  we  find  mention  of  800  pairs  of  stockings, 

200  of  which  were  to  be  Irish,  at  13$.  a  pair  in  Dublin,  and  100  pairs  of 

knit,  at  2s.  ±d.  a  pair;  also  500  pair  of  redd  knit  capps,  milled,  about 

6d.  a  piece.'7    These  articles  are  included  in  the  same  invoice  with 

*•  sutes  of  dublett  and  hose  of  leather  lyned  with  oyled-skin  leather,  ye 

hose  and  dubletts  with  hooks  and  eyes"  and  with  "breeches"  or 

P*  leather  drawers,"  which  at  that  time,  and  for  many  years  subsequently, 

Iwere  a  much  more  common  article  of  apparel  than  knit  hosiery.* 

Though  mainly  dependent  upon  importations  from  England,  the  early 


*  Felt's  Annals  of  Salem,  Vol.  I,  p.  49,  and  Introduction  to  Eighth  Census,  p.  xli* 


116        SHEEP  INDUSTRY  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES 

colonists  encouraged  the  household  manufacture  of  their  own  wool  int<j 
stockings  with  such  effect  as  to  produce  large  quantities  of  coarse  wooleii 
hosiery.  Much  of  the  wool  in  colonial  times  was  spun  as  worsted,  that 
is,  with  a  double  thread,  and  was  used  for  knitting.  Virginia  on  several 
occasions  offered  premiums  for  worsted  goods,  but  it  was  the  Dutch 
and  German  settlers  of  New  York,  New  Jersey,  and  Pennsylvania  that 
excelled  in  this  branch  of  household  industry.  Stockings  of  red,  blue, 
or  green  worsted  were  among  the  articles  which  a  thrifty  Dutch  matron 
was  proud  to  display  beside  her  stores  of  bleached  homespun  linen .  We 
are  told  that  knitters  of  coarse  yarn  stockings  in  Pennsylvania,  in  1698, 
received  half  a  crown  a  pair.  The  German  Palatines,  who  about  that 
time  settled  at  Germ  ant  own,  Pa.,  established  the  hosiery  manufacture 
at  that  place,  which  has  ever  since  taken  the  lead  in  the  manufacture, 
particularly  of  frame-knit  goods  of  cotton  thread  and  worsted. 

German  town  hosiery  became  an  attractive  feature  of  the  semi-annual 
fairs  established  by  William  Penn  in  Philadelphia,  which  drew  visitors 
from  neighboring  States,  and  it  was  always  to  be  found  on  sale  in  the 
market  house  in  the  city.  Previous  to  the  Revolution  the  manufacture 
was  essentially  a  household  one  and  embraced  only  coarse  articles  of 
ordinary  wear.  Frame- work  knitting  appears  to  have  been  introduced 
into  this  country  before  the  Eevolution,  either  by  the  Germans  of  Penn- 
sylvania or  by  English  artisans  from  Nottingham  and  Leicester,  many 
of  whom  settled  in  New  York  and  other  eastern  and  middle  States. 
The  earliest  mention  we  find  of  stocking  weaving  is  in  1723,  when  one 
Matthew  Burne,  of  Chester  County,  Pa.,  is  mentioned  as  having  served 
John  Camin  one  or  two  years  at  stocking- weaving,  during  which  time 
Camm's  stockings  obtained  some  repute.  Mention  is  also  made  of  a 
stocking  manufactory  at  Annapolis,  Md.,  about  the  year  1747,  which  was 
regarded  as  a  great  curiosity,  but  did  not  succeed.  In  1776  the  commit- 
tee of  safety  in  that  State  appropriated  £300  to  enable  Mr.  Coxen- 
dorfer,  of  Frederick  County,  to  establish  a  stocking  manufactory.  A 
society  of  arts,  established  in  New  York  in  1764,  offered,  among  other 
premiums,  £16  and  £12  for  the  two  largest  quantities  of  three-thread 
wove  stockings  made  in  the  province  during  the  ensuing  year.  In 
March,  1766,  the  same  society  proposed  a  premium  of  £10  for  the  first 
three  stocking  looms  of  iron  set  up  during  the  year,  and  £5  for  the 
next  three,  and  £15  for  the  first  stocking  loom  made  in  the  province. 
It  also  continued  the  premium  of  £10  for  the  largest  quantity,  not  less 
than  100  pairs,  of  thread  or  worsted  stockings  made.  In  1777  it  was 
stated  that  there  were  one  hundred  stocking- weavers  with  their  looms 
at  Lancaster,  Pa.,  then  the  largest  inland  town  in  the  country,  and  that 
they  were  all  out  of  work.  There  were  only  three  stocking- weavers 
there  in  1786.* 

Stocking    factories    and    other    woolen    establishments    increased 


"Introduction  to  the  Eighth  Census  of  the  United  States.    Manufactures. 


EAST    OF   THE    MISSISSIPPI    RIVER.  117 

throughout  the  country,  but  it  was  still  the  family  knitting  and  weav- 
ing that  supplied  the  greater  part  of  the  consumption.  Jefferson  wrote 
in  1783  as  to  Virginia: 

Xo  manufacture  of  stocking  weaving,  consequently  none  for  making  the  machine 
*    though  in  almost  every  family  some  is  manufactured  for  the  use  of  the 
family,     *     *     *    the  rich  either  have  a  weaver  among  their  servants  or  employ 
their  poor  neighhors ;  among  the  poor,  the  wife  weaves  generally. 

It  is  estimated  that  at  this  time  (1783-'84)  all  the  shoes  used  in  the 
State  and  three-fourths  of  the  clothing  were  made  from  materials  grown 
on  Virginia  farms,  including  the  cotton  used,  and  a  few  years  later  the 
home  industry  had  so  increased  that  throughout  the  whole  State  three- 
fourths  of  all  the  clothing  were  manufactured  by  the  people,  who,  be- 
fore the  war,  had  imported  seven-eighths  of  it.  Farther  to  the  south 
the  household  manufacture  of  clothing  was  quite  as  large,  but  it  was 
mostly  of  cotton.  In  the  Eastern  States  domestic  industry  was  promi- 
nent. Connecticut  made  a  surplus,  which  was  sold  out  of  the  State, 
and  in  Massachusetts  the  importation  of  foreign  manufactures  was  less 
by  one-half  than  it  was  twenty  years  before,  although  population  had 
greatly  increased,  and  considerable  quantities  of  home-made  articles 
were  shipped  out  of  the  State.  The  dress,  furniture,  and  outward  car- 
goes gave  evidence  of  the  increase  of  domestic  production.  In  one 
regular  factory  there  were  made  as  many  as  10,000  pairs  of  cotton  and 
wool  cards,  chiefly  employed  in  the  domestic  manufactures  throughout 
the  Union.*  Similar  progress  had  been  made  in  Khode  Island  and 
Xe\f  Hampshire,  the  former  being  well  advanced  in  linen  manufacture, 
though  in  Providence  and  vicinity  much  wool  was  manufactured  into 
cloth,  and  it  was  hailed  as  an  indication  of  progress  in  manufactures; 
that  early  in  1789,  John  Brown,  of  that  town,  one  of  the  wealthiest 
merchants  and  manufacturers  in  New  England,  appeared  dressed 
in  cloth  made  from  the  fleeces  of  his  own  flock,  the  yarn,  it  was  added, 
being  spun  by  a  woman  88  years  of  age.  The  cloth  manufactured  in 
Providence  was  30,000  yards,  of  wool,  in  1790,  and  in  1791  3,165  yards 
of  woolen  cloth,  512  of  carpeting,  and  4,093  pairs  of  stockings,  all  ot 
household  make.  There  was  no  established  manufactory  of  any  extent 
in  New  Hampshire,  though  the  large  number  of  fulling-mills  spoke  the 
extent  of  the  woolen  household  manufacture.  New  Jersey  had  no 
woolen  factories,  but  she  had  many  fulling-mills  for  household  woolens. 
Pennsylvania  abounded  in  fulling-mills,  and  the  household  manufac- 
ture was  active.  Many  counties  in  the  State  had  small  factories. 

As  a  whole,  the  year  1788  found  the  country  in  possession  of  a  well- 
established  woolen  household  industry,  furnishing  a  portion  of  the 
people  good,  though  coarse,  durable  clothing  from  wool  grown  on  the 
farms  of  a  sturdy  yeomanry,  and  it  has  truly  been  said  by  an  econo- 
mist that  "  when  the  great  economy  to  which  the  entire  population 

*  Bishop's  History  of  American  Manufactures. 


118        SHEEP  INDUSTRY  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES 

outside  of  the  large  towns  liad  been  inured,  and  the  less  artificial 
wants  of  all,  compared  with  those  of  the  present  generation,  are  takeu^ 
into  account,  it  may  be  questioned  if  the  people  of  that  day  were  not' 
as  really  independent  of  other  countries  for  such  necessaries  as  their 
descendants  at  present." 

While  as  a  general  thing  the  home  manufacture  of  the  extreme 
South  was  of  cotton,  it  must  be  noted  that  South  Carolina  paid  great 
attention  to  the  increase  and  improvement  of  wool  and  was  the  first  to 
propose  the  introduction  of  the  Merino  sheep.  This  was  in  1785,  and 
at  that  time,  or  very  soon  thereafter,  fulling-mills  had  been  erected  in 
Pendleton  district  and  a  fulling  and  dressing  mill  011  Fishing  Creek, 
near  the  Catawba  Eiver,  where  dyeing,  fulling,  and  dressing  were  done 
by  operators  from  Great  Britain.  The  wool  of  the  country  was  very 
fine  and  it  was  mixed  with  cotton  as  an  experiment. 

The  woolen  manufacture  made  an  appreciable  advance  when  a  manu- 
factory was  put  in  operation  about  1788  at  Hartford,  Conn.,  by  Col. 
Jeremiah  Wadsworth  and  others,  encouraged  by  the  State  authorities. 
We  are  informed  that  between  September,  1788,  and  September,  1789, 
about  5,000  yards  of  broadcloth,  cassimeres,  serges,  etc.,  were  made  at 
this  establishment,  some  of  which  sold  at  $5  a  yard.  Gen.  Washing- 
ton, who  made  a  tour  of  the  East  in  the  latter  year,  visited  this  man- 
ufactory, in  company  with  Col.  Wadsworth,  Mr.  Ellsworth,  Col.  Jesse 
Koot,  and  others,  on  the  26th  of  October,  at  which  time  it  was  in  full 
operation.  Washington  pronounced  the  broadcloth  good,  not  yet  of 
the  first  quality,  but  he  ordered  some  of  the  broadcloth  for  his  own 
wear  and  a  piece  of  serge  to  make  breeches  for  his  servants.  He  is 
said  to  have  read  his  speech  to  Congress,  in  the  ensuing  January,  in  a 
full  suit  of  broadcloth  made  at  this  factory  and  presented  by  the  own- 
ers. Col.  Wadsworth,  an  active  patron  of  domestic  industry,  John 
Jay,  the  minister  to  France,  and  Baron  Steuben,  besides  other  promi- 
nent gentlemen,  set  the  example  of  wearing  the  mixed  gray  or  pepper- 
and-salt  cloths  made  at  this  factory,  which  were  exceedingly  durable. 
Washington  recorded  in  his  diary  that  "  all  the  parts  of  this  business 
are  performed  at  the  manufactory,  except  the  spinning;  this  is  done  by 
the  country  people,  who  are  paid  by  the  cut.'7  "  Robert  Pierpont,  a 
cloth-dresser  of  Hartford,  in  the  seven  months  following  September, 
1789,  finished  at  one  press  8,134  yards  of  cloth,  of  which  5,282  yards 
were  fulled  cloth." 

A  woolen  manufactory  set  up  at  Stockbridge,  Mass.,  about  this  time 
made  between  5,000  and  6,000  yards  of  fulled  cloth  annually.  Another 
was  in  operation  at  Wartertown  in  1790,  and  in  1796  Middlesex  County 
had  twenty-four  fulling-mills.  Many  of  the  interior  towns  produced 
large  quantities  of  woolen  cloth,  which  kept  many  fulling-mills  and 
small  establishments  employed  in  dressing  and  dyeing  it.  In  Worces- 
ter County,  preeminently  agricultural,  fulling-mills  and  clothiers7  estab- 
lishments had  increased  in  1792  to  between  thirty  and  forty  in  number, 


EAST   OF   THE   MISSISSIPPI    RIVER.  119 

chiefly  employed  upon  the  homespun  fabrics  of  the  farmers.  "  Cloth 
of  fine  scarlet  and  deep  blue,  which  were  then  favorite  colors,  was 
made  and  dressed  in  a  creditable  manner." 

A  considerable  branch  of  the  woolen  manufacture  Avas  the  making  of 
wool  hats.  Nearly  every  State  in  the  Union  was  engaged  in  the  busi- 
ness, and  there  was  no  community  without  its  hatters.  Pennsylvania 
took  the  lead  in  this  industry,  for  which  wool  was  imported  from  the 
Eastern  States.  The  wool  and  fur  hats  of  Pennsylvania  alone  were 
about  212,000  in  1790,  and  more  than  her  consumption,  and  the  manu- 
facture was  brisk  in  the  counties  beyond  the  Alleghanies. 

The  condition  of  the  woolen  industry  at  the  time  is  found  in  a  report 
made  to  the  House  of  Kepresentatives  December  5, 1791,  by  Alexander 
Hamilton,  Secretary  of  the  Treasury.  After  an  enumeration  of  several 
important  branches  of  manufactures  that  had  already  grown  up  and 
flourished  with  surprising  rapidity,  viz,  those  of  skins,  iron,  wood,  flax, 
and  hemp,  and  uhats  of  fur  and  wool,  and  mixtures  of  both,"  Hamilton 
adds: 

Besides  manufactories  of  these  articles,  which  are  carried  on  as  regular  trades,  and 
have  attained  to  a  considerable  degree  of  maturity,  there  is  a  vast  scene  of  house- 
hold manufacturing,  which  contributes  more  largely  to  the  supply  of  the  community 
than  could  be  imagined,  without  having  made  it  an  object  of  particular  inquiry. 
This  observation  is  the  pleasing  result  of  the  investigation  to  which  the  subject  of 
this  report  had  led,  and  is  applicable  as  well  to  the  Southern  as  to  the  Middle  and 
Northern  States.  Great  quantities  of  coarse  cloths,  coatings,  serges,  and  flannels, 
linsey-woolseys,  hosiery  of  wool,  cotton,  and  thread,  coarse  fustians,  jeans,  and 
muslins,  checked  and  striped  cotton  and  linen  goods,  bedticks,  coverlets,  and  coun- 
terpanes, tow-linens,  coarse  shirtings,  sheetings,  toweling,  and  table  linen,  and 
various  mixtures  of  wool  and  cotton,  and  of  cotton  and  flax,  are  made  in  the  house- 
hold way,  and  in  many  instances  to  an  extent  not  only  sufficient  for  the  supply  of 
the  families  in  which  they  are  made,  but  for  sale,  and  even  in  some  cases  for  exporta- 
tion. It  is  computed  in  a  number  of  districts  that  two-thirds,  three-fourths,  and 
even  four-fifths  of  all  the  clothing  of  the  inhabitants  are  made  by  themselves.  The 
importance  of  so  great  a  progress  as  appears  to  have  been  made  in  family  manufac- 
tures within  a  few  years,  both  in  a  moral  and  political  view,  renders  the  fact  highly 
interesting. 

Neither  does  the  above  enumeration  comprehend  all  the  articlefiKthat  are  manufac- 
tured, as  regular  trades.  Many  others  occur  which  are  equally  well  established, 
but  which,  not  being  of  equal  importance,  have  been  omitted.  And  there  are  many 
attempts,  still  in  their  infancy,  which,  though  attended  with  very  favorable  appear- 
ances, could  not  have  been  properly  comprised  in  an  enumeration  of  manufactories 
already  established.  There  are  other  articles,  also,  of  great  importance,  which, 
though,  strictly  speaking,  manufactures,  are  omitted,  as  being  immediately  con- 
nected with  husbandry ;  such  as  flour,  pot  and  pearl  ashes,  pitch,  tar,  turpentine, 
and  the  like. 

In  a  country  the  climate  of  which  partakes  of  so  considerable  a  proportion  of 
winter  as  that  of  a  great  part  of  the  United  States,  the  woolen  branch  can  not  be 
regarded  as  inferior  to  any  which  relates  to  the  clothing  of  the  inhabitants.  House- 
hold manufactures  of  this  material  are  carried  on  in  different  parts  of  the  United 
States  to  a  very  interesting  extent;  but  there  is  only  one  branch  which,  as  a  regular 
business,  can  be  said  to  have  acquired  maturity.  This  is  the  making  of  hats.  Hats 
of  wool,  and  of  wool  mixed  with  fur,  are  made  in  large  quantities  in  different 


120        SHEEP  INDUSTRY  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES 

States,  and  nothing  seems  wanting  but  an  adequate  supply  of  materials  to  render 
the  manufacture  commensurate  with  the  demand. 

A  promising  essay  towards  the  fabrication  of  cloths,  cassimeres,  and  other  woolen 
goods  is  likewise  going  on  at  Hartford,  in  Connecticut.  Specimens  of  the  different 
kinds  which  are  made,  in  the  possession  of  the  secretary,  evince  that  these  fabrics 
have  attained  a  very  considerable  degree  of  perfection.  Their  quality  certainly  sur- 
passes anything  that  could  have  been  looked  for  in  so  short  a  time  and  under  so  great 
disadvantages,  and  conspires,  with  the  scantiness  of  the  means  which  have  been  at 
the  command  of  the  directors,  to  form  the  eulogium  of  that  public  spirit,  persever- 
ance, and  judgment  which  have  been  able  to  accomplish  so  much. 

To  cherish  and  bring  to  maturity  this  precious  embryo  must  engage  the  most  ardent 
wishes,  and  proportionable  regret  as  far  as  the  means  of  doing  it  may  appear  difficult 
or  uncertain.  Measures  which  should  tend  to  promote  an  abundant  supply  of  wool 
of  good  quality  would  probably  afford  the  most  efficient  aid  that  present  circum- 
stances permit. 

To  encourage  the  raising  and  improving  the  breed  of  sheep  at  home  would  cer- 
tainly be  the  most  desirable  expedient  for  that  purpose;  but  it  may  not  be  alone  suffi- 
cient, especially  as  it  is  yet  a  problem  whether  our  wool  be  capable  of  such  a  degree 
of  improvement  as  to  render  it  fit  for  the  finer  fabrics.  Premiums  would  probably  be 
found  the  best  means  of  promoting  the  domestic  and  bounties  the  foreign  supply. 
The  first  may  be  within  tne  compass  of  the  institution  hereafter  to  be  submitted.  The 
last  would  require  a  specific  legislative  provision.  If  any  bounties  are  granted  they 
ought,  of  course,  to  be  adjusted  with  an  eye  to  quality  as  well  as  quantity. 

A  fund  for  the  purpose  may  be  derived  from  the  addition  of  2$  per  cent  to  the  pres- 
ent rate  of  duty  on  carpets  and  carpeting,  an  increase  to  which  the  nature  of  the  arti- 
cles suggests  no  objection,  and  which  may  at  the  same  time  furnish  a  motive  the 
more  to  the  fabrication  of  them  at  home,  towards  which  some  beginnings  have  been 
made. 

Early  in  1792,  when  Hamilton's  report  was  published  in  England,  it 
created  such  apprehension  that  meetings  were  called  in  the  manufactur- 
ing towns  to  consider  it,  and  Manchester  alone,  at  a  single  meeting,  so 
it  was  stated,  subscribed  £500,000  toward  a  fund  to  be  invested  in  Eng- 
lish goods  and  shipped  to  this  country  for  the  purpose  of  glutting  the 
market  and  blasting  in  the  bud  the  hopes  of  American  manufacturers. 
Whether  from  this  fund  or  from  others  we  know  not,  but,  at  this  time, 
machinery  of  one  or  more  woolen  mills  of  New  England  was  purchased, 
taken  out,  boxed,  and  shipped  to  England ;  some  woolen  and  cotton 
mills  that  were  burned  were  charged  to  that  influence,  and  it  was  alleged 
that  British  agents  busied  themselves  in  Ehode  Island,  Connecticut, 
and  Massachusetts,  and  in  parts  of  New  York  and  Pennsylvania,  in 
buying  up  the  finest  wooled  sheep  and  selling  them  to  the  butchers. 
Those  which  they  could  not  persuade  Americans  to  eat  were  salted  down 
and  sent  as  provisions  to  the  West  Indies. 

In  1792  the  town  of  Ipswich  granted  land  to  John  Manning  upon 
which  to  build  a  woolen  mill,  and  subsequently  made  an  additional 
grant,  and  in  1795  the  town  confirmed  to  Dr.  Manning  the  land  under 
the  building.  This  building  was  105  feet  long,  32  feet  wide,  and  two 
stories  high,  of  wood.  The  original  design  was  to  make  woolen  goods, 
and  for  a  few  years  broadcloth,  blankets,  and  flannels  were  manufac- 
tured j  all  the  carding,  spinning,  and  weaving  were  done  by  hand,  but 


EA.ST    OF    THE    MISSISSIPPI    RIVER.  121 

not  proving  profitable  cotton  was  substituted  for  woolen  manufacture, 
and  in  1800  its  operations  entirely  ceased. 

In  June  of  this  year  (1794),  the  first  incorporated  woolen  factory  in  Massachusetts 
AMIS  erected,  at  the  falls  of  the  river  Parker,  in  Newbury.  The  machinery  was  made 
in  Newburyport,  by  Messrs.  Standring,  Armstrong,  and  Guppy.* 

This  factory  was  run  by  Arthur  Scholfield  and  other  English  opera- 
tives, who  recently  emigrated  in  company  with  Samuel"  Slater,  the 
founder  of  the  cotton  manufacture  in  New  England,  to  which  use  the 
factory  was  afterwards  converted. 

In  recent  years  claim  was  made  that  the  first  incorporated  woolen 
company  to  begin  business  was  at  Oriskany,  N.  Y.  The  claim 
was  disputed  and  a  committee  of  the  "  Ehode  Island  Society  for  the 
Encouragement  of  Domestic  Industry  "  was  raised  to  investigate  the 
subject.  The  report  was  in  favor  of  the  Newbury  company,  and  em- 
braced some  facts  of  interest,  the  substance  of  which  were  that,  in 
March,  1793,  John  Scholfield,  with  his  family,  and  Arthur,  son  of  Arthur 
Scholfield,  who  lived  at  Standish-foot,  in  Saddleworth,  Yorkshire, 
England,  sailed  from  Liverpool  for  the  United  States,  arriving  in  Boston 
the  May  following,  and  took  up  their  residence  in  Charlestown,  near 
Bunker  Hill.  Here  they  remained  until  August,  making  some  prepara- 
tions and  constructing  some  machinery  for  the  manufacture  of  woolen 
cloth.  Having  introduced  themselves  to  Jedediah  Morse,  author  of 
Morse's  Geography  and  Gazetteer,  as  being  manufacturers,  and  well 
skilled  in  the  most  approved  method  of  manufacturing  woolen  goods  in 
England,  they  were  by  him  introduced  to  some  persons  of  wealth  in 
Newburyport,  who,  availing  themselves  of  the  knowledge  which  they 
possessed,  at  once  put  up  a  factory  at  Byfield,  on  the  Parker  River, 
near  Newbury,  under  the  immediate  supervision  of  John  and  Arthur 
Scholfield,  and  they  there  constructed  the  first  carding  machine  for 
wool  that  was  put  in  operation  in  the  United  States.  This  was  con- 
structed and  first  operated  by  hand,  before  the  factory  was  ready  to 
receive  it.  When  all  the  machinery  was  constructed  according  to  their 
direction,  the  factory  went  into  operation,  and  John  Scholfield  was 
employed  as  an  agent,  and  the  business  was  conducted  prosperously. 
This  was  the  first  woolen  factory  erected  and  conducted  advantageously 
in  the  United  States,  all  previous  attempts  having  been  rendered  un- 
profitable by  reason  of  imperfect  machinery.  John  Scholfield  erected 
other  mills  in  various  parts  of  Massachusetts  and  Connecticut,  and  in 
1800  Arthur  Scholfield  removed  to  Pittsfield,  Mass.,  built  a  carding 
machine,  and  went  to  carding  rolls  and  manufacturing.  Bishop,  in  his 
"  History  of  American  Manufactures,"  says  that  the  Byfield  factory, 
probably  the  largest  then  in  the  country,  proved  unprofitable  in  the 
hands  of  the  Scholfields.  The  shares  were  one  by  one  transferred  to 
William  Bartlett,  and  by  him  to  John  Lee,  one  of  the  original  company, 
who,  in  1806,  converted  it  into  a  cotton  factory. 

*  History  of  Newbury.    Joshua  Coffin. 


122        SHEEP  INDUSTRY  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES 

One  of  the  most  noted  towns  for  woolen  manufactures  is  Pittsiield, 
Berkshire  County,  Mass.  It  was  settled  in  1752,  incorporated  in  1760, 
and  in  February,  1770,  Valentine  Kathbun  started  the  first  fulling-mill, 
charging  40  to  50  cents  for  fulling  and  finishing  a  yard  of  cloth.  In 
1776  another  fulling-mill  was  put  up  as  a  rival,  and  from  time  to  time 
new  clothiers'  works  were  established,  and  in  1805  these  establishments 
had  become  so  numerous  that  an  association  for  mutual  protection  was 
suggested. 

In  1800  Arthur  Scholfield  removed  from  Byfield  toPittsfield  and  put 
up  machinery  for  a  woolen  manufactory.  He  was  compelled  to  con- 
struct it  without  patterns  or  drawings,  and  was  even  forced  to  return 
to  England  to  refresh  his  memory  before  he  could  complete  a  wool-card- 
ing machine,  which  was  put  in  operation  in  1801,  and  carded  wool  at 
12J  cents  a  pound.  The  first  fine  broadcloth  made  in  this  country  was 
by  Arthur  Scholfield  in  1804,  made  from  the  fleeces  of  imported  Merino 
sheep,  presumably  of  the  Humphreys  importation.  The  cloth  was  a 
gray  mixed,  and  when  finished  was  shown  to  the  different  merchants  at 
Pittsfield  and  offered  for  sale,  but  could  find  no  purchasers  in  that  vil- 
lage, and  was  then  sent  to  New  York.  A  few  weeks  subsequently 
Josiah  Bisell,  a  leading  merchant  in  town,  made  a  voyage  to  New  York 
for  the  purpose  of  buying  goods,  and  brought  home  two  pieces  of  Schol- 
field's  cloths,  which  were  purchased  for  the  foreign  article.  Scholfield 
was  sent  for  to  test  the  quality,  and  after  pronouncing  it  very  superior 
exhibited  to  the  surprised  merchant  his  private  mark  on  the  goods  he 
had  rejected  a  few  weeks  before. 

In  1807  Elkanah  Watson  introduced  into  Berkshire  County  the  first  pair 
of  Merino  sheep  from  the  Livingston  flock,  from  the  fleeces  of  which  in 
the  following  year  Mr.  Scholfield  made  13  yards  of  black  or  blue-black 
broadcloth,  superior  to  any  yet  made  in  the  country.  Samples  were 
sent  to  the  different  cities  and  accounts  of  it  were  published,  with  the 
cost  of  manufacture,  and  excited  much  interest  throughout  the  coun- 
try. This  piece  of  broadcloth,  13  yards,  was  presented  to  James  Madi- 
son, and  it  is  said  that  his  inaugural  suit  was  made  from  it. 

The  French  revolution  and  the  declaration  of  war  against  England 
and  Holland  in  1793,  soon  after  the  establishment  of  the  National  Gov- 
ernment of  the  United  States,  and  the  passage  of  a  tonnage  bill,  and  the 
war  between  England  and  Spain  in  1796,  which  continued  with  but  abrief 
interval  until  all  Europe  was  involved,  crippled  European  commerce 
and  opened  to  the  American  merchant  and  American  ships  no  small 
portion  of  the  trade  of  the  world.  England's  superior  navy  rendered 
intercourse  between  the  European  powers  at  war  with  her  extremely 
difficult.  Much  more  difficult,  however,  was  the  intercourse  between 
these  continental  states  and  their  colonies.  They  were,  therefore, 
obliged  to  depend,  in  a  great  degree,  upon  neutrals  to  carry  on  the 
trade  between  them  and  their  distant  colonies  in  the  East  and  West 
Indies.  The  spices,  teas,  and  other  products  of  these  colonies  had  no 


EAST    OF   THE    MISSISSIPPI    RIVER.  123 

other  way  of  reaching  Europe  without  great  expense  and  risk  of  cap- 
ture but  by  the  aid  and  under  cover  of  a  neutral  flag.  The  United 
States  was  happily  situated  in  relation  to  the  West  India  Islands, 
whose  ports  were  now  thrown  open  to  them,  and  their  long  habitual 
intercourse  with  them  naturally  threw  a  large  share  of  this  trade  into 
the  hands  of  American  merchants.  The  trade  did  not  stop  at  the  West 
Indies,  for  the  encouragement  given  by  the  act  of  1789  had  increased 
the  tonnage  of  the  United  States,  and  the*  spirit  and  enterprise  of  the 
people  led  them  to  employ  their  increased  shipping  in  the  more  distant 
trade  of  the  East  Indies,  and,  indeed,  every  other  part  of  the  world. 
And  so  it  came  about  that  American  vessels  engrossed  nearly  the  en- 
tire carrying  trade  of  Europe  and  conveyed  thither  or  to  American 
ports  to  be  reexported,  the  valuable  articles  of  colonial  produce,  such 
as  sugar,  coffee,  indigo,  pepper,  and  spices  of  all  kinds.  These  and 
other  articles  were  allowed,  under  certain  regulations,  to  be  exported 
from  the  United  States  with  a  drawback  of  the  duties  paid  or  secured 
to  be  paid  on  their  importation. 

This  transfer  of  the  carrying  trade  of  Europe  gave,  in  consequence, 
an  immense  impulse  to  the  foreign  commerce  and  agriculture  of  the 
United  States.  The  high  prices  of  agricultural  products  during  the 
next  few  years,  and  the  great  profits  on  shipping,  stopped  investment 
in  manufactures,  withdrew  capital  from  them,  and  concentrated  money 
and  enterprise  in  shipbuilding,  which  increased  to  a  degree  unparalleled 
in  ancient  or  modern  history.  The  manufactures  of  Great  Britain  found 
good  markets  in  the  United  States;  the  manufactures  of  woolen  did 
not  increase  in  the  United  States,  and  all  along  the  seaboard,  where 
prosperity  reigned,  British  cloths  were  worn  principally,  and  the  do- 
mestic and  household  production  was  diminished  or  pushed  westward 
with  the  tide  of  emigration  moving  in  that  direction. 

The  new  and  back  counties  supplied  themselves  with  clothing  from 
the  fleeces  of  their  own  sheep.  Outside  of  the  seacoast  towns,  and 
away  from  the  few  factories  just  struggling  into  life,  the  New  England 
people  still  wove  and  wore  homespun.  In  New  York  every  farmer 
manufactured  in  his  own  family  all  the  cloth  he  wanted,  and  as  he 
moved  westward  his  sheep,  the  spinning-wheel  and  the  loom  went 
with  him,  and  the  wool  that  he  manufactured  was  fine;  worth  at  that 
time  4:8.  per  pound,  when  a  market  was  to  be  had,  but  as  every  farmer 
raised  a  few  sheep  the  sale  was  inconsiderable.  In  New  Jersey,  the 
country  adjacent  to  New  York  and  Philadelphia  supplied  itself  from 
these  cities  with  foreign  goods,  and  so  great  had  the  rage  for  foreign 
goods  become  that  it  attracted  the  thoughtful  attention  of  patriotic 
men.  One  of  them  said : 

By  what  strange  fatality  has  our  homespun  gone  out  of  fashion  in  a  country  that 
ought  to  glory  in  it,  and  in  which  its  perpetuity  would  annually  have  saved  thou- 
sands of  pounds?  How  I  have  been  delighted  to  Lehold,  in  the  county  of  Bergen 
piles  of  this  home-wrought  woolen,  not  only  intended  for  the  dress  of  our  men,  but 


124        SHEEP  INDUSTRY  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES 

for  the  future  investment  of  the  delicate  limbs  of  my  fair  country  women,  towering 
like  an  Egyptian  pyramid.  *  *  *  This  laudable  economy  was  not  peculiar  to 
Bergen.  It  is  not  long  since  that  the  manufacturing  of  our  own  cloth  was  very  gen- 
eral among  our  farmers.  Why  is  it  discontinued?  *  *  *  Those  who  have  sheep 
can  certainly  make  homespun  to  advantage.  *  *  *  But,  alas,  the  rage  for  foreign 
finery.  *  *  *  Let  us  make  homespun.* 

And  he  advised  the  women  to  make  their  petticoats  of  homespun, 
and  counseled  the  farmers  to  depart  from  the  practice  of  selling  their 
best  lambs  to  the  butcher,  and  at  the  same  time  urged  the  utility  of 
exchanging  rams  with  some  distant  farmer  every  year. 

While  Livingston's  picture  was  true  as  regards  Bergen  and  the  coun- 
try immediately  adjacent,  it  was  not  strictly  so  as  to  the  interior  coun- 
ties off  the  great  lines  of  travel ;  there  the  small  flock  of  sheep  and  the 
household  industry  supplied  a  greater  part  of  the  clothing. 

Outside  of  Philadelphia  and  Lancaster  the  homespun  manufacture 
was  still  carried  on  by  the  farmers,  who  usually  kept  from  40  to  50 
sheep,  yielding  about  2J  pounds  of  wool  each,  to  supply  the  family  with 
wool  for  clothing  and  a  little  surplus  which  was  made  into  hosiery  or 
yarns  and  sent  to  the  town  markets.  The  sheep  generally  yielded  ex- 
cellent wool,  and  the  farmers  improved  them  by  getting  good  rams 
wherever  they  could  be  found. 

In  Delaware  and  Maryland  there  was  a  considerable  homespun  man- 
ufacture from  good  wool,  fine  and  short,  but  the  fleece  seldom  weighed 
more  than  3  pounds. 

The  tide-water  region  of  Virginia  was  generally  supplied  with  clothing 
made  from  English  goods,  which  were  paid  for  by  tobacco  and  other 
agricultural  products,  but  in  the  interior  and  mountain  counties,  and 
particularly  in  the  Shenandoah  Valley,  there  was  a  large  household 
manufacture,  the  surplus  over  the  family  wants  supplying  the  wants  of 
those  engaged  in  other  occupations.  In  the  vicinity  of  Staunton  there 
was  a  considerable  manufacture  of  wool  hats.  Wool  was  worth  about 
25  cents  a  pound,  according  to  the  demand,  and  according  to  general 
account  sheep  were  tolerably  plenty,  but  of  an  inferior  and  ugly  breed. 
Taken  as  a  whole,  the  wool  of  Virginia  was  considered  superior  to  any 
other  in  the  Union  at  that  time. 

In  ^orth  Carolina  there  was  some  homespun  manufacture  in  theinte- 
terior  of  the  State,  and  in  the  mountain  counties,  where  the  wool  was 
very  fine  and  had  a  good  staple,  but  on  the  seaboard  cloth  and  clothing 
were  obtained  from  the  proceeds  of  tar  and  pitch  shipped  abroad.  The 
people  of  Charleston  and  the  coast  towns  of  South  Carolina  imported 
their  woolens  from  England,  but  in  the  upper  country  necessity  com- 
pelled the  inhabitants  to  provide  for  their  respective  wants  from  their 
own  resources,  in  consequence  of  the  difficulty  and  expense  of  convey- 
ing bulky  articles  from  the  seacoast  to  the  interior.  The  traveler  there 
soon  became  accustomed  to  the  humming  music  of  the  spinning-Avheel 

*  Ex-Governor  William  Livingston  (1801). 


EAST    OF    THE    MISSISSIPPI    RIVER.  125 

and  the  loom.  Cottons  and  woolens  of  various  descriptions  were  made 
in  quantities  sufficient  for  domestic  use.  Georgia  was  similarly  situated. 
Her  seaboard  population  imported  their  woolens  from  England,  those 
in  the  interior  raised  fine  sheep,  giving  good  wool,  from  which  they 
made  the  few  woolen  goods  worn  in  that  temperate  country. 

In  this  rapid  sketch  of  -the  condition  of  the  woolen  manufacture  at 
the  close  of  the  last  century  it  is  impossible  to  give  statistics,  for  none 
have  been  collected,  but  it  may  be  stated  that  from  1790  to  1800  we 
manufactured  all  our  own  wool,  for,  in  1790,  none  was  exported;  none 
in  1792;  none  in  1799  and  1800.  But  we  imported,  some  wool  from 
K u rope  and  manufactured  it  in  America,  thus  showing  that  we  did  not 
raise  all  the  wool  that  we  manufactured.  The  raw  wool  was  wanted 
and  the  farmers  did  not  raise  enough  of  it  for  the  manufacturing 
demand  of  families  and  the  few  factories  then  in  operation.  It  was  the 
want  of  this  supply  of  wool,  coupled  with  the  large  importations  of 
English  woolens,  that  forced  some  of  the  early  woolen  mills  into  the 
cotton  manufacture. 

Nor  was  the  great  prosperity  of  the  agricultural  and  commercial 
classes,  and  the  earnings  of  capital  in  mercantile  ventures  at  the 
beginning  of  the  century,  favorable  to  the  growth  of  the  woolen  manu- 
facture. The  merchant  was  satisfied  that  he  could  make  more  money 
by  carrying  goods  than  in  making  them,  and  the  agriculturist  was  sat- 
isfied to  buy  the  clothing  his  household  industry  did  not  supply  him,  by 
exchanging  therefor  the  product  of  his  fields.  Consequently,  industry 
and  capital  found  employment  in  trade  and  the  manufacturing  interest 
made  no  progress. 

The  great  discouragement  to  manufactures  was  the  prejudice  against 
everything  of  home  production.  For  years  after  the  Eevolutionary  war, 
and  particularly  in  these  days  of  high  prosperity,  foreigners  dictated 
the  fashions  and  directed  the  sentiments  of  the  fashionable  circles  of 
our  commercial  cities,  and  our  own  citizens  allowed  themselves  to  be 
taught  that  American  people  and  American  products  were  inferior  to 
those  of  foreign  production,  and  some  of  the  present  day  are  still  taking 
the  same  lesson. 

But  the  household  industry  was  not  suffered  to  decline.  The  Ameri- 
can farmer  made  most  of  his  own  clothing,  and  he  was  the  last  to  en- 
courage foreign  goods,  ape  foreign  manners,  or  adopt  foreign  fashions. 
It  is  true  that  the  most  wealthy  of  these,  the  large  planters  and  some 
near  the  coast,  bought  foreign  clothing,  but  the  great  mass,  the  filers 
of  the  soil,  those  who  grubbed  and  those  who  followed  the  plow,  that 
class  among  whom  true  nationality  and  patriotism  dwell  and  always  have 
dwelt,  wore  homespun  goods.  The  household  industry  or  family  cloth- 
ing manufacture  in  wool,  as  well  as  cotton  and  hemp,  was  very  consider- 
able. The  country  made  up  all  its  own  wool,  flax,  and  hemp.  Stocking 
knitting  was  carried  on  to  some  extent  in  Pennsylvania,  and  the  great 


126        SHEEP  INDUSTRY  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES 

body  of  farmers'  wives  and  daughters  were  employed  in  knitting  and 
weaving. 

A  great  drawback  also  to  the  extension  of  the  woolen  manufacture  was 
the  scarcity  of  wool,  and  the  inferior  character  of  much  that  was  available. 
To  the  many  arguments  put  forward  for  the  encouragement  of  the  manu- 
facture the  reply  was  that,  in  truth,  America  raised  very  few  sheep  in 
comparison  with  Great  Britain,  perhaps  not  one-tenth  in  proportion  to 
the  number  of  the  inhabitants,  and  FO  little  care  was  taken  to  raise  a 
good  breed  of  sheep  that  the  wool  was  ten  times  less  valuable,  which 
gave  a  hundred  fold  advantage  to  Great  Britain.  As  was  the  wool,  so 
was  the  mutton,  and  the  prejudice  against  the  mutton  must  be  removed 
before  the  woolen  manufacture  could  be  placed  on  any  considerable 
footing.  The  result  was,  so  the  answer  ran,  that  although  it  might  be 
true  that  we  manufactured  all  our  own  wool,  yet  that  all  was  hardly 
worth  notice,  because  it  was  manufactured  into  coarse  fabrics  which 
did  not  greatly  enhance  the  value  of  the  raw  material.  And  to  the 
proposition  that  foreign  artisans  should  be  invited  to  engage  in  the 
woolen  manufacture,  answer  was  made  that  the  European  manufacturer 
would  be  greatly  deceived  who  should  come  to  the  United  States  under 
the  impression  of  being  able  to  establish  a  manufactory  of  any  extent. 
Let  him  know  that  very  little  combing  wool  was  to  be  met  with,  and 
that  there  were  no  comb-makers  nor  a  comb  machine,  and  he  would 
soon  be  persuaded  of  the  infant  state  of  the  manufacturing  industry. 
Others  argued  that  the  woolen  industry  was  on  the  decline,  and  cited 
the  German  town  stocking  weavers  who  worked  wool  some  months  in 
the  year,  and  who  had  about  100  looms  going  at  the  close  of  the  Eevo- 
lutionary  war,  which  had  been  reduced  to  thirty,  and  in  twenty  years 
more  would  be  gone  entirely  unless  a  great*  change  was  made  in  our 
manufacturing  notions  and  fashions. 

And,  again,  there  were  many  who  thought  the  country  too  young  for 
manufactures,  and  that  the  arts  by  introducing  luxury  would  also  in- 
troduce vice  and  wean  the  people  from  that  simplicity  of  manners 
which  was  believed  to  belong  exclusively  to  agricultural  life;  and  there 
were  very  many  others  who  had  strong  affection  for  the  mother  coun- 
try, and  preferred  dependence  upon  her,  and  who  were  joined  in  the 
influence  which  the  merchants  had  in  shaping  legislation.  All  these 
and 'other  influences  worked  against  our.  woolen  manufactures  at  this 
period. 

Some  encouragement  was  given  to  manufactures  by  a  portion  of  the 
press  and  by  far-sighted  men  through  its  columns.  It  was  urged,  now 
that  the  country  had  capital,  that  it  "  exchange  hands  in  the  circle  of 
reciprocal  wants  at  home.  Let  us  work  up  our  iron,  our  cotton,  our 
wool,  our  own  earths."  It  was  insisted  that  our  attention  should  be 
directed  to  plain,  substantial  manufactures,  and  chiefly  such  as  de- 
pended on  machinery  and  the  saving  of  labor,  and  that  while  it  was  not 
our  interest  to  become  a  manufacturing  nation  it  was  our  duty  not  to 


EAST    OF    THE    MISSISSIPPI    RIVER.  127 

be  a  poor,  indigent,  and  dependent  one;  that  no  nation  could  be  inde- 
pendent unless  it  could  clothe  as  well  as  feed  its  people. 

Meanwhile  the  mills  already  established  manufactured  woolen  goods 
in  a  rude  and  modest  way ;  entreaties  were  made  to  the  farmers  to  in- 
crease the  number  and  improve  the  breed  of  their  sheep,  and  Seth  Adams 
in  1801.  Col.  David  Humphreys  and  Chancellor  E.  E.  Livingston  in  1802, 
imported  Merino  sheep,  and  a  few  scattering  notes  of  new  fulling-mills 
appear.  In  July,  1805,  James  Tatterson,  of  Bridgehampton,  Long 
Island,  proposed  to  put  up  a  cotton  and  woolen  factory  of  twelve  looms 
to  make  broadcloth,  carpets,  coverlids,  vest  patterns,  etc.,  and  called  for 
support  in  the  undertaking  to  establish  domestic  manufactures.  In  the 
same  year  wool-carding  machines  on  the  European  plan  were  in  opera- 
tion in  Mifflin  County,  Pa.,  one  on  Lost  Creek,  and  another  at  John  Flern- 
ming's  mill,  in  Kishacoquilles  Valley,  and  it  was  advertised  that  "1 
pound  of  grease  must  be  sent  to  8  of  wool.  It  will  be  picked,  broke, 
and  carded  into  rolls  for  10  cents  a  pound,  with  2  cents  for  mixing  and 
5  cents  for  breaking  only.  The  rolls  will  be  so  packed  as  to  be  carried 
on  horseback  40  miles."  Some  notices  of  manufacturing  domestic 
flannel  from  American  wool  appear,  and  a  statement  that  several 
Southern  gentlemen  had  entered  into  arrangements  for  coarse  clothing 
for  servants.  In  1806  a  machine  for  carding  wool  was  set  up  near 
Trenton,  N.  J.,  and  a  person  who  recommended  it  said  he  hoped  that 
now  people  would  make  their  own  cloth,  as  "  many  raise  sheep  who 
never  before  raised  any,  and  those  who  before  raised  a  few  now  raised 
a  large  number,"  and  the  editor  of  the  Trenton  True  American  in  pub- 
lishing this  fact  took  occasion  to  advise  the  farmers  to  have  good  wool 
by  preserving  their  best  lambs  and  feeding  them  well.  The  same  paper, 
in  the  following  year  (1807),  notices  that  Mr.  Ealston,  at  Mendham,  had 
begun  the  manufacture  of  woolen  goods,  and  a  gain  calls  on  the  farmers 
to  encourage  the  manufacture  by  improving  their  sheep.  tl  Something 
has  lately  been  done ;  let  them  get  the  best  breeds,  sell  the  smallest, 
house  and  feed  them  during  the  winter,  and  keep  them  always  in  good 
condition." 

From  this  time  a  great  change  came  over  the  industries  of  the  coun- 
try, and  the  cause  was  in  the  relation  of  European  powers  one  to 
another,  and  their  bitter  and  sanguinary  struggle  for  commercial  and 
political  supremacy.  The  seizure  of  American  vessels  by  Great  Britain ; 
the  American  non-importation  act  of  April  18, 1806;  the  British  orders 
in  council  of  May,  1806,  blockading  the  German  ports;  Napoleon's 
Berlin  decree  of  November  21,  1806;  the  British  order  of  January  7 
and  November  11, 1807,  followed  by  the  Milan  decree  of  December  17, 
1807,  almost  completely  swept  the  prosperous  American  commerce  from 
the  ocean;  and  to  crown  all,  the  American  Congress  passed  the  em- 
bargo act  forbidding  American  ships  to  sail  from  home  ports,  which 
delighted  Great  Britain,  who  was  quite  willing  that  the  enterprising 
Yankee  skipper  should  remain  at  hop^SfeDgMqdted  States  the  in- 


128        SHEEP  INDUSTRY  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES 

telligent  people  were  unable  to  see  what  benefit  could  be  derived  from 
their  ships  rotting  in  the  ports,  seamen  out  of  employment,  the  indus- 
try of  the  country  prostrated,  and  agriculture  in  decay;  and  mur- 
murs were  heard  on  every  side,  rising  in  places  to  resistance.  First, 
the  shipping  interests  suifered,  then  the  planters  and  farmers  com- 
plained, and,  on  March  1,  1809,  the  embargo  was  repealed  and  there 
was  substituted  for  it  another  nonintercourse  act.  But  the  embargo 
had  done  its  work.  It  had  about  completed  the  overthrow  of  the  for- 
eign commerce  of  the  United  States. 

Some  good  grew  out  of  the  embargo.  As  shipping  declined  manu- 
factures increased.  Capital  invested  in  commercial  enterprises  being 
in  great  danger,  it  was  withdrawn  and  applied  to  manufactures,  aijd 
small  factories  rapidly  multiplied.  Those  of  woolen  did  not  feel  the 
first  impulse,  for  the  reason  that  more  money  could  be  made  from  the 
cotton  manufacture,  and  from  another  good  reason,  that  there  was  not 
a  supply  of  wool  beyond  the  needs  of  the  household  make.  In  fact, 
there  was  not  a  sufficiency  for  household  purposes,  and  complaint  was 
made  of  the  farmer  that  he  did  not  raise  enough  to  keep  his  daughters 
busy;  that  the  time  lost  for  want  of  it,  between  sunset  and  bedtime, 
would  suffice  to  make  clothing  for  all  the  people  and  give  some  cloth 
for  export. 

There  was  a  great  change  taking  place,  both  in  appreciation  of  Amer- 
ican goods  and  in  the  disposition  to  encourage  and  promote  their  man- 
ufacture. It  was  no  longer  considered  beyond  the  pale  of  good  style  to 
dress  in  American  goods;  and  from  the  President  of  the  United  States, 
at  his  official  reception,  down  to  the  most  humble  in  the  land,  to  be 
clothed  in  homespun  was  the  proper  thing.  And  as  this  disposition  ran 
parallel  with  necessity,  the  household  manufacture  was  greatly  ex- 
tended. This  furnished  goods  of  a  coarse  character,  but  for  the  manu- 
facture of  fine  woolens  fine  wool  was  needed.  Now  began,  also^a  keen 
appreciation  of  the  few  Merino  sheep  in  the  country,  and  prices  rose 
rapidly  from  $100  to  $1,000  for  a  single  animal;  whole  flocks  of  common 
sheep  were  crossed  with  them,  and  factories  went  into  operation  in 
many  places,  backed  by  the  capital  that  had  been  withdrawn  from  com- 
merce. Wool,  which  had  risen  to  $1  per  pound  in  1807,  now  rose  still 
higher,  Chancellor  Livingston  selling  some  full-blooded  Merino  wool, 
unwashed,  for  $2  per  pound. 

The  estimated  production  of  wool  in  the  United  States  in  1810,  to 
supply  the  factory  and  household  demand,  was  13,000,000  to  14,000,000 
pounds,  which  many  sources  of  information  agree  in  stating  was  neither 
equal  to  the  amount  required  nor  of  good  quality.  But  this  quality  was 
now  to  be  vastly  improved  by  the  infusion  of  more  new  blood  of  the 
fine-wooled  sheep,  and  causes  that  operated  to  force  the  country  into 
extended  woolen  manufacture  opened  the  way  to  supply  the  fine  wool. 

The  temporary  suspension  of  American  commerce  by  the  proclama- 
tion of  August  9,  1809,  reestablishing  the  nonintercourse  act,  was  fol- 


EAST    OF    THE    MISSISSIPPI    RIVER. 


129 


lowed  on  May  1,  1810,  by  an  act  opening  trade.  Immediately  the  ports 
of  the  United  States  sent  out  hundreds  of  vessels  freighted  with  the 
accumulated  produce  of  two  years,  and  the  ocean  was  covered  with 
sails  speeding  for  Archangel,  Gottingen,  Lisbon,  Cadiz,  and  elsewhere, 
everywhere  to  find  a  market  for  flour,  corn,  rice,  tobacco,  and  other 
stores.  Lisbon  and  Cadiz  were  favorite  markets,  and  their  provisions 
ruled  high,  the  British  army  being  one  of  the  best  customers.  Fortu- 
nately for  the  United  States,  these  vessels  had  arrived  and  were  arriv- 
ing when  the  advance  of  the  French  armies  on  the  two  cities  and  the 
misfortunes  and  necessities  of  the  Spanish  cause  forced  the  sale  of 
choice  Spanish  flocks,  and  over  26,000  Merino  sheep  were  purchased 
and  shipped  to  the  United  States  in  1810  and  1811,  20,000  of  them 
being  safely  landed,  and  distributed  over  the  country  from  Maine  to 
Georgia  and  far  into  the  interior.  The  introduction  of  these  sheep 
marked  the  beginning  of  a  new  era  in  the  American  woolen  manufac- 
ture, the  departure  from  the  household  woolen  industry  to  that  of  the 
fine-wooled  manufacture,  founded  on  the  improved  and  fine  wool  of  the 
Spanish  Merino. 

In  1777  the  English  House  of  Commons  ordered  an  account  made  of 
the  value  of  all  woolen  goods,  viz,  baize,  cloths,  coatings,  flannels, 
serges,  says,  stuffs,  mixed,  carpets,  and  worsted  stockings,  exported 
from  England  to  all  countries  during  the  years  1772, 1773,  1774, 1775, 
and  1776.  The  accompanying  table  shows  the  custom-house  valuations : 

Valuations  from  1872  to  1876,  inclusive. 


1772. 

1773. 

1774. 

1775. 

1776. 

£ 
284  554 

147  718 

£ 

168  815 

£ 
8  383 

£ 
15  657 

New  York              

128,  879 

76,  498 

129,  547 

345 

216  055 

135  119 

217  205 

210 

Maryland  and  Virginia 

185,  437 

99,  308 

133,  912 

6 

Carolina  

84,227 

73,  403 

91,  361 

1,106 

26  492 

16,  982 

14,  627 

39,  719 

AH  other  colonies  in  British  America  
AH  other  countries  of  the  world  

925,644 
108,  224 
3,  402,  915 

549,  028 
137,  935 
3,  188,  966 

755.  467 
145,437 
3,  432,  679 

49,  769 
210,  832 
3,  959,  572 

15.  657 
309,  481 
3,542,915 

4,436,783 
20  86 

3,  875,  929 
14  17 

4,  333,  583 
17  43 

4,  220,  173 
1.17 

3,  868,  053 

Statement  showing  the  proportion  of  the  English  manufacture  of  \coolens  exported  to  the 
United  States  from  1790  to  1799. 


Percent- 

Percent- 

Year. 

United  States. 

All  parts  of 
the  world. 

age  to 
United 

Year. 

United  States. 

All  parts  of 
the  world. 

age  to 
United 

States. 

States, 

1790... 

£1,481,378 

£5,  190,  637 

28.53 

1795.     .. 

£1,  982,  318 

£5,  172.  884 

38.  32 

1791  

1,  621,  796 

5,  505,  034 

29.82 

1796.     .. 

2,  294,  942 

6,  Oil,  133 

38.17 

1792  

1,  361,  753 

5,  510,  668 

24.89 

1797.     .. 

1,  901,  986 

4,  936,  355 

38.33 

1793  
1794  

1,032,954 
1,  391,  877 

3,  806,  536 
4,  390,  920 

27.13 
31.76 

1768.     .. 
1799.     .. 

2,  399,  935 
2,  803,  490 

6,  499,  399 
6,  876,  939 

36.92 
40.76 

22090 9 


CHAPTER    III. 

INTRODUCTION   OF   THE   SPAMSH  MERINO   SHEEP. 

The  improvement  of  American  sheep  and  wool,  fiue-wooled  sheep- 
breeding  and  wool-growing,  and  the  rise  and  establishment  of  the  fine- 
wooled  manufactures,  began  with  the  introduction  of  the  Merino  breed 
of  Spain.  That  beautiful  country  of  a  blessed  climate  has  long  been 
distinguished  for  its  sheep.  The  early  writers  on  agriculture  describe 
various  breeds  of  sheep  as  existing  in  Spain ;  they  were  of  different 
colors — black,  red,  and  tawny.  The  black  sheep  yielded  a  fine  fleece, 
the  finest  of  that  color  then  known ;  but  the  red  fleece  of  Boetica — 
Granada  and  Andalusia — was  of  still  superior  quality,  and,  as  Pliny 
remarks  "  had  no  fellow."  This  fine-wooled  sheep  is  thought  to  have 
left  its  primitive  home  in  Asia  Minor,  and  following  the  line  of  civiliza- 
tion been  introduced  successively  into  Greece,  Italy,  and  along  the 
shores  of  the  Mediterranean  to  Spain,  receiving  in  each  country  for 
many  centuries  great  care  and  improvement,  culminating  finally  in  the 
establishment  of  the  finest  wooled  breed  of  the  world.  Columella, 
Pliny,  and  others,  before  the  Christian  era  and  many  since,  have  writ- 
ten and  are  now  writing  on  the  subject,  and  it  would  be  a  difficult  task 
to  contribute  any  new  material  or  to  put  the  old  into  a  new  garb.  Nor 
can  a  good  excuse  be  made  for  the  attempt  when  such  excellent  authori- 
ties and  charming  writers  as  Youatt,  Low,  Livingston,  and  others  have 
put  within  our  reach  clear  and  scholarly  chapters.  Youatt  believes 
that  they  were  imported  from  Italy  and  that  they  were  of  the  Tarentine 
breed,  which  had  gradually  spread  from  the  coast  of  Syria  and  the 
Black  Sea,  reaching  Spain  before  the  Christian  era.  Here  they  made 
great  improvement  and  were  the  objects  of  the  greatest  care.  The  best 
of  these  sheep  were  the  Transhumantes  or  migratory  ones — those  which 
passed  the  summer  in  the  mountains  of  the  north,  and  the  winter  on 
the  plains  toward  the  south  of  Spain.  How  the  great  improvement  has 
been  made  which  produced  this  unrivaled  sheep  history  does  not  in- 
form us.  The  excellency  of  the  Merinos  consists  in  the  fineness  and 
felting  property  of  their  wool  and  in  the  weight  of  it  yielded  by  each 
individual  sheep ;  the  closeness  of  that  wool  and  the  luxuriance  of  the 
yolk,  which  enables  them  to  support  extremes  of  cold  and  wet  quite  as 
well  as  any  other  breed;  the  ease  with  which  they  adapt  themselves 
to  every  change  of  climate,  and  thrive  and  retain,  with  common  care, 
all  their  fineness  of  wool  under  a  burning  tropical  sun  and  in  the  frozen 

131 


132        SHEEP  INDUSTRY  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES 

regions  of  the  north;  an  appetite  which  renders  them  apparently  satis- 
fied with  the  coarsest  food ;  a  quietness  and  patience  into  whatever 
pasture  they  arc  turned,  and  a  gentleness  and  tractableness  not  ex- 
celled in  any  other  breed.  The  average  weight  of  the  fleece  in  Spain 
is  8  pounds  from  the  ram  and  5  from  the  ewe. 

The  Spaniards  long  preserved  the  monopoly  of  this  race  of  sheep 
with  jealous  care.  To  allow  their  departure  from  Spain  without  special 
permission  of  the  sovereign  was  punishable  with  death  or  heavy  pen- 
alties, according  to  the  rank  of  the  offender.  Other  countries,  however, 
at  length  were  able  to  carry  off  the  invaluable  Golden  Fleece  of  Spain, 
and  the  Merino  race  is  spread  over  the  greater  part  of  Europe.  It  has 
been  taken  to  Asia  and  to  the  southern  extremity  of  Africa,  has  been 
brought  to  America,  and  been  introduced  on  the  boundless  plains  of 
Australia  and  New  Zealand,  in  all  of  which  places  it  has  been  found  to 
retain,  with  wonderful  constancy,  the  characters  which  were  imprinted 
on  it  in  its  native  pastures,  and  in  many  cases  to  surpass  in  useful 
properties  those  of  the  parent  stock. 

It  is  estimated  that  in  the  sixteenth  century  the  Transhumantes,  or 
migratory  sheep  of  Spain,  numbered  7,000,000  5  under  Philip  III  the 
number  fell  to  2,500,000.  At  the  beginning  of  the  eighteenth  century 
it  was  placed  at  4,000,000.  It  is  the  general  opinion  of  those  qualified 
to  judge  that  at  the  beginning  of  the  present  century  the  migratory 
sheep  numbered  5,000,000.  And  now  began  the  decline  both  in  the 
condition  and  the  sacredness  of  her  flocks  and  her  monopoly  in  fine 
wool.  War  desolated  her  soil  and  the  once  fine  flocks  fell  away  under 
the  rapacity  of  the  soldiery.  Napoleon  entered  Spain ;  his  soldiers  and 
those  of  Wellington  slaughtered  and  ate  thousands  of  sheep ;  the  French 
marshals  and  generals  drove  other  thousands  out  and  transported 
them  to  their  estates;  thousands  were  shipped  to  England,  and  still 
other  thousands  to  the  United  States,  and  the  once  famous  cabanas 
were  extinguished  forever.  Not  as  immediately,  but  quite  as  effectually, 
had  another  agency  been  at  work  to  pull  down  her  monopoly  in  fine 
wools.  At  various  times,  from  1723  to  the  close  of  the  century,  several 
princes  and  persons  of  Europe  had  obtained  permission  to  take  from 
the  kingdom  small  flocks  for  the  improvement  of  the  common  or  native 
sheep  of  their  respective  states.  Great  care  and  skillful  breeding- 
carried  the  improvement  forward  until  at  last  Saxony  appeared  in  the 
markets  of  Europe  with  a  wool  superior  to  the  far-famed  wool  of  Spain, 
and  broke  down  her  monopoly.  The  Saxony  Merino  had  eclipsed  its 
progenitor,  the  far-famed  Merino  of  Spain. 

When  too  late  the  Spanish  Government  saw  the  errors  it  had  com- 
mitted, or  allowed  the  kings  to  commit,  in  permitting,  through  an  excess 
of  kingly  courtesy,  the  dissemination  of  the  fine-wooled  Merino  over 
Europe  to  states  friendly  and  unfriendly.  Though  the  law  against  the 
exportation  of  these  sheep  was  very  severe,  it  was  frequently  violated, 
and  numbers  of  the  finest  animals  were  taken  from  the  flocks  in  Spain, 


EAST    OF    THE    MISSISSIPPI    RIVER.  133 

driven  through  Portugal  ami  shipped  from  Portuguese  ports  to  foivign 
countries.  Adventurers  of  every  degree  engaged  in  this  business,  the 
most  noted  one  being  George  III,  king  of  Great  Britain,  who  sent  his 
secret  agents  into  Spain.  These  purchased  a  few  inferior  animals, 
smuggled  them  out  of  the  kingdom,  drove  them  across  Portugal  and 
shipped  them  from  Lisbon  to  England.  When  the  Spanish  Government 
realized  the  fact  that  the  German  states  were  rapidly  improving  their 
fine  wools,  that  France  was  doing  the  same,  and  that  England  was  also 
bent  on  the  same  project,  all  through  the  superior  Spanish  Merino,  it 
put  forth  efforts  to  stem  the  disaster  which  was  menacing  the  interests 
of  the  country,  by  repeating  the  stringent  orders  against  the  exporta- 
tion of  any  more  fine  Merino  sheep.  It  was  a  feeble  effort,  but  it  was 
all  that  feeble  Spain  could  do.  By  a  royal  decree,  June  24, 1798,  it  was 
ordered  that  owing  to  the  high  price  of  flesh  and  wool  in  Spain  under 
no  pretext  should  it  be  permitted  to  export  sheep  from  the  kingdom. 

This  order  might  do  very  well  as  against  the  king's  own  loyal  subjects, 
but  it  did  not  avail  against  Napoleon's  bayonets  and  the  hunger  of  his 
men,  nor  the  rapacity  of  his  marshals,  who,  it  is  said,  drove  over  200,000 
of  the  finest  sheep  of  Spain  into  France  in  the  years  1809  and  1810. 
Again,  in  December,  1810,  the  Council  of  Begency  of  Spain  prohibited 
the  exportation  of  sheep,  and  again  in  1816,  after  the  overthrow  of 
Napoleon  had  restored  the  Bourbons  to  their  thrones  in  Europe,  the  king 
of  Spain  resolved  that  "  under  no  title  or  pretext  shall  it  be  permitted 
to  export  Merino  sheep."  Similar  royal  orders  followed  in  1819  and 
1827.  These  later  orders  were  of  little  moment,  for  nearly  every  coun- 
try then  equaled,  if  it  did  not  excel,  it  in  the  quality  of  its  wool,  and  all 
had  within  their  boundaries  better  mutton. 

We  have  no  record  of  any  action  for  the  improvement  of  our  Ameri- 
can sheep  by  the  introduction  of  the  Spanish  Merino  until  1785,  when 
the  "Society  for  the  Promotion  of  Agriculture77  of  South  Carolina 
offered  a  medal  for  the  first  flock  of  Merino  sheep  kept  in  the  State. 
No  response  seems  to  have  been  made  to  this  offer,  and  no  importations 
of  Merino  sheep  are  known  to  have  been  made  to  any  of  the  States 
until  eight  years  later,  when,  in  1793,  William  Foster,  of  Boston,  Mass., 
a  young  gentleman  of  means,  being  on  his  return  from  Spain,  "  with 
much  difficulty  and  risk,"  got  out  of  that  kingdom,  "  smuggled,77  in 
plain  words,  and  brought  home  with  him  three  Merino  sheep — two 
ewes  and  a  ram.  Foster  purchased  these  three  sheep  of  a  drover  from 
the  Sierra  Morena  on  condition  that  he  should  bring  them  down  with 
the  drove  for  the  shambles  and  deliver  them  outside  the  city  to  a  cer- 
tain fisherman,  who  smuggled  them  onboard  the  ship  Bald  Eagle,  Capt. 
John  Atkins.  Soon  after  his  arrival  at  home  Mr.  Foster  was  obliged 
to  sail  for  France  and  left  the  three  Merinos  with  his  friend  Andrew 
Craigie,  of  Cambridge,  as  a  present,  who,  not  appreciating  their  value, 
killed  and  ate  them,  pronouncing  the  meat  as  very  delicious.  Some 
years  after  Mr.  Foster  met  Mr.  Craigie  at  an  auction  near  Boston  buy- 
ing a  Merino  ram  for  $1,000. 


134  SHEEP   INDUSTRY   OF   THE    UNITED    STATES 

The  next  importation  was  a  joint  one  of  Dupont  de  Nemours  and  M. 
Delessert,  a  Parisian  banker.  De  Neineurs  migrated  with  his  family 
to  the  United  States  in  1799,  and  took  np  his  residence  on  the  banks 
of  the  Hudson.  Before  this  he  had  been  associated  with  the  commis- 
sion appointed  by  the  French  Government  to  select,  in  Spain,  the  large 
flock  of  Merinos  conceded  by  the  secret  clause  of  the  treaty  of  Basle. 
In  his  retreat  on  the  Hudson  he  bethought  how  valuable  some  of  these 
Merinos  would  be  to  the  United  States,  and  arranged  with  Delessert, 
who  also  owned  a  seat  on  the  Hudson,  to  ship  four  ram  lambs  to 
America,  three  of  them  intended  for  their  own  farms,  and  the  fourth 
for  President  Jeiferson.  Three  perished  on  the  long  voyage,  but  one, 
Don  Pedro,  costing  $1,000,  arrived  safely  July  16,  1801,  and  was  taken 
to  Dupontfs  place  on  the  Hudson,  near  New  York  City.  In  1802,  when 
Dupont  returned  to  France,  Don  Pedro  was  placed  on  Delessert's 
farm,  near  Kingston,  and  was  used  there  for  nearly  four  years,  to  the 
great  advantage  of  breeders  and  the  improvement  of  their  flocks.  In 
1805,  Delessert  rented  his  farm  and  sold  his  sheep  at  auction.  Don 
Pedro  was  bought  by  Dupont's  agent  for  $60,  and  taken  to  E.  I.  Du- 
pont's  farm  in  the  vicinity  of  Wilmington,  Del.,  where  he  became  the 
sire  of  many  fine-wooled  flocks.  The  half  and  three-quarter  blood 
ewes,  nearly  100  in  number,  were  sold  to  the  farmers  around  Kingston, 
on  the  Hudson,  at  a  price  much  lower  than  that  realized  for  common 
sheep,  and  more  than  half  of  them  perished  of  neglect  the  following- 
winter.  In  commenting  upon  these  facts,  Chancellor  Livingston  re- 
marks: 

Such  is  commonly  the  case  where  novelties  are  introduced  in  agriculture,  till  the 
mind  of  the  husbandman  is  prepared  for  their  reception.  I  knew  the  importance  of 
the  object,  and  I  resolved  to  leave  no  means  unessayed  to  convince  my  fellow-citi- 
zens of  it. 

Livingston  went  to  the  accomplishment  of  his  purpose  by  purchasing 
all  he  could  find  of  the  scattered  remnant  of  Delessert's  flock,  securing 
twenty-four  ewes,  at  prices  which  attracted  the  notice  of  those  who  had 
seen  and  neglected  them.  These  descendants  of  Don  Pedro  he  crossed 
with  his  own  importations  from  the  government  flocks  of  France. 

E.  I.  Dupont,  to  whose  farm  near  Wilmington  Don  Pedro  was  taken 
in  1805,  had  a  small  flock  of  Merinos  at  that  time,  and,  being  anxious  to 
improve  the  breed  in  the  country,  offered  the  farmers  the  free  use  of  the 
ram,  which,  generally,  they  were  slow  to  accept.  In  1808,  with  a  view 
of  increasing  his  own  flock,  he  purchased  from  his  neighbor  farmers  as 
many  half  and  three-quarters  blood  of  the  Don  Pedro  stock  as  he  was 
able  to  collect.  He  was  so  far  successful  in  the  increase  of  his  flock  by 
these  purchases  and  the  natural  increase  that,  in  the  summer  of  1810, 
on  a  space  of  ground  about  three  miles  long  and  from  two  to  three 
broad,  there  were  more  than  1,500  sheep,  nearly  one-half  of  them  differ- 
ent grades  of  Merino,  and  Mr.  Baudrey,  a  neighbor  and  business  asso- 
ciate, who  owned  a  flock  of  600  sheep,  had  obtained  a  shepherd  from 


AFTER  VERMONT  REGISTER. 


SPANISH  MEFNNO  RAM  "DON." 
PRESENTED  TO  ARTHUR  YOUNG  BY  QEOROE  IV.,  ABOUT  1790. 


EAST    OF    THE    MISSISSIPPI    RIVER.  135 

France  and  some  shepherd  <lo^s  from  Spain.  Merino  sheep  had  become 
plentiful  in  the  vicinity  of  New  Castle,  Del.,  in  1809,  and  twenty-eight 
uvnt  lemon  were  named  who,  on  account  of  these  sheep,  forbade  hunting 
on  their  grounds  with  dogs  and  guns.  These  sheep  were  not  all  full- 
blood  Merinos,  nor  were  they  all  descendants  of  Bon  Pedro;  some  were 
descendants  of  the  importations  of  Chancellor  Livingston  and  Col.  Bavid 
Humphreys. 

In  1S09-'10,  E.  I.  Bupont  &  Co.  erected  woolen  mills  on  the  Brandy- 
wine,  and  in  their  manufacture  used  the  wool  of  the  neighborhood.  A 
newspaper  of  the  day  remarked  that  the  introduction  of  Merinos  prom- 
ised to  remove  any  objection  to  the  scarcity  of  fine  wool,  and  another 
that  "  in  the  neighborhood  of  Wilmington  patriotism  and  public  spirit 
is  unparalleled  in  raising  and  procuring  Merino  sheep."  In  1812  the 
flock  of  Bupont  &  Co.  was,  perhaps,  the  largest  and  best  in  America. 
One  gentleman,  near  Wilmington,  not  connected  with  the  factory,  had, 
in  1810,  400  sheep,  direct  descendants  of  Bon  Pedro,  and  in  1812  the 
number  of  the  Merinos  had  increased  to  such  a  degree  that  an  en- 
thusiastic writer  declared  that  the  adjacent  country  was  full  of  sheep 
and  wool,  one  of  the  staples  of  the  farmer;  that  ten  years  more  and  the 
country  could  send  broadcloth  to  England,  should  the  Government 
permit  it,  or  at  least  supply  that  country  with  Merino  wool,  "having 
enough  for  ourselves  and  to  spare,  for  the  sheep  improve  with  us  and 
the  stock  is  increasing  with  unheard-of  rapidity."  In  1814  there  were 
in  the  hands  of  twenty-one  farmers  in  the  immediate  vicinity  of 
Wilmington  4,300  sheep,  of  which  746  were  full-blooded  Merinos,  2,317 
mixed  blood,  and  1,239  common  sheep  of  the  country,  of  superior  kind. 
The  Merino  and  mixed  bloods  were  descendants  of  Bon  Pedro  princi- 
pally. The  descendants  of  Bon  Pedro  were  not  confined  to  Belaware, 
but  extended  as  far  south,  at  least,  as  Maryland  and  Virginia,  and 
north  into  Pennsylvania,  in  addition  to  the  blood  he  left  in  New  York. 
Joseph  Bougherty,  near  Alexandria,  Ya.,  bred  them,  and  in  1810  offered 
for  sale  "  several  three-eighths-blooded  Merino  rams  of  Mr.  Bupontfs 
stock,  yeaned  in  February,"  and  at  the  same  time  would  "let  for  the 
season  a  three-fourth-blood,  weight  on  hoof  115  pounds,  his  fleece  6 
pounds  12  ounces."  On  September  5,  two  rams  and  a  ewe  of  this  stock 
were  sold  at  auction  at  Philadelphia,  and  on  November  27  following 
Edward  Lloyd  was  inaugurated  governor  of  Maryland  dressed  in  a 
full  suit  of  homespun,  fine  green  cloth,  manufactured  from  Merino  wool 
of  the  Bon  Pedro  sheep,  from  his  own  farm  on  the  eastern  shore,  equal 
in  texture  and  fineness  to  any  of  the  European  cloths.  On  May  15, 
1811,  at  the  fair  at  Georgetown,  B.  C.,  a  premium  was  given  of  $40  to 
Roger  Brooke,  of  Montgomery  County,  Md.,  for  his  half-blooded  Merino 
ram  Hopewell,  of  Bupont's  breed,  and  in  the  preceding  year  Mr.  Bu- 
pont exhibited  two  rams  at  the  same  fair.  Notices  of  this  stock  at 
various  points  in  the  five  States  named  were  common  from  1809  to  1814. 


136        SHEEP  INDUSTRY  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES 

Don  Pedro  is  thus  described  in  1810: 

He  is  stout,  short,  and  woolly;  his  horns  are  large  and  spiral;  his  legs  short,  and 
he  weighs  138  pounds ;  his  fleece  carefully  washed  in  cold  water  weighs  8|  pounds ; 
is  extremely  fine;  the  staple  If  inches  long,  and  lying  very  thick  and  close  upon  his 
body;  it  is  entirely  free  from  loose  coarse  hair  called  jarr.  Every  part  of  his  fleece 
is  nearly  of  equal  fineness;  even  the  wool  of  the  hind  legs  and  thighs,  which  is  long 
and  coarse  upon  many  Merino  sheep,  is  short  and  fine  upon  Don  Pedro. 

In  August,  1801,  Seth  Adams,  then  of  Dorchester,  Mass.,  imported  a 
pair  of  Spanish  sheep  which  had  been  taken  from  Spain  into  France, 
and  Mr.  Adams  laid  claim  to  the  fact  that  he  had  imported  the  first 
pair  of  Merinos  into  the  United  States.  He  says  : 

The  Agricultural  Society  of  Massachusetts  having  offered  a  premium  of  $50  for 
the  importation  of  a  pair  of  sheep  of  superior  breed,  Gen.  D.  Humphreys  imported 
a  flock  of  Merinos,  and  sent  some  of  them  into  Massachusetts,  and  he,  or  some  one 
for  him,  applied  to  the  society  for  the  premium.  Knowing  that  his  sheep  did  not 
arrive  before  the  spring  season  after  mine,  I  applied  at  the  same  time  for  the  premium, 
and  after  having  examined  the  sheep  and  wool,  and  comparing  with  those  of  Gen. 
Humphreys,  the  society  awarded  to  me  the  premium  and  awarded  to  Gen.  Humph- 
reys a  gold  medal  for  having  imported  a  larger  number. 

This  statement  varies  somewhat  from  the  records  of  the  society  for 
1802,  which  show  that  a  letter  was  received  from  Colonel  Humphreys 
on  the  Merino  breed  of  sheep,  with  a  specimen  of  their  wool,  and  re- 
marks on  the  importance  of  propagating  said  sheep  in  the  Northern 
and  Eastern  States.  The  letter  made  mention  of  the  fact  that  the  writer 
had  imported  into  Connecticut  seventy-five  ewes  and  twenty-five  rams. 
The  subject  was  referred  to  a  committee,  consisting  of  Mr.  Lyman,  Mr. 
Cabot,  and  Dr.  Dexter,  to  consider  the  same  and  report  thereon. 

The  introduction  of  Merino  sheep  may  be  dated  from  this  time,  and  so  important 
it  seemed  that,  at  the  next  meeting  of  the  trustees  after  Col.  Humphreys'  letter  was 
received,  the  question  was  raised,  whether  Col.  Humphreys  should  receive  the  gold 
medal  for  his  services,  and  at  the  following  meeting  it  was  awarded  to  him,  not  to 
exceed  fifty  dollars  in  value.  A  premium  had  already  been  offered  to  the  person  who 
should  introduce  Merino  sheep  into  the  country,  and  the  amount  paid  in  this  way 
was  very  considerable.  The  first  claimant  for  this  premium  was  Seth  Adams,  for 
the  importation  of  two  sheep  of  the  Merino  breed  from  France. 

From  these  two  statements  it  would  appear  that  honors  were  easy  as 
between  Mr.  Adams  and  Col.  Humphreys,  the  former  being  awarded  a 
premium  of  $50  and  the  latter  a  gold  medal  of  that  value.  The  pre- 
mium was  given  under  this  offer  of  the  society : 

An  annual  premium  of  $30  for  each  year  previous  to  1805  to  the  person  who  shall 
introduce  into  the  State  of  Massachusetts  a  ram  or  ewe  for  the  purpose  of  propagat- 
ing a  breed  of  sheep  superior  to  any  in  the  State  at  the  time  they  are  so  introduced. 
If  from  a  foreign  country,  $50. 

Mr.  Adams  did  not  remain  in  Massachusetts,  but,  in  1807,  removed 
to  Muskingum  County,  Ohio,  taking  with  him  25  or  30  sheep, 
descendants  of  the  pair  imported  in  1801.  "  These  sheep  were  pure 
white  and  very  beautiful,  unlike  the  common  sheep.  The  wool  was 


EAST    OF   THE    MISSISSIPPI   RIVER.  137 

dose,  fine,  and  oily — caught  the  dust  easily  and  became  quite  dirty." 
A  number  of  these  sheep,  or  their  immediate  descendants,  were 
sold  to  residents  of  Kentucky,  the  first  pair  to  Judge  Todd,  of 
that  State,  who  paid  $1,500  for  the  pair.  This  was  in  1809,  and  these 
Merinos  were  the  first  that  went  into  Kentucky.  A  New  England 
paper  of  1810  records  the-  fact  that  "  Seth  Adams  has  carried  176 
Merinos  to  Kentucky  and  Tennessee,7'  and  a  letter  published  in  the 
National  Intelligencer  (Washington),  dated  Marietta,  Ohio,  July  17, 
1810,  says :  "  The  enterprising  Mr.  Seth  Adams  arrived  at  this  place 
on  the  9th  instant,  on  his  way  to  Kentucky  and  Tennessee,  with  176 
Merino  sheep  from  the  flock  of  Col.  D.  Humphreys,  of  Connecticut." 
We  have  another  glimpse  of  these  sheep  as  they  journeyed  through 
Pennsylvania  on  their  way  to  Kentucky.  A  letter  from  Chambers- 
burg,  June  12,  1810,  says: 

Two  hundred  and  three  Merino  sheep  belonging  to  Col.  Humphreys,  of  Connecti- 
cut, passed  through  this  borough  on  Saturday  last,  on  their  way  to  Kentucky. 
They  were  all  males  and  none  less  than  half-blooded.  We  understand  that  Mr.  John 
Ranfrew,  of  Guilford  Township,  and  Mr,.  John  Hetich,  of  this  borough,  each  bought 
one  of  these  valuable  animals,  which  had  become  lame  with  traveling,  the  only  ones 
the  agent  of  Col.  Humphreys  was  authorized  to  dispose  of. 

Of  these  Humphreys  sheep  a  contemporary  paper  says :  "  A  small 
proportion  only  of  his  flock  were  of  the  full  bloods,  the  balance  being 
the  produce  of  a  cross  upon  the  native  sheep  of  the  country."  Another 
paper:  "Shortly  afterwards  Mr.  Prentice,  Mr.  Lewis  Sanders,  and 
other  spirited  gentlemen,  introduced  a  number  of  the  full-blooded 
Merinos." 

In  December,  1810,  Mr.  Adams  writes  from  Zanesville,  Ohio,  to  Hon. 
William  Jarvis,  then  sending  Merinos  from  Lisbon  to  the  United  States: 

I  have  had  the  breed  of  sheep  a  number  of  years,  and  am  continually  applied  to 
for  the  full  bloods,  and  know  almost  every  person  in  this  State  or  Kentucky  who  is 
in  want  of  them;  and  I  have  some  conditional  engagements  for  the  next  year.  I  im- 
ported in  the  year  1801  a  pair  of  these  sheep,  the  first  pair  ever  imported  into  the 
United  States,  but  I  have  but  a  small  number  of  the  full-blooded,  and  I  intend  rear- 
ing of  them,  and  as  I  am  known  to  have  the  stock,  have  a  very  great  advantage  over 
any  person  on  this  side  of  the  mountains. 

The  historian  of  Stark  County,  Ohio,  says  that  the  first  Merinos 
brought  into  Ohio  were  doubtless  by  Mr.  Adams,  and  that  they  were 
Humphreys  Merinos,  "undoubtedly  the  best  ever  imported  into  the 
United  States,  by  whatever  name  called."  He  kept  them  part  of  the 
time  in  Washington,  and  afterwards  in  Muskingum  County. 

He  had  a  sort  of  partnership  agency  from  Humphreys  for  keeping  and  selling 
them.  They  were  scattered,  and,  had  they  been  taken  care  of  and  appreciated, 
would  have  laid  a  better  foundation  of  flocks  in  Ohio  than  any  sheep  brought  into 
it  from  that  time  until  1852. 

Of  such  great  importance  did  it  appear  to  the  settlers  of  the  Western 
country  that  this  breed  of  sheep  should  be  widely  distributed,  that  in 
the  latter  part  of  1807  and  early  in  1808  the  newspapers  proposed  that 


138        SHEEP  INDUSTRY  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES 

every  bank  having  national  encouragement  should  be  obliged  to  give 
assistance  in  procuring  them  and  providing  for  their  care  and  increase! 
Whether  from  the  flock  of  Seth  Adams  or  that  of  Col.  Humphreys, 
through  sales  made  by  Blislia  Ives  at  Pittsburg,  or  from  the  later  im- 
portations of  William  Jarvis,  does  not  clearly  appear,  but  probably  of  the 
latter,  through  Mr.  Adams,  Story  &  Nichols,  of  Georgetown,  Ky., 
had  a  flock  which  was  sheared  April  24,  1812,  by  William  Story.  The 
flock  consisted  of  sixteen  full-blooded  Merinos,  ten  of  which  were  im- 
ported from  Spain.  The  product  was  as  follows : 

Pounds.  Ounces. 

A  buck  (Judas),  fleece  weighed 12  4 

A  buck  (Don  Carlos),  fleece  weighed 9  12 

Eight  imported  ewes  (average),  fleece  weighed 7  11 

An  ewe  lamb  (Sancho),  15  months  old,  fleece  weighed 9  0 

A  buck  (Palleford),  15  mouths  old,  fleece  weighed 8  8 

An  ewe  lamb,  15  months  old,  fleece  weighed 7  8 

A  young  buck  (Columbus),  10  months  old,  fleece  weighed 7  0 

A  young  buck,  10  months  old 5  0 

A  young  ewe,  10  months  old 5  4 

About  100  prominent  citizens  of  Scott  County  attended  the  shearing, 
all  of  whom  were  surprised  to  see  that  the  wool  of  the  Merino  should  so 
far  exceed  in  quantity  and  quality  the  best  wool  of  the  common  sheep 
of  the  Western  country. 

Mr.  Seth  Adams  died  in  1852  at  the  advanced  age  of  84.  It  is  not 
possible  to  trace  sheep  to  his  flock,  with  one  possible  exception,  and 
none  of  them  are  found  recorded  in  the  "  Register  of  the  Ohio  Spanish 
Merino  Sheep  Breeders7  Association,'7  but  Mr.  Adams  is  entitled  to 
much  credit,  as  no  doubt  the  blood  of  his  sheep  was  disseminated 
through  many  of  the  early  flocks  of  southeastern  Ohio,  and  still  more 
widely  in  Kentucky  and  Tennessee  by  the  addition  of  Humphreys  and 
Jarvis  blood.  Not  only  did  he  introduce  the  first  pair  of  Merino  sheep 
into  the  United  States  that  bred,  but  he  was  the  first  to  carry  them 
into  Ohio,  and  thence  into  Kentucky  and  Tennessee.* 

In  1802  Eobert  E.  Livingston,  United  States  minister  to  France, 
sent  home  to  his  estate  on  the  Hudson  two  pairs  of  Merinos.  Livings- 
ton was  a  prominent  man  in  public  affairs  and  an  enthusiastic  revolu- 
tionist. He  was  recorder  of  New  York  city  for  two  years,  member  of 
the  provincial  assembly  of  New  York,  a  delegate  to  the  Continental 
Congress,  and  one  of  the  committee  to  draft  the  Declaration  of  Indepen- 
dence. He  was  chancellor  of  the  State  of  New  York  and  administered 
to  George  Washington  the  oath  of  office  as  President  of  the  United 
States.  He  was  appointed  minister  to  France  in  1801 ;  enjoyed  the 
personal  friendship  of  Napoleon,  and  was  successful  in  accomplishing 

*  The  exception  is  made  upon  this  authority :  "  In  1809  Israel  Putnam,  of  Marietta, 
Ohio,  bought  of  Seth  Adams  some  full-blooded  Merinos,  and  founded  a  flock,  which 
was  continued  by  his  son,  L.  J.  P.  Putnam,  substantially  to  the  present  time,  but 
without  registration."  "The  American  Merino;  for  wool  and  for  mutton."  By 
Stephen  Powers,  1887. 


EAST    OF    THE    MISSISSIPPI    RIVER.  139 

the  cession  of  Louisiana  to  the  United  Stairs  in  1803.  He  left  France 
in  ISO."),  and  after  his  retirement  from  public  service  devoted  much 
time  to  agriculture.  He  was  connected  with  Eobert  Fulton  in  his 
ellorts  to  navigate  the  waters  by  steam,  and,  after  a  life  of  varied  use- 
fulness, died  at  Clermont,  on  the  Hudson,  February  26,  1813.  New 
York  counts  him  one  of  her  distinguished  sons,  and  in  the  hall  of  stat- 
uary in  the  Capitol  building  at  Washington  has  placed  his  statue  in 
graceful  and  enduring  bronze. 

Writing  in  1809,  Chancellor  Livingston  said  that  the  hope  of  acquir- 
ing such  information  in  agriculture  and  the  arts  as  would  be  useful  to 
his  fellow  citizens,  was  not  one  of  his  smallest  motives  for  accepting 
a  foreign  mission.  Among  other  objects  his  attention  was  forcibly 
attracted  to  one  then  occupying  the  minds  not  only  of  the  agricultur- 
ists, but  the  statesmen  of  Europe.  It  had  long  been  the  belief  that  the 
Merino  sheep  could  only  be  raised  advantageously  in  Spain,  and  that 
their  yearly  migration  was  necessary  to  the  perfection  of  their  wool. 
Under  the  influence  of  this  opinion,  the  rest  of  Europe  submitted  to  be 
tributaries  of  Spain  for  this  precious  commodity;  and  so  slow  was  the 
progress  of  agricultural  improvement  that,  though  Mr.  Alstroeiner  had 
naturalized  them  in  Sweden  eighty  years  before,  in  a  country  little  con- 
genial to  their  native  habits,  yet  it  was  long  before  his  successful  exper- 
iments excited  public  attention.  France,  after  some  abortive  attempts, 
succeeded  so  fully  as  to  open  the  eyes  of  the  neighboring  nations.  Liv- 
ingston saw  and  admired  her  beautiful  flocks;  and  the  inquiries  he  had 
the  means  of  making  of  intelligent  men  from  different  parts  of  Europe 
convinced  him  that,  instead  of  degenerating,  they  had  improved  in  every 
region  to  which  they  had  been  transported.  Knowing  the  United  States 
to  be  peculiarly  adapted  to  short- wooled  sheep,  he  was  eager  to  put 
them  in  possession  of  this  invaluable  stock.  He  hoped  to  attain  his 
object  by  selecting  two  pairs  of  the  finest  Merinos  he  could  find  and 
sending  them  to  the  United  States  under  the  care  of  one  of  his  serv- 
ants, believing  that  so  small  a  shipment  would  not  be  noticed  and 
intending  to  follow  them  by  others.  They  arrived  safely  in  the  spring 
of  1802,  k' and  were,  I  believe,"  said  Livingston,  "the  first  couples  ever 
imported  into  the  United  States." 

They  were  purchased  from  the  French  national  flock  at  the  veteri- 
nary school  at  Chalons,  and  on  their  arrival  were  treated  exactly  like 
his  other  sheep — fed  on  hay  and  had  no  shelter.  They  brought  two 
lambs  the  first  year,  and  three  of  them  (he  had  let  his  brother  have  one 
of  the  ranis)  sheared  11  pounds  of  washed  wool — nearly  3  pounds  12 
ounces  each.  The  next  year  the  lambs  came  in  January,  were  neg- 
lected, and  died.  In  1805  one  of  the  ewes  was  sick  and  brought  no 
lamb ;  the  other  dropped  a  ewe  lamb ;  and  the  five  fleeces  (from  the  3 
old  sheep  and  two  shearlings)  when  washed  weighed  18  pounds,  besides 
the  tags  and  waste  wool,  upwards  of  3  pounds  8  ounces  each. 

Mr.  Livingston  made  another  importation  of  a  single  French  ram  in 


140        SHEEP  INDUSTRY  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES 

3807  from  the  government  flock  at  Bambouillet,  and  he  says:  "Afteil 
my  return  from  Italy,  being  no  longer  in  office,  I  obtained  permission:! 
to  ship  others  that  Mr.  Chaptal  allowed  ine  to  select  out  of  the  highest- 
bred  flock  in  France."  Mr.  Eandall  says  that  he  could  not  learn  that 
the  latter  ever  arrived  in  the  country,  and  one  of  Livingston's  polit- 
ical enemies,  writing  in  1810,  says  that  Napoleon  Bonaparte,  the  warm 
friend  of  Livingston,  had  specially  detained  these  sheep  after  they  had 
been  put  on  board  a  public  vessel.  The  fact  is  that  these  sheep,  11  or 
12  in  number,  were  put  on  board  the  Hope  at  Bordeaux,  and  as  she 
was  about  to  sail  June  15,  1809,  were  seized  and  retained,  but  whether 
by  special  order  or  in  pursuance  of  the  general  practice  then  in  vogue 
of  seizing  everything,  we  can  not  say.  One  of  these  sheep  had  a  fleece 
of  16  pounds. 

Livingston  was  astonished,  upon  his  return  to  New  York  in  1805,  that 
the  introduction  of  Merino  sheep  had  excited  so  little  attention,  and 
although  the  legislature  of  Connecticut  had  noticed  the  patriotic  efforts 
of  Col.  Humphreys,  one  of  her  citizens,  none  of  his  sheep  had  been 
sold  in  the  State.  He  had  also  the  mortification  to  find  that,  notwith- 
standing his  injunctions,  his  own  had  been  much  less  extended  than  he 
expected.  Nor  was  it  until  nearly  three  years  later  that  the  Merinos 
attracted  any  special  attention.  Then,  for  causes  hereafter  to  be 
stated,  Livingston  began  to  sell  his  rams  for  $150  apiece;  for  a  choice 
one  raised  by  himself,  ten  months  old,  he  refused  $1,000.  Half-blood 
rams  and  ewes,  bred  from  his  Merino  rams  on  common  sheep,  sold  for 
$12  each.  As  before  noted,  Livingston  crossed  his  own  importation 
with  the  flock  descended  from  Don  Pedro,  and  he  was  a  purchaser  of 
Humphreys  sheep  and  some  of  the  Jarvis  importations  of  1810,  and 
about  the  same  time  bought  many  Merinos  that  were  purchased  by 
Charles  Henry  Hall  of  the  Duke  de  Infantado,  at  Cadiz,  and  shipped 
to  the  United  States  in  the  summer  and  fall  of  1810. 

In  1806  Livingston  submitted  to  the  Society  of  Useful  Arts  two 
essays  on  the  subject  of  Merino  sheep,  which  quickened  the  attention 
of  intelligent  farmers,  and  the  legislature  of  New  York  stepped  for- 
ward, legislated  in  favor  of  woolen  manufactures,  and  in  other  ways 
encouraged  the  raising  of  Merino  sheep.  Many  who  had  never  given 
any  attention  now  began  to  buy  them,  and  those  having  common  flocks 
improved  them  by  crossing  with  the  Merino. 

Finding  himself  frequently  called  upon  for  information  and  being 
anxious  to  communicate  all  that  his  experience  or  inquiries  had  taught 
him  upon  the  subject,  as  well  as  to  keep  alive  the  interest  that  he  had 
excited  in  his  fellow  citizens,  Livingston  believed  that  both  might  be 
effected  by  the  publication  of  a  little  volume  which  should  in  some  sort 
combine  information  with  amusement,  and,  taken  in  connection  with 
what  he  had  before  written,  serve  as  a  kind  of  shepherds'  manual,  and 
point  out  to  the  rich  and  the  poor  farmer  the  easiest  means  of  convert- 


EAST    OF    THE    MISSISSIPPI    RIVER.  141 

ing-  their  flocks  into  Merinos,  as  well  as  the  advantage  that  would  accrue 
both  to  themselves  and  their  country  by  the  change.* 

The  result  of  this  labor  of  love  was  his  "Essay  on  Sheep,"  printed  by 
the  legislature  of  New  York  in  1809  and  acknowledged  as  an  American 
classic,  from  which  subsequent  writers  on  sheep  husbandry  have  freely 
drawn. 

Through  his  personal  efforts  the  legislature  of  New  York,  on  April  8, 
1808,  reciting  its  belief  that  the  public  interest  would  be  greatly  bene- 
fited by  obtaining  the  Spanish  Merino  sheep,  by  reason  of  the  fineness 
of  its  fleece,  in  improving  the  manufacture  of  woolen  cloth  as  well  as 
otherwise,  therefore  enacted  that  any  person  who  should,  before  Sep- 
tember 1,  1808,  bring  into  any  county  of  the  State  in  which  there  shall 
be  no  full-blooded  Merino  ram  at  the  time  of  passing  the  act,  a 
full-blooded  Merino  rani  and  keep  him  in  said  county  for  the  term 
of  one  year  from  September  1, 1808,  shall  receive  a  premium  of  $50.  By 
the  same  act  authority  was  given  to  towns  to  lay  taxes  on  dogs  and  to 
use  the  proceeds  for  purchasing  Merino  lambs  of  whole  or  half  blood 
for  disposition  among  the  townspeople 5  and  in  addition  thereto  they 
were  authorized  to  use  for  the  purchase  of  rams  the  moneys  collected 
from  licenses. 

In  1807  Livingston  published  a  statement  of  the  shearing  of  a  flock 
of  his  sheep,  6  full-bred  Merino  sheep,  24  three- fourths  bred,  30  half- 
bred,  and  17  common  sheep  of  good  quality.  They  were  kept  in  one 
flock  and  treated  alike  in  every  respect.  The  full-bred  were  2  rams  and 
4  ewes;  one  of  the  ewes  died  in  February  a-lambing;  she  was  eight 
years  old.  Two  ewes  lambed  in  March,  the  other  was  a  yearling  and 
had  not  taken  a  ram.  The  28th  of  May,  1807,  the  5  sheep  were  shorn 
and  gave  28J  pounds  of  wool.  They  had  not  been  washed,  but  as  they 
were  well  littered  in  the  fold  and  kept  out,  except  at  night,  the  wool  was 
not  so  foul  as  common.  The  wool  from  the  ewe  that  died  weighed  4J 
pounds.  All  this  wool  sold  at  10  shillings  per  pound.  The  24  three- 
quarter  bred  sheep  gave  106  pounds  of  wool,  the  30  half-bred  gave  139  J 
pounds,  and  the  17  common  sheep  gave  62 J  pounds  of  unwashed  fleeces. 
The  wool  of  the  three  quarter-bred  and  half-bred  was  sold  at  5s.  per 
pound,  that  of  the  common  sheep  at  2s.  6d. 

Eeferring  to  the  quality  of  wool  given  by  the  Merinos  and  the  low 
price  at  which  he  sold  the  wool  of  the  three-quarter-bred  sheep,  Liv- 
ingston says: 

It  will  seem  extraordinary  that  5  Merinos  should  have  given  28f  pounds  of  wool, 
•which  is  near  6  pounds,  and  would  probably  amount  to  about  4  pounds  of  washed 
wool  per  head.  But  it  is  to  be  considered  that  these  were  chosen  with  care  out  of 
a  Hock  of  200  that  were  themselves  an  improved  stock.  For  it  is  an  undoubted  fact 
that  the  Merinos  of  the  National  flock  have  greatly  improved  in  France  by  care  and 
attention;  that  they  are  larger  and  yield  more  wool  (with  the  latter  having  deterio- 
rated) than  the  Merinos  of  Spain.  This  is  a  very  encouraging  circumstance,  and  the 

•Preface  to  Livingston's  "Essay  on  Sheep." 


142 


SHEEP  INDUSTRY  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES 


rather  as  I  can  add  from  my  own  experience  that  the  French  Merinos  improve  here 
when  well  kept.  *  *  *  Though  the  wool  of  the  fourth-bred  sheep  was  only  sold 
at  5s. ,  yet  it  was  worth  at  least  8s.,  since  it  was  in  most  of  the  fleeces  nearly  as  fine 
as  that  of  the  full-bred  sheep. 

The  next  sheep-shearing  at  Clermont,  of  which  Livingston  gives  any 
record,  was  in  1809,  with  the  following  result  given  in  tabular  form : 


Number  of  sheep. 

Quantity 
of  wool. 

Average 
of  each. 

Price 
sold  at. 

Fleece 
per 
head. 

Total. 

Profit  and  loss,  deducting 
$1.50  for  keeping. 

Lbs.  Oz. 
114      4 

Lbs.  Oz. 
3    15 

$0  37i 

$1  47 

$  42  84 

Loss  on  each  fleece     $0  03 

83  half-bred  ewes   

393      7 

4    11 

.75 

3.53 

295.  07 

Gain  on  each  fleece       2  03 

47  half-bred  wethers 

236      4 

5      6 

.75 

4  11 

177  19 

30  three-fourths-bred  ewes. 
3  three-fourths-bred  wethers 
27  seven-eighths-bred  ewes  . 

156      6 
16      6 
139      0 
36      0 

6      0 
5      7 
5      2 
5      2 

1.25 
1.25 
1.50 
2  00 

6.25 
6.83 
7.69 
10  25 

195.  47 
20.47 
208.  50 
72  00 

Gain  on  each  fleece  .    4.  75 
Gain  on  each  fleece  .     5.  25 
Gain  on  each  fleece  .     6.  81 

FULL-BRED  KAMS. 

Clermout,  14  months  old  .  .  . 
Rambouillet 

9      6 
9      0 

9      6 
9      0 

2.00 
2.00 

18.75 
18.00 

18.75 
18.00 

Gain  on  each  fleece  .  17.  25 
Gain  on  each  fleece     16  50 

Columbus  and  Hornless  .  .  . 

12    14 

6      7 

2.00 

12.85 

25.70 

Gain  on  each  fleece  .  11.  35 

1,  073.  99 

All  these  sheep  were  shorn  unwashed  and  the  wool  sold  as  it  came  from  the  sheep's 
back.  The  sheep  were,  however,  kept  as  clean  as  possible,  having  been  littered  all 
winter  and  fed  from  racks.  The  tags  and  dirt  were  taken  off  before  the  wool  was 
weighed. 

Sheep  weighed  in  order  to  ascertain  the  proportion  between  the  wool  and  carcass. 


Carcass. 

Fleece. 

f 

Lbs,  Oz. 
85    0 
69    0 
75    0 

Lbs.  Oz. 
4    12 
2    12 
6      0 

98    0 
85    0 

4      0 
3    12 

412    0 

21      4 

82    6 

4      4 

1  2  half  and  three-fourths  blood  ewes  t  

73    0 
60    0 
63    0 
64    0 
65    0 
68    0 

5      8 
6      4 
6      0 
5      0 
5    10 
5      8 

53    0 
59    0 
69    0 
69    0 
61    0 
52    0 

5      2 
7      8 
6    11 
5      0 
7      2 
5      8 

756    0 

70    13 

Average  

63    0 

5    14 

Clermont,  14  months  old  

126    0 

9      6 

Rambouillet  

140    0 

9      0 

Columbus  

Hornless  

122    0 

7      6 

Weight  of— 


*  Proportion  of  wool  to  carcass,  1  to  20, 
t  Proportion  of  wool  to  carcass,  1  to  10J. 


CLERMONT. 

DRAWN  BY  MRS.  R.  L.  LIVINGSTON. 
FROM  "ESSAY  ON  SHEEP,"  BY  ROB'T  R.  LIVINGSTON,  LL.D.,  laio. 


EAST    OF    THE    MISSISSIPPI    RIVER. 


143 


Chancellor  Livingston  gave  these  figures  to  the  public  through  Dr. 
Bard,  president  of  the  Agricultural  Society  of  Dutchess  County,  N. 
Y..  and  commented  upon  them;  built  up  an  argument,  in  fact,  why 
[the  farmers  of  the  country  should  substitute  the  Merino  for  the  com- 
piion  sheep.  The  average  proportion  of  the  Merino  ewe  fleeces  to 
their  weight  being  one  to  ten  and  a  half,  while  that  of  the  common  ewes 
was  one  to  twenty;  and,  the  consumption  of  food  in  animals  of  the  same 
species  being  in  proportion  to  the  carcass,  it  followed  that  1  pound  of 
common  wool  worth  3s.  cost  as  much  hay  and  grass  as  2  pounds  of  wool 
from  a  three-quarter  Merino,  worth  $2.50.  It  was  observed  that  the 
proportion  of  wool  to  the  carcass  was  not  the  same  in  the  males  as  in 
the  females,  probably  because  of  their  great  weight  of  bone  and  horns. 
Tims  the  tup  Cleruiont  weighed  without  his  coat  126  pounds,  his  fleece 
9  pounds  6  ounces.  His  wool,  therefore,  was  to  his  carcass,  when  shorn, 
as  one  to  twelve  and  a  half.  Rainbouillet  weighed  140  pounds,  includ- 
ing his  coat,  and  his  fleece  9  pounds,  the  general  average  being,  then,  as 
one  to  fourteen,  while  in  common  wethers  it  was  as  one  to  twenty-seven. 
He  found  the  weight  of  his  Merino,  or,  rather,  three- fourths  blood 
wethers,  to  be  about  128  pounds,  the  average  of  their  wool  to  be  about 
5  pounds  if  well  kept,  which  indicated  that  it  was  much  less  profitable 
to  keep  wethers  than  ewes. 

From  1807  to  1810  this  Clermont  flock  was  increased  to  the  number  of 
645  sheep  from  full  to  half  blood  and  310  of  the  best  American  ewes 
and  half  or  three-fourths  wethers. 

At  Livingston's  sheep-shearing  at  Clermont,  June  15  and  16, 1810, 
the  following  results  were  obtained: 

Clermont  stock  rams —                                                                    Pounds.  Ounces. 

Rambouillet 9  0 

Clermont 9  0 

Jason,  a  shearling 11  11 

Hornless,  an  old  ram 7  0 

One  hundred  and  ninety-six  ewes  were  sheared  and  gave  as  follows : 


Fleeces. 

Average 
weight. 

Greatest 
weight. 

Least 
weight. 

I"ull-bred  ewes  generally 

Lbs.  Oz. 
5    13 

Lbt.  Oz. 
8    12 

Lbt.  Oz. 
3    7 

Seven-eighths-bred  ewes  generally 

5      G 

8      4 

3    0 

Three-fourths-bred  ewes  *renerally                       

5      3 

7      9 

3    0 

One-half-bred  ewes  generally 

5      1 

8      9 

2    8 

This  table  is  noticeable  in  that  it  shows  the  progressive  improvement 
of  the  flock,  and  that  the  quantity  as  well  as  the  quality  of  the  fleece 
increases  with  the  purity  of  the  blood.  The  fleece  from  Jason  sold  for 
$2  per  pound,  realizing  over  $23. 

To  the  honorable  Col.  Barclay,  of  England,  Livingston,  under  date 


144 


SHEEP   INDUSTRY    OF    THE    UNITED    STATES 


of  July,  1810,  gives  the  result  of  this  shearing  in  more  detail,  which  we  ; 
quote:  .  j 

The  circumstances  worthy  of  note  in  my  sheep-shearing  are  the  following :  First, 
the  general  improvement  of  my  flock  since  last  year.  The  whole  Merino  and  mixed 
sheep,  when  together,  to  wit,  200  ewes,  gave  an  average  of  6  ounces  more  than  they 
did  last  year.  The  full-blood  ewes  gave  an  average  of  11  ounces  more  without  any 
difference  in  their  keeping.  This  I  attribute  to  an  improvement  in  the  stock,  since 
there  was  no  change  in  the  old  ewes,  but  the  whole  gain  was  upon  the  young  ewes. 
Had  half-blood  ewes  been  withdrawn  and  the  average  taken  only  on  the  other  half, 
it  would  have  amounted  to  about  7  pounds,  free  from  tags,  though  all  these  ewes 
had  lambs,  and  I  have  no  doubt,  therefore,  that  when  my  number  shall  be  sufficient 
to  enable  me  to  select  my  ewes  as  I  have  my  rams,  that  I  shall  make  the  general 
average  of  the  flock  at  least  7  pounds  and  greatly  improve  the  quality  of  the  fleeces. 


Stock  ratna. 

Weight. 

Weight 
of  fleece. 

Remarks. 

Pounds. 
146 

Lbs    Oz. 
9        0 

146 

9        0 

Raised,  here 

145 

11      11 

Do. 

Ewes. 

Average 
weight 
of  fleece. 

Heaviest 
fleece. 

Lbs.  Oz. 
3      10 

Lbs.    Oz. 

Half-blood   or  first  cross.                                     ... 

5        1 

1          9 

Three-fourths  or  second  cross  

5        3 

8          0 

5        6 

8          4 

JTullblood   

5      13 

8        12 

Price  at  which  the  wool  sold, 

Half-blood,  or  first  cross $0.  75 

Three-fourths  blood,  or  second  cross 1. 25 

Seven-eighths  blood,  or  third  cross 1. 50 

Full  blood 2. 00 

All  sold  unwashed.    That  your  friends  may  see  that  we  are  not  totally  void  of 

the  spirit  of  enterprise  in  the  United  States,  I  subjoin  the  price  at  which  my  lambs 

sold: 

4  full-bred  ram  lambs $4,000 

14  fifteen-sixteenths  ram  lambs 3,500 

20  seven-eighths  ram  lambs 2,000 

30  three-fourths  ram  lambs 900 

These  were  all  I  chose  to  sell,  as  I  am  extending  my  own  flock,  and,  therefore, 
parted  with  no  ewes,  and  reserved  nine  full-blood  rams  for  my  own  use.  My  half- 
bred  lambs,  having  come  late,  were  not  yet  exposed  to  sale ;  a  few,  however,  have 
been  since  sold  at  $12.50  each.  The  ewe  lambs  of  the  low  grades  are  considered  as  of 
twice  the  value  of  the  rams.  Had  these  lambs  been  a  year  old,  so  as  to  be  fit  for 
covering  this  season,  they  would  have  sold  50  per  cent  higher.  Five  hundred  dol- 
lars was  offered  and  refused  for  a  fifteenth-sixteenths  I  sold  last  year  at  $125.  My 
sheep-shearing  was  attended  by  upwards  of  200  respectable  gentlemen  farmers  from 
this  and  the  neighboring  States,  and  all  the  fleeces  were  weighed,  as  shorn,  in  their 
presence. 

From  the  ardor  which  my  countrymen  manifest  in  this  pursuit,  I  doubt  not 


EAST    OF    THE    MISSISSIPPI    RIVER.  145 


fine  wool  will  be  a  great  article  of  export  from  the  Northern  States,  if  the  injustice 
and  mad  policy  of  the  manufacturing  nations  of  Europe  do  not  compel  us  to  work  it 
up  at  home.  1  am,  therefore,  solicitous  to  hear  at  what  price  the  several  grades  of 
wool  herewith  sent  are  valued  in  England.  It  is  certain  that  none  of  the  sheep 
which  have  been  of  late  imported  into  the  United  States  from  Spain,  of  which  there 
are  many,  bear  any  proportion  to  mine,  either  in  weight  or  quality  of  the  fleeces, 
besides  being  very  inferior  to  them  in  the  beauty  of  their  forms,  in  which,  indeed, 
none  excel  those  of  Rainbouillet. 

Of  this  shearing  a  contemporary  account  says:  "It  was  highly  grat- 
ifying to  observe  many  of  the  gentlemen  clothed  in  elegant  suits  of 
Merino  wool."  They  sat  down  to  an  elegant,  sumptuous  dinner;  plenty 
and  conviviality  diffused  a  smile  over  every  countenance,  and  then  it  is 
presumed  the  sale  began. 

Muuy  made  selections  from  the  stock,  and  it  was  observed  that  farmers  who  had 
never  before  listened  to  the  reports  in  favor  of  the  Merino  breed  were  now  convinced 
of  their  superior  value,  and  immediately  became  purchasers,  or  gave  orders  for  sheep 
ito  be  delivered  to  them  on  a  future  day. 

By  these  annual  sales  Livingston's  Merinos  were  widely  disseminated 
in  the  western  counties  of  Massachusetts  and  Connecticut,  and  in  the 
State  of  Uew  York.  In  1807  Elkanah  Watson,  a  pioneer  in  the  woolen 
manufacture,  introduced  into  Berkshire  County,  Mass.,  since  noted  for 
its  excellent  cloth  manufactures,  the  first  pair  of  Merino  sheep  from  the 
Livingston  stock,  and  the  sheep  were  shown  by  him  at  the  fair  at  Pitts- 
field,  October  1, 1810,  one  of  the  first  agricultural  fairs  ever  held  in 
America.  From  the  fleeces  of  these  first  sheep  in  1808  William  Scho- 
field  made  a  piece  of  blue  cloth,  superior  to  any  yet  made  in  the  coun- 
try. Samples  were  sent  to  different  cities  and  accounts  of  it  were  pub- 
lished, with  the  cost  of  manufacture,  and  excited  much  interest  through- 
out the  country.  He  received  at  this  time  50  to  60  cents  per  yard  for 
weaving  broadcloth.  Mr.  Watson  calculated  that  there  would  be  1,500 
full-blooded  and  mixed  Merinos  in  Berkshire  County  in  1810,  and  inci- 
dentally remarked  that  Humphreys,  of  Connecticut,  George  Booth,  of 
Dutchess  County,  N.  Y.,  and  George  Upton,  of  Columbia,  with  others, 
were  manufacturing  cloths  from  Merino  wool. 

We  have  no  means  of  knowing  how  near  Mr. Watson  came  to  the  sheep 
census  of  Berkshire  in  1810,  but  we  find  it  recorded  that  in  1815,  within  1 
mile  of  Pittsfield,  in  that  county,  there  were  over  8,000  sheep,  mostly 
Merinos,  as  follows: 

Full-blood  Merinos 435 

Fifteen-sixteenths  blood 388 

Seven-  eighths  blood 898 

Three-fourths  blood 2,299 

Five-eighths  blood 170 

One-half  blood 3,048 

One-fourth  blood 388 

Common  sheep 852 

Total 8,478 

10 


146        SHREP  INDUSTRY  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES 

When  Mr.  Watson  conjectured  that  there  would  be  1,500  Merino  or 
fine  wooled  sheep  in  Berkshire  County  by  1810,  he  did  not  allow  full 
credit  for  his  own  efforts  in  that  direction,  for,  in  addition  to  the  pair 
purchased  of  Livingston  in  1807,  he  purchased  full-bloods  both  of  Liv- 
ingston and  Humphreys  in  1808,  and  then  in  1809  procured  from  Liv- 
ingston six  fine  rams  to  go  exclusively  to  his  own  flock,  which  he  pur- 
posed to  extend  to  3()0  that  winter,  the  greater  part  of  which  were 
selected  ewes,  exclusive  of  50  of  the  mixed  breed  of  different  grades. 
With  these  means  he  had  no  doubt  but  in  May,  1810,  he  would  have, 
including  outlying  flocks  cared  for  by  farmers  in  the  vicinity,  1,500  dif- 
ferent grade  Merinos,  and  that  the  spread  of  the  Merino  flocks  would 
extend  with  such  rapidity  as  to  produce  a  proportionate  increase  of  the 
woolen  factories  for  fine  cloths. 

Livingston's  ideas  were  quite  as  sanguine  as  those  of  Watson,  in  fact 
more  so,  and  in  September  of  this  year  (1809),  when  Watson  was  count- 
ing on  the  increase  of  6  rams  and  350  ewes,  Livingston  was  penning  to 
him  a  suggestion  to  rival  the  Southern  States  in  the  production  of  cot- 
ton by  substituting  the  value  of  the  cotton  by  Merino  sheep  and  wool. 
The  idea  was  a  striking  one,  and  thus  set  forth: 

Fourteen  million  pounds  of  cotton  (the  quantity  exported  by  South.  Carolina  and 
Georgia  in  one  year)  taking  tlie  short  and  long  staple  together,  at  the  utmost,  is  not 
worth  more  than  $5,000,000  at  London  market.  New  York  and  Massachusetts,  either 
of  them  without  any  material  change  in  their  agriculture,  except  a  substitute  of 
Merino  sheep  for  other  sheep,  can  raise  as  much  wool  as  shall  equal  in  value  the  ex- 
port of  cotton.  But  how  easy  it  would  be,  once  at  that  point,  to  double  all  our  Merino 
flocks,  thus  leaving  a  larger  quantity  of  wool  than  we  now  have  from  the  same  num- 
ber of  sheep  for  domestic  purposes,  of  fine  wool  instead  of  coarse,  and  all  the  sur- 
plus for  exportation,  or  to  go  into  future  home  manufacture. 

It  is  unnecessary  to  say  that  these  expectations  never  were  reached, 
and  for  fifty  years  thereafter  "cotton  was  king,"  and  all  the  political 
power  of  the  United  States  was  exercised  in  its  interest.  It  was,  how- 
ever, no  unreasonable  dream  of  Livingston's,  for  the  Boston  and  New 
York  City  papers  of  the  day  noted  with  great  interest  the  numerous 
articles  in  the  interior  papers  announcing  the  wonderful  increase  of 
Merinos,  and  the  fact  that  the  wool  did  not  deteriorate,  and  calling 
upon  the  farmers  of  their  respective  neighborhoods  to  care  for  and  im- 
prove their  breed  of  sheep. 

Nor  was  Livingston  alone  in  his  sanguine  calculations.  A  writer  in 
the  Boston  Palladium  was  confident  that,  as  the  wars  in  Spain  would 
ruin  the  wool  industry  of  that  country,  the  United  States  could  and 
would  fill  the  demand.  He  sets  out  to  meet  the  objections  which  he 
had  heard  against  the  Merino  sheep:  (1)  That  the  sheep  would  prob- 
ably degenerate,  and  the  wool,  in  process  of  time,  become  little  or  noth- 
ing superior  to  our  own,  either  in  quantity  or  quality;  (2)  that  should 
that  not  be  the  case,  yet  as  the  wool  increased  in  quantity  the  price 
would  be  reduced. 


EAST  -OF    THE    MISSISSIPPI    RIVER.  147 

In  answer  to  the  first  objection:  it  was  said  that  the  Merinos  were  a 
distinct  race  and  could  not  be  reduced  to  the  same  kind,  though  when 
neglected  they  would  become  smaller,  the  wool  shorter,  less  in  quantity 
and  not  coarser;  and  Sweden,  France,  and  Saxony  were  pointed  to, 
and  the  fact  was  restated  that  in  our  own  country  the  climate  had 
been  favorable  to  the  fineness  of  the  wool.  To  the  second  objection  he 
opposed  facts.  Superfine  broadcloths  and  some  other  articles  could 
not  be  made  without  Merino  wool.  Great  Britain  usually  imported 
6,000,000  pounds  of  it  annually  from  Spain.  The  Spanish  war  pre- 
vented this  importation  and  Merino  wool  rose  to  $6  per  pound.  Im- 
portations being  renewed  wool  fell  to  $3  per  pound.  Britain  was  sup- 
posed to  have  a  stock  on  hand  sufficient  for  two  years;  when  this 
should  have  been  expended,  from  whence  could  she  be  supplied  ?  Al- 
though her  land  was  excellent  for  tillage  she  purchased  part  of  her 
grain ;  she  could  not,  therefore,  afford  to  make  any  considerable  addi- 
tion to  her  sheep. 

The  system  of  raising  sheep  in  Spain  was  thought  to  be  at  an  end,  and 
as  that  country  purchased  the  greater  part  of  its  grain,  it  ought  not  to 
be,  and  probably  would  not  be,  revived.  The  United  States  was  the 
only  country  which  afforded  any  prospect  of  a  considerable  supply.  It 
was  considered  possible,  without  a  doubt,  in  ten  years  to  increase  the 
stock  of  Merino  sheep  to  100,000,  although  it  was  presumed  that  it 
would  not  be  done.  One  hundred  thousand  sheep  would  yield  500,000 
pounds  unwashed  wool,  and  it  was  hoped  that  in  ten  years  the  United 
States  would  manufacture  that  amount  themselves,  but  if  they  should 
not  use  a  single  pound,  that  would  not  be  a  twentieth  part  of  what 
would  be  wanted  by  England  alone.  It  could,  therefore,  be  safely  in- 
ferred that  for  a  long  period  in  the  ordinary  course  of  things  the  price 
of  Merino  wool  would  not  be  less  than  from  $3  to  $6  per  pound. 

An  elaborate  table  was  then  presented  to  show  the  progress  that  might 
be  made  in  raising  Merino  sheep  in  eight  years.  It  supposed  a  man  to 
begin  with  a  Merino  ram  and  100  common  sheep,  and  that  he  would 
rear  annually  80  lambs,  and  that  not  wishing  to  enlarge  his  flock  he 
would  annually  sell  the  increase — that  is,  40  ram  lambs  and  40  of  the 
most  ordinary  sheep — and  that  a  lamb  of  the  fourth  generation  was  to 
be  considered  full-blooded,  as  sheep  of  the  fourth  generation  propa- 
gated in  this  way  may  be  said  to  have  fifteen-sixteenths  of  Merino  blood, 
and  compared  with  full-blooded  Merinos  were  superior  both  in  their 
size  and  quantity  of  wool. 

This  table  showed  that  at  the  end  of  eight  years,  from  a  single  ram 
and  100  common  ewes,  without  increasing  his  stock,  a  farmer  could 
establish  a  full-blooded  flock  of  156  sheep,  exclusive  of  76  full-blooded 
sheep  disposed  of,  beside  100  common  blood,  144  one-half  blood,  135 
three-fourths  blood,  and  129  seven  eighths  blood. 

A  contributor  to  the  Alexandria  Gazette  made  a  more  elaborate  cal- 
culation, intending  to  show  that  if  kept  separate,  allowing  the  number 


148        SHEEP  INDUSTRY  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES 

of  those  that  died  to  equal  the  extra  number  of  twins,  it  would  require 
fourteen  or  fifteen  years  for  1,500  rams  and  1,500  ewes  to  increase  to 
1,000,000  full-blooded  sheep,  for  supposing  one-half  the  increase  to  be 
rams  and  one-half  ewes  they  would  each  year  only  half  double  the  num- 
ber of  the  preceding  year;  but  supposing  2,000  Merino  rams  in  the 
country  to  be  crossed  on  160,000  common  ewes,  the  conclusion  was 
reached  that  in  eight  years  there  would  be  more  millions  of  full-bred 
Merino  than  the  whole  country  could  feed  and  the  common  sheep  would 
have  entirely  disappeared — an  improvement  which  was  not  welcomed, 
for  long  wool  was  as  much  wanted  as  fine,  and  the  old  sheep  were  better 
for  mutton. 

But,  as  remarked,  these  speculative  figures  and  conclusions  were  not 
reached  in  actual  fact,  though  the  Merino  made  rapid  strides  in  some 
parts  of  the  country. 

In  New  York  the  increase  was  especially  great.  The  introduction  of 
the  Merino  wool,  or  even  a  small  dash  of  it,  into  their  flocks  convinced 
the  farmers  that  soft,  warm,  substantial  clothes  could  be  made  at  home, 
and  this  conviction  nearly  doubled  the  number  of  sheep  in  the  State  in 
the  four  years  from  1806  to  1810.  Looms  multiplied  and  almost  every 
farmer  had  a  woman  weaver.  Everybody  was  increasing  flocks  and 
improving  them.  The  Livingston  Merino  kept  on  improving  also,  and 
a  half-bred  ram  that  Livingston  sold  in  1808,  weighed  in  1810  190 
pounds,  and  he  had  no  doubt  that  he  would  rival  Rambouillet  in  a  few 
years,  so  rapid  was  the  improvement  of  his  flock.  He  did  not  live  to 
see  the  realization  of  his  hopes,  dying  in  1813  and  leaving  behind  him 
a  reputation  as  "  one  of  the  most  intelligent,  public-spirited,  and  useful 
friends  of  agriculture  who  belonged  to  the  State." 

The  Livingston  sheep  were  quite  widely  distributed  before  his  death, 
They  formed  the  basis  of  the  woolen  manufacture  at  Pittsfield,  Mass., 
and  for  many  mills  in  Dutchess  County,  New  York,  where  common  and 
superfine  broadcloths  were  made  which  sold  at  a  lower  rate  in  1811 
than  European  cloth  of  the  same  fineness.  As  early  as  1808  Livingston 
presented  himself  to  his  admiring  friends  in  the  city  of  New  York  clad 
entirely  in  a  suit  the  wool  of  which  was  shorn  from  his  own  Merino 
sheep  and  manufactured  into  cloth  in  his  own  county  of  Dutchess,  and 
estimated  to  be  worth  $7  a  yard.  Fine  flocks  in  New  Jersey  had  for 
their  foundation  rams  and  ewes  from  Clermont  on  the  Hudson;  Dela- 
ware had  a  strain  of  the  blood  iuDupont's  stock;  some  notable  amateur 
farmers  in  the  vicinity  of  Philadelphia  prided  themselves  on  their  pos- 
session; Gen.  John  Mason,  of  Analostan  Island  in  the  Potomac  oppo- 
site Georgetown,  had  at  least  one  ram  if  not  more,  and  his  near  neigh- 
bor at  Arlington,  G.  W.  P.  Custis,  had  a  magnificent  ram,  "  General 
Hamilton,"  presented  him  by  Livingston  in  1810,  which  he  used  to  im- 
prove the  wool  of  the  noted  Arlington  long-wooled  sheep.  Gen.  Wil- 
kinson obtained  a  ram  of  Livingston  in  1811  or  1812,  which  he  carried 
to  Mississippi  Territory,  and  from  which  some  fine  Merino  flocks  were 
formed  at  that  early  date. 


EAST   OF   THE   MISSISSIPPI   RIVER.  149 

On  September  13,  1813,  a  few  months  after  Livingston's  death,  apart 
of  his  full  blooded  flock  was  sold  at  auction  opposite  St.  Mark's  church, 
New  York  city.  The  number  sold  was  20  rams  and  120  ewes.  The 
remainder  of  his  flock  was  kept  on  the  estate  at  Clermont  as  late  as 
1836,  bearing  the  same  characteristics  as  marked  the  original  importa- 
tion, and  Nathan  Beckwith,  of  Red  Hook,  was  allowed  to  select  a  few 
rams  and  ewes  to  commence  another  pure  flock. 

Livingston  thus  describes  the  Spanish  Merinos,  as  they  appeared  at 
the  beginning  of  this  century.  The  race  varies  greatly  in  size  and 
beauty  in  different  parts  of  Spain.  It  is  commonly  rather  smaller  than 
the  middle-sized  sheep  of  America.  The  body  is  compact,  the  legs 
short,  the  head  long,  the  forehead  arched.  The  ram  generally  (but  not 
invariably)  carries  very  large  spiral  horns,  has  a  fine  eye  and  a  bold 
step.  The  ewes  have  generally  no  horns.  The  wool  of  these  sheep  is 
so  much  finer  and  softer  than  the  common  wool  as  to  bear  no  sort  of 
comparison  with  it;  it  is  twisted  and  drawn  together  like  a  corkscrew; 
its  length  is  generally  3  inches,  but  when  drawn  out  it  will  stretch  to 
nearly  double  that  length.  Though  the  wool  is,  when  cleaned,  extremely 
white,  yet  on  the  sheep  it  appears  of  a  yellowish  or  dirty-brown  color, 
owing  to  the  closeness  of  the  coat  and  the  condensation  of  the  perspira- 
tion on  the  extremities  of  the  fleece.  The  wool  commonly  covers  great 
part  of  the  head,  and  descends  to  the  hoof  of  the  hind  feet,  particularly 
in  young  sheep;  it  is  also  much  more  greasy  than  the  wool  of  other 
sheep. 

The  difference  between  the  Merinos  composing  the  national  flocks  of 
France,  from  which  Livingston  procured  his  sheep,  and  those  imported 
from  Spain  into  France  a  few  years  later,  under  the  treaty  of  Basle 
(though  these  also  were  picked  sheep),  was  so  striking  that  it  could 
hardly  be  attributed  solely  to  the  care  and  attention  which  they  re- 
ceived in  France,  though  much  was  doubtless  due  to  this  circumstance. 
Of  the  progenitors  of  Livingston's  sheep,  the  Eambouillet  flock,  Prof. 
Gilbert  reported  to  the  National  Institute  of  France  in  1796  that  the 
stock  was  composed  of  individuals  beautiful  beyond  any  that  had  ever 
before  been  brought  from  Spain;  but  having  been  chosen  from  a  great 
number  of  flocks,  in  different  parts  of  the  Kingdom,  they  "were  distin- 
guished by  very  striking  local  differences,  which  formed  a  medley  dis- 
agreeable to  the  eye,  but  immaterial  as  it  affected  their  quality.  These 
characteristic  differences  were  melted  into  each  other  by  their  succes- 
sive alliances,  and  from  thence  resulted  a  race  resembling  none  of  those 
which  composed  the  primitive  stock,  but  which  certainly  did  not  yield 
in  any  respect  to  the  most  beautiful  in  point  of  size,  form,  and  strength; 
or  in  the  fineness,  length,  softness,  strength,  and  abundance  of  the 
fleece.  Almost  all  the  fleeces  of  the  rams  of  two  years  and  upwards 
weighed  from  12  to  13  French  pounds,  but  the  mean  weight,  taking  rams 
and  ewes  together,  was  scant  8  pounds,  after  deducting  the  tags  and 
belly  wool.  Making  allowance  for  washing  and  scouring,  the  average 


150        SHEEP  INDUSTRY  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES 

weight  of  the  rani's  fleece  was  about  6  American  pounds,  exclusive  of 
tags  and  belly  wool. 

It  was  a  favorite  argument  with  those  who  first  opposed  the  general 
introduction  of  the  Spanish  Merino  that  these  sheep  would  degenerate 
and  their  wool  change  in  the  new  country  to  which  they  had  been 
transferred,  an  argument  which  Livingston  combatted  by  the  presenta- 
tion of  facts  drawn  from  his  own  experience.  While  admitting  the 
fact  that  most  of  the  British  sheep  that  had,  from  time  to  time,  been 
brought  into  the  country  had  deteriorated,  he  denied  that,  any  inference 
injurious  to  the  Merino  breed  could  be  drawn  from  that.  The  British 
sheep  were  the  long-wooled,  for  no  others  were  thought  better  than  our 
own.  This  race  of  sheep  could  only  be  advantageously  maintained  on 
rich  and  luxuriant  pastures  and  an  ample  supply  of  succulent  food 
during  the  winter.  Experience  taught  that  rich  pastures  would  add  to 
the  length  and  quality  of  wool  on  our  native  sheep,  and  that  bad  keeping- 
would  diminish  it.  Without  attention  to  this  circumstance,  the  long- 
wooled  sheep  had  been  transferred  from  the  fens  and  marshes  of  Eng- 
land and  Holland  to  our  dry,  short,  sweet  pastures,  from  which  it  was 
expected  that,  laboring  under  a  thick  coat  of  long  wool,  and  contending 
with  our  summer  sun,  they  should  be  able  to  fill  their  large  carcasses. 
Not  having  pastures  adapted  to  their  size  and  their  habits,  they  could 
not  subsist  but  by  gradually  accommodating  themselves  to  ours.  This 
necessarily  occasioned  a  diminution,  first  in  the  quality  of  the  wool, 
and  next  in  the  size  of  their  descendants;  besides  that,  it  was  very 
rare  to  obtain  the  full-bred  sheep,  both  rams  and  ewes,  and  to  preserve 
them  unmixed.  If  the  rams  were  bred  with  our  ewes  their  progeny  would 
soon  be  reduced  to  the  size  of  the  ewes;  directly  because  of  the  mix- 
ture, and  indirectly  from  the  ewes  not  being  able  to  afford  nourishment 
to  a  larger  stock  than  nature  designed  her  to  support,  without  the  most 
uncommon  care  in  feeding  her  while  she  gave  milk.  From  which  facts 
Livingston  argued  that  it  was  always  very  injudicious  to  breed  from 
the  females  of  any  stock  of  a  race  inferior  in  size  to  that  of  the  sire, 
since  they  would  in  such  case  necessarily  degenerate.  The  reverse 
would  take  ylace  where  the  ewes  were  larger  than  the  stock  from  which 
the  rams  came.  The  rams  being  abundantly  nourished  would,  by  de- 
grees, attain  the  size  of  the  dam,  while  they  preserved  the  other 
peculiarities  of  the  sire.  It  was  by  attention  to  this  circumstance  that 
Livingston  by  1809  had  already  greatly  improved  his  Merino  stock  in 
size  and  beauty,  when  he  had  bred  them  in  the  fourth  generation  from 
the  finest  ewes  of  the  country;  and  where  he  bred  them  from  imported 
ewes  he  attained  the  same  object  by  affording  them  a  plentiful  supply 
of  food  while  they  nourished  their  young.  As  these  imported  Merino 
ewes  were  themselves  of  the  largest  stock  of  the  Merinos,  he  had  thus 
gradually  added  to  the  size  of  their  progeny;  and  had  full-bred  Merinos 
at  Clermont  that  were  larger  than  the  common  sheep  of  the  country, 
and  his  half  and  three  quarters  bred  wethers  were,  when  shorn  of  their 


SPANISH  MERINO  RAM. 
VERMONT  SHEEP  BREEDERS^  REGISTER  (IMPORTED  AT  BEGINNING  OF  PRESENT  CENTURY). 


EAST    OF    THE    MISSISSIPPI    RIVER.  151 

fleeces,  larger  ami  much  handsomer  than  most  of  the  native  American 
flocks. 

So  far  as  scarcity  of  food  might  operate  a  change  for  the  worse  ill 
sheep,  it  could  not  apply  to  the  Merino  when  introduced  into  our  coun- 
try; because,  not  requiring  better  pastures  than  our  own  sheep,  there 
was  no  reason  for  the  change  of  size,  at  least  such  change  as  the  wool 
of  the  British  sheep  had  undergone  when  introduced;  this  was  a  change 
in  the  quantity  rather  than  in  the  quality.  When  a  sheep  diminished 
in  si/.c,  it  would  have  been  a  very  unwise  provision  of  nature  to  have 
suffered  it  to  have  carried  the  same  quantity  of  wool  which  it  had  borne 
upon  a  larger  and  stronger  carcass;  its  wool,  therefore,  diminished  in 
length  in  the  same  manner  that  its  carcass  did  in  size;  but  the  quality 
of  the  wool  remained  the  same,  or,  if  anything,  changed  for  the  better. 
So  if  the  large  and  improved  breed  of  Merinos  were  kept  upon  very 
scanty  pastures,  they  would  diminish  in  size  and  carry  shorter  fleeces; 
1  >ut  those  fleeces,  even  under  the  worst  keeping,  would  still  retain  all 
their  original  properties.  We  are  often  told  of  the  influence  of  climate 
in  effecting  changes;  that  it  operates  is  believed  though  it  operates 
very  slowly,  but  until  experience  has  determined  the  fact  it  is  not  always 
possible  to  say  whether  that  operation  be  for  the  better  or  for  the  worse. 
Livingston  believed  and  experience  has  confirmed  the  fact  that  the 
change  in  the  Merino  sheep  taken  into  any  northern  country,  provided 
they  were  plentifully  fed,  would  be  for  the  better,  and  particularly  when 
brought  into  Xew  York,  where  the  pastures  were  good,  the  air  and 
waters  pure,  the  winters  cold,  and  the  summer  range  furnished  with 
shade.  The  Merino  differs  essentially  from  all  other  sheep,  and  even 
from  all  other  quadrupeds  of  which  we  have  any  knowledge,  as  an  an- 
nual does  from  a  perennial  plant.  All  quadrupeds  change  their  coats 
every  year,  and  indeed  generally  twice  a  year ;  the  Merino  sheep  never 
changes  his  coat;  on  the  contrary  it  will  continue  to  grow  from  year  to 
year,  and  at  the  end  of  the  third  year  the  fleece  will  yield  a  three-year 
crop,  with  little  or  no  diminution.  This  experiment  has  been  tried  in 
France,  in  Switzerland,  and  in  England,  for  the  course  of  three  years 
successively,  and  always  with  the  same  result.  The  wool  of  this  sheep 
then  resembles  in  its  duration  human  hair,  and  may  probably  be  sub- 
ject to  the  same  physical  laws.  Human  hair  is  affected  by  the  tissue 
of  the  skin  through  which  it  passes.  In  warm  climates  the  hair  of  man 
is  generally  black  and  coarse;  in  colder  ones  we  find  flaxen,  yellow,  and 
various  shades  of  brown  to  be  the  prevalent  colors;  and  even  where 
the  hair  takes  a  deeper  shade  it  is  finer  than  the  lank  black  hair  of  the 
South.  May  not  this  be  owing  in  some  sort  to  the  skin  being  more 
braced  in  one  and  more  lax  in  the  other?  And  will  it  not  produce  the 

(same  effect  upon  the  wool  of  an  animal  whose  fleece  is  perennial,  par- 
ticularly if  the  food  and  air  invigorate  at  the  very  time  that  the  climate 
I  braces  the  fibers?    It  is  said  that  the  wool  of  the  common  sheep  is 
I  sometimes  coarser,  as  he  is  either  well  or  ill  fed.    This  may  happen  if 


152        SHEEP  INDUSTRY  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES 

he  is  either  sickly  or  in  full  health,  or  if  the  weather  is  more  or  less  cold 
when  the  young  wool  protrudes  through  the  skin;  if  in  that  state  it  is 
compressed  it  will  be  fine;  if  it  finds  an  easy  passage  it  will  be  coarse; 
and,  as  the  wool  of  common  sheep  is  an  annual  production,  it  may  fre- 
quently vary.  But  the  fleece  which  never  falls  off  must  be  subject  to 
very  few  changes;  it  may  be  longer  or  shorter,  but  the  root  being  the 
same  it  will  probably  be  liable  to  no  changes  but  such  as  arise  from  the 
greater  or  less  compression  of  the  skin  through  which  it  passes.  Cold, 
then,  will  have  a  tendency  to  render  the  wool  fine,  heat  and  moisture 
to  make  it  coarse. 

The  marten,  the  gray  squirrel,  the  common  fox,  etc.,  have  much  finer 
fur  in  Siberia  and  Hudson  Bay  than  they  have  in  Virginia  or  Penn- 
sylvania, and  yet  they  are  exactly  the  same  animal.  We  find  an  exact 
analogy  between  the  effect  of  climate  upon  the  covering  of  sheep  and 
that  of  other  quadrupeds.  The  sheep  under  the  line  are  hairy;  as  you 
go  north  they  become  woolly,  and  further  north  the  wool  is  finest;  the 
best  wool  in  Germany  is  that  of  Saxony.  The  moist  climate  of  England 
and  Ireland  produces  long  and  coarse  wool.  It  is  true  that  fine  wool 
is  also  found  in  Persia,  in  Cashmere,  and  Thibet,  but  this  is  only  in  the 
very  cold  and  mountainous  parts  of  those  countries.  The  sheep  of 
Siberia  are  coarse-haired,  but  they  have  below  that  hair  a  coat  of  ex- 
tremely fine  wool ;  they  are  the  Moufflon,  or  Argali,  almost  in  their  native 
state,  in  which  man  has  taken  little  pains  to  cultivate  the  wool  at  the 
expense  of  the  hair,  but  permitted  them  to  grow  together;  and,  indeed, 
in  that  state  it  is  best  adapted  to  the  wants  of  the  inhabitants,  who 
know  not  the  use  of  the  loom,  but  wear  the  skin  of  the  sheep,  in  which 
case  the  hair  is  as  useful  as  the  wool;  for  it  protects  them  as  it  did  its 
original  owner  against  rain  and  snow,  which  would  penetrate  the  wool 
were  it  not  covered  by  a  surtout  of  hair.  It  is  then  probable  that  the 
Merino  sheep  does  not  owe  its  peculiar  excellence  to  the  climate  of 
Spain,  or  to  the  mode  of  treatment.  Spain  contains  a  great  number  of 
long-wooled  sheep,  in  every  respect  different  from  the  Merino;  the  cli- 
mate has  had  no  effect  in  meliorating  their  fleeces;  the  migration  does 
not  contribute  to  it.  They  have  in  various  parts  of  Spain,  and  particu- 
larly in  Estremadura,  Merinos  that  never  migrate,  and  whose  wool  is 
not  inferior  to  that  of  the  migratory  sheep;  and  they  have  both  in 
Erance  and  Italy  migrating  sheep  whose  wool  is  not  fine. 

To  this  condensed  argument  of  Livingston  for  the  value  of  the  Merino 
and  its  proof  against  deterioration  it  may  be  stated  that  although  his 
own  sheep  were  only  introduced  in  1802  they  had  improved  in  seven 
years  in  size,  beauty  of  form,  and  quantity  and  quality  of  the  fleece. 
The  first  two  improvements  were  too  obvious  to  admit  of  the  least  doubt; 
the  last  required  so  nice  a  discrimination  as  to  make  the  decision  more 
difficult  in  all  but  one  instance,  where  the  difference  was  so  striking  as 
to  be  evident  to  every  observer.  This  was  the  case  of  a  ram  lamb  of 
1808  out  of  an  imported  ewe,  while  his  sire  (also  by  the  same  dam)  was 


EAST   OF   THE   MISSISSIPPI   RIVER.  153 

bred  upon  the  Clernumt  larni.  This  lamb  was  of  the  most  uncommon  size 
and  beauty;  its  fleece,  compared  with  that  of  any  other  of  his  improved 
sheep,  or  with  any  sample  that  he  had  been  able  to  obtain  of  others,  was 
indisputably  much  finer,  and  at  the  same  time  so  long  and  abundant  as 
to  leave  but  little  doubt  of  a  yield  of  8  pounds  of  wool  the  first  shear- 
ing. It  actually  yielded  9.  pounds  6  ounces.  The  quality  of  the  fleece 
was  compared  to  that  of  Lord  Somerville's,  of  England,  which  was  finer 
from  his  Spanish  Merino  sheep  than  the  wool  brought  from  Spain  into 
England.  It  required  2  pounds  of  imported  Spanish  wool  to  make  1 
yard  of  the  finest  British  broadcloth ;  from  Lord  Somerville's  Spanish 
flock  1  pound  9  ounces  made  a  yard.  Applying  the  same  mode  of  de- 
termination, Livingston's  wool  exceeded  both  the  Spanish  wool  and  the 
Anglo-Spanish  wool,  since  the  same  quantity  of  cloth  was  made  at  Cler- 
mont  by  common  country  spinners  and  weavers  from  1  pound  4  ounces 
of  Clermont  Merino  wool;  and  32  J  yards  of  25  J  inches  wide  were  made 
in  Mr.  Edward  P.  Livingston's  family  from  16f  pounds  of  wool. 

We  have  noted  that  on  April  8,  1808,  through  Livingston's  influence 
and  efforts,  the  legislature  of  New  York  passed  an  act  for  the  encour- 
agement of  raising  and  breeding  Merino  sheep.  Two  days  before  this 
it  had  loaned  $5,000  to  enable  George  Booth  to  "extend  and  promote  a 
woolen  manufactory"  in  the  town  of  Poughkeepsie,  and  the  same  assist- 
ance was  extended  to  other  parties  to  establish  cotton  mills  and  to  spin 
linen  and  hemp  twine  and  yarn. 

On  the  8th  of  April,  1808,  the  legislature  thought  the  public  interest 
would  be  essentially  promoted  by  the  woolen  manufactories  in  the  State, 
and  enacted  that  the  person  who  should  produce  on  or  before  the  third 
Tuesday  of  February,  1809,  the  best  specimen  of  woolen  cloth  of  uni- 
form texture  and  quality,  not  less  than  200  yards,  manufactured  in  the 
State,  of  a  breadth  not  less  than  three-quarters  of  a  yard,  should  be 
awarded  a  premium  of  $150;  the  next  best  specimen,  not  less  than  150 
yards,  to  have  $75,  and  the  next  best  100  yards  $50.  It  was  also 
enacted  that  the  person  who  should  in  his  family  manufacture  within 
any  county  in  the  State  the  best  specimen  of  woolen  cloth,  not  less  than 
30  yards,  and  three  quarters  wide,  should  receive  $80.  The  Society  for 
the  Promotion  of  Arts  was  to  make  the  awards,  and  the  law  was  to 
remain  in  force  three  years. 

This  act  was  amended  on  April  5,  1810,  by  requiring  that  the  wool 
used  by  the  factories  should  be  produced  in  the  State,  and  that  the 
cloth  made  in  the  family  should  be  from  wool  grown  iu  the  county,  and 
the  judges  of  the  county  courts  were  to  make  the  awards  of  the  home 
products.  The  law  was  also  extended  to  February,  1812. 

On  June  19, 1812,  when  the  rapid  increase  of  the  woolen  manufac- 
tures and  the  great  improvement  in  that  branch  of  national  industry 
had  fully  and  satisfactorily  demonstrated  its  usefulness,  the  legislature 
considered  it  the  part  of  wisdom  that  it  be  continued,  and  a  new  law 
was  passed  similar  to  the  one  of  1808,  to  continue  in  force  three  years. 


154 


SHEEP    INDUSTRY    OF    THE    UNITED    STATES 


The  legislature  did  more  than  this.  Under  the  favorable  auspices  of 
the  State  woolen  factories  had  sprung  up  in  various  parts 5  some  of 
them  languished  and  struggled  hard  for  existence,  and  the  legislature 
loaned  them  money  and  otherwise  assisted  them.  This  legislation  had 
the  sympathy  and  support  of  Mr.  Livingston. 

It  appears  by  a  report  of  the  State  comptroller,  made  March  5, 1816, 
that  the  sums  paid  out  in  premiums  under  the  law  for  the  encourage- 
ment of  the  woolen  manufacture  were: 


In  1809 $2,770 

In  1810 3,  490 

In  181 1 4,  095 


In  f813 $2,790 

In  1814 3,  350 

In  1815 3,  970 


The  law  of  1812  expired  by  its  own  limitation  at  the  end  of  1815, 
and  was  not  renewed.  The  council  of  the  Society  for  the  Promotion  of 
Useful  Arts  reported  through  their  chairman  in  1815,  that  the  liberal 
bounties  granted  by  the  State  "  in  combination  with  other  circum- 
stances," had  "  contributed  to  raise,  in  many  respects,  the  fine  cloths 
of  America  to  a  degree  of  perfection  equal  to  those  manufactured  in 
Europe." 

In  the  same  year  with  Chancellor  Livingston's  importation  (1802) 
Col.  David  Humphreys,  ol  Connecticut,  United  States  minister  to 
Spain,  being  about  to  return  from  that  country  after  an  official  resi- 
dence in  it  of  seven  years,  secured  a  nock  of  100  Merinos. 

David  Humphreys  was  born  at  Derby,  Conn.,  July,  1752,  graduated 
at  Yale  College  in  1781;  was  for  a  time  a  teacher;  entered  the  Revolu- 
tionary army  as  a  captain,  and  in  1780  was  appointed  aid  to  Washing- 
ton with  the  rank  of  lieutenant-colonel,  which  position  he  retained  until 
the  close  of  the  war.  He  distinguished  himself  in  the  service,  and 
when  the  army  was  disbanded  accompanied  Washington  to  Mount  Ver- 
iioii  and  remained  a  member  of  his  family  until  1784,  when  he  was 
appointed  secretary  of  legation  to  Thomas  Jefferson,  who  was  sent  to 
negotiate  treaties  of  amity  and  commerce  with  European  powers.  He 
was  absent  on  this  mission  two  years,  residing  chiefly  in  Paris  and 
London.  He  served  one  year  as  colonel  of  a  regiment  in  the  western 
service,  when,  the  regiment  being  disbanded,  Washington  invited  him 
to  Mount  Vernon,  where  he  resided  until  the  formation  of  the  Fed- 
eral Government,  when  he  accompanied  Washington  to  New  York  and 
remained  a  member  of  his  family  until  next  year  (1790),  when  he  was 
appointed  the  first  United  States  minister  to  Portugal,  assuming  the 
duties  in  1791.  He  remained  in  Lisbon  until  1797,  when  he  was  trans- 
ferred to  the  court  of  Madrid  as  minister  plenipotentiary,  in  which 
capacity  he  served  until  1802.  He  was  an  elegant  gentleman,  with 
varied  accomplishments  as  a  soldier,  a  poet,  a  wit,  and  a  man  of  the 
world;  and  his  fondness  for  Spanish  society  rendered  him  a  favorite  at 
the  Spanish  court.  The  grandees,  who  owned  the  pure  flocks  of  Spain, 
also  resided  at  Madrid,  and  Col.  Humphreys  became  personally 


EAST   OF   THE    MISSISSIPPI    RIVER.  155 

acquainted  with  a  large  number  of  them.  His  knowledge  of  Spanish 
Hocks  rum*'  from  this  class,  who  supplied  him  with  information  obtained 
from  their  head  shepherds. 

The  importance  of  meliorating  the  breed  of  sheep  in  our  country, 
particularly  in  the  article  of  wool ,  had  been  early  and  deeply  impressed 
upon  his  mind.  In  addition  to  the  gradual  process  of  improvement  by 
bestowing  more  care  and  attention  on  the  native  flocks,  in  feeding  them 
well  and  crossing  the  blood,  obviously  suggested  by  reason  and  expe- 
rience, two  modes  occurred  for  hastening  and  insuring  the  attainment 
of  that  interesting  object.  The  first,  to  introduce  and  propagate  an 
entirely  new  race,  if  a  more  perfect  one  could  be  obtained;  the  second, 
to  meliorate  our  stock  by  producing  a  mixed  progeny  from  our  ordi- 
nary ewes  by  rams  of  a  better  breed. 

But  before  there  could  be  sufficiently  good  reason  for  justifying  the 
trouble  and  expense  of  transporting  an  adequate  number,  it  was  the 
part  of  wisdom  to  ascertain  first  Vhether  the  breed  be  superior  in 
intrinsic  value  to  those  which  already  existed.  And  in  that  case, 
secondly,  whether  the  race  contemplated  to  be  introduced  was  likely, 
when  propagated,  to  retain  all  those  qualities  which  constitute  the 
original  superiority  of  value?  He  founded  his  opinion  in  the  affirma- 
tive of  both  questions,  as  applied  to  the  Spanish  Merino,  by  statements 
from  respectable  persons  and  from  the  examination  and  study  of  offi- 
cial reports.  He  knew  from  the  statements  of  manufacturers  and 
others  that  none  of  the  superfine  cloths  made  in  England,  France,  and 
Holland  could  be  fabricated  without  the  mixture  of  a  certain  portion 
of  Spanish  wool,  and  that  the  price  of  the  Merino  wool  was  twice  as 
high  per  pound  as  it  was  for  ordinary  kinds.  He  was  given  to  under- 
stand that  the  Merinos  were  more  easily  maintained  and  fattened  than 
the  taller  and  larger  breeds,  and  as  to  the  flesh,  he  had  frequent  oppor- 
tunities to  decide  for  himself  that  it  was  not  less  succulent  or  well 
flavored  than  the  best  English  or  American  mutton. 

As  to  the  second  point,  whether  they  would  retain  all  their  superior 
qualities  when  transported  to  America,  the  presumption  was  favorable, 
for  official  reports  and  many  years  of  success  had  shown  that  in  Great 
Britain, France,  Holland,  Switzerland,  Germany,  Denmark, and  Sweden 
the  fleeces  of  the  descendants  of  the  Merino  taken  from  Spain  had  not 
diminished  in  fineness,  and,  in  some  places  had  increased  in  quantity. 
In  all  these  countries  they  had  supported  well  the  cold  and  other  vari- 
ations of  temperature,  and  the  changed  seasons  and  herbage.  It  was 
to  him  an  ascertained  fact,  confirmed  by  experience  beyond  contradic- 
tion, that  the  quality  of  the  wool  did  not  depend  on  the  quality  of  the 
pastures  in  Spain,  because  the  same  pastures  had  maintained,  from 
time  to  time  immemorial,  two  different  breeds,  which  had  never  assimi- 
lated; one  remarkable  for  the  shortness  and  fineness,  the  other  for  the 
length  and  coarseness,  of  the  wool.  It  was,  moreover,  equally  well 
proved,  that  tlie  quality  did  not  depend  on  the  journeys  which  the 


156        SHEEP  INDUSTRY  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES 

greater  part  of  the  Merinos  made  annually,  because  there  were  other 
flocks  of  the  same  race  which  remained  perpetually  in  the  same  disJ 
tricts  whose  fleeces  were  of  the  same  consistency,  precisely,  as  the  oth-; 
ers.  Flocks  that  did  travel  and  those  that  did  not  travel,  which  were 
nourished  with  plentiful  food  and  taken  good  care  of,  by  excluding  the 
deformed,  sick,  and  weak  from  becoming  breeders,  had  been  preserved 
in  all  the  purity  of  the  original  stock ;  while  those,  in  either  predicament, 
migratory  or  resident,  which  were  subjected  to  feel  the  effects  of  scar- 
city and  negligence,  invariably  degenerated.  Casualty  or  necessity, 
rather  than  foresight  or  reason,  introduced  the  practice  of  entertaining 
migrating  flocks.  They  multiplied  as  industry  in  cultivating  the  soil 
diminished.  The  nobles  or  rich  individuals,  who  were  the  proprietors, 
found  their  advantage  in  them.  The  trouble  and  expense  of  keeping 
and  nourishing  was  small.  Accident  was  converted  into  system.  Pre- 
scription gave  a  sanction  to  the  proceeding,  highways  were  obliged  to 
be  left  wide,  privileges  were  granted,  and  laws  formed  for  the  protection 
of  this  species  of  property,  to  the  detriment  of  the  community;  for,  by 
these  means,  agriculture  was  checked  and  crops  circumscribed  in 
limits.  The  vigilance  of  the  shepherds,  in  remaining  day  and  night 
with  their  charge,  in  reserving  the  best  formed  and  finest  wooled  only 
for  breeding,  and  in  knowing  and  attending  to  each  individual  of  their 
flocks,  contributed  much  to  preserve  them  from  degeneration. 

Col.  Humphreys,  being  a  public-spirited  and  wealthy  man,  intent 
upon  doing  a  patriotic  service  to  his  country,  sought  to  introduce  these 
famed  Spanish  Merino  sheep  into  the  United  States.  There  was  a 
difficulty  in  the  strictness  of  the  laws  that  guarded  these  flocks,  but 
relaxation  was  made  in  his  favor,  and  the  sheep,  100  in  number,  were 
shipped  to  Connecticut. 

Col.  Humphreys'  own  statement  of  this  transaction  was  made  to  the 
Massachusetts  Society  for  Promoting  Agriculture,  August  25,  1802: 

Convinced  that  this  race  of  sheep,  of  which,  I  believe,  not  one  had  been  brought 
to  the  United  States  until  the  importation  by  myself,  might  be  introduced  with  great 
benefit  to  our  country,  I  contracted  with  a  person,  of  the  most  respectable  character,  to 
deliver  to  me,  at  Lisbon,  100,  composed  of  25  rams  and  75  ewes,  from  one  to  two  years 
old.  They  were  conducted,  with  proper  passports,  across  the  country  of  Portugal 
by  three  Spanish  shepherds,  and  escorted  by  a  small  guard  of  Portuguese  soldiers. 
On  the  10th  of  April  last  (1802)  they  were  embarked  in  the  Tagus,  on  board  the  ship 
Persevei-ance,  of  250  tons,  Caleb  Coggeshall  master.  In  about  fifty  days  21  rams  and 
70  ewes  were  landed  at  Derby,  Conn.,  they  having  been  shifted  at  New  York  on  board 
of  a  sloop  destined  to  that  river.  The  9  which  died  were  principally  killed  in  con- 
sequence of  bruises  received  by  the  violent  rolling  of  the  vessel  on  the  Banks  of  New- 
foundland. To  prevent  that  and  other  disasters,  as  far  as  might  be,  by  prudent  pre- 
cautions, the  whole  space  between  decks  was  divided  into  four  pens  of  25  sheep  each, 
the  rams  having  been  kept  separate  in  one,  and  the  least  vigorous  ewes  in  another, 
with  convenient  racks,  troughs,  and  tubs  for  feeding  and  watering  them.  The  change 
from  the  open  air  to  close  confinement,  and  from  green  to  dry  food,  occasioned  them 
to  suffer  less  inconvenience  than  I  had  apprehended.  They  ate  more  than  a  pound 
of  English  hay  each,  together  with  about  a  gill  of  Indian  corn,  or  an  equivalent  of 
bran,  with  salt  occasionally,  and  drank  at  the  rate  of  nearly  a  quart  of  water  a  day. 


EAST    OF   THE    MISSISSIPPI    RIVER.  157 

This  was  double  the  ration  which  the  Spajiish  shepherds  calculated.  *  *  *  Some 
of  the  sheep  appeared  to  have  so  voracious  an  appetite  that  it  was  deemed  expedient 
to  limit  the  quantity  of  forage,  for  fear  of  their  injuring  themselves.  A  few  which 
would  not  eat  Indian  corn,  probably  because  their  teeth  had  become  loose,  were  de- 
barked very  weak,  and  others  much  fatigued.  All  soon  recovered,  by  being  per- 
mitted to  feed  freely  in  hilly  pastures  in  the  day,  and  put  under  cover  at  night,  until 
they  could  be  gradually  accustomed  to  remain  altogether  in  the  field  without  danger 
to  their  health.  To  habituate  them  to  the  climate  I  considered  one  of  the  most  im- 
portant operations.  If  a  first  experiment  of  a  seasonable  project  fails  of  success,  it 
haves  many  more  difficulties  to  be  encountered  and  obstacles  to  be  surmounted  in 
all  future  essays  of  a  similar  kind  than  if  the  attempt  had  never  been  made. 

For  this  importation,  as  before  stated,  Col.  Humphreys  received  a 
gold  medal  with  the  inscription : 

Presented  by  the  Massachusetts  Society  for  Promoting  Agriculture  to  the  Hon. 
David  Humphreys,  esq.,  late  minister  to  the  court  of  Madrid,  as  a  testimony  of  re- 
spect for  his  patriotic  exertions  in  importing  into  New  England  100  of  the  Merino 
breed  of  sheep  from  Spain  to  improve  the  breed  of  that  useful  animal  in  his  own 
country,  1802. 

At  the  request  of  the  Massachusetts  society  Col.  Humphreys  gave  a 
statement  of  the  circumstances  surrounding  this  importation,  and, 
after  a  description  of  the  voyage  just  quoted,  proceeds  at  some  length 
with  an  argument  for  their  propagation  in  the  United  States,  which 
follows  in  part  and  which  was  printed  quite  generally  in  the  newspapers 
of  the  day : 

In  the  Eastern  and  Middle  States  all  the  circumstances  encourage  practical  farm- 
ers to  increase  and  improve  their  breed  of  sheep.  All  kinds  of  soil  except  marshy, 
and  of  air  except  humid,  are  friendly  to  it.  This  breed,  like  most  or  all  others, 
thrive  best  in  uplands  and  short  pastures,  but  it  is  reputed  to  be  so  singularly  hardy 
as  to  endure  rain,  snow,  and  cold  as  well  as  any  northern  race,  and  to  support  itself 
in  parched  southern  climates  by  feeding  on  weeds  and  vegetables  which  most  others 
would  not  taste.  Without  entering  into  the  detail  of  enriching  the  land  on  which 
they  graze  or  are  folded,  by  their  manure,  especially  where  a  rotation  of  crops  is 
systematically  pursued,  I  should  not  omit  to  mention  it  has  been  asserted  that  a 
moderate-sized  farm,  for  example  100  acres,  skillfully  manured,  may  be  made  to 
maintain  100  sheep  and,  moreover,  to  produce  as  much  in  crops  as  it  would  have 
done  had  it  been  employed  only  in  cultivation  and  not  charged  with  their  nourish- 
ment. For  accomplishing  this  it  would  undoubtedly  be  indispensable  to  have  a 
competent  share  of  knowledge  of  animal  and  vegetable  nature.  From  all  the  in- 
quiries which  I  have  been  able  to  make  since  my  return  to  America  I  have  been  ex- 
tremely mortified  to  find  that  the  breeding  of  sheep  has  been  much  neglected  for 
some  time  past.  It  is  but  too  evident  a  vital  impulse  is  wanted  to  give  new  vigor 
to  it,  and  I  can  not  but  regret  that  it  is  not  permitted,  in  the  compass  of  a  letter,  to 
dwell  more  at  large  on  the  means  as  well  as  to  oifer,  in  a  more  alluring  manner,  the 
motives  for  restoring  that  valuable  race  of  animals,  which  seems  to  have  been  be- 
stowed by  Heaven  more  peculiarly  for  the  use  and  comfort  of  man  than  any  other, 
from  its  present  state  of  decadence.  If  the  limits  would  allow  it  to  be  done,  it  is 
believed  the  discussion  would  produce  proof,  approaching  to  demonstration,  that  no 
other  branch  of  farming  could  be  carried  on  in  the  Eastern  and  Middle  States  with 
so  much  advantage  to  the  public  or  profit  to  the  individuals  concerned  as  the  raising 
of  sheep.  The  soil  and  climate  being  favorable,  the  quantity  of  nutriment  and 
number  of  stock  might  be  rapidly  increased  with  a  little  exertion,  even  to  such  a 
degree  as  to  furnish,  in  a  few  years,  a  great  proportion  of  the  wool  necessary  for  our 
clothing.  The  process  is  easy  and  sure  and  does  not  require  an  uncommon  share  of 


158        SHEEP  INDUSTRY  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES 

skill  and  intelligence.  Some  general  instruction,  together  with  patience  and  perse-.; 
verence,  are  alone  requisite.  The  sheep  of  which  I  treat,  in  common  with  those  long; 
since  familiarized  to  our  seasons,  are  rarely  liable  to  diseases  or  accidents  when  proper 
care  is  taken  of  them. 

Under  the  influence  of  such  impressions,  I  thought  I  could  not  perform  a  more  es- 
sential service  to  my  country  than  to  endeavor  to  impress  on  the  minds  of  my  com- 
patriots a  conviction  that  the  New  England  and  neighboring  States  are  singularly 
well  calculated  for  raising  and  maintaining  as  valuable  a  race  of  sheep  as  any  in  the 
world,  without  incurring  any  risk  of  their  growing  worse.  More  southern  climates, 
though  equally  inhabited  and  cultivated,  might  not  be  equally  suitable  for  this  object 
on  account  of  the  immoderate  heat.  The  wool  of  the  best  English  sheep,  in  some 
parts  of  the  West  Indies,  is  soon  converted  to  a  kind  of  hair.  In  the  new-settled 
districts  of  our  northern  and  western  Territories  wolves  must  for  some  time  be  a 
formidable  enemy.  On  the  contrary,  in  the  before-mentioned  States,  not  only  the 
exemption  from  the  beasts  and  men  accustomed  to  commit  depredations  on  unguarded 
fields  and  folds  in  some  other  places,  but  likewise  the  method  of  making  inclosures, 
so  that  the  sheep  may  easily  have  a  change  of  pastures  in  the  summer,  and  the  mode 
of  tilling  the  earth  so  that  an  abundance  of  grasses  and  roots  may  be  produced  for  a 
winter  supply,  appear  to  invite  the  husbandman  to  pay  the  most  particular  attention 
to  this  most  useful  and  profitable  branch  of  business.  No  other  cattle  will  multiply 
so  fast  or  with  so  little  cost.  The  facility  and  certainty  of  making  vast  improve- 
ments in  a  very  few  years,  provided  a  patriotic  and  persevering  spirit  should  pre- 
vail, on  account  of  the  short  period  in  which  sheep  of  all  descriptions  arrive  at  ma- 
turity, is  therefore  a  consideration  which  ought  not  to  be  overlooked  or  slighted. 
Although  we  have  no  national  or  public  farms  as  in  France,  or  grounds  belonging  to 
great  and  rich  personages  as  in  England,  which  are  destined  to  essays  in  breeding 
sheep  and  cattle,  or  to  experiments  in  useful  branches  of  agriculture,  yet  we  can  have 
recourse  to  the  results  of  their  experience  in  the  statements  which  are  published,  and 
I  believe  we  have  fewer  prejudices  to  contend  with  in  introducing  improvements 
than  the  cultivators  of  any  other  country.  We  should,  however,  be  cautious  in  vary- 
ing the  practice  in  conformity  to  the  difference  of  local  circumstances.  We  have  a 
less  number  of  hands  for  labor,  and  a  greater  extent  of  soil  to  be  cultivated  than 
most  of  the  nations  from  which  we  can  receive  information  or  examples.  This,  how- 
ever, it  is  conceived,  would  not  be  unfavorable  to  the  particular  kind  of  improve- 
ment in  contemplation. 

To  make  the  meliorating  experiments  with  the  Merinos  which  I  imported  as  com- 
plete as  might  be  at  the  commencement,  I  have  resolved  to  keep  all  the  ewes  together 
on  the  same  farm,  in  order  that  they  may  be  properly  taken  care  of,  and  that  their  de- 
scendants may  retain  the  original  blood  entire,  until  there  shall  be  a  sufficient  increase 
for  dispensing  and  continuing  the  pure  race  by  breeding  separately  from  them.  I 
have  concluded,  in  the  mean  time,  to  dispose  of  such  proportion  of  the  rams  as  can 
be  spared,  to  respectable  farmers,  whose  names  will  be  published  hereafter,  and 
whose  characters  will  be  a  pledge  that  a  fair  opportunity  shall  be  afforded  of  pro- 
ducing an  improved  race  by  them  and  American  ewes.  That  rams  have  been  let  for 
the  season  in  England  for  from  200  to  1,000  guineas  each,  is  a  fact  sufficiently  known 
to  those  who  are  acquainted  with  the  history  of  agricultural  proceedings  in  that 
country,  and  demonstrates  conclusively  the  wonderful  passion  which  prevails  for 
bettering  the  breed.  Several  intelligent  authors  in  Europe,  who  have 

treated  of  the  more  speedy  and  efficacious  modes  of  improving  wool,  have  stated 
that,  where  the  smallness  of  the  original  stock  of  Merinos  prevents  so  rapid  a  prop- 
agation of  the  pure  race  as  could  bo  wished,  a  mixed  breed  may  be  produced  by 
Spanish  rams  and  well-chosen  owes  of  the  country,  whose  descendants  in  the  fourth 
or  fifth  generation  will  yield  fleeces  nearly  or  quite  as  fine  as  the  first  quality  of 
those  which  are  produced  in  Spain.  In  France  the  existing  government  is  paying 
the  most  zealous  attention  to  this  subject,  with  the  hope  of  augmenting  the  quantity 


EAST    OF    THE    MISSISSIPPI    RIVER.  159 

of  fine  wool  so  much  as  to  supersede  the  necessity  of  importations  for  their  manufac- 
tures. The  importance  of  an  internal  supply  of  the  first  articles  of  necessity  appe.-irs 
to  bo  more  understood  and  acknowledged  every  day  by  every  civilized  nation  in  the 
world.  It  may  be  asked,  How  long  are  we  to  continue  thus  like  colonies  dependent 
on  a  mother  country?  And  will  a  period  never  arrive  when  it  will  be  indispensable 
to  clothe  ourselves  principally  with  our  own  productions  and  fabrics? 

It  is  true  in  the  New  England  and  neighboring  States  much  has  been  done  in  fami- 
lies towards  providing  and  preparing  their  own  clothing.  No  real  patriot  can  behold 
without  feeling  unusual  emotions  of  pleasure  the  employment  of  the  wool  cards,  the 
spinning-wheel,  and  the  domestic  looms  in  those  nurseries  of  manufactures.  From  the 
manner  in  which  this  portion  of  the  country  is  filled  with  inhabitants,  and  the  habits 
of  occupation  which  they  acquire  from  their  infancy,  I  shall  not  perhaps  be  too  bold 
in  predicting  that  they  will  soon  make  a  progress  which  will  surpass  all  calculation 
hitherto  formed.  We  have  the  materials  and  dispositions.  Destitute  of  the  great 
sources  of  riches  which,  as  it  were,  inundate  our  brethren  in  the  South,  on  industry 
and  economy  in  farming,  fishing,  navigating,  and  manufacturing,  must  we,  in  this 
part  of  the  Union,  depend  under  Providence  for  our  prosperity.  Whoever,  then,  can 
;ul<l  occasions  and  motives  for  the  practice  of  industry  and  economy  can  not  fail  to 
be  a  benefactor.  And  need  any  of  our  farmers  despair  of  being  able  to  produce  two 
fleeces  of  wool  where  only  one  was  produced?  The  more  unequal  division  of  landed 
property  in  the  Southern  States,  and  the  greater  profits  to  be  derived  from  the  rich 
crops  of  wheat,  rice,  tobacco,  and  cotton  will  naturally  tend,  for  some  time  at  least, 
to  retard  the  manufacturing  business;  yet  I  am  happy  to  learn  that  in  the  interior 
districts  of  those  States  many  excellent  articles  of  clothing  are  fabricated  in  the  house- 
hold way. 

Mr.  Livingston  has  been  quoted  in  his  description  of  the  Merino 
sheep  as  he  saw  them,  and  we  quote  tke  appearance  of  the  same  breed 
as  Col.  Humphreys  saw  them,  remarking  that  they  were  described  in 
1803,  and,  presumably,  under  his  eye  on  his  farm  in  Connecticut.  The 
description  may  be  taken  as  that  of  the  Humphreys  flock : 

The  height  of  the  male  is  about  the  same  as  that  of  the  ordinary  breed  in  this 
country ;  the  head  appears  rather  bigger  and  straighter ;  the  ears  are  very  small ; 
the  eyes  remarkably  bright;  the  horns  curved  in  a  spiral  turn;  the  neck  short;  the 
chest  broad ;  the  members  more  compact  and  thick  than  those  of  our  former  breed  of 
sheep,  and  the  carcass  is  thought  to  have  smaller  bones,  and  to  be  more  rounded  in 
the  hinder  part;  the  body,  face,  and  legs  are  covered  with  a  delicate  fleece,  which 
grows  amazingly  thick,  without  any  mixture  of  coarser  locks  or  hairs;  the  fleece  is 
remarked  to  be  much  more  impregnated  than  that  of  any  other  breed,  with  an  oily 
substance,  apparently  exuded  in  perspiration.  This  animal  is  perfectly  gentle,  but 
quick,  firm,  and  regular  in  all  his  movements.  The  female  is  considered,  generally, 
as  having  the  more  characteristics  of  the  pure  blood,  in  proportion  as  she  approxi- 
mates to  this  description,  yet  the  ewes  are  commonly  destitute  of  horns,  as  is  the 
case  with  those  of  my  little  flock.  That  flock,  consisting  of  21  rams  and  70  ewes,  has 
probably  seldom,  if  ever,  been  surpassed  by  any  extracted  from  the  southern  penin- 
sula of  Europe  for  the  fine,  soft,  silky,  strong,  supple,  and  elastic  qualities  of  the 
wool.* 

Mr.  Henry  S.  Eandall  says  that  he  was  placed  in  possession  of  sev- 
eral letters  of  Col.  Humphreys,  specially  on  the  subject  of  sheep,  ad- 
dressed to  different  correspondents,  and  not  one  of  them  mentioned  or 
alluded  to  the  subject  of  the  cabanas  from  which  his  Merinos  were  se- 
lected, but  that  in  one  communication  he  thought  it  worthy  of  state- 

*  Miscellaneous  works  of  David  Humphreys. 


160        SHEEP  INDUSTRY  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES 

ment  that  a  ram,  raised  on  his  farm,  yielded  7  pounds  5  ounces  of 
washed  wool.  Dr.  James  Mease,  of  Philadelphia,  published  a  descrip- 
tion of  a  Humphreys  ram  owned  by  Mr.  Bulkley  in  1807.  This  ram  was 
very  small,  very  fine,  and  produced  but  4  pounds  of  washed  wool.  His 
length  of  staple  was  somewhat  less  than  that  of  Chancellor  Living- 
ston's rams.  He  was  extremely  gentle  and  strongly  marked  with  the 
carnation  hue  of  skin;  had  spiral  horns  and  brownness  of  fleece  sur- 
face, all  of  which  qualities  he  faithfully  transmitted  to  his  progeny  in 
their  usual  proportions.  The  brownness  of  fleece  penetrated  to  some 
depth  from  the  surface.  His  lambs,  when  they  came,  were  covered 
with  coarse  hairs,  to  the  great  suspicion  of  their  paternity,  until  it  was 
found  this  hair  dropped  off,  and  that  his  subsequent  crops  of  lambs 
exhibited  the  same  peculiarity.  Referring  to  this  description  of  Mr. 
Bulkley's  ram  Mr.  Randall  says,  in  18G1 : 

Here  we  have  a  distinct  hint  of  Paular  or  Iiifaiitado  characteristics,  yet  Col.  Humph- 
reys' sheep  could  scarcely  have  been  Patilars  without  some  one  alluding  to  their 
throatiness — a  point  which  then  attracted  peculiar  notice,  both  because  it  was  un- 
usual and  regarded  as  unsightly.  Besides,  the  sheep  we  now  have  among  us,  which 
can  trace  a  clear  descent  from  Col.  Humphreys'  flock,  are  not  marked  by  this  pecul- 
iarity unless  it  has  been  bred  on  them  within  the  last  fifteen  or  twenty  years  (1845 
to  1861).  It  can  hardly  be  presumed  that  the  American  ambassador  would  have  been 
placed  by  his  Spanish  acquaintances  in  the  hands  of  an  agent  who  would  have  pur- 
chased from  an  obscure  flock,  or  one  not  among  the  first.  I  do  not  build  up  a  hypoth- 
esis on  the  single  fact  above  given;  it  is  only  one  among  a  number  of  scattering 
hints  and  circumstances  which  have  led  me  to  the  opinion  that  the  sheep  were  from 
the  cabana  of  the  Duke  of  Infantatlo.  One  thing  is  certain,  no  such  ram  as  Mr. 
Bulkley's  could  have  been  of  Escurial  blood,  and  the  darkest  and  yolkiest  sheep 
bred  in  the  United  States  (Mr.  Stephen  Atwood's  family),  which  trace  directly  to 
sheep  bred  by  Col.  Humphreys,  can  not  be  descended  from  the  whitest  and  driest 
fleeced  sheep  of  Spain, 

Hon.  William  Jarvis,  to  whom  reference  will  soon  be  made,  states 
that  these  sheep  of  Col.  Humphreys  were  pure-blood  Transhumautes, 
and  narrates  how  Humphreys  secured  them.  It  was  a  custom  of  the 
Spanish  court,  when  a  foreign  minister  was  recalled,  to  present  him  a 
few  bars  of  gold,  but  as  the  law  of  the  United  States  forbade  any  min- 
ister taking  a  present  from  a  foreign  court  Humphreys  declined  it,  but 
suggested  to  the  minister  that  it  would  gratify  him  could  a  royal  license 
be  given  him  to  take  out  of  the  kingdom  200  Merino  sheep.  This  the 
minister  stated  could  not  be  granted,  but  intimated  that  if  he  wished 
to  take  them  out  no  obstruction  should  be  thrown  in  his  way.  These 
were  purchased  in  Lower  Leon,  or  Upper  Estremadura,  and  driven  down 
the  valley  of  the  Monde-go  to  Figuerra,  where  they  were  embarked  for 
the  United  States.  Mr.  Jarvis  says  he  never  could  learn  out  of  what 
cabana  these  sheep  were  obtained,  but  that  they  were  "unquestionably 
pure-blood  transhumantes,  which  is  the  only  fact  of  importance  worth 
knowing." 


EAST    OF    THE    MISSISSIPPI    RIVER.  161 

In  an  instrument  of  writing  given  by  Col.  Humphreys,  July  8,  1812, 
lie  says: 

To  all  concerned  to  whom  these  presents  shall  come :  I  hereby  certify  and  make 
known  that  the  flock  of  Merinos  belonging  to  me,  and  intrusted  this  day  to  the  care 
of  Mr.  Elihu  Ives,  to  be  disposed  of  for  my  account  at  his  best  discretion,  consisting  of 
full  and  high  degree  of  mixed  .bloods,  are  the  genuine  descendants  and  offsprings  of 
those  pure  bloods  extracted  by  me  from  Spanish  Estremadura,  in  the  beginning  of 
the  year  1802,  and  ascertained  by  their  pedigree  to  be  of  the  purest  and  best  race  in 
Spain.  I,  moreover,  declare  that  it  has  been  proved  by  the  best  of  experience  in 
almost  every  part  of  the  United  States,  that  they  have  not  in  any  respect  degenerated, 
but  on  the  contrary,  that  the  breed  of  whole-bloods,  has,  in  some  points,  much 
improved  in  this  country. 

It  is  now  generally  admitted  that  Col.  Humphreys7  Merinos  were 
from  a  single  family  and  had  that  sameness  in  appearance  and  char- 
acter which  indicates  sameness  of  blood,  and  that,  spontaneously  and 
without  weeding  out,  they  transmitted  this  sameness  both  to  their 
immediate  and  last  descendants,  a  thing  they  could  not  possibly  have 
done  had  they  been  drawn  from  several  cabanas.  Every  Spaniard  at  that 
day  who  had  any  connection  with  sheep  considered  it  improper  to  mix 
the  different  great  families  or  cabanas.  It  was  contrary  to  the  settled 
traditions  of  the  country.  Col.  Humphreys  up  to  that  time  had  had 
little  or  no  experience  with  sheep,  and  it  was  natural  that  he  should 
adopt  without  question  the  views  of  people  of  whom  he  had  made  his 
purchases.  There  is  no  evidence  that  he  entertained  the  remotest  idea 
of  improving  or  changing  the  style  of  the  Spanish  sheep,  or  of  deviat- 
ing from  the  Spanish  ideas  of  breeding  in-and-in. 

It  is  the  general  opinion,  too,  that  the  Humphreys  sheep  were  Infan- 
tadoes,  though  some  have  dissented,  and  an  eminent  Ohio  breeder  in  a 
paper  published  in  the  Ohio  Agricultural  Eeport  for  1854,  advanced 
the  idea  that  they  were  Escurials.  The  Escurial  flock  had  been  given 
by  the  crown  to  the  Hieronimite  monks,  and  the  nearest  line  from  their 
monastery  at  the  Escurial  Palace  to  the  seacoast  is  by  the  valley  of 
the  Mondego  across  Portugal,  the  very  route  by  which  the  Humphreys 
sheep  were  driven.  Besides  which,  they  were  recognized  by  those  who 
professed  to  have  seen  them  and  who  were  acquainted  with  the  Escu- 
rial sheep  as  resembling  them  and  the  engraved  portraits  of  them. 

Col.  Humphreys  took  a  just  pride  in  his  success  in  establishing  the 
Merino  breed  in  this  country,  and  in  1807  addressed  two  communica- 
tions to  the  Society  for  Promoting  Agriculture  in  the  State  of  Massa- 
chusetts, giving  some  of  the  results  of  his  experiments  and  congratu- 
lating both  the  manufacturer  and  the  farmer  on  the  value  of  the  sheep 
for  wool  and  mutton.  The  first  letter  is  dated  Boston,  ^November  28, 
1807,  and  reads: 

More  than  live  years  having  now  elapsed  since  the  introduction  into  New  England 
of  thr>  flock  of  Merino  sheep,  in  consequence  of  which  the  Society  for  Promoting 
Agriculture  in  the  State  of  Massachusetts  were  pleased  to  present  to  me  a  gold  medal, 
it  will  doubtless  be  acceptable  to  that  respectable  and  patriotic  body  to  learu  that 

22990 11 


162  SHEEP    INDUSTRY    OF    THE    UNITED    STATES 

their  hopes  and  expectations  concerning  the  utility  of  this  interesting  species  of 
animals  have  not  been  disappointed.  The  attempt  to  propagate  the  pure  Merinos  in 
this  country  has  been  attended  with  complete  success.  The  extent  of  the  experi- 
ment insures  the  duration  of  the  unadulterated  breed.  Instead  of  degenerating  in 
the  quantity  or  quality  of  their  fleeces,  the  identical  sheep  which  I  brought  to  this 
country  yield,  on  an  average,  half  a  pound  more  of  wool  apiece  than  they  did  at  the 
first  shearing  after  their  arrival.  Nor,  on  the  nicest  and  most  candid  examination, 
is  it  found  that  there  is  any  finer  wool  produced  in  Spain  than  that  which  is  annually 
shorn  from  these  same  imported  Merinos  and  their  full-blooded  offspring.  The  rams 
born  in  America  are,  hoAvever,  generally  preferred  to  those  born  in  Spain,  by  persons 
who  now  make  application  to  my  agent  for  Merino  rams  to  cross  the  blood  of  their 
flocks  in  breeding  from  them  by  American  ewes.  It  is  the  opinion  of  all  farmers  in 
Connecticut  who  have  been  acquainted  with  the  original  flock  and  its  descendants, 
both  of  the  pure  and  mingled  blood,  that  they  are  hardier,  better  adapted  to  our 
climate,  and  more  easily  nourished,  both  in  summer  and  winter,  than  the  common 
breed  of  American  sheep.  They  are  likewise  remarkable  for  being  more  gregarious 
and  less  disposed  to  stray  or  get  over  fences  than  the  others.  Finally,  it  may  truly 
be  asserted  that  they  preserve  the  entire  character,  features,  and  qualities  of  the 
best  Merinos  in  Spain. 

The  mixture  of  the  Spanish  with  the  American  blood  has  succeeded  in  ameliorat- 
ing the  pile  of  the  fleece  beyond  my  most  sanguine  expectations.  As  a  proof  of  the 
superior  value  of  the  wool  of  the  half-blood  Merinos,  it  is  a  Avell-known  truth  that 
it  has  been  sold  for  a  dollar  a  pound  in  Connecticut,  and  still  dearer  in  New  York, 
the  present  season,  while  the  best  common  wool  has  been  sold  for  about  half  that 
price.  The  half-blooded  Merinos  produce  more  wool  than  the  common  sheep,  and 
they  ordinarily  attain  a  larger  size  than  the  Spanish  or  American  breed,  from  which 
they  are  descended.  The  facts  here  stated  agree  in  substance  with  those  established 
by  experience  in  every  country  of  Europe  in  which  I  have  traveled,  where  this  breed 
of  sheep  has  been  introduced.  In  England  and  France  the  greatest  care  and  ex- 
pense are  now  bestowed  under  royal  and  imperial  protection  for  its  extensive  propa- 
gation. 

A  difficulty  was  experienced  at  first  in  carding  the  wool  by  the  common  carding 
machines.  This  has  been  overcome. 

Some  farmers,  who  early  introduced  a  mixture  of  this  blood  into  their  flocks,  have 
made  in  domestic  manufacture,  for  sale,  live  or  six  pieces  of  cloth  from  this  AVOO! 
during  the  present  year.  I  shall  have  several  hundred  yards,  fabricated  entirely  by 
machinery  from  pure  Merino  fleeces.  Several  thousands,  made  by  the  same  process, 
from  the  common  sheep's  wool  of  the  country,  have  already  been  sent  to  market. 
Samples  of  both  kinds,  with  the  prices,  are  inclosed. 

HOAV  long  a  period  must  pass  before  the  prejudice  against  the  fabrics  of  our  country 
can  be  extinguished  is  not  for  me  to  decide.  If  any  suitable  means  for  their  ex- 
tinction could  be  deArised  and  adopted,  perhaps  an  essential  service  would  be  there- 
by rendered  to  the  real  prosperity  and  independence  of  the  United  States. 

The  second  letter  is  dated  Factory  (Eenomon  Falls),  Derby,  Decem- 
ber 10,  1807: 

The  importance  of  rightly  understanding  the  best  means  of  multiplying  and  im- 
proving the  fine-wooled  breed  of  sheep,  derived  from  a  cross  of  the  pure  Merino  blood 
with  that  of  the  common  flocks  of  the  country,  must  be  my  apology  for  offering  a 
feAV  observations  in  addition  to  those  which  I  had  the  honor  of  communicating  to 
your  agricultural  society  on  the  28th  of  last  month. 

To  facilitate  the  extension  of  this  improved  breed,  and  to  confirm  its  superior  ex- 
cellence in  point  of  wool,  it  is  conceived,  are  objects  which  have  a  peculiar  claim 
to  the  public  attention. 

A  mixed  breed  being  first  produced  from  our  finest  Avooled  owes  by  full-blooded 
Merino  rams,  it  is  still  desirable  that  the  Spanish  blood  should  be  renewed  for  three 


EAST    OF    THE    MISSISSIPPI    RIVER.  163 

or  four  generations,  through  the  medium  of  sires  of  that  race.  Then  the  system  of 
breeding  in-and-hi,  as  it  is  technically  called,  and  as  it  lias  been  ably  explained  by 
Dr.  Parry,  of  Bath,  in  his  late  "essay  on  the  nature,  produce,  origin,  and  extension 
of  the  Merino  breed  of  sheep,"  proves  decisive  for  the  accomplishment  of  the  objects 
proposed,  in  the  shortest  time,  at  the  smallest  expense,  and.  with  the  greatest  cer- 
tainty of  any  other  plan  hitherto  suggested. 

It  is  judged  by  the  fanners  in  this  neighborhood,  who  are  best  acquainted  with 
this  confirmed  mixed  breed,  that,  aside  of  their  superior  excellence  with  respect  to 
wool,  they  have  a  greater  tendency  to  fatten  on  the  same  keeping  than  any  other 
sheep  within  the  compass  of  their  knowledge.  Although  this  disposition  to  fatten 
is  of  little  consequence  so  long  as  they  are  bred  for  the  fleece  only,  yet  it  may  be 
well  that  those  fanners  who  may  hereafter  propagate  them  for  the  sake  of  the  car- 
cass should  not  be  ignorant  of  the  fact. 

From  my  further  inquiries  with  regard  to  the  weight  of  the  fleeces  of  my  Merinos, 
I  learn  that  they  have  increased  somewhat  more  than  I  stated  in  my  letter  of  the 
28th  of  last  month.  One  of  the  rams  born  here  has  produced  this  season  7  pounds 
and  5  ounces  of  washed  wool.  This  wool  would,  it  is  presumed,  be  worth  $1.50  per 
pound  in  England.  I  have  the  united  testimony  of  all  the  people  engaged  in  or 
acquainted  with  its  fabrication  into  cloth  to  prove  that  it  has  not  deteriorated,  by 
reason  of  inclosing  four  more  specimens  of  cloth.  Nos.  1,  2,  and  3  were  made  from 
the  wool  of  the  pure  Merinos,  and  No.  4  from  that  of  the  half-blooded  race. 

In  a  preceding  chapter  we  have  noticed  the  various  acts  of  Con- 
necticut during  its  colonial  period  for  the  care  and  protection  of  sheep. 
Attempts  had  been  made  since  about  1736  to  introduce  woolen  manu- 
factures as  a  development  of  sheep  raising,  and  these  were  revived 
after  the  Eevolution.  With  help  from  the  general  assembly,  a  manu- 
factory of  woolens  was  established  at  Hartford  after  the  peace.  Its 
product  was  mainly  of  the  pepper-and-salt  variety,  but  it  was  good 
and  popular,  and  a  suit  of  the  factory  broadcloth  was  worn  by  Wash- 
ington at  the  opening  of  Congress,  1790.*  Laws  were  passed  in  1786 
for  encouraging  the  raising  of  sheep  by  exempting  from  taxation  at 
the  rate  of  4s.  per  head  all  sheep  from  which  at  the  time  a  fleece  was 
taken,  and  twenty  were  exempt  from  any  execution  or  process  for 
debt,  laws  which  remained  in  force  until  1798,  when,  instead  of  twenty 
sheep  being  exempt  from  process,  ten  sheep  and  one  cow  were  so 
exempt.  A  long  step  in  progress  was  taken  in  1802,  when  Humphreys 
brought  his  Merinos  into  the  State,  and  woolen  manufactures  have 
grown  and  flourished  and  made  their  influence  felt  in  national  politics. 
In  1803,  to  protect  and  preserve  the  purity  of  the  Merino  breed,  the 
legislature  enacted  that  any  person  allowing  a  ram  to  go  at  large  or  be 
out  of  his  inclosure  between  September  1  and  December  1  should  pay 
$2  to  any  person  taking  up  said  ram.  In  1814  the  time  was  length- 
ened from  August  1  to  December  1. 

In  October,  1808,  Elizur  Goodrich,  chairman  of  a  committee  of  the 
Connecticut  general  assembly,  made  a  report  to  that  body  commending 
Col.  Humphreys  for  his  patriotic  exertions  in  importing  the  Merino 
sln'rp,  ami  suggesting  ua  public  testimony  of  the  respect  of  his  native 
State."  The  committee  wi-iv  also  of  the  opinion  that  public  encour- 


History  of  Connecticut.    Alexander  Johnston. 


164        SHEEP  INDUSTRY  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES 

ageuient  was  due  to  the  various  important  manufactures  carried  on  in 
his  establishment,  and  such  encouragement  was  given  by  exempting 
"his  superintendents,  foremen,  and  apprentices,  in  these  branches  of 
manufacture,  from  the  poll  tax  and  assessments,  from  military  duty, 
and  working  at  highways,  and  his  cotton  and  woolen  establishment 
from  taxes  and  assessments  for  the  term  of  ten  years." 

The  committee  also  thought  it  their  duty  to  report  that  they  had  proof 
that  the  race  of  Merino  sheep  was  inferior  to  none  in  the  value  of  the 
carcass,  or  in  the  facility  of  management.  They  were  healthful  and 
fattened  easily  in  our  climate.  The  superior  excellence  of  their  wool 
was  fully  attested  by  comparison  and  an  attentive  examination  of  the 
fabrics  wrought  from  the  fleeces  grown  in  the  country. 

Indeed,  the  well-known  fact  that  tlie  wool  of  the  Merino  breed  has  been  for  a  long 
time  considered  by  artists  and  manufacturers  throughout  Europe  as  indispensable  to 
the  construction  of  the  finer  woolen  fabrics  is  in  itself,  in  the  opinion  of  the  com- 
mittee, incontestible  evidence  of  its  superior  fineness. 

The  evidence  laid  before  the  committee  left  no  doubt  that  the  wool  ot 
the  Merino  had  not  deteriorated.  Gentlemen  of  the  first  intelligence 
and  integrity  had  attentively  watched  the  progressive  state  of  Col. 
Humphreys'  imported  flock,  and  concurred  in  attesting  to  the  facts  that 
the  wool  of  the  original  stock  retained  all  its  superior  value  in  quality 
and  quantity,  and  that  the  full-blooded  progeny  produced  in  this  coun- 
try was  in  no  respect  inferior  to  the  stock  imported  from  Spain.  In 
view  of  these  facts  a  general  suggestion  was  made  of  the  importance  of 
meliorating  the  common  breed  of  sheep,  particularly  in  the  article  of 
wool,  by  embracing  the  opportunities  offered  by  Humphreys'  flock  of 
crossing  the  blood  and  producing  a  mixed  progeny,  as  also  of  preserv- 
ing and  extending  the  full-blooded  breed  to  an  unlimited  degree. 

James  Madison  was  inaugurated  President  of  the  United  States  on 
the  4th  of  March,  1809,  "  in  a  full  suit  of  cloth  of  American  manufacture, 
of  the  wool  of  Merinos  raised  in  this  country,  his  coat  from  the  manu- 
factory of  Col.  Humphreys,  and  his  waistcoat  and  smallclothes  from 
that  of  Chancellor  Livingston,"  presents,  respectively,  from  those  gen- 
tlemen, whose  zeal  in  the  production  of  domestic  woolens  had  received 
fresh  impulse  and  has  found  several  imitators  since  the  late  restrictions 
on  the  importation  of  British  cloths.  On  the  10th  of  May  following,  an 
agricultural  fair  was  held  in  Georgetown,  D.  C.,  on  which  occasion 
nearly  all  the  gentlemen  present  wore  clothing  of  domestic  manufacture. 
President  Madison  sported  his  inauguration  suit,  the  coat  made  from 
Merino  wool  of  Col.  Humphreys'  flock,  and  the  waistcoat  and  small- 
clothes made  from  the  wool  of  the  Livingston  flock  at  Clermont.  At 
the  same  fair  "  two  Merino  rams  were  exhibited,  sired  by  'Don  Pedro,' 
owned  by  Mr.  Dupont,  of  Wilmington." 

There  was  thus  represented  at  this  fair,  either  by  cloth  made  from 
the  wool  or  by  live  animals,  three  importations  made  by  Dupont,  Liv- 
ingston, and  Humphreys  seven  or  eight  years  before,  which,  with  the 


EAST    OF    THE    MISSISSIPPI    RIVER.  165 

importation  made  by  Mr.  Adams  in  1801,  gave  evidence  flint  the  four 
importations  made  iu  1801  and  J 802  had  IXM-II  preserved,  made  nsH'ul 
in  improving  the  sheep  and  wool  of  the  country,  had  become  such 
favorites  as  to  command  prices  varying  from  $1,000  to  $1,500  each,  and 
laid  the  foundation  for  fine-wooled  manufactures.* 

Evidence  is  ample  and  convincing  that  the  sheep  imported  by  Col. 
Humphreys  were  rapidly  and  widely  disseminated,  and  made  great 
improvements  in  the  flocks  of  the  States  where  they  were  taken;  that 
those  improvements  began  early,  and  in  some  cases,  have  been  progres- 
sive to  the  present  day.  They  became  the  foundation  in  great  part  of 
large  flocks  in  New  England,  New  York,  New  Jersey,  Pennsylvania, 
and  Ohio.  Seth  Adams,  as  has  been  noted,  acted  as  Humphreys'  agent, 
and  in  1810  sold  some  of  his  sheep  into  Kentucky  and  Tennessee. 
About  1808  or  1809  Thomas  Botch,  a  Quaker,  of  Connecticut,  moved  to 
Stark  County,  Ohio,  taking  with  him  a  small  flock  of  Merino  sheep. 
They  were  good,  and  a  part  of  them  were  said  to  be  descendants  of  the 
original  flock  brought  over  from  Spain  in  1802  by  Col.  Humphreys.  In 
1809  William  E.  Dickinson  bought  three  of  these  sheep  (said  to  have 
been  of  the  original  importation),  and  it  is  claimed  that  these  were 
"closely  guarded,  separately  marked,  and  continually  bred  within  the 
importation  of  1802  or  their  descendants"  by  Mr.  Dickinson.  The 
Dickinson  Merino  claims  its  origin  from  the  sheep  thus  carefully 
guarded,  and  the  Black-Top  Spanish  Merino  also  claims  its  origin  from 
the  Dickinson  flock,  through  a  purchase  made  by  William  Berry,  of 
Washington  County,  Pa.,  in  1821.  Mr.  Berry  purchased  of  Mr.  Dick- 
inson one  choice  ram  and  a  few  ewes,  and  placed  them  on  his  farm,  and 
from  that  purchase,  by  good  breeding  and  care,  have  descended  many 
valuable  flocks  that  shall  claim  attention  in  future  pages. 

Some  of  Humphreys7  sheep  are  early  traceable  south  of  the  Potomac. 
On  April  30,  1807,  at  the  Arlington  sheep  shearing,  John  Scott,  of 
Strawberry  Yale,  Fairfax  County,  Ya.,  received  a  premium  for  a  "very 
fine  lamb  bred  from  a  Spanish  sheep  imported  from  the  mountains  of 
Andalusia.77  He  was  an  Humphreys  sheep  with  a  fine  and  beautiful 
fleece  weighing  6f  pounds.  At  the  shearing  at  the  same  place  April 
30,  1809,  two  sheep  described  as  tup  lambs  were  shown : 

Marquis  Eomana,  property  of  William  F.  Grimes,  Eagle7s  Nest,  county 
of  King  George,  weighed  on  the  hoof  128  pounds ;  fleece  weighed  7 
pounds  4  ounces. 

Cavallos,  property  of  A.  B.  Hooe,  Barnsfield,  county  of  King  George, 
weighed  on  the  hoof  96  pounds;  fleece  weighed  7  pounds  14  ounces. 

On  May  15, 1811,  Gen.  John  Mason,  of  Aualostan  Island,  in  the  Poto- 
mac, opposite  Georgetown,  received  from  the  fair  of  the  Columbia  Agri- 
cultural Society  the  first  premium  for  the  "  best  two  toothed  ram  lamb 


*  In  a  letter  written  to  Consul  Jarvis  by  Messrs.  Cornelius  Coolidge  &  Co.,  of 
Boston,  they  speak  of  Col.  Humphreys  repurchasing  for  $1,000  oue  which  he  had 
sold  and  of  his  selling  two  pairs  for  $6,000. 


166        SHEEP  INDUSTRY  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES 

of  the  fine-wooled  breed  for  his  seven-eighths  blooded  Merino  rain,  Poto- 
mac Chief,  of  the  breed  of  Col.  Humphreys'  flock."  Potomac  Chief 
weighed  103  pounds  and  his  fleece  6J  pounds,  unwashed.  Previous  to 
this  Gen.  Mason  is  known  to  have  had  descendants  of  Don  Pedro; 
also  a  Livingston  ram,  and  but  a  short  time  before  had  imported  from 
Cadiz,  Spain,  a  flock  of  Infantados,  to  which  reference  will  be  made  in 
subsequent  pages.  In  the  following  year  (1812),  at  this  fair,  William 
Marbury,  of  Georgetown,  received  a  premium  of  $40  for  his  half-blooded 
Merino  ram  of  Col.  Humphreys'  stock,  crossed  on  the  North  Friesland 
breed.  The  carcass  of  this  ram  weighed  157  pounds  8  ounces;  its  fleece 
11  pounds  14  ounces. 

The  Agricultural  Society  of  South  Carolina  having  demonstrated 
the  success  of  mixing  fine  wool  with  cotton,  it  was  suggested  that 
attempts  be  made  to  manufacture  cloth  at  home  instead  of  sending  the 
material  north,  and  to  improve  the  breed  of  sheep.  Henry  Izard,  in 
May,  1808,  bought  of  Dr.  James  Mease,  of  Philadelphia,  a  Merino  ram 
from  the  Humphreys  stock  bred  by  him.  This  was  the  first  Merino 
taken  into  South  Carolina,  and  the  event  was  hailed  with  great  satis- 
faction as  adding  greatly  to  the  resources  of  the  State  and  as  deserv- 
ing the  attention  of  the  planters,  for  "  cotton  mixes  admirably  with 
wool." 

In  1806  Col.  Humphreys  sold  one  ram  and  two  ewes,  full-blooded,  to 
James  Caldwell  for  $300,  and  Caldwell  took  them  to  his  farm  near  Had- 
donfield,  N.  J.  The  rani  soon  died  and  the  ewes  were  bred  to  a  Span- 
ish rani  imported  from  Hesse-Cassel,  and  of  which  more  hereafter. 
Thomas  Bulkley,  living  near  Philadelphia,  was  a  purchaser  of  Hum- 
phreys sheep  and  bred  them.  In  February,  1807,  he  advertised  rams 
and  ewes  for  sale  of  this  Spanish  breed.  In  August,  1808,  James 
Wadsworth,  of  Geneseo,  N.  Y.,  purchased  for  $1,000  a  full  blooded  ram 
of  Col.  Humphreys,  Avhich,  when  taken  through  western  New  York, 
with  other  sheep,  created  considerable  interest  among  the  farmers. 
About  the  same  time  Aaron  Cleveland  carried  a  Humphreys  half- 
blooded  Merino  ram  into  Washington  County,  K  Y.  At  the  first  show 
of  the  Pennsylvania  society  for  the  improvement  of  the  breeds  of  cat- 
tle, held  at  Philadelphia,  July  18, 1809,  several  rams  and  ewes  of  Hum- 
phreys' three-fourths  and  seven-eighths  blood,  were  shown,  and  at  the 
same  place,  April  3, 1810,  Col.  Humphreys  showed  eight  or  ten  one-half, 
three-fourths,  and  seven-eighths  blood  Merino  rams,  and  the  notice  given 
by  the  live-stock  reporter  of  that  day  indicates  that  they  were  slow  of 
sale:  "These  precious  animals,  which  have  been  on  sale  for  some 
months  near  the  city,  bear  strong  marks  of  the  blood,  and  it  is  to  be 
regretted  that  they  will  be  forever  lost  to  Pennsylvania,  as  they  are  on 
their  way  to  the  westward,  where  their  value  will  no  doubt  be  appre- 
ciated. Their  prices  are  considerably  enhanced  since  last  year."  At 
the  same  time  there  were  shown  two  plates  of  hats,  one  made  with  6 
ounces  of  half-blood  Merino  wool,  the  other  with  3  ounces  Merino,  1 


KAST    OF    THE    MISSISSIPPI    RIVER.  167 

ounce  raccoon,  and  2  ounces  rabbit.     Both  worked  up  very  well.     The 
Merino  wool  was  from  Humphreys'  half-bloods. 

Early  in  March,  1810,  Col.  Humphreys  sold  2  rams  and  2  ewes  for 
8C,()()0,*  and  a  few  weeks  later  the  statement  was  made  that  he  had 
sold  4  rams  for  80,000,  to  be  taken  to  Kentucky.  Whether  these  two 
notices  referred  to  the  same  sale  can  not  now  be  determined.  About 
this  time,  however,  the  Humphreys  sheep  were  taken  into  Kentucky. 
A  letter  from  Lexington,  in  that  State,  July  31,  1810,  says: 

A  flock,  consisting  of  85  Merino  sheep  from  Col.  Humphreys'  stock,  arrived  this 
\veek  at  the  farm  of  Col.  James  Trotter,  near  this  town.  Part  are  full-blooded,  and 
part  are  from  different  crosses  of  our  own  hreed,  and  from  the  high  reputation  of 
Col.  Humphreys  there  can  he  no  doubt  hut  they  are  as  represented. 

Whether  this  was  part  of  the  flock  of  176  that  reached  Marietta, 
Ohio,  on  the  9th  of  that  month,  in  charge  of  Seth  Adams,  we  can  not 
say.  It  is  more  than  probable  that  it  was. 

In  the  summer  of  1812,  Elihu  Ives  sold  for  Col.  Humphreys,  at  Pitts- 
burg.  Pa.,  or  exchanged  for  wool  from  Texas,  a  flock  of  half-bloods, 
three  fourths,  seven-eighths,  fifteen- sixteenths,  and  full-bloods,  and  in 
isi;-j  Ives  closed  a  bargain  for  38,000  pounds  of  wool  from  the  Province 
of  Texas,  and  writes  of  a  brother  who  had  gone  into  Kentucky  with 42 
rams.  The  wool  thus  obtained,  by  exchange  of  sheep  and  manufactured 
goods,  was  sent  east  to  Humphrey s's  mills  at  Huinphreysville,  Conn. 
These  trifling  facts  may  now  seem  unimportant  and  not  worthy  of  record, 
but  to  the  historian  and  economist  they  are  full  of  meaning. 

Col.  Humphreys  bred  his  flock  for  a  number  of  years  with  great  suc- 
cess and  satisfaction  to  himself.  The  very  ones  he  brought  from  Spain, 
he  says,  increased  half  a  pound  in  their  fleeces;  and  their  descendants 
continued  to  improve  in  that  and  every  other  particular.  He  was 
assiduous  in  the  improvement  of  flocks  in  his  own  neighborhood  and 
in  pushing  that  improvement  into  the  far  west  and  southwest.  It  is 
said  by  some  thai:  he  disposed  of  his  flock  about  1813,  through  Elihu 
Ives,  as  elsewhere  related,  though  the  weight  of  authority  is  that  he 
retained  it  until  his  death  in  1818,  when  causes  had  sunk  the  Merinos 
into  contempt  and  neglect,  and  his  invaluable  sheep  Avere  then  scattered, 
and  as  a  general  thing  fell  into  the  hands  of  those  who  attached  no 
great  value  to  their  blood,  for  there  were  but  two  or  three  instances 
where  they  were  preserved  distinct  after  1826.  The  improvement  made 
by  Col.  Humphreys  was  not  marked,  but  that  the  flock  was  a  marked 
and  very  valuable  one  and  a  great  acquisition  to  the  country  admits  of 
no  question;  from  it  was  procured  the  foundations  of  the  best  flocks  of 
Connecticut,  and  their  success  up  to  1810  and  1811  prepared  the  way 
for  the  larger  importations  of  these  years,  and  awakened  the  public  to 
a  realization  of  the  great  value  of  the  Merino  sheep  to  the  wealth  and 
prosperity  of  the  country. 

*  New  York  Gazette,  March  16,  1810. 


168        SHEEP  INDUSTRY  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES 

As  early  as  1796->97,  Dr.  James  Mease,  of  Philadelphia,  secretary  of 
the  "  Philadelphia  Society  for  Promoting  Agriculture,"  au  enthusiastic 
writer  on  agricultural  subjects,  impressed  with  a  sense  of  the  impor- 
tance of  the  Merino  breed  of  sheep,  sent  two  orders  to  Spain  for  a  Merino 
ram.  One  order  received  no  attention,  but  a  friend  saw  that  the  other 
was  executed  and  the  animal  shipped.  It  reached  the  capes  of  Dela- 
ware safely  and  was  there  washed  overboard  in  a  storm.  He  sent  still 
another  order  in  1801,  for  a  pair,  and  in  December,  1803,  two  pairs 
reached  him,  but  to  his  great  disappointment  they  were  black.  Having 
at  the  time  no  land  available  for  them  in  the  vicinity  of  Philadelphia, 
he  placed  them  on  the  farm  of  Joseph  Cooper,  in  Gloucester  County, 
N.  J.  In  August,  1804,  he  fixed  his  price  at  $1  for  every  ewe  brought 
to  the  ram.  Not  a  ewe  was  brought ;  such  was  the  indifference  exhibited 
that  not  one  farmer  for  two  years  had  the  curiosity  even  to  examine  the 
wool.  This  indifference  was  probably  attributable  to  the  total  ignorance 
of  the  farmers  as  to  the  nature  and  qualities  of  the  sheep,  and  to  that 
shyness  with  which  they  viewed  novelties  of  all  kinds.  Mease  was 
inclined  at  first  to  think  the  black  color  might  be  the  objection,  but 
the  equal  indifference  of  the  farmers  to  a  white  ram  of  Col.  Humphreys' 
stock,  which  he  afterwards  procured,  convinced  him  that  the  time  had 
not  yet  come  for  the  conviction  of  the  value  of  the  breed.  Trusting, 
however,  that  the  public  mind  would  be  awakened  to  the  importance 
of  the  object,  and  satisfied  that  he  was,  at  least,  doing  good  service  to 
the  country,  the  zealous  doctor  determined  to  proceed,  and  to  infuse 
the  wool  of  his  Spaniards  into  as  many  fine  American  ewes  as  he  could 
procure.  In  July,  1805,  he  bought  a  flock  of  sheep,  selected  fourteen 
fine-wooled  ewes,  which  he  put  with  the  Spanish  rams,  and  sold  all  the 
rest.  One  of  his  Spanish  ewes  strayed  away  and  was  lost,  the  other 
yeaned  her  first  American  lamb  November,  1804,  another  the  same  time 
next  year,  and  a  third  in  June,  180G.  Her  example  was  followed  next 
year  by  several  of  the  half-blood  ewes,  progeny  of  the  Spanish  ranis,  an 
occurrence  altogether  novel  on  the  part  of  American  sheep,  and  attribut- 
able, probably,  to  the  constant  high  keep  of  the  flock.  At  least,  so 
thought  Dr.  Mease. 

The  owner  was  pleased  to  find  that  notwithstanding  his  rams  were 
black,  yet  that  those  which  were  the  produce  of  a  cross  with  white  ewes 
were  in  many  instances  white.  In  some  cases  of  twins  one  was  black 
and  the  other  was  white ;  in  others  the  wool  was  dark  gray  or  rather 
pepper  and  salt. 

Improvement  in  wool  was  evident.  The  effect  of  the  cross  was  appa- 
rent, not  only  in  the  universal  coating  of  the  body,  but  also  in  the  form 
of  the  progeny.  The  American  ewes  were  long  legged  and  narrow 
backed,  but  the  very  first  cross  gave  them  some  resemblance  to  the  coin- 
pact  figures  of  their  sires,  which  increased  in  proportion  to  the  increase 
of  blood.  Some  were  killed  and  the  mutton  pronounced  delicious. 
Having  no  demand  for  the  progeny  of  his  black  rams  for  breeding  pur- 


EAST    OF    THE    MISSISSIPPI    RIVER.  169 

HI.M->.  although  carrying  nearly  as  line  wool  as  lie  ever  saw,  Dr.  Mo;isc 
ras  induced  to  kill  them.  His  last  lull-blood  ram  lamb  was  killed  in 
uly.  1809,  for  fear  that  lie  would  begin  to  exercise  his  powers  among 
he  ewes.  He  was  out  of  his  own  imported  black  ewe,  by  Col.  Hum- 
hreys7  full-blooded  white  ram.  The  mutton  of  this  rani  was  excellent, 
ke  that  from  the  Welsh  sheep. 

In  the  fall  of  1808  Dr.  Mease  added  16  half-blood  Dishleys  or  New 
Xeicesters  and  crossed  them  with  his  new  acquisition,  by  which  the 
form  of  the  progeny  was  improved.  A  shorter- wooled  sheep  would 
-have  been  preferred,  but  all  distinctions  of  sheep  in  that  section  of  the 
•country  had  been  lost  and  the  forms  of  the  drove  sheep  were  very  infe- 
rior. He  took  his  chances  as  to  the  result  of  the  cross  on  the  working 
quality  of  the  wool  and  made  sure  of  improving  the  form.  The  flock 
soon  partook  of  the  quality  of  the  Leicester  sheep.  Leicester  rams  were 
introduced  into  it  and  the  black  Spanish  Merino  blood  eliminated. 

Although.  Dr.  Mease  bred  them  assiduously  for  a  few  years,  it  is  not 
known  that  any  one  bought  them.  In  November,  1808,  he  advertised 
&  few  half  blood  Merino  rams  for  sale.  Their  color  was  not  given. 
SBomewhat  later  than  this  there  were  fifteen  black  Merino  rams, 
I* selected  from  the  best  flocks  in  Spain,"  advertised  in  one  lot  for  sale 
an  Boston.  Dr.  Mease  bred  from  the  Humphreys  sheep  also,  and  it 
rwas  from  him  that  the  first  Merino  ram  introduced  in  South  Carolina 
wa  s  purchased  early  in  1808. 

In  1807  Dittmar  Basse  Muller,  formerly  of  Germany,  then  of  Phila- 
delphia, imported  G  Merino  sheep  from  the  flock  of  the  Prince  of 
Hesse  Cassel.  These  sheep  were  all  remarkably  fine  animals,  and,  at 
Muller's  request,  James  Caldwell  took  them  to  his  farm  at  Haddon- 
field,  near  Philadelphia,  and  kept  them  until  they  recovered  from  the 
effects  of  the  voyage  and  were  in  proper  condition  to  travel.  Caldwell 
purchased  one  of  the  rams,  for  which  he  paid  $100,  to  replace  one  he 
had  bought  of  Col.  Humphreys  in  1806,  but  which  had  died,  and  bred 
him  to  the  two  Merino  ewes,  also  purchased  from  Col.  Humphreys  with 
tli«j  ram  in  the  fall  of  1806.  Mr.  Caldwell,  writing  nearly  twenty  years 
after  this,  had  every  reason  to  believe  that  the  sheep  imported  by 
Muller  were  pure  Merinos.  The  descendants  of  Muller's  rain  and  the 
Humphreys  ewes  were  fine  animals,  and  some  of  them  became  justly 
^celebrated.  Columbus,  the  first  ram  descendant,  when  2  years  old,  in 
the  spring  or  early  summer  of  1810,  sheared  9  pounds  of  wool,  and 
w«Mghed,  after  being  shorn,  145  pounds,  and  Columbia,  the  first  female 
descendant,  at  the  same  age  and  at  the  same  time,  sheared  7  pounds  9 
ounces.  A  yearling  ram,  Spaniola,  sheared  at  the  same  time  12  pounds 
of  washed  wool,  and  his  weight  after  being  shorn  was  142  pounds.  The 
paper  recording  these  facts  makes  the  further  statement  that — 
I  Columbus,  Columbia,  and  Spaniola  are  pure  Merino  descendants  of  the  finest 
•locks  in  Spain ;  the  sire  was  selected  from  the  Prince  of  Hesse  Cassel's  flock,  that 
Ebad  been  a  present  from  the  King  of  Spain,  and  the  ewes  imported  by  Col.  Hum- 
phreys while  minister  to  that  country. 


170        SHEEP  INDUSTRY  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES 

Columbus,  though  a  fine  sheep,  was  excelled  by  one  of  his  getting! 
Americus,  a  very  superior  animal,  and  considered  by  Mr.  Caldwell  the; 
best  Merino  ram  he  ever  met  with,  although  he  had  traveled  from  Bos- 
ton  to  Alexandria  for  the  purpose  of  examining  all  the  early  importa- 
tions from  Spain,  and  of  purchasing  the  best  he  could  find.  And  he 
had  done  much  in  that  line,  expending  more  than  $40,000  in  purchasing 
the  cream  of  almost  every  importation  from  Spain,  but  could  never 
find  one  equal  in  every  respect  to  Americas.  This  ram  lamb  sheared 
12J  pounds  of  wool,  which  was  sold  by  Mr.  Caldwell  for  $25. 

Mr.  Caldwell  accumulated  a  large  flock,  buying  largely  of  the  Jar  vis 
importations  of  1810.  He  continued  to  breed  from  his  earlier  importa- 
tions and  these  Jarvis  sheep  until  1815,  when  he  sold  the  principal  part 
of  his  flock  to  a  Mr.  Howell,  of  New  Jersey,  who  subsequently  trans- 
ferred it  to  William  E.  Dickinson,  of  Ohio.  Caldwell  received  from 
Howell  $300  for  Columbus  at  a  time  when,  the  best  imported  Spanish 
rams  were  to  be  had  for  $50,  and  for  Americus  Howell  gave  him  $500. 

In  1809,  as  shown  by  the  records  of  the  Massachusetts  Society  for 
Promoting  Agriculture,  Capt.  William  Bartlett  received  a  premium  of 
$50  for  the  importation  of  a  Merino  ram.  This  ram  was  procured  at 
Cadiz,  Spain,  in  May,  1809.  On  March  14,  1810,  a  Merino  ram  was  sold 
in  New  York  City  for  $1,000,  "brought  out  lately  from  Cadiz  by  Capt. 
Barnum  in  the  ship  Atlanta."*  On  April  11,  1810,  Capt.  Page,  of  the 
brig  South  Carolina,  landed  at  Philadelphia  two  Merino  rams  brought 
from  Cadiz.  They  were  exposed  for  sale  on  May  5.  One  was  sold  to 
Joseph  Allen  Smith  for  $510 ;  the  other  was  withdraAvn  from  sale  after 
an  offer  of  $350  had  been  made  for  him. 

An  importation  of  French  Merinos  must  here  be  noted.  Although 
the  French  Government  in  June,  1809,  had  prevented  the  exportation  of 
a  dozen  sheep  belonging  to  II.  R.  Livingston,  his  successor  as  minister 
to  France,  Gen.  John  Armstrong,  was  permitted  to  take  with  him,  on  his 
departure  for  the  United  States,  20  Merino  sheep  that  he  purchased  of 
Mr.  Paris.  One  of  the  sheep  died  on  the  passage.  The  19  were  landed 
November,  1810,  and  taken  to  Clermont  on  the  Hudson  ;  some  of  them 
to  the  flock  of  Mr.  Livingston.  They  Avere  bred  separately  and  were 
freely  disposed  of.  In  October,  1813,  20  rams,  1,  2,  and  3  years  old, 
descendants  of  the  importation  of  1810,  were  offered  for  sale  in  the  city 
of  New  York.  They  Avere  described  as  of  the  first  quality,  and  all  as— 

the  produce  of  the  flock  selected  by  Gen.  Armstrong  when  minister  at  France  (and 
imported  by  him  under  special  license),  from  the  celebrated  flocks  of  Mr.  Paris,  one  of 
the  first  breeders  of  Europe,  and  have  remained  unmixed  with  any  others.  They 
are  equal  to  the  Kambouillet  or  Escnrial  either  in  size,  form,  fineness,  or  quantity  of 
wool,  and  challenge  a  competition  with  any  in  the  United  States. 

The  year  1810  saw  the  United  States  in  the  midst  of  a  mania  for 
home  manufactures  and  fine  wool.  The  troubles  with  France  and  Eng- 

*  New  York  Gazette,  March  16,  1810. 


EAST    OF    THE    MISSISSIPPI   RIVER  171 

Sand  had  virtually  destroyed  her  iii&uit  commerce  and  thrown  her  upon 
her  own  resources.  Manufactures  had  been  growing,  but  it  had  been  a 
(difficult  matter  to  sell  an  American  article  could  a  British  one  be  had 
lit  any  price,  however  extravagant.  Anglomania  was  as  prevalent 
in  those  days  as  it  is  now.  But  the  time  did  come  when  public  opinion 
forced  everyone  to  wear  goods  of  American  manufacture,  consequently 
manufactures  had  a  great  spring  and  fine  wool  was  in  great  demand. 
Attention  was  now  turned  to  the  flocks  of  Livingston  and  Humphreys, 
and  rams  and  ewes  of  the  pure  breed,  and  even  half  bloods,  sold  at 
high  prices.  Livingston  sold  lambs  at  $1,000  apiece.  Humphreys 
realized  as  much.  A  fresh  importation  of  1  ram  from  Spain  sold  for 
$1,000,  and  about  the  same  time  Humphreys  made  a  sale  of  2  rams  and 
2  ewes  for  the  unprecedented  price  of  $1,500  each.  The  fever  ran  from 
town  to  town  and  from  farm  to  farm.  Advertisements  were  accom- 
panied with  marvelous  statements  of  the  value  of  the  Merino  and  its 
wo«  >1  and  the  great  profits  in  raising  them.  The  barren  hillsides  gave 
promise  of  rich  returns  for  their  scanty  pasturage,  and  the  worn-out 
lands  were  to  be  enriched  by  the  pasturing  of  sheep  upon  them,  whose 
fleeces  were,  in  return,  to  enrich  their  owner.  Farms  that  the  owners 
desired  to  dispose  of  were  advertised  as  peculiarly  adapted  to  the  rais- 
ing of  Merino  sheep.  The  most  scrubby,  common  sheep  that  the  coun- 
try could  produce  were  named  after  the  most  noted  Spanish  patriots. 
Sloops  that  sailed  from  New  York  coastwise  were  named  "  Merino." 
An  honest  old  farmer  of  Hopewell,  N.  J.,  who  raised  half  a  bushel  of 
potatoes  from  one,  called  them  Merino  potatoes.  A  bull  calf  in  Penn- 
sylvania was  guaranteed  as  of  the  genuine  Merino  breed;  and  a  Dutch 
farmer's  wife  of  the  State  named  her  tenth  child  Merino  Schmidt. 

The  mania  did  not  escape  the  notice  of  the  wags,  and  an  advertise- 
ment appeared  in  a  Baltimore  paper  offering  for  sale  a  large  number 
of  the  celebrated  Tuscan  improved  breed,  lineally  descended  from  the 
best  breeds  of  the  Golden  Age,  with  fleeces  as  much  superior  to  the  finest 
Merino  as  the  Merino  fleece  is  to  the  common  marengo. 

But  what  makes  the  Tuscan  fleece  so  invaluable  and  gives  to  the  breed  such  incal- 
culable value  is  that  the  fleeces  are  naturally  endued  with  all  the  various  colors,  of 
a  more  perfect  and  brilliant  character  and  luster  than  can  be  imparted  to  them  by 
the  most  celebrated  dyes,  of  the  most  beautiful  glossy  black;  others  of  brilliant  ver- 
milion and  scarlet;  some  of  the  splendid  Tyrean  purple,  and  some  of  the  gaudy  saf- 
fron; also  the  seven  original  colors,  red,  orange,  yellow,  green,  blue,  indigo,  and 
violet.  And  by  arranging  the  threads  of  these  several-colored  fleeces  in  the  loom  in 
their  proper  order  and  agreeably  to  their  original  refrangibility,  the  beautiful  and 
fashionable  rainbow  cloth  is  made,  and  it  is  only  from  the  fleeces  of  the  Tuscan  shn-p 
that  the  rainbow  cloth  can  be  made.  Besides  the  immense  emolument  from  th«-se 
sheep,  they  are  the  most  delightful  resource  of  intellectual  enjoyment  to  philosophic 
exjii-rimentali/mg  minds,  as  gentlemen  may  amuse  themselves  in  the  production  of 
an  •  -ndless  variety  of  colored  fleeces  by  skillfully  blending  the  agents  who  are  to 
to  weave  the  wool  in  nature's  loom. 

And  not  to  be  behind  Livingston,  Humphreys,  and  others  as  patriots 
and  public  benefactors,  these  sheep  were  placed  at  the  low  price  of 
$5,000  for  rains  and  $500  to  $1,500  for  ewes. 


172        SHEEP  INDUSTRY  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES 

But  events  were  now  transpiring  in  other  parts  of  the  world  thi 
opened  opportunities  for  large  purchases  of  the  Spanish  Merinos,  tin 
shipment  to  the  United  States,  and  a  consequent  reduction  of  price 
which  put  them  within  the  reach  of  many  enterprising  men.  The  wai 
in  Europe,  the  British  orders  in  council,  the  various  decrees  of  Bom 
parte,  our  own  embargoes,  and  all  the  various  acts  of  all  the  powers 
from  1802  to  1810  tending  to  cripple  American  commerce,  served  as  a^ 
stimulant  to  American  manufactures,  and  at  the  same  time  opened  a 
channel  by  which  fine  wool,  the  base  of  one  of  the  most  important  indus- 
tries, was  to  be  furnished.  The  invasion  of  Spain  by  Bonaparte  not 
only  involved  France  and  Spain  in  war,  but  let  loose  the  spirit  of  faction 
in  the  latter.  Torn  with  dissensions  within  and  invaded  from  without, 
the  once  proud,  rich,  and  powerful  nation  presented  a  lamentable  spec-: 
tacle.  Bonaparte  confiscated  the  estates  and  flocks  of  the  powerful 
nobles  who  would  not  take  up  his  cause ;  the  Spanish  Junta  confiscated 
the  property  of  those  who  did  not  support  the  national  or  Spanish 
cause,  so,  between  two  fires,  all  the  fine  -cabanas  of  Merino  sheep  were 
confiscated  to  whatever  party  had  success  in  laying  hands  upon  them. 
This  inclined  their  owners  to  sell  them  when  they  became  endangered 
and  when  opportunity  presented  itself.  The  opportunity  thus  presented 
was  also  taken  advantage  of  by  the  American  consuls  at  Lisbon  and 
Cadiz.  They  saw  an  opportunity  to  enrich  their  country  with  the  finest 
wooled  sheep  of  Europe  at  the  very  time  their  country  most  needed  the 
valued  animal.  The  first  to  take  action  was  the  consul  at  Lisbon. 

William  Jarvis  was  born  at  Boston,  Mass.,  February  4,  1770.  He 
was  the  son  Dr.  Charles  Jarvis,  a  distinguished  physician  and  surgeon. 
He  was  educated  for  a  merchant,  into  which  business  he  entered  ac- 
tively and  prosecuted  successfully,  until  indorsements  011  paper  of  a 
friend  compelled  him  to  retire.  For  five  years  thereafter  he  wras  captain 
and  supercargo  of  a  ship,  in  which  he  had  half  interest.  He  was 
enabled  to  pay  all  his  debts  and  free  himself  from  pecuniary  embar- 
rassment. In  February,  1802,  he  was  appointed  by  President  Jeffer- 
son consul  to  Lisbon  and  acting  charge  to  Portugal.  He  made  a  good 
business  consul  and  successful  diplomat.  It  was  fortunate  for  the 
United  States  that  he  made  such  successful  efforts  to  ameliorate  the 
trouble  to  which  our  shipping  was  subjected  that  at  the  commencement 
of  the  Peninsular  war  we  secured  the  immense  neutral  trade  of  the 
armies  engaged  in  that  conflict.  It  was  fortunate  also  that  he  possessed 
a  mind  comprehensive  enough  to  see  the  great  advantage  to  his  country 
of  the  acquisition  of  the  Merino  sheep,  and  the  energy  of  character 
necessary  to  secure  them.  There  can  be  no  question  that  his  example 
in  securing  some  of  the  best  sheep  in  Spain,  not  only  for  himself  but 
for  others,  was  a  great  incentive  to  the  trade  in  them  that  immediately 
followed,  by  which  so  many  thousands  were  transferred  to  this  country 
to  increase  her  wealth  and  encourage  her  manufactures  of  fine  woolen 
goods. 


EAST    OF    THE    MISSISSIPPI   RIVER.  173 

IV i -sing  for  the  moment  the  details  of  that  invaluable  service  ren- 
eivd  by  him  in  leading  the  way  in  sending  Merino  sheep  to  the  United 
tales  in  such  numbers  as  to  establish  them  firmly  in  many  of  the 
t;it<->,  it  may  be  said  that  Mr.  Jarvis  remained  at  Lisbon  until  Octo- 
er  -i',  1810,  when  he  sailed  for  home,  and  in  April,  1811,  removed  to 
Veathersfield,  Vt.,  taking -with  him  all  his  animals,  including  his 
selected  Merinos  (about  400),  Dutch  cattle,  Portuguese  swine,  goats, 
onkcys,  ete.,  a  Spanish  shepherd  and  a  noble  shepherd  dog."  In  the 
are  and  breeding  of  his  stock,  surrounded  by  a  large  family  and 
evoted  friends,  he  passed  the  remainder  of  his  days,  dying  October 
1,  1859,  at  the  advanced  age  of  89  years  and  9  months.  Soon  after 
is  deatli  the  flock  of  sheep  that  he  had  bred  with  so  much  care  and 
»olicitude  for  forty-eight  years  were  scattered,  and  the  farm  at  Weath- 
rsfleld  does  not,  or  rather  did  not  a  few  years  since,  breed  a  single 
ure-blooded  Merino  sheep. 

When  Mr.  Jarvis,  at  Lisbon,  heard  that  Col.  Humphreys  had  obtained 
his  100  sheep,  and  saw  their  beauty  as  they  were  brought  to  be  shipped 
from  his  consular  port,  he  was  very  desirous  to  procure  some,  and  imme- 
diately wrote  to  a  trusted  friend  in  Spain  to  that  effect,  but  in  reply 
was  informed  that  it  was  impossible.  He  possessed  great  facilities  for 
acquiring  information  regarding  Spanish  affairs,  and,  from  his  keen 
observation  of  events,  availed  himself  of  the  first  opportunity  to  obtain 
Merinos,  convinced  that  the  extended  introduction  of  this  fine-wooled 
breed  would  greatly  increase  the  prosperity  of  the  country.  He  made 
two  unsuccessful  efforts,  one  in  1806  and  again  in  1809;  but  now  cir- 
cumstances favored  him.  Napoleon  had  plunged  Europe  into  war. 
Spain  was  in  a  distracted  state  from  French  invasion  and  internal  dis- 
sension, which,  as  Mr.  Jarvis  was  informed,  would  enable  him  to  pur- 
chase some  of  the  jealously  guarded  Spanish  flocks,  for  it  would  be 
much  more  to  the  profit  of  the  owners  to  exchange  them  for  gold  than 
to  have  them  eaten  by  the  French  soldiers.  He  wrote  to  the  Hon. 
George  W.  Erving,  who  had  succeeded  Col.  Humphreys  as  minister  at 
Madrid,  telling  him  of  the  information  he  had  received,  and  requesting 
him  to  use  his  influence  in  obtaining  for  him  100  Merinos,  mostly  rams, 
and  directing  their  shipment  to  Cornelius  Coolidge  &  Co.,  of  Boston. 
This  was  in  September,  1809.  In  December  Jarvis  received  permission 
to  purchase  and  export  from  the  kingdom  200  of  the  Escurial  flock,  and 
Sir  Charles  Stewart,  the  British  ambassador,  was  also  permitted  to 
export  a  like  number. 

The  first  arrival  of  these  sheep  was  on  April  13, 1810,  and  the  Boston 
Chronicle  makes  the  announcement: 

We  are  happy  to  learn  of  the  safe  arrival  of  the  ship  Edward,  from  Lisbon,  with  45 
gen ni ue  full-blooded  Merino  sheep.  Massachusetts  is  indebted  to  the  patriotic 
exertions  of  Messrs.  Cornelius  Coolidge  and  Francis  J.  Oliver,  merchants  of  thia 
town,  for  this  valuable  acquisition  to  its  manufacturing  interests. 


174  SHEEP    INDUSTRY    OF    THE    UNITED    STATES 

For  this  importation  into  Massachusetts  in  1810  Cornelius  Coolidge 
received  the  premium  of  $250,  offered  by  the  Massachusetts  Society  for 
Promoting  Agriculture,  for  the  first  10  ewes  imported  from  Spain. 

Eleven  of  the  45  sheep  imported  in  the  Edward,  all  rams,  sold  for 
$10,902.66,  nearly  $1,000  each.  Eleven  more  were  rented  at  this  time 
for  $4,440,  or  a  little  more  than  $400  each.  These  sheep  were  Escurials. 

Succeeding  this  first  shipment  of  45  Spanish  Merinos  to  Boston  was  a 
shipment  to  Alexandria,  Ya.,  whicli  arrived  in  the  Potomac  May  1, 1810; 
but  the  vessel,  running  aground  just  below  th«  city,  did  not  get  off  to 
laud  her  cargo  until  May  5.  This  importation  is  directly  traceable  to 
the  good  offices  of  Thomas  Jefferson.  The  Columbia  Agricultural 
Society,  of  Georgetown,  D.  C.,  at  the  fair  of  which  Madison  sported  his 
suit  of  domestic  manufacture,  embraced  in  its  membership  many  wealthy 
and  public- spirited  farmers  of  Maryland  and  Virginia,  men  who,  like 
Jefferson,  entertained  the  idea  that  "  we  should  encourage  home  manu- 
factures to  the  extent  of  our  own  consumption  of  everything  of  which 
we  raise  the  raw  material,"  and  who  believed  it  the  duty  of  every  good 
citizen  "  to  use  no  foreign  article  that  can  be  raised  within  ourselves." 
They  looked  to  the  improvement  of  their  flocks  by  the  introduction  of 
the  Merino  sheep,  and  requested  the  assistance  of  Jefferson,  who,  it  was 
known,  favored  the  idea,  and  had  expressed  his  desire  for  some  of  that 
breed  to  make  it  "  a  blessing  to  his  countrymen."  Erom  Monticello, 
November  23,  1809,  Jefferson  wrote  to  Hon.  George  W.  Erving,  United 
States  minister  at  Madrid : 

An  American  vessel,  the  property  of  a  respectable  merchant  of  Georgetown,  on  a 
voyage  to  some  part  of  Europe  for  general  purposes  of  commerce,  proposes  to  touch 
at  some  part  of  Spain  with  the  view  of  obtaining  Merino  sheep  to  be  brought  to  our 
country.  The  necessity  we  are  under,  and  the  determination  we  have  formed  of 
emancipating  ourselves  from  a  dependence  on  foreign  countries  for  manufactures 
whicli  may  be  advantageously  established  among  ourselves,  has  produced  a  very 
general  desire  to  improve  the  quality  of  our  wool  by  the  introduction  of  the  Merino 
race  of  sheep.  Your  sense  of  the  duties  you  owe  to  your  station  will  not  permit  me 
to  ask,  nor  yourself  to  do,  any  act  which  might  compromit  you  with  the  Government 
with  whicli  you  reside,  or  forfeit  that  confidence  on  their  part  which  can  alone  en- 
able you  to  be  useful  to  your  country.  But  as  far  as  that  will  permit  you  to  give  aid 
to  the  procuring  and  bringing  away  some  of  the  valuable  race,  I  take  the  liberty  of 
soliciting  you  to  do  so— it  will  be  an  important  service  rendered  to  your  county— to 
which  you  will  be  further  encouraged  by  the  assurance  that  the  enterprise  is  solely 
on  the  behalf  of  agricultural  gentlemen  of  distinguished  character  in  Washington 
and  its  neighborhood,  with  a  view  of  disseminating  the  benefits  of  their  success  as 
widely  as  they  can.  Without  any  interest  in  it  myself,  other  than  the  general  one, 
1  can  not  help  wishing  a  favorable  result,  and  therefore  add  my  solicitations  to  the 
assurances  of  my  constant  esteem  and  respect. 

M  inister  Erving  turned  the  matter  over  to  Consul  Jarvis,  who  shipped 
on  the  Diana,  then  lying  at  Lisbon,  12  of  the  Escurials  to  James  IT. 
llooi>,  a  merchant  at  Alexandria,  with  directions  to  present  a  pair  to 
Ex-President  Jefferson,  a  pair  to  President  Madison,  and  to  sell  the 
remainder,  whicli  orders  were  executed  upon  their  arrival  May  5,  1810. 


EAST    OF    THE    MISSISSIPPI    RIVER.  175 

Thus*'  that  went  to  Jefferson  and  Madison  are  accounted  for  in  the 
following  correspondence.    Madison  writes  to  Jefferson  on  May  7 : 

The  in  closed  letter  from  Jarv  is  accompanied  one  to  me  on  the  subject  of  the  Merinos. 
I  Irani  that  they  have  arrived  safe,  but  the  vessel  is  aground  a  few  miles  below 
Alexandria.  Joseph  Doherty  is  gone  to  bring  them  up,  mating  the  selections  war- 
ranted by  Mr.Jarvis.  As  the  means  I  shall  employ  to  have  my  pair  conveyed  to 
Virginia  will  suffice  for  yours,  if  will  be  unnecessary  for  you  to  attend  to  the  matter 
till  you  hear  of  their  arrival  at  Orange. 

Jefferson  acknowledged  the  receipt  of  Madison's  letter  on  the  13th, 
and  at  some  length  advanced  his  views  as  to  the  proper  use  to  be  made 
of  the  increase  of  the  Merinos,  not  failing  to  reflect  somewhat  severely 
on  the  conduct  of  Livingston,  Humphreys  and  others,  who  were  then 
ivalizing  large  prices  for  their  sheep,  Livingston  having  recently  sold 
some  for  $1,000  a  head,  and  Humphreys  receiving  86,000  for  2  rams  and 
L»  ewes.  Others  had  the  same  views,  and  the  editor  of  a  far-off  Indiana 
paper,  while  advocating  with  great  warmth  the  immense  advantage  to 
be  derived  from  the  introduction  of  the  Merino  sheep,  did  not  forget 
to  give  a  back-handed  compliment  to  Livingston  and  Humphreys  by 
the  expression  of  an  opinion  that,  if  the  man  who  would  part  with  a 
sheep  for  $1,000  was  a  patriot,  a  much  greater  patriot  was  the  man  who 
m -eived  $1,500.  Jefferson's  letter  was  written  at  Moiiticello  and  was 
in  these  words: 

I  thank  you  for  your  promised  attention  to  my  portion  of  the  Merinos,  and  if  there 
b«.  -inv  expenses  of  transportation,  etc.,  and  you  will  be  so  good  as  .to  advance  my 
portion  of  them  with  yours  andnotify  meof  the  amount,  it  shall  be  promptly  remitted. 
What  shall  we  do  with  them!    I  have  been  so  disgusted  with  the  scandalous  extor- 
tions lately  practiced  in  the  sale  of  these  animals,  and  with  the  ascription  of  patri- 
otism and  praise  to  the  sellers,  as  if  the  thousands  of  dollars  apiece  they  have  not 
been  ashamed  to  receive  were  not  reward  enough,  that  I  am  disposed  to  consider  ai 
ricrht  whatever  is  the  reverse  of  what  they  have  done.     Since  fortune  has  put  the 
occasion  upon  us,  is  it  not  incumbent  upon  us  so  to  dispense  this  benefit  to  the  farm- 
ers of  our  country  as  to  put  to  shame  those  who,  forgetting  their  own  wealth  and  the 
honest  simplicity  of  the  farmers,  have  thought  them  fit  objects  of  the  shaving  art, 
and  to  excite  by  a  better  example  the.  condemnation  due  to  theirs!    No  sentimenl 
more  acknowledged  in  the  family  of  agriculturists  than  that  the  few  who  can  al 
ford  it  should  incur  the  risk  and  expense  of  all  new  improvements,  and  give 
benefit  freely  to  the  many  of  more  restricted  circumstances.     The  question  then  re- 
curs what  are  we  to  do  with  them  ?    I  shall  be  willing  to  concur  with  you  in 
von  shall  approve,  and  in  order  that  we  may  have  some  proposition  to  begi 
will  throw  out  a  first  idea,  to  be  modified  or  postponed  to  whatever  you 


wive  all  the  full-blooded  males  we  can  raise  to  the  different  counties  of  our  State, 
one  to  each,  as  fast  as  we  can  furnish  them.     And  as  there  must  be  some  nil 
oritv  for  the  distribution,  let  us  begin  with  our  own  counties,  which  are  conti- 
and  near]  v  central  to  the  State,  and  proceed,  circle  after  circle,  till  we  have  given  a 
rim  to  every  county.     This  will  take  about  seven  years;  if  we  add  to  tl 
scendants  those  which  will  have  passed  to  the  fourth  generation  from  common  ewe*, 
to  make  the  benefit  of  a  single  male  as  general  as  practicable  tot* 
ask  some  known  character  in  each  county  to  have  a  sn,:,ll  Bocietj  1-    med  w    eft  an* 
receive  the  animal  and  prescribe  rale*  for  his  -an-  and  government.     \\ 
tain  ourselves  all  the  full-blooded  ewes,  that  they  may  enable  us  the  soonei  to  1 


176        SHEEP  INDUSTRY  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES 

ish  a  male  to  every  county.  When  all  shall  have  been  provided  with  rams,  we  may, 
in  a  year  or  two  more,  be  in  a  condition  to  give  a  ewe  also  to  every  county,  if  it  be 
thought  necessary.  But  I  suppose  it  will  not,  as  four  generations  from  their  full- 
blooded  ram  will  give  them  the  pure  race  from  common  ewes. 

In  the  meantime,  we  shall  not  be  without  a  profit  indemnifying  our  trouble  and 
expense.  For  if  of  our  present  stock  of  common  ewes  we  place  with  the  ram  as 
many  as  he  may  be  competent  to,  suppose  50,  we  may  sell  the  male  lambs  of  every 
year  for  such  reasonable  price  as,  in  addition  to  the  wool,  will  pay  for  the  mainte- 
nance of  the  flock.  The  first  year  they  will  be  half-bloods,  the  second  three-quarters, 
the  third  seven-eighths,  and  the  fourth  full-blooded,  if  we  take  care  in  selling 
annually  half  the  ewes,  also  to  keep  those  of  highest  blood ;  this  will  be  a  fund  for 
kindnesses  to  our  friends,  as  well  as  for  indemnification  to  ourselves;  and  our  whole 
State  may  thus,  from  this  small  stock  so  dispersed,  be  filled  in  a  very  few  years  with 
this  valuable  race,  and  more  satisfaction  result  to  ourselves  than  money  ever  admin- 
istered to  the  bosom  of  a  shaver.  There  will  be  danger  that  what  is  here  proposed, 
though  but  an  act  of  ordinary  duty,  may  be  perverted  into  one  of  ostentation ;  but 
malice  will  always  find  bad  motives  for  good  actions.  Shall  we,  therefore,  never  do 
good?  It  may  also  be  used  to  commit  us  with  those  on  whose  example  it  will  truly 
be  a  reproof.  We  may  guard  against  this,  perhaps,  by  a  proper  reserve,  developing 
our  purpose  only  by  its  execution. 

To  this  letter  Madison  replied  as  follows,  on  the  25th : 

I  have  duly  received  your  favor  of  the  13th.  The  general  idea  of  disposing  of  the 
supernumerary  Merino  rams  for  the  public  benefit  had  occurred  to  me.  The  mode 
you  propose  for  the  purpose  seems  well  calculated  for  it.  But  as  it  will  be  most 
proper,  as  you  suggest,  to  let  our  views  be  developed  to  the  public  by  the  execution 
of  them,  there  will  be  time  for  further  consideration.  When  the  sheep  came  into 
my  hands  they  were  so  infected  with  scab  that  I  found  it  necessary,  in  order  to 
quicken  and  insure  their  cure,  to  apply  the  mercurial  ointment.  I  hope  they  are 
already  well.  One  of  the  ewes  has  just  dropped  a  ewe  lamb,  which  is  also  doing 
well.  I  expect  my  overseer  every  day  to  conduct  them  to  Orange.  As  he  will  have 
a  wagon  with  him,  the  trip,  I  hope,  may  be  so  managed  as  to  avoid  injury  to  his 
charge. 

The  Joseph  Doherty  referred  to  in  Madison's  letter  of  May  7  was 
a  farmer  living  near  Alexandria,  who  was  then  breeding  the  Merino 
from  Dupont's  stock.  The  National  Intelligencer  of  July  23,  1810,  con- 
tains his  advertisement  for  the  sale  of  "  several  three-eighths  blooded 
Merino  rams  of  Mr.  Dupontfs  stock,  yeaned  in  February."  To  him  Jef- 
ferson writes,  May  24 : 

I  have  duly  received  your  two  letters  of  the  5th  and  14th,  and  am  thankful  for 
your  aid  in  the  safe  delivery  of  our  Merinos.  The  President,  on  their  arrival,  had 
notified  me  of  it,  and  that  he  would  receive  and  forward  mine  to  Orange  with  his 
own ;  from  thence  I  can  get  them  here  in  a  day.  As  soon  as  I  heard  of  their  arrival 
I  made  up  rny  mind,  instead  of  receiving  thousands  of  dollars  apiece  for  their  off- 
springs, to  lay  myself  out  for  furnishing  my  whole  State  gratis,  by  giving  a  full- 
blooded  ram  to  every  county,  as  fast  as  they  can  be  raised.  Besides  raising  from  my 
imported  ewe  I  shall  put  as  many  of  my  own  as  the  ram  is  competent  to,  and  as  four 
crossings  give  the  pure  breed,  when  that  come  in,  I  shall  make  quick  work  of  fur- 
nishing one  to  every  county.  By  these  means  I  hope  to  see  my  own  State  entirely 
covered  with  this  valuable  race,  at  no  expense  to  the  farmers,  and  the  moderate  one 
to  me  of  maintaining  the  flock  while  doing  it.  In  the  meantime  I  shall  have  half- 
blood  rams  the  first  year,  three-fourths  blood  the  second,  and  seven-eighths  the  third 
to  give  to  my  friends.  Any  of  these  which  would  be  acceptable  to  you  you  shall  be 
welcome  to.  I  shall  keep  my  flock  under  my  own  eye;  I  have  been  obliged  to  do 


EAST    OF    THE    MISSISSIPPI    RIVER.  177 

this  for  sometime  with  my  present  race,  peeping  a  person  constantly  following  them 
attended  by  the  shepherd's  dog  I  received  from  France,  perfectly  trained  to  the  busi- 
ness. They  have  now  the  benefit  of  as  fine  pasture  as  can  be,  the  dog  keeping  them 
from  injuring  the  grain  in  the  same  inclosure. 

For  the  shepherd  dog  here  alluded  to  Jefferson  was  indebted  to 
Dupont  de  Nemours,  to  whom  he  had  written  March  2,  1809 :  "  If  you 
return  to  us,  bring  a  couple  of  pairs  of  true-bred  shepherd's  dogs.  You 
will  add  a  valuable  possession  to  a  country  now  beginning  to  pay  great 
attention  to  raising  sheep." 

The  Merinos  were  safely  taken  to  Montpelier  and  Monticello  by  the 
agents  or  managers  of  the  two  estates,  who  came  to  Fredericsburg  to 
receive  them.  When  they  caught  sight  of  these  animals,  so  renowned 
at  the  time  throughout  the  country,  they  were  woefully  disappointed. 
"  The  sheep  were  little  bits  of  things,"  says  Mr.  Bacon,  who  was  Jeffer- 
son's agent,  "  and  Graves  said  he  would  not  give  his  riding  whip  for 
the  whole  lot."  Their  instructions  were  to  divide  them  by  tossiug  up 
for  the  first  choice.  "  So,"  says  Mr.  Bacon,  "  I  put  my  hand  into  my 
pocket  and  drew  out  a  dollar,  and  said,  '  Head  or  tail  F  I  got  the  best 
buck.  He  was  a  little  fellow,  but  his  wool  was  as  fine  almost  as  cotton. 
When  I  got  home  I  put  a  notice  in  the  paper  at  Charlottesville  that 
persons  who  wished  to  improve  their  stock  could  send  us  2  ewes,  and 
we  would  keep  them  until  the  lambs  were  old  enough  to  wean  and 
then  give  the  owners  the  choice  of  lambs,  and  they  leave  the  other 
lamb  and  both  of  the  ewes.  We  got  the  greatest  lot  of  sheep,  more 
than  we  wanted,  200  or  300,  I  think,  and  in  a  few  years  we  had  an  im- 
mense flock.  People  came  long  distances  to  buy  1  full-blooded  sheep. 
At  first  we  sold  them  for  $50,  but  they  soon  fell  to  $30  and  $20,  and 
before  I  left  Mr.  Jefferson  Merino  sheep  were  so  numerous  that  they 
sold  about  as  cheap  as  common  ones."* 

On  December  5,  1810,  Jefferson  expresses  his  thanks  to  Jarvis  for 
putting  him  in  the  way  to  "  extend  the  improvement  of  one  of  the  most 
valuable  races  of  our  domestic  animals.  The  Merinos  are  now  safe 
with  me  here,  and  good  preparations  made  for  their  increase  the  ensu- 
ing season.  Pursuing  the  spirit  of  the  liberal  donor,  I  consider  them  as 
deposited  for  the  general  good,  and  divesting  myself  of  all  views  of 
gain  I  propose  to  devote  them  to  the  diffusion  of  the  race  through  the 
State."  His  success  in  this  laudable  endeavor  was  marvelous,  and  to 
him  Virginia  was  greatly  indebted  for  the  first  step  in  a  direction  that 
might  have  made  and  continued  her  the  greatest  State  of  the  Union. 

The  improvement  in  wool  was  so  great  by  the  introduction  of  the  Merino 
that  Jefferson,  who  in  January,  1812,  wrote  to  John  Adams  that  "  here 
we  do  little  in  the  fine  way,  but  in  coarse  and  middling  goods  a  good 
deal,"  said  later  in  the  same  year,  "  of  Merinos  we  have  some  thou- 
sands, and  these  multiplying  fast;  every  family  of  any  size  is  now 
getting  machines  on  a  small  scale  for  their  household  purposes."  Of 

*  Parton's  Life  of  Thomas  Jefferson. 
22090 12 


178        SHEEP  INDUSTRY  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES 

his  own  household  at  Monticello,  in  1815,  and  the  condition  of  house- 
hold manufacture  in  the  State,  he  says : 

I  make  in  my  family  2,000  yards  of  cloth  a  year,  which  I  formerly  brought  from 
England.  The  State  generally  does  the  same,  and  allowing  10  yards  to  a  person, 
this  amounts  to  10,000,000  yards.  *  *  *  Carding  machines  in  every  neighborhood, 
spinning  machines  in  large  families  and  wheels  in  the  small,  are  too  radically  estab- 
lished ever  to  be  relinquished.  The  finer  fabrics,  perhaps,  and  even  probably,  will 
be  sought  again  in  Europe,  except  broadcloth,  which  with  the  vast  multiplication 
of  Merinos  among  ns  will  enable  ns  to  make  much  cheaper  than  can  be  done  in 
Europe. 

To  return  to  the  sheep  imported  on  the  Diana,  which  Mr.  Jarvis 
directed  to  be  sold.  They  were  advertised  widely  in  Virginia,  Mary- 
land, and  Pennsylvania  papers  as  being  selected  with  great  care,  and 
believed  to  be  of  the  first  class  of  Merinos,  and  the  Richmond  Enquirer 
of  May  15  advised  the  farmers  of  Virginia  to  procure  some  of  this 
excellent  breed  of  sheep  in  order  to  put  down  the  monopoly  rising  in 
the  eastern  States.  Mr.  Hooe  reserved  1  ram  for  himself,  and  6  others 
were  sold  at  auction  June  5.  Chief-Justice  Cranch  and  Dr.  Thorn- 
ton, of  Washington,  bought  3  rams;  1  was  sold  to  John  Threlkeld,  for 
Gen.  John  Mason,  of  Analostan  Island,  and  himself;  1  to  Gen.  Thomp- 
son Mason,  of  Virginia,  and  1  to  Mr.  Philips,  of  Delaware. 

The  descendants  of  the  rams  sold  to  Judge  Crunch,  Gen.  John  Mason, 
and  John  Threlkeld  were  numerous  next  year,  and  sold  freely  to  the 
farmers  of  Virginia  and  Maryland,  Judge  Cranch  advertising  "  a  num- 
ber of  ram  lambs  half-blood  descended  from  Mr.  Whitney's  flock  in 
Virginia.  The  lambs  are  from  the  rams  first  imported  into  Alexandria, 
May,  1810,  with  those  presented  to  President  Madison  and  Thomas 
Jefierson." 

Succeeding  the  arrival  of  the  Diana  at  Alexandria  was  that  of  the 
Maria  Theresa  at  New  York,  on  May  28,  with  7  Escurials  consigned  to 
Hicks,  Jenkins  &  Co.  Six  of  them  were  sold  for  $7,500,  or  an  aver- 
age of  $1,250  each;  the  seventh  one  was  affected  with  the  scab  and  not 
sold  at  that  time.  On  June  8  there  was  an  arrival  of  3  at  Balti- 
more, consigned  to  Appleton  &  Co.,  and  their  arrival  on  the  Augusta 
is  coupled  with  the  information  that  the  vessel  was  to  have  taken  28 
sheep,  but  they  were  interrupted  by  the  Spaniards  on  the  borders  of 
Portugal.  The  Mark  and  Abigail  arrived  at  Newburyport  with  9  on 
June  10,  the  Hamlet  at  Boston  with  6  on  the  15th;  the  Three  Brothers 
with  9  on  the  18th,  and  the  Patriot  with  12  on  the  20th.  The  Three 
Brothers  and  the  Patriot  landed  at  Boston,  and  the  cargoes  of  the  four 
last-named  vessels  were  consigned  to  Coolidge  &  Co.  On  June  17  the 
Traveller  landed  24  sheep  at  New  York  from  W.  Jarvis  at  Lisbon,  con- 
signed to  R.  Crowningshield.  On  the  28th  Mr.  Crowningshield  offers  for 
sale  5  Merino  ewes  and  1  buck  whose  fleeces  were  of  superior  quality. 
It  is  reasonable  to  infer  from  the  date  that  these  were  Escurials  shipped 
by  Jarvis  and  lauded  on  the  17th. 


EAST   OF    THE    MISSISSIPPI    RIVER.  179 

On  July  2  the  Telemachus  landed  from  Lisbon  3  rams  and  9  ewes 
consigned  to  Coolidge  &  Co.,  at  Boston,  and  on  the  20th  the  Herschell 
arrived  at  Portland  with  43  sheep,  40  for  N.  Gilmau,  of  Portsmouth, 
K.  H.,  and  3  for  Capt.  Lewis,  master  of  the  vessel.  There  is  but  little 
doubt  that  all  these  shipments  were  of  the  200  Escurials  purchased  by 
Mr.  Jarvis. 

The  purity  of  these  Jarvis  sheep  did  not  pass  unchallenged.  On  June 
7,  1810,  the  American  Daily  Advertiser,  of  Philadelphia,  published  this 
communication: 

Those  desirous  to  obtain  a  Merino  flock  should  be  cautious  of  those  lately  imported 
into  this  country.  From  the  great  demand  it  has  induced  the  captains,  supercargoes, 
and  others  to  attain  them  by  every  species  of  fraud.  The  captain,  etc.,  requests  the 
butcher  to  put  up  a  certain  number  of  sheep  for  sea  stores  without  regard  to  blood, 
size,  quantity  or  quality  of  wool.  They  are  brought  to  America  and  purchased  for 
Merinos,  at  the  same  time  partaking  of  the  meanest  sheep  and  the  various  kinds 
of  the  country,  as  it  is  well  known  by  those  conversant  in  the  improved  breed  of 
sheep  but  few  if  any  fall  into  the  hands  of  the  butchers.  The  captain  of  the  South 
Carolina  informed  me  the  above  was  the  mode  he  procured  his,  and  the  whole  was 
inferior  to  the  half-bloods  of  the  country;  and  of  the  45  lately  imported  into  Bos- 
ton, I  am  informed  not  more  than  4  were  entitled  to  the  name  of  full-blood  Merinos. 

We  have  in  this  communication  an  intimation  that  others  besides  Mr. 
Jarvis  were  shipping  Merinos — or  other  Spanish  sheep — to  the  United 
States,  Indeed,  we  learn  from  another  sea  worthy  that  during  the 
spring  (1810)  15,000  Merinos  had  left  Spanish  ports  and  Lisbon  for  the 
United  States.  It  was  stated  at  the  time  that  Col.  Humphreys  or  his 
friends  furnished  the  material  for  these  attacks  upon  the  purity  of  the 
Jarvis  importations,  or  at  least  upon  some  of  those  made  in  June.  Col. 
Humphreys  was  of  too  high  a  character  to  make  or  countenance  a 
misrepresentation  or  to  injure  another;  what  those  would  do  who  were 
interested  in  handling  his  sheep  can  not  be  said.  That  poor  sheep 
came  over  on  these  sailing  crafts  with  the  good  ones  is  more  than  prob- 
able; indeed,  our  knowledge  of  human  nature  the  world  over  compels 
us  to  accept  as  true  the  statement  of  the  captain  of  the  South  Caro- 
lina that  he  procured  from  the  butchers  sea  stock  "  the  whole  inferior 
to  the  half-bloods  of  the  country,"  and  shipped  them  on  his  own 
account,  and  doubtless  other  than  sea  captains  did  the  same;  but  it  is 
an  undisputable  fact  that  the  Jarvis  importations  of  April,  May,  and 
June,  1810,  were  supposed  to  be  good  stock,  and,  without  much  doubt, 
were  Escurials.  Mr.  Jarvis's  statement  that  they  were  Escurials  is 
entitled  to  great  consideration  and  has  been  generally  accepted,  but  in 
seeming  contradiction  is  a  statement  made  by  Chancellor  Livingston. 
Livingston  was  a  keen  observer  and  kept  his  eye  on  the  early  importa- 
tions, making  selections  from  the  best  of  them  for  his  own  flock.  On 
March  22,  1811,  he  wrote  G.  W.  P.  Custis,  of  Arlington: 

The  great  number  (Merinos)  that  have  been  brought  into  New  York  has  enabled 
me  to  become  acquainted  with  all  the  different  breeds  of  Spain,  except  those  of  the 
Escurial,  none  of  which  have,  as  I  believe,  as  yet  been  imported,  though  I  have  a 
letter  from  a  gentleman  in  Lisbon  who  writes  ine  tl*«t-ii#in  ^oiyuiiction  with  Lord 

^O^    HW    TTTT? 


180 


SHEEP  INDUSTRY  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES 


Cochrane  (his  nephew)  are  in  treaty  for  all  that  remains  of  that  flock,  the  greater 
part  of  them  having  been  destroyed.  They  are  to  be  sent  to  New  York,  and  may  be 
hourly  expected. 

Escurial  Merinos  imported  into  the  United  States  in  April,  May,  June,  and  July,  1810, 
shipped  by  William  Jarvis  at  Lisbon. 


Consigned  to— 

Date  of 
arrival. 

Port  of  entry. 

Vessel. 

Railed 
from  — 

No. 

1810. 
Apr    13 

Boston     

Edward  

Lisbon  .  . 

45 

May     5 

Diana 

do 

12 

Hicks  Jenkins  &  Co 

May  28 

New  York     

Maria  Theresa  

...do 

7 

June    8 

Baltimore  

Augusta  

....do  ... 

3 

Cornelius  Coolidge  &.  Co    

June  10 

Newburyport  

Mark  &  Abigail  .  . 

....do  ... 

9 

Do 

June  15 

Boston  

Hamlet  

....do  ... 

6 

Do                              

June  18 

....do  

Three  Brothers  .  .  . 

....do  ... 

9 

June  18 

New  York  

Traveller  

....do  ... 

24 

June  90 

Patriot 

do 

12 

Do 

July     2 

..do    

Telemachus  

.  do  .  . 

12 

Capt.  Lewis  and  N.  Gilman  

July  20 

Portland  

Herscliell  

....do  ... 

43 

Total             

183 

The  last  of  these  shipments,  that  of  43  on  the  Herschell,  was  made 
before,  as  far  as  known,  Mr.  Jarvis  had  made  any  more  purchases  than 
that  of  the  Escurials.  Mr.  Chapman  states  that  some  of  the  first  ship- 
ments of  Mr.  Jarvis  were  to  Messrs.  0.  Coolidge  &  Co.,  of  Boston,  and 
were  part  of  a  lot  of  65  that  were  purchased  in  Spain  on  joint  account 
of  Mr.  Jarvis,  Nicholas  Gilman,  esq.,  of  Portsmouth,  N.  H.,  Messrs. 
Coolidge  &  Co.,  and  Mr.  Charles  O'Neil,  of  Lisbon.  Mr.  O'Neil  subse- 
quently disposed  of  his  interest  to  Mr.  Jarvis.  It  is  not  known  what 
sheep  these  were,  for  Mr.  Jarvis  in  his  correspondence  makes  no  men- 
tion of  them.  It  is  barely  possible,  though  not  probable,  that  a  part  of 
them  were  on  the  Herschell  consigned  to  Mr.  Gilman  and  shipped  from 
Lisbon  on  June  10.  The  only  grounds  on  which  this  probability  is 
admitted  is  the  fact  that  the  Herschell  left  for  Portland  on  the  day  the 
Three  Brothers  left  for  Boston.  She  had  on  board  13  sheep,  but  when 
some  days  out  was  obliged  to  put  back  to  Lisbon  and  had  lost  10  of 
them.  She  was  then  reloaded  or  rather  took  on  more  sheep,  40  of  which 
arrived,  consigned  to  Mr.  Gilman. 

Four  days  after  this  shipment  of  June  10,  Mr.  Jarvis  made  a  pur- 
chase of  100  sheep  of  a  cabana  he  nowhere  mentions,  nor  does  he  make 
any  reference  to  the  purchase.  The  following  certificates  explain  the 
transaction,  and  the  name  of  the  cabafia,  the  Viadillo: 

[Royal  arms  seal.] 

In  the  reign  of  Our  Lord,  Don  Ferdinand  VII— 1807. 

I,  Saturio  Rnbio  Saur,  chief  herdsman  of  the  flocks  of  his  excellency  the  Marquis 
of  Viadillo,  do  hereby  certify  that  Don  Juan  Pablo  Saur  has  purchased  200  sheep  of 
said  flocks,  produced  from  the  best  Merino  flocks  in  Spain. 

In  testimony  of  which,  I  have  passed  the  present  certificate  at  the  town  of  Albu- 
querque, this  1st  May,  1810. 

SATURIO  RUBIO  SAUR. 

I,  the  undersigned,  one  of  His  Majesty's  Don  Ferdinand  VII,  hereby  certify  that 
the  flocks  of  his  excellency  the  Marquis  of  Viadillo  are  esteemed  of  the  best  Merino 


breed 


EAST    OF    THE    MISSISSIPPI   RIVER. 


181 


in  Spain,  as  set  forth  in  the  above  certificate  of  his  excellency's  chief  herds- 
man, Sieur  Saturio  Rubio  Saur. 
Done  at  the  town  of  Albuquerque  this  1st  day  of  May,  1810. 

ANTONIO  MAZANA. 

I  certify  that  Don  Guelheunie  Jarvis,  consul-general  of  the  United  States  of 
America,  has  purchased  100  sheep  of  the  Merino  flock  mentioned  in  the  within  cer- 
tificate. 

JUAN  PABLO  SAUR. 
LISBON,  June  14,  1810. 

The  sheep  were  immediately  shipped  to  the  United  States,  consigned 
to  different  parties,  and  accompanied  with  copies  of  the  above  certifi- 
cates. They  arrived  during  the  month  of  August,  and  the  parties  to 
whom  24  were  consigned  at  Philadelphia,  in  addition  to  the  publica- 
tion of  the  certificates,  announced  that  they  were  from  Mr.  Jarvis 
and  from  "  the  same  flock  that  was  sent  to  the  King  of  Great  Britain," 
and  that  it  was  "  presumed  that  the  uncommon  hazard  and  exertions 
made  in  selecting  the  above  sheep  will  prevent  future  intended  im- 
portations." 

The  arrival  of  these  sheep  and  their  disposition  is  shown  in  the  fol- 
lowing table,  which  includes  also  the  remnant  of  the  purchase  of  which 
Mr.  Gilman  and  others  had  a  part  interest. 


Consigned  to  — 

Date  of 
arrival. 

Port  of  entry. 

Name  of  vessel. 

Shipped 
from— 

No. 

T  B  Freeman 

1810. 
Aug    10 

Philadelphia 

Unity 

Lisbon 

24 

Sfth  Russell  &  Sons    

Aug.   11 

New  Bedford  

Sally  

do 

32 

Ang    16 

Petersburg 

Powhatan 

do 

39 

James  H  Hooe    

Aug.   22 

Alexandria  ....... 

Louisa  .  .  . 

do 

35 

The  consignment  to  T.  B.  Freeman  had  increased  during  the  passage, 
for  on  September  5  he  sold  at  auction,  at  the  Merchants'  Coffee  House 
in  Philadelphia,  "  25  Merino  rams  and  ewes  from  the  same  flock  that 
was  sent  to  the  Kingef  Great  Britain,  selected  by  two  confidential  men 
well  acquainted  with  the  royal  breed,  and  at  great  expense  and  diffi- 
culty." The  concourse  on  this  occasion  was  greater  than  on  any  simi- 
lar gathering,  and  the  bidding  described  as  quite  spirited.  The  sale 
continued  two  hours,  during  which  the  whole  flock,  19  ewes  and  6  rams, 
were  sold  at  these  prices : 


(1)  Ram $200 

(2)  Ram 280 

(3)  Ram 370 

(4)  Ram 315 

(5)  Ram 300 

(6)  Ram  (sick) 140 

(7)  Ewe 120 

(8)  Ewe 200 

(9)  Ewo 200 

(10)  Ewe 190 

(11)  Ewe 255 

(12)  Ewe 375 

(13)  Ewe 230 


(14)  Ewe 0400 

(15)  Ewe 235 

(16)  Ewe  360 

(17)  Ewe 140 

(18)  Ewe 250 

(19)  Ewe 185 

(20)  Ewe 165 

(21)  Ewe 160 

(22)  Ewe 105 

(23)  Ewe 255 

(24)  Ewe 350 

(25)  Ewe 150 


182        SHEEP  INDUSTRY  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES 


Total  amount  of  the  sale,  $5,960,  or  an  average  per  head  of  $238.40;  highest-priced 
ram,  $370;  average  of  the  healthy  rams,  $293;  highest-priced  ewe,  $400;  average  of 
the  ewes,  $229. 

Most  of  the  purchasers  were  from  Pennsylvania.  Some  were  from 
New  Jersey  and  Delaware,  and  it  was  thought  certain  the  prices  would 
have  ranged  higher  had  not  200  Merino  sheep  arrived  in  the  city  within 
a  few  days  and  were  known  to  be  for  sale — Infantados  imported  from 
Cadiz  by  Capt.  Charles  Stewart,  U.  S.  Navy. 

The  shipment  to  Alexandria  arrived  in  good  order,  and  the  sheep 
were  sold  at  Broomlawn,  near  that  city,  on  September  10,  warranted 
genuine  full- blood  Merino  sheep.  The  sale  was  well  attended,  and  Gen. 
John  Mason  made  a  purchase  of  the  Viadillo  ram,  which  next  year 
sheared  9  pounds  of  wool,  or  1  pound  to  9  J  of  the  carcass,  his  Infantado 
rams  giving  1  pound  to  10,  and  his  Paular  rams  1  to  14J. 

The  small  flock  of  39  sent  to  James  and  John  Dunlap,  at  Petersburg, 
Va.,  turned  out  badly.  Some  were  lost,  and  6  rams  and  21  ewes  were 
offered  at  public  sale  October  19.  The  sale  was  not  successful,  owing 
to  want  of  bidders.  The  sheep  were  in  excellent  condition,  and  there 
were  a  number  of  spectators  present,  some  from  the  country,  and  men 
of  fortune,  too;  but  no  one  seemed  anxious  to  purchase,  at  least  no  dis- 
position was  shown  to  give  anything  like  the  price  which  was  looked 
for.  After  dwelling  some  time,  with  no  encouragement,  the  auctioneer 
dropped  his  hammer,  the  conference  dispersed,  and  the  sheep  were 
suffered  to  be  carried  back  to  Eoslin.  Says  the  Petersburg  Intelligencer 
of  November  1 : 

How  great  is  the  difference  in  public  sentiment  as  regards  these  sheep,  in  some 
parts  of  the  Union  from  what  it  is  in  others.  In  the  Northern  and  Eastern  States 
the  Merinos  are  sought  after  with  the  greatest  avidity  and  the  most  extravagant 
prices  given,  whereas  in  Virginia  the  greatest  indifference  is  manifested  about 
them.  Perhaps  the  cause  may  be  found  in  the  spirit  of  manufacturing,  which  more 
generally  pervades  the  former  than  the  latter. 

The  three  purchases  made  by  Mr.  Jarvis  prior  to  and  including  June 
14, 1810,  aggregated  3G5,  of  which  281  were  shipped  to  various  ports  of 
the  United  States,  the  last  shipment  being  made  July  6  or  7,  that  of 
the  Louisa  to  Alexandria.  The  84  unaccounted  for  may  be  covered  by 
the  consignment  to  Seth  Kusscll  &  Sons,  at-New  Bedford,  and  by  deaths. 
He  made  no  more  purchases  until  July  10. 

There  are  but  few  recorded  facts  concerning  the  disposition  of  these 
sheep  beyond  those  already  given.  Coolidge  &  Co.  disposed  of  those 
consigned  to  them,  principally  in  the  New  England  States.  On  June 
28,  when  Eichard  Crowningshield  offered  five  ewes  and  one  buck  for  sale 
in  New  York  City,  P.  P.  Schenck  offered  one  ram  and  two  ewes  just 
landed  from  Lisbon.  They  were  not  immediately  sold,  and  were  put  up 
at  auction  on  July  3  and  disposed  of.  On  July  16  «  one  ram  with  horns 
and  two  ewes  of  the  genuine  Merino  breed,  lately  imported  at  an  eastern 
port,7'  were  offered  for  sale  in  New  York  City  by  David  Coffin.  On 
August  6  "  ten  rams  and  ten  ewes  of  the  genuine  Merino  breed,  lately 


EAST  OP  THE  MISSISSIPPI 


183 


selected  at  Lisbon  by  William  Jarvis,"  were  offered  for  sale  by  William 
Osborn,  of  New  York.  It  is  possible  that  these  twenty  sheep  were 
brought  from  New  Englanol  ports;  it  is,  however,  more  probable  that 
they  were  brought  direct  from  Lisbon  in  one  of  Mr.  Osborn's  vessels, 
for  he  was  a  shipowner,  and  their  arrival  not  chronicled.  That  many 
such  cases  are  known  leads  to  this  conclusion  in  this  particular  case. 

Mr.  Jarvis  was  not  the  only  person  shipping  the  Spanish  Merinos  to 
the  United  States.  During  the  months  of  June,  July,  and  August, 
1810,  at  least  nine  vessels  carrying  Merino  sheep  arrived  at  American 
ports  from  other  ports  than  Lisbon,  at  which  place  the  Jarvis  shipments 
were  made,  and  one  from  that  port  with  sheep  shipped  by  other  parties. 
The  following  table  gives  such  details  of  these  shipments  as  are  attain- 
able : 


Arrived. 

Port  of  entry. 

Vessel. 

Sailed 
from— 

No.  I      Shipped  by— 

Consigned  to- 

1810. 
June  14 

July  19 
July  28 

Aug.    1 
Aug.     1 
Aug.    8 

Aug.  18 
Aug.  22 
Aug.  22 
Aug.  27 

Providence  .  .  . 

Plymouth  .... 
Boston  

Gloucester  
....do  
Xew  York  

do 

Argus  

Algeziras  . 
Spain   .  .  . 

19 

60 

Bulkley,  Allcock 
&  Oxenford. 
....do  

Brown  &  Ives. 

Joseph  Bartlett. 
Goodwin  &  Whiting. 

Fitz  W.  Sargent. 
J.  L.  Winthrnp. 
W.  Wilson  and  Mor- 
docai  Lewis<fc  Co. 
L.  Z.  Whitney. 
Buck. 
Do. 
Wood  &  Skinner. 

Commerce  

Eliza  

Corporal  Trim.. 
Treaty  
Liu-v  and  Eliza- 
beth. 

Algeziras 

Lisbon  .  .  . 
Cadiz  .... 
....do.... 

Gibraltar  . 
Cadiz  
....do    .... 

100 

50 
15 
34 

10 
39 
28 

L.  B.   Goodwin 
(master). 
Goold  Bros.  &  Co. 
J.  L.  Wiuthrop  
K  W  Meade 

....do  
....do  
....do  

....do  
Philadelphia.. 
New  York.... 

Maria  
Eliza  

Perseverance. 

do           ;  30 

.  <ln 

'             "  

It  will  be  observed  that  all  these  clearances,  except  that  of  the  Cor- 
poral Trim  from  Lisbon  and  the  Commerce  from  some  port  of  Spain, 
were  from  Cadiz  and  adjoining  ports.  The  rapid  advance  of  Napoleon's 
armies  under  Prince  Victor  into  southern  Spain  in  the  early  daj^s  of 
1810  caused  many  of  the  inhabitants,  rich  and  poor  alike,  to  flee  to  the 
Mediterranean  seaports,  taking  with  them  their  household  goods,  their 
cattle,  and  their  flocks.  Many  of  the  latter  were  disposed  of  to  masters 
of  vessels  as  sea  stock,  to  be  eaten  by  the  crews,  and,  escaping  custom- 
house surveillance,  were  shipped  and  landed  and  sold  at  good  prices. 
Cadiz  was  a  good  field  for  such  operations,  and  evidence  is  not  wanting 
to  show  that  due  advantage  was  taken  to  purchase  sheep  at  $1  to  $3 
per  head,  to  be  sold  in  Philadelphia  and  New  York  for  prices  ranging 
from  $300  to  $1,000.  A  case  in  point  is  that  of  Capt.  Page,  of  the  South 
Carolina,  elsewhere  mentioned,  who,  on  May  5,  1810,  received  $510  for 
one  sheep  and  refused  $350  for  another,  both  of  which,  according  to  his 
own  statement,  were  put  up  by  the  Cadiz  butchers  for  his  sea  stores. 
Not  all  the  sheep  shipped  from  Cadiz  were  of  this  class,  however,  for 
about  this  time  one  of  the  best  cabanas  of  Spain  became  available,  and 
another  public-spirited  American  took  advantage  of  it  to  benefit  his 
country  and  himself. 

The  Duke  de  Inlantado  adhered  to  the  national  or  patriot  cause  and 


184        SHEEP  INDUSTRY  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES 

Napoleon  decreed  the  confiscation  of  his  estates.  His  cabana  was  one 
of  the  most  noted  of  Spain.  At  this  time  the  duke  was  in  Cadiz,  and 
Charles  Henry  Hall,  then  of  Connecticut,  conceived  the  idea  of  pur- 
chasing some  of  the  famed  Infantado  Spanish  Merinos.  Mr.  Hall  was 
introduced  to  the  duke  by  Mr.  Erving,  the  American  minister,  and  was 
informed  by  the  duke  that  his  flocks  were  in  positions  of  safety  from 
the  contending  armies  in  various  parts  of  Spain,  some  of  them  in  Anda- 
lusia. The  result  of  the  interview  was  that  Mr.  Hall  made  a  purchase 
of  400  sheep  for  himself  and  associates,  which,  he  says,  were  shipped  to 
Virginia,  consigned  to  Messrs.  Brown  &  Eives,  at  Eichmond.  Subse- 
quently Mr.  Hall  and  his  associates  obtained  from  the  duke  2,000  more 
sheep,  having  his  mark  (a  brand  of  Y  upon  the  side  of  the  face  of  the 
sheep),  which  were  shipped  to  New  York  and  Philadelphia  for  account 
of  himself,  Commodore  Charles  Stewart,  Consul  Kichard  Hackley,  and 
others.  Of  one  of  the  cargoes  Chancellor  Livingston  purchased  a  large 
number,  and  many  found  their  way  into  various  States  of  the  Union. 

There  are  some  scattering  notices  of  the  sales  of  these  Cadiz  sheep. 
On  May  25,  1810,  Alexander  Coffin  offered  for  sale,  in  New  York  City, 
two  Merino  rams  and  one  ewe  imported  direct  from  Spain  5  on  August 
7,  1810,  Murray  &  Wheaton  advertised  three  rams  and  three  ewes  from 
Segovia,  in  Spain,  from  the  flock  of  Bishop  de  Castro,  and  on  August 
28, 1810,  Fontaine  &  Ferris  offered  two  rams  of  the  Merino  breed  from 
the  estates  of  the  Duke  de  Infautado,  from  Cadiz,  by  the  ship  Maria, 
and  six  days  later  James  Seton  sold  one  ram  and  some  ewes  from  Cadiz, 
in  the  Perseverance,  consigned  to  Wood  &  Skinner.  On  August  28, 
1810,  Bleecker,  Libby  &  Co.  exposed  for  sale  a  remarkably  fine  Merino 
ram,  said  to  be  a  pure  Infantado. 

The  50  Merino  sheep  shipped  by  Goold  Bros.  &  Co.  on  the  Corporal 
Trim,  consigned  to  Fitz  W.  Sargent,  at  Gloucester,  were  sold,  on  their 
arrival,  to  W.  S.  Burling,  of  New  York  State.  These  sheep  were 
Paulars. 

When  Napoleon's  army  in  its  second  invasion  of  Spain  advanced 
under  command  of  Joseph  Bonaparte  towards  Madrid,  the  Supreme 
Junta  directing  Spanish  affairs  fled  toBadajos,  and,  their  finances  being 
exhausted,  it  was  suggested  to  this  body  that  it  might  sell  some  of  the 
confiscated  sheep  which  were  feeding  by  thousands  on  the  plains  of 
Estremadura.  The  Junta  resorted  to  the  measure  proposed  to  it.  Mr. 
Jarvis  was  informed  that  the  sale  was  to  take  place,  by  his  correspond- 
ent, Don  Juan  Pablo  Soler,  a  merchant  of  Badajos,  in  June,  1810,  and 
hastened  to  improve  the  opportunity  thus  offered.  Col.  John  Downie, 
British  commissary-general  and  a  colonel  in  the  Spanish  service,  pos- 
sessed great  advantages  for  the  selection  of  the  sheep,  being  high  in 
favor  with  the  Junta,  and  Mr.  Jarvis  was  fortunate  in  standing  on  good 
terms  with  him.  Four  thousand  of  the  Paular  flock  were  bought  and 
sent  to  the  King  of  England,  and  Col.  Downie  purchased  the  remainder 
of  this  celebrated  cabana,  between  3,000  and  4,000  (3,945),  it  being 


EAST    OF    THE    MISSISSIPPI    RIVER.  185 

understood  that  Mr.  Jarvis  would  share  in  the  purchase.  Mr.  Jarvis 
took  at  first  1,000  and  again  400,  Col.  Downie  sending  the  remainder  to 
Scotland,  his  native  county,  with  the  exception  of  1,000  sold  to  Goeld 
Bros.  &  Co.  and  shipped  to  the  United  States. 

The  sale  to  Col.  Downie  was  consummated  June  24,  1810,  and  the 
sheep  immediately  driven  to  Lisbon,  where  they  arrived  early  in  July. 
Jarvis  sent  a  clerk  in  his  employ  and  two  men  to  assist  in  conducting 
the  sheep  out  of  Spain,  giving  direction  to  drive  them  only  nights  and 
mornings  and  to  divide  them  into  two  flocks,  and,  should  danger  from 
the  armies  menace,  to  move  rapidly  and  get  them  out  of  Spain  in  small 
parcels,  say  250  on  one  road  and  250  on  another  the  same  day,  and  the 
same  number  the  next  day  by  different  roads.  They  arrived  safely,  and 
papers  were  given  certifying  to  the  sale  and  the  pedigree,  and  copies  of 
these  accompanied  each  and  every  shipment.  Copies  of  those  relating 
to  the  Paular  flock  are  here  given,  or  the  substance  of  them: 

Firmin  Coronado,  secretary  to  the  Junta,  certified  June  25, 18 '0,  that 
by  the  decree  of  that  body  of  the  24th  the  Junta  had  sold  to  Col. 
Downie,  commissary  of  the  British  army,  2,815  ewes,  1,130  males  (3,945 
in  all),  18  dogs,  5  shepherd  ponies,  and  5  mess  kettles,  all  pertaining  to 
the  cabana,  confiscated  from  Don  Manuel  Godoy,  called  Paular  flock, 
and  which  were  to  have  a  free  passage  to  Lisbon  or  any  other  conven- 
ient port.  On  the  same  day  the  Marquis  of  Eomana,  captain-general 
of  the  Spanish  armies,  granted  a  passport  for  this  flock  from  Badajos 
to  Lisbon,  enjoining  all  military  and  civil  authorities  to  put  no  hindrance 
in  the  way,  but  to  give  all  necessary  assistance. 

Two  days  later,  June  27, 1810,  at  the  castle  of  Piedra,  the  mayoral  or 
shepherd  of  this  cabana,  added  his  certificate: 

I,  Don  Jose"  Alvarez  y  Suares,  mayoral  of  the  fine  Tran shumante  Leonesa  cabana, 
called  the  Panlar,  certify  that  for  ten  years  previous  to  the  sale  of  this  flock  I  was 
its  assistant  mayoral,  during  which  time  it  belonged  to  the  Carthusian  order  del 
Paular;  that  in  the  year  1796  it  was  sold  by  the  said  Carthusian  order  to  Don  Manuel 
de  Godoy,  Prince  of  Peace,  in  which  year  I  entered  upon  the  sole  charge  of  it,  and 
so  remained  for  fourteen  years,  making  in  all  twenty-four  years,  previous  to  the  con- 
fiscation by  the  Government  of  the  property  of  the  said  Godoy,  that  I  have  had 
charge  of  it;  and  during  all  this  time  there  has  been  no  mixture  of  any  other  cabana 
with  this;  and  that  at  this  date  there  has  been  sold  by  the  governing  Junta  of  the 
province  of  Estremadura  to  John  Downie,  colonel  of  the  royal  armies  of  Spain  and 
commissary  of  the  British  army,  2,815  ewes  and  1,132  males  (in  all  3,947),  all  of  the 
best  quality  and  condition,  from  the  said  flock,  this  cabana  being  the  choicest  and 
best  of  the  Kingdom,  and  its  wool  being  held  in  the  highest  estimation  in  foreign 
countries. 

The  mayoral  also  certified  July  10,  1810,  that  he  had  accompanied 
this  flock  to  Lisbon,  and  that  in  his  presence  Col.  Downie  delivered  to 
Consul  Jarvis  750  ewes  and  250  males  of  the  Paular  cabana,  and  Col. 
Downie  made  a  similar  certificate  in  which  he  also  stated  that  he  had 
sold  them  on  that  day — July  10,  1810— to  Mr.  Jarvis. 

Consul  Jarvis,  between  this  date  and  the  last  of  the  month,  increased 
his  purchase  by  400  Paulars  and  600  Aquierres,  and  on  August  1, 1810, 


186  SHEEP   INDUSTRY    OF   THE    UNITED    STATES 

wrote  to  a  Mend  in  the  United  States,  from  which  the  following  is  an 
extract : 

Among  these  scenes  of  warfare  and  blood,  ever  attentive  to  the  interest  and  wel- 
fare of  my  country,  I  have  profited  of  an  opportunity  which  has  been  offered  by  the 
Junta  of  Estremadura  selling  the  confiscated  cabanas  of  Merino  sheep  they  had  in 
their  possession,  and  purchased  2,000  of  the  best  blooded  sheep  in  Spain,  Paulars 
and  Aguirres,  and  have  already  shipped  1,200  to  the  different  ports  in  the  United 
States,  and  am  in  hopes  to  ship  the  rest  within  eight  days.  Among  my  shipments 
are  220  to  Baltimore  to  the  address  of  Gen.  Smith,  from  whose  patriotism  I  anticipate 
his  taking  charge  of  them  with  pleasure.  To  Alexandria  I  have  shipped  50 ;  to 
Norfolk,  70;  to  Richmond,  about  150.  In  undertaking  so  large  a  purchase,  I  have 
been  greatly  stimulated  by  the  example  which  government  always  affords  of  doing 
everything  within  their  power  to  promote  the  well  being  of  our  country  The  Brit- 
ish minister  purchased  nearly  7,000,  and  they  were  considered  of  sufficient  import- 
ance to  dispatch  transports  immediately  to  take  to  Great  Britain  6,000  of  them. 
About  3,000  more  have  been  sent  to  England  by  private  individuals. 

Of  the  purchase  made  by  Col.  Dowiiie  of  one-half  the  Paular  flock,  he 
sold  1,000  to  Goold  Bros.  &  Co.,  merchants,  of  Lisbon,  who  in  turn  ship- 
ped them  to  the  United  States,  as  did  also  other  purchasers  from  Col. 
Downie. 

The  extract  from  Jarvis'  letter  just  given  appeared  in  many  of  the 
newspapers  of  the  United  States  early  in  September,  1810,  and  a  few 
days  thereafter  was  followed  by  an  article  in  at  least  one  paper  which 
was  evidently  inspired  by  him,  and  is  quoted  for  future  reference: 

The  number  of  Merino  sheep  imported  from  Lisbon  within  the  last  month  may  be 
justly  considered  as  a  matter  of  astonishment  by  those  who  recollect  the  difficulties 
which  were  stated  to  exist  in  procuring  these  animals.  It  will  therefore  be  gratifying 
to  be  informed  of  the  fortunate  event  which  has  been  the  cause  of  a  much  larger  sup- 
ply than  could  ever  have  been  procured  by  the  greatest  exertions  if  thafc  event  had 
not  occurred.  It  will  also  be  beneficial  to  know  what  number  may  be  relied  upon  to 
prevent  erroneous  calculations  by  those  who  are  interested  in  the  breeding  of  that 
most  valuable  animal.  It  is  generally  known  that  in  consequence  of  a  decree  of  tho 
supreme  Government  of  Spain  the  estates  of  Don  Manuel  de  Godoy,  the  Prince  of 
Peace,  were  confiscated;  that  on  some  of  the  estates  were  the  best  flocks  of  Merino 
sheep  in  Spain.  The  two  principal,  that  of  the  convent  of  Paular,  sold  by  the  Carthu- 
sian friars  to  the  prince  in  the  year  1796,  and  that  of  Aguirres,  raised  from  the 
imperial  flock  of  Charles  V,  were  of  the  best  breed,  and  a  large  proportion  of  them 
have  been  sold  by  the  supreme  junta  of  Estremadura  to  the  British  commissary 
general  and  to  the  American  consul,  from  whom  purchases  have  been  made  for  this 
country.  Nearly  all  those  purchased  by  the  British  commissary  have  been  sent  to 
England,  and  the  whole  number  secured  for  the  United  States  docs  not  exceed  3.000, 
and  of  these  1,800  have  already  been  imported.  Experience  shows  us  that  upon  an 
average  one-fifth  are  lost  before  they  are  on  the  lands  of  the  purchasers  in  this  coun- 
try, including  those  lost  on  the  voyage,  which  in  many  instances  has  been  one-sixth. 
There  will,  therefore,  remain  about  2,400  for  the  supply  of  the  United  States;  add  to 
which  perhaps  300  of  good  breed,  procured  from  Cadiz  and  its  vicinity,  whence,  how- 
ever, double  that  number  have  been  imported;  but  it  is  very  much  to  be  doubted 
whether  more  than  one-half  may  be  denominated  good.  The  recent  importations  it  is 
believed  are  all  accompanied  with  a  variety  of  well-authenticated  documents,  so  as 
to  leave  no  doubt  of  the  breed  being  as  represented,  and  it  is  much  to  be  feared  that 
such  a  brilliant  opportunity  of  benefiting  the  wool  manufacturer  of  this  country  will 
not  again  offer.  * 

*  New  York  Gazette,  September  19,  1810. 


EAST    OF   THE    MISSISSIPPI    RIVER.  187 

While  it  was  the  object,  because  it  was  to  the  interest,  of  Mr.  Jarvis 
and  his  business  associates  to  magnify  the  difficulties  lying  in  the  way 
of  procuring  these  sheep  and  to  claim  for  themselves  special  facilities 
and  possessions,  it  was  equally  the  purpose  of  other  parties  to  deny 
some  of  these  claims  and  oppose  their  pretentious.  An  instance  is 
given  in  the  following  letter,  dated  Lisbon,  September  26, 1810,  and  sent 
to  a  gentleman  of  Boston : 

The  vessel  which  brings  this  letter  will  bring  200  Merino  sheep.  Believing  that  it 
may  be  interesting,  I  take  this  opportunity  to  rectify  some  mistakes  that  have  been 
made,  and  explain  away  some  of  the  almost  irreconcilable  difficulties  that  have  been 
said  by  interested  individuals  to  be  placed  in  the  way  of  their  transportation.  Such 
is  the  state  of  Spain  and  the  horrid  disorders  of  the  country,  that  the  hitherto 
unchangeable  laws,  prohibiting  their  exportation  from  Spain,  have  been  wholly 
repealed.  The  sheep  that  are  coming  in  the  Sumner  are  part  of  the  Paular  flock, 
sold  by  one  of  the  provincial  Juntas  as  the  property  of  the  sans-culotte  Godoy,  or  the 
personage  better  known  by  the  name  of  Prince  of  Peace.  They  will  be  accom- 
panied by  certificates  from  the  Marquis  Romaua  and  British  officers.  *  *  *  But 
it  will,  therefore,  be  thus  satisfactory  to  you,  that  so  far  from  the  Spanish  Junta  hav- 
ing continued  the  restriction  relative  to  the  sheep,  there  is  no  difficulty  in  obtaining 
them;  and  further,  there  are  many  of  the  best  breed  that  can  be  purchased  by  any- 
one so  choosing.  Wool  and  sheep  are  now  coming  down  from  the  frontiers.  The  fall 
of  Ciudad  Rodrigo  will  occasion  more  to  be  brought.  About  1,000  in  all  will  be 
taken  to  the  United  States.  Many  go  to  Great  Britain;  a  shipment  of  1,700  has  been 
made  to  Bristol  alone. 

After  Jarvis  wrote  his  letter  of  August  1,  and  after  the  data  were  fur- 
nished for  the  article  quoted  from  the  New  York  Gazette  of  September  19, 
Mr.  Jarvis  purchased  about  1,850  sheep  of  the  different  cabanas,  of  which 
100  were  Negrettis,  about  200  Montarcos,  and  the  remainder  Aguirres, 
which  were  sold  for  America,  making  his  total  shipments  to  the  United 
States,  according  to  his  own  statements,  nearly,  or  quite,  4,000,  includ- 
ing the  200  Escurials  shipped  early  in  1810  to  President  Madison, 
Thomas  Jefferson,  Coolidge  &  Co.,  and  others  in  Virginia,  New  York, 
and  New  England.  Albert  Chapman  finds  evidence  that  he  shipped 
more  than  4,000,  and  in  his  "  Register  of  the  Vermont  Merino  Sheep 
Breeders'  Association"  traces  the  shipments.  We  give  in  this  place 
some  extracts  from  the  published  correspondence  of  Mr.  Jarvis  relat- 
ing to  the  importations  in  which  he  was  largely  interested: 

When  the  second  irruption  of  the  French  armies  into  Spain,  in  the  winter  of 
1809,  drove  the  Spanish  Junta  from  Madrid  to  Badajos,  the  Junta  was  without 
money  and  without  resources,  and  they  durst  not  levy  any  taxes  on  the  Estremaduras 
lest  they  should  disgust  that  province,  and  the  people  should  declare  in  favor  of  the 
French.  No  alternative  was,  therefore,  left  them  other  than  to  sell  the  four  flocks 
of  Merinos  which  had  been  confiscated  with  the  other  property  of  four  grandees 
who  had  joined  France,  with  license  to  transport  them  out  of  Spain.  These  flocks 
were  the  Paular,  which  had  belonged  to  the  celebrated  Prince  of  Peace;  theNegretti, 
which  had  belonged  to  the  Coude  Cainpo  de  Alange,  the  Aguirres  (the  wool  of  which 
was  known  in  England  as  the  Muros,  this  flock  having  been  the  property  of  the 
Moors  before  their  expulsion  from  Spain),  which  had  belonged  to  the  Conde  de 
Aguirres,  and  the  Montarco,  which  had  belonged  to  the  Conde  of  that  name.  Those 
flocks  were  then  in  the  vicinity  of  Badajos,  and  when  confiscated,  the  two  former 


188        SHEEP  INDUSTRY  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES 

numbered  about  5,000  each,  and  the  two  latter  about  20,000  each ;  but  they  had  been 
reduced,  by  being  unceremoniously  slaughtered  for  the  use  of  the  armies,  to  about 
7,500  Paulars,  6,000  Negrettis,  4,000  Montarcos,  and  3,000  Aguirres.  Four  thou- 
sand of  the  Paular  flock  were  sent  to  the  King  of  England,  in  compliance  with  the 
applieation  of  his  minister  and  Gen.  Downie,  and  I  purchased  the  remainder.  Sir 
Charles  Stewart,  the  British  minister,  purchased  the  Negretti  flock,  of  which  I 
selected  a  small  part,  and  the  remainder  he  sent  to  England.  I  also  purchased 
about  1,300  Aguirres,  and  selected  about  200  Montarcos.  I  likewise  purchased  in 
Spain  200  of  the-Escnrial  flock  from  the  mayoral,  which  were  the  only  Escurials  ever 
sent  to  this  country.  I  shipped,  in  1809  and  1810,  about  3,850  to  this  country  of  the 
forementioned  flocks,  being  all  which  I  purchased  in  Spain,  and  which  were  dis- 
tributed as  follows:  About  1,500  to  New  York,  1,000  to  Boston  and  Newburyport, 
including  350  which  I  sent  to  be  reserved  for  me;  the  remainder  were  sent  to  Phila- 
delphia, Baltimore,  Alexandria,  Norfolk,  and  Richmond,  and  a  small  number  to 
Wiscasset,  Portland,  and  Portsmouth,  as  I  was  disposed  to  distribute  these  valuable 
animals  to  every  State  which  would  be  likely  to  profit  by  their  acquisition.  Those 
I  reserved  for  myself  were  composed  of  about  half  Paulars,  a  quarter  Aguirres,  and 
the  other  fourth  of  Escurials,  Negrettis,  and  Montarcos,  which  I  subsequently  mixed 
together. 

There  were  sent  in  the  latter  year  (1810),  by  others,  about  2,500,  composed  of  Pau- 
lars,  had  of  Gen.  Downie,  Montarcos,  Aguirres,  and  Guadaloupes.  Part  of  these 
went  to  New  York,  part  to  Boston.  All  those  sheep  were  Leonesa  Transhumantes, 
and  were  of  the  prime  flocks  of  Spain. 

I  have  been  able  to  be  thus  minute  in  relation  to  the  Merinos  in  1809  and  1810,  as 
I  was  then  American  consul  at  Lisbon,  which  was  the  port  from  which  they  were  all 
shipped,  it  being  only  about  100  miles  to  Badajos,  and  the  nearest  seaport  to  that 
place. 

In  a  letter  to  L.  D.  Gregory,  Mr.  Jarvis  gives  some  additional  partic- 
ulars: That  Gen.  Downie  was  a  Scotch  officer  in  the  British  army,  then 
holding  rank  in  the  Spanish  service,  and  that  the  Paulars  bought  of 
him  were  sent  to  Scotland,  with  the  exception  of  200  or  300  he  sold  that 
came  to  the  United  States.  The  number  of  Paulars  secured  by  Jarvis 
was  1,400.  The  Montarcos  were  bought  by  a  Spaniard  and  a  Portu- 
guese, and  about  2,700  were  shipped  to  the  United  States.  Jarvis 
shipped  to  the  United  States  1,400  Paulars,  1,700  Aguirres,  200  Escu- 
rials, 100  Negrettis,  and  about  200  Montarcos.  Of  this  number  about 
100  were  sent  to  Wiscasset  and  Portland,  1,100  to  Boston  and  Newbury- 
port, 1,500  to  New  York,  350  to  Philadelphia,  250  to  Baltimore,  100  to 
Alexandria,  and  200  to  Norfolk  and  Eichmond.  Besides  those  shipped 
OF  his  account,  Jarvis  says  there  were  about  300  Guadaloupes  purchased 
by  others,  and  200  or  300  of  the  Paular  flock  sold  to  Gen.  Downie, 
shipped  to  Boston;  and  of  the  Montarco  flock,  shipped  by  others,  about 
2,500  were  sent  to  Boston,  Providence,  New  York,  Philadelphia,  Balti- 
more, and  Savannah.  The  Guadaloupes,  Paulars,  and  Montarcos,  which 
were  shipped  to  Boston  by  others,  were  for  the  account  of  Gorham  Par- 
sons, Gen.  Sumner,  D.  Ticheuor,  and  E.  H.  Derby.  All  these  sheep 
were  shipped  in  the  latter  part  of  1809,  during  1810,  and  the  early  part 
of  1811,  "and  were,"  asserts  Mr.  Jarvis,  athe  only  Leonesa  Transhu- 
mantes,  if  we  include  Gen.  Humphreys'  and  Chancellor  Livingston's 
(which  I  have  no  doubt  were  of  the  same  stock),  that  were  ever  shipped 
to  the  United  States." 


EAST   OF   THE   MISSISSIPPI   RIVER.  189 


Mr.  Jarvis  says  of  the  Paulars  shipped  to  this  country  that  they  were 
undoubtedly  one  of  the  handsomest  flocks  ill  Spain.  They  were  of 
middling  height,  round-bodied,  well-spread,  straight  on  the  back,  the 
neck  of  the  bucks  rising  in  a  moderate  curve  from  the  withers  to  the 
setting-on  of  the  head;  their  head  handsome,  with  aquiline  curve  of 
the  nose,  with  short,  fine  glossy  hair  on  the  face,  and  generally  hair  on 
the  legs;  the  skin  pretty  smooth,  that  is,  not  rolling  up  or  doubling 
about  the  neck  and  body,  as  in  some  other  flocks;  the  crimp  in  the 
wool  was  not  as  short  as  in  many  other  flocks ;  the  wool  was  somewhat 
longer,  but  it  was  close  and  compact,  and  was  soft  and  silky  to  the 
touch,  and  the  surface  was  not  so  much  covered  with  gum.  This  flock 
was  originally  owned  by  the  Carthusian  friars  of  Paular,  who  were  the 
best  agriculturists  in  Spain,  and  was  sold  by  that  order  to  the  Prince 
of  Peace  when  he  came  into  power.  The  Negretti  flock  were  the  tallest 
Merinos  in  Spain,  but  were  not  handsomely  formed,  being  rather  flat- 
sided,  roach-back,  and  the  neck  inclining  to  sink  down  from  the  withers; 
the  wool  was  somewhat  shorter  than  the  Paular  and  more  crimped : 
the  skin  was  more  loose  and  inclined  to  double,  and  many  of  them  were 
w<  >oled  on  their  faces  and  legs  down  to  their  hoofs.  All  the  loose-skinned 
sheep  had  large  dewlaps.  The  Aqueirres  were  short-legged,  round, 
broad-bodied,  with  loose  skins,  and  were  more  wooled  about  their  faces 
and  legs  than  any  of  the  other  flocks;  the  wool  was  more  crimped  than 
the  Paular,  and  less  than  the  Negretti,  but  was  thick  and  soft.  This 
flock  formerly  belonged  to  the  Moors  of  Spain,  and  at  their  expulsion 
was  bought  by  the  family  of  Aguirres.  The  wool  in  England  was 
known  as  the  Muros  flock,  and  was  highly  esteemed.  All  the  bucks  of 
these  three  flocks  had  large  horns.  The  Escurials  were  about  as  tall  as 
the  Paulars,  but  not  quite  so  round  and  broad,  being  in  general  rather 
more  slight  in  their  make;  their  wool  was  crimped,  but  not  quite  so 
thick  as  the  Paular  or  the  Negretti,  nor  were  their  skins  so  loose  as 
the  Xegretti  and  Aguirres,  nor  had  they  so  much  wool  on  the  face  and 
legs.  The  Montarco  bore  a  considerable  resemblance  to  the  Escurials. 
The  Escurial  flock  had  formerly  belonged  to  the  Crown,  but  when 
Philip  II  built  the  Escurial  palace  he  gave  it  as  a  source  of  revenue 
to  the  friars,  whom  he  placed  in  a  convent  that  was  attached  to  the  pal- 
ace. These  four  flocks  were  moderately  gummed.  The  Guadaloupe  flock 
was  rather  larger  in  the  bone  than  the  two  preceding ;  about  the  same 
height,  but  not  so  handsomely  formed ;  their  wool  was  thick  and  crimped, 
their  skin  loose  and  doubling,  their  faces  and  legs  not  materially  dif- 
ferent from  the  two  latter  flocks,  but  in  general  they  were  more  gummed 
than  either  of  the  other  flocks.  In  point  of  fineness  there  was  very 
little  difference  between  these  six  flocks,  and  it  is  said  by  well-informed 
persons  that  there  is  very  little  difference  in  this  respect  among  the 
Leonesa  Transhumantes  in  general.  The  Escurials,  the  Montarcos,  and 
the  Griiadaloupes  were  not  in  general  so  heavy  horned  as  the  other 
three  flocks,  and  about  one  in  six  of  the  bucks  was  without  horns, 
or  what  is  commonly  called  a  polled  buck. 


190        SHEEP  INDUSTRY  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES 


There  are  some  statements  made  by  Mr.  Jarvis  which  must  be  noted, 
one  of  which  is,  that  he  shipped  Merino  sheep  to  the  United  States  in 

1809.  This  must  be  an  error;  if  true,  no  evidence  of  the  fact  has  come 
to  our  knowledge.    He  is  also  much  in  error  as  to  the  number  shipped 
by  others  in  1810,  placing  it  at  about  2,500,  while,  on  the  contrary,  over 
10,000  were  shipped  by  others,  mostly  by  Cochrane  Johnston,  Goold 
Bros.  &  Co.,  and  Charles  O'Neill  at  Lisbon,  and  by  R.  W.  Meade  and 
others  at  Cadiz.    Cochmne  Johnston,  who  had  charge  of  8,000  sheep, 
turned  over  to  the  British  Government  by  the  Spanish  Junta,  was  per- 
mitted to  purchase  several  thousand  more  on  his  own  account,  about 
3,000  of  which  he  sent  to  New  York  before  the  middle  of  December, 

1810.  They  were  mostly  Aguirres.    Mr.  Jarvis  left  Lisbon  in  October, 
1810,  and  Mr.  Green,  his  consular  clerk,  who  was  left  in  charge  of  his 
office  and  his  private  business,  wrote  him  December  14, 1810:  "  Almost 
every  vessel  bound  for  the  United  States  since  you  left  has  carried 
sheep,  so  I  suppose  nearly  5,000  have  gone  and  are  going."    Charles 
O'Neill  had  been  a  partner  of  Mr.  Jarvis  in  his  first  venture  and  had 
sold  out,  after  which  he  purchased  and  shipped  on  his  own  account. 

Of  the  Negretti  flock  purchased  by  Sir  Charles  Stewart,  and  shipped 
to  England  as  mentioned  by  Mr.  Jarvis,  some  of  their  descendants 
found  their  way  to  Albion,  Edwards  County,  111.,  in  1817,  and  we  have 
this  account  of  them  given  by  their  owner,  George  Flower,  in  1841 : 

Sir  Charles  Stewart,  the  English  ambassador,  purchased  the  royal  flock.  He 
shipped  them  after  a  hurried  drive,  scarcely  out  of  reach  of  the  pursuing  enemy,  some 
hundreds  of  miles.  Six  thousand  only  reached  the  shores  of  England,  and  after  the 
lapse  of  a  year  2,000  sheep  survived.  These  were  purchased  by  my  father  *  *  *  . 
Some  additions  were  afterwards  made  from  the  Paular  and  Escurial  flocks.  When 
I  emigrated  to  this  country,  in  1817,  I  brought  with  me  six  of  the  finest  animals  of  the 
wool-bearing  species  ever  brought  to  this  country.  This  is  the  origin  of  my  flock ; 
they  have  been  kept  on  the  same  district  and  on  the  same  farm,  where  I  now  reside, 
ever  since.  No  deterioration  of  the  wool  has  taken  place ;  on  the  contrary,  the  wool 
fiber  of  them  is  somewhat  finer.  Eighty  ewes,  purchased  at  Lancaster,  Ohio, 
formerly  from  the  Steubenville  flock,  has  been  the  only  addition  to  the  pure-bred 
stock.  * 

These  were  the  first  Merino  sheep  introduced  into  the  State  of  Illi- 
nois. 

The  act  of  Congress  of  May  1,  1810,  removing  the  embargo  and  open- 
ing trade,  or  at  least  permitting  it  to  shift  for  itself,  let  loose  from  every 
seaport  of  the  United  States,  from  Maine  to  Georgia,  nimble  skippers 
carrying  wheat,  corn,  flour,  rye,  barley,  codfish,  beef,  bacon,  beans, 
rice,  pitch,  and  other  stores  for  the  powers  then  contending  in  the 
Spanish  peninsula.  Opportunely  these  skippers  began  to  arrive  at 
Lisbon  and  Cadiz  at  the  time  the  Spanish  cabanas  were  being  sold. 
The  cargo  of  flour,  meat,  and  rice  was  landed  and  sold  and  the  money 
invested  in  a  cargo  of  Merino  sheep  and  brought  to  the  United  States. 
As  flour  sold  from  $17  to  $18  per  barrel,  corn  $2  to  $3  per  bushel,  and 

*  American  Cultivator,  Vol.  x,  1841. 


EAST    OF    THE    MISSISSIPPI    RIVER.  191 

meat  in  proportion,  the  venture  was  a  good  one,  but  when  to  this  was 
added  the  purchase  of  100  to  200  sheep  at  from  $10  to  $50  each,  and 
'their  sale  in  the  United  States  at  from  $100  to  $150  each,  the  profit  on 
one  trip  was  a  fortune.  Indeed,  many  merchants  and  sailing  masters 
made  profits  on  one  cruise  sufficient  to  pay  all  expenses,  to  pay  for  the 
vessel  entire,  and  leave  a  comfortable  surplus.  Mr.  Jarvis  was  one  of 
the  first  to  consign  his  sheep  to  parties  in  Boston,  New  York,  Philadel- 
phia, Alexandria,  Baltimore,  Norfolk,  and  Eichmond,  in  which  he  was 
followed  by  Goold  Bros.  &  Co.,  of  Lisbon,  and  others.  But  the  busi- 
ness was  not  done  by  two  or  three  houses  alone;  every  merchant  at 
Lisbon  and  Cadiz  that  could  do  so  bought  sheep,  and  every  skipper 
was  an  importer.  Mates,  supercargoes,  and  sailors  were  dealers.  A 
seafaring  man  who  had  the  confidence  of  his  friends  would  load  a  ves- 
sel with  supplies,  make  a  quick  trip  across  the  Atlantic,  drop  anchor 
in  the  Tagus  or  Bay  of  Cadiz,  sell  his  cargo,  buy  and  load  up  with 
Merino  sheep,  and  be  back  in  a  New  England  port  in  less  than  three 
months,  with  a  fortune.  It  is  not  to  be  wondered  at  that  the  trade  was 
an  infectious  one,  and  that  at  one  time  in  January,  1811,  over  one  hun- 
dred and  forty  sail  of  American  vessels  were  at  Lisbon  port,  with 
nearly  a  hundred  more  at  Cadiz.  Among  the  early  arrivals  at  Cadiz, 
August  2,  1810,  was  a  schooner,  thirty-six  days  from  Connecticut,  with 
live  oxen,  claimed  to  be  the  first  vessel  which  ever  crossed  the  Atlantic 
Ocean  with  such  a  cargo. 

Vessels  with  Merino  sheep  began  to  leave  Lisbon  and  Cadiz  in 
respectable  numbers  in  July  and  August,  and  in  September,  1810,  there 
were  thirty-eight  arrivals  at  various  ports  in  the  United  States  from 
Boston  in  the  North  to  Charleston  in  the  South.  They  started  singly 
and  in  company,  and  made  the  trip  in  an  average  of  thirty-six  days; 
some  arrived  in  thirty  days;  some  were  never  heard  of  after  sailing. 
James  Murdoch,  sailing  from  Lisbon,  dropped  anchor  at  Philadelphia 
the  same  day  that  Sally  made  the  port  of  New  York,  and  John  L.  Keias 
arrived  at  Norfolk,  on  the  same  day  that  Sally  and  Mary  arrived  at 
Philadelphia.  James  Wells  left  Lisbon  with  the  Four  Sisters;  they 
sailed  in  loving  company  all  the  way  across  the  Atlantic,  and  came  into 
New  York  harbor  together  on  January  7,  1811,  To  chronicle  the 
adventures  of  the  vessels  thus  carrying  on  this  trade,  as  told  in  their 
log  books,  would  fill  a  volume,  and  one  not  altogether  creditable  to 
American  statesmanship  or  apt  to  enhance  American  pride.  At  first 
the  American  sailor  and  shipper  had  nothing  but  the  indifference  of  his 
own  Government  and  the  elements  to  contend  with,  but  when  his  trade 
was  at  its  highest  English  cruisers  and  French  privateers  put  them- 
selves across  his  course,  stopped  him,  boarded  his  vessel,  stole  his  stores 
and  his  sheep,  robbed  him  of  money  and  clothing,  and  then,  in  one  case 
at  least,  burned  and  sunk  his  ship.  It  is  humiliating,  even  at  this  late 
day,  to  read  of  these  outrages.  In  some  cases  the  captains  report 
that  after  being  overhauled  and  boarded  they  were  treated  "  politely"  j 


192        SHEEP  INDUSTRY  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES 

in  others  that  their  glasses  were  taken,  their  money  chests  broken  into, 
the  contents  taken,  and  contributions  levied.  Ransom  was  sometimes 
paid  for  liberation,  and  that  at  a  good  round  sum.  The  Sachem,  bound 
for  Baltimore,  was  shot  at  on  September  10,  1810,  boarded,  robbed  of 
provisions  and  a  few  sheep;  the  Gideon,  bound  for  New  York  with  70 
sheep  for  Miles  Smith,  at  New  Brunswick,  N.  J.,  was  captured  by  a 
French  privateer,  robbed  of  provisions,  and  ransomed  on  payment  of 
$6,000,  on  April  2,  1811.  The  New  York  Gazette,  of  April  3,  1811, 
says: 

Yesterday  arrived  at  this  port  in  the  brig  Harriett,  from  Lisbon,  Capt.  Malcolm  and 
crew,  of  the  brig  Sumner,  of  Warren,  from  Liverpool  to  Lisbon,  loaded  with  wheat, 
and  Capt.  Powers  and  crew,  of  the  brig  Endeavor,  from  Lisbon  to  Marblehead,  with 
salt  and  100  Merino  sheep.  These  two  vessels  were  captured  by  the  French  frigates 
Renomme,  the  Nereide,  and  Clorinda,  all  of  46  guns,  from  Brest  for  the  Isle  of  France, 
and  sunk.  On  the  22d  of  February  these  frigates  boarded  the  Harriett  and  robbed 
Capt.  Kurd  of  46  sheep,  all  his  stores,  spyglasses,  clothes,  money,  etc.,  and  put  on 
board  of  him  the  above  American  crews,  and  left  the  Harriett  with  30  souls  on  board 
with  only  3  barrels  of  bread  and  3  of  beef.  Capts.  Powers  and  Malcolm  were  also 
robbed  of  everything. 

Even  these  indignities,  robberies,  and  dangers  did  not  deter  the 
American  sailor  from  his  enterprise,  and  wheat,  corn,  rice,  and  pork 
were  still  crowded  into  the  Lisbon  and  Cadiz  markets,  and  Merino 
sheep,  salt,  and  raisins  brought  back  in  turn.  However,  by  the  middle 
of  April,  1811,  the  markets  had  been  so  well  supplied  that  there  was  no 
sale  for  flour,  and  many  vessels  that  cleared  from  Boston  and  New  York 
for  Lisbon  and  Cadiz  were  obliged  to  find  a  market  elsewhere;  indeed, 
some  of  them  brought  back  their  outward  cargoes.  Sheep,  too,  were 
more  difficult  to  procure,  and  brought  such  low  prices  when  landed  that 
many  vesels  did  not  dare  to  deal  in  them,  and  came  home  in  ballast  or 
loaded  with  salt.  Salt  at  all  times  was  a  favorite  cargo,  and  nearly 
every  vessel  carrying  sheep  had  also  its  complement  of  salt.  The 
almost  stereotyped  note  of  arrival  was  such  and  such  a  vessel,  so  many 
days  from  Lisbon,  with  salt  and  Merino  sheep,  and  when  the  shipping 
reporter  felt  facetiously  inclined,  he  chronicled  the  latter  as  Merino  pas- 
sengers, Merino  immigrants,  or  Spanish  grandees. 

There  were  some  large  arrivals  in  July,  1811,  but  four  in  August,  and 
lessen  September.     By  our  own  researches  in  the  public  libraries,? 
through  files  of  Boston,  Providence,  New  Haven,  New  York,  Philadel- 
phia, Baltimore,  Charleston,  Savannah,  Washington,  and  other  news- 1 
papers  of  that  day,  supplemented  by  the  courtesy  of  the  collectors  of] 
customs  at  the  various  ports  of  entry,  we  are  enabled  to  give  some  par- 
ticulars concerning  the  sheep  shipped  by  the  several  parties  from  Por- 
tuguese and  Spanish  ports,  which,  though  seemingly  unimportant  and 
certainly  very  dry,  have  much  interest  to  some  and  mark  a  prominent 
point  in  the  agricultural,  industrial,  and  economic  history  of  the  United 
otates. 


EAST    OF    THE    MISSISSIPPI    RIVER. 


193 


Statement  showing  resxels  arriring  at  different  ports  in  the  United  States  with  Merino  sheep 

\   September  1,  1S10,  to  August  31,  1811,  with  name  of  vessel,  from  what  port  zlnppnl. 

the  number  landed,  number  lost  on  the  passage,  by  whom  shipped,  and  to  whom  consigned. 


j  Date. 

Fort  of  arrival. 

Vessel. 

Sailed 
from  — 

No. 
land- 

* 

Lost 
on 
pas- 
sage. 

Shipped  by— 

Consigned  to— 

1810. 
Sept.    1 

4 

5 
5 

7 

7 
8 

10 
11 
11 

12 
12 

12 

12 

13 

13 

13 

14 
14 
15 
15 

15 
16 

25 
30 

30 
30 

Oct.      3 

a 

: 

11 

. 

15 
16 

1    - 

Philadelphia.. 
Norfolk 

Transit  .  .  . 

Woodrep 
Sims. 
Marv  
Traveler  .  . 
Sullv  

Ayamonte 
Lisbon  .  .  . 
Cadiz 

200 
94 

Capt.Chas.  Stew- 
art. 
William  Jarvis  - 

P.  O'  Conner  
William  Jarvis. 
....do  

Capt.  Chas.  Stew- 
art. 
Moses     Myera     & 
Sons. 
S.  Buggies. 

S.  Hathaway. 
J.  M.  Wallace. 

Joseph  S.Lewis. 
Fitz  W.  Sargent. 
Jacob  Little. 

C.  Coolidge  &  Co. 
Moses    Myers     & 
Sons. 

Jacob  Little. 

Levi      Hollings- 
worth  &  Sons. 
Wood  &  Skinner. 
S.  Singleton. 

Hicks,  Jenkins  & 
Co. 
Post,   Grinnell    & 
Co. 

N.  Wattles  &.  Co. 
Smith  «fc  Buchanan 
Xehemiah  Parsons 

Wm.  R.  Yigers. 
John  Clark. 
C.  Coolidge  &  Co. 
K.  (  'arroll. 
James  H.  Hooe  and 
F.  Dodge. 
Ignatius  Sargent. 
Capt,    Paul   Cnffe 
and  Isaac  Gary. 
J.  Creightou,  jr. 
W.  &  T.  X.  Wood. 

J.F.Wood.Newall 
&  Watson. 
Washington    Hall 
and  R.  Barry. 

W.  R.  Vigers  and 
R.  Leavenworth. 
W.  &  S.  Craig. 
Samuel  Nightin- 
gale. 
N.   L.  &  G.  Gria- 

Boston  
New  Hertford  - 
\ew  York.  .  .  . 

Lishon.  .  .  . 
....do  

85    

6    

Philadelphia., 
do 

.1  a  m  e  s 
M  unlock. 
Bramin  .  .  . 
Augusta.. 
Dove  

....do  

Cadiz  
Lislnm  
do 

42 

GJ 
26 
160 
111 
6'J 
'20 

Goold  Bros.  &  Co 

R.  W.  Meade  
Elias  Davis  
William  Jarvis  . 

Gloucester  
Newburyport. 

New  London  . 
Boston  
Xorfolk 

Orion  
Ontario  ... 
Greyhound 

John  L. 

C.idiz  
Lisbon  
do 

...... 

William  Jarvis  . 
do 

do 

do 

35 
150 
220 

30 
160 

180 
90 

130 
10 

205 
57 

103 
30 
252 
11 
56 

6'J 
74 

206 
92 
137 

Xewburyport. 
Philadelphia  . 

X.'w  York.... 
Philadelphia  . 

New  York.... 
....do  
....do  

Keias. 
K  x  p  e  r  i  - 
meat. 
Sally  and 
Mary. 
Rose..  
Alleghany 

Adamant  . 
Broker.  .  .  . 

Korkland  . 
Martha  ... 
Greyhound 
Gov.  Suin- 
ner. 
Caliope 

....do  
....do  

Cadiz  

Ayamonte 

Lishon.  .  .  . 
Cadiz  

Lislxm  
do 

William  Jarvis.. 
do      

jR.  W.  Meade  .... 
S.  Singlet  on  (mas- 
ter). 
William  Jarvi*.. 

40 
104 
20 

William  Jarvis  - 

Alexandria  
Baltimore  
Boston  

New  York.... 

...do... 

15 
36 

Wm.  Jarvis  <fc  Co 
Goold  Bros.  &  Co 

Wm.  Jarvis  &  Co 
Goold  Bros.  &  Co 
Wm.  Jarvis  &  Co 
K.W.  Meade  .... 
Wm.Jarvi««fcCo 

Goold  Bros.  &  Co 
Wm.  Jarvis  &  Co 

....do  

rln 

do 

Belisarius          iln 

4<i 

Philadelphia.. 
Alexandria.   . 

CltM)]iatra 
Adeline... 

Minerva  .  . 

Cadi/,  
Lishon  

....do  
do 

....do  

Wanderer 

Henry.... 

...do  
....do  

il.i 

10     Goold  Bros.  &  Co 

Norfolk  

141 

._„,, 

150 
212 

202 
220 

74 
16 

9 

8 

76 
13 

17 
2 
40 

31 

I:T. 

•>nn 

Win.  Jarvis  <fc  Co 
Goold  Bros.  &  Co 

Baltimore  

Charleston  -  .  . 
N.-w  York.... 

do 

!  Sachem  ... 

A  brig  
Fortitude. 

Factor.... 

Xancy  ... 

Julia  Ann 

H  a  ppy 
Couple. 
Harrieite 

Brazilian 

Citizen  .. 

C.irolinr  . 

John   and 
Alice. 
Traveler. 

Ciiiciniiat 

Maria  The 

1      re:;n. 
3 

L  ...do  

Cadiz  
Lisbon  

....do  
Villa  Real. 

Lishun.... 
....do.... 

Gibraltar  . 
Lisbon... 

....do.... 

Lisbon... 
Cadiz  

Lisbon... 
....do  .... 

Wni.  Jarvis  <fc  Co 

154 

Providence  ... 
New  York.  .  . 
Norfolk  

!  Providence  .  . 
Alexandria  .  . 

....do  
Baltimore  .  .. 

,:„  

Felix  Merino  

wold. 
Ku-ene  Higgins. 

JJloduet  <t  Power. 
James  H.  Hoocaud 
F.  Luekett. 
James  H.  Hooe. 
Bowie    &    Kurtz, 
Georgetown. 
Kbenezer  I)O.!L:«-. 
K.  Silvt-rtboin. 
^V.  Patterson  & 
S«»ns. 
C.  &  S.Wirgman. 

R.  Crowningsliield 
Lerov.    Bayard    &. 
M.  Hvers. 
Isaac  Cluson. 

'.'.'.'.". 

S:mi.  C.  Blodget  . 
Capt.F.  Luckett 

William  Jarvis. 
Goold  Bros.  <fc  Co 

KbfiH-zer  Dodge. 
K.  Silverthorn  - 

John  Bulkelv  <fc 
Sons. 
11.  \V.  Meade. 

William  Jarvis. 



X«-w   York... 
....do  

do 

O-MIOM                  1 

194 


SHEEP    INDUSTRY    OF    THE    UNITED    STATES 


Vessels  arriciiKj  in  tlie  United  States  September  1,  1S10,  to  August  31,  1S11,  etc. — CoiitM. 


Date. 

Port  of  arrival. 

Vessel. 

Sailed 
from  — 

No. 

land- 
ed. 

Lost 
on 
pas- 
sage. 

9 

Shipped  by- 

Consigned  to— 

1810. 
Oct.   20 
23 
25 
25 

26 
27 
29 
31 

Nov.     1 

2 

6 

6 

9 
12 
12 
14 
15 
15 
16 

21 

23 
23 

24 
26 

27 
27 
Dec.     1 

4 
4 
4 

5 

27 

29 
1811. 
Jail.     1 

1 

1 

2 
3 

7 
7 

7 
8 
8 

Boston  
Philadelphia.. 

Albert  .... 
Hope 

Lisbon  
do 

100 
120 

Jonathan  Allen.. 

Jonathan  Allen. 
James  Yard. 
T.  Dexter,  of  R.  I. 
C.  Hatch  and  J.W. 
Rich. 
Jonathan  Allen. 
Hall.  Hall  &  Co. 
Appleton  &  Co. 
John  Jubel. 

Hall,  Hall  &  Co. 
ScovilleN.Talhot, 
G.  Robinson,  am; 
R.  Dickev, 
J.  Lovett/A.  Ru- 
den,    Wm.    Cod- 
man,  and  G.  and 
P.  Havens. 
John  Jubel. 

William  Story. 
Nathaniel  Curtis. 
Blodget  &  Powers. 
R.Crowningshield. 
Green  &  Lovett. 
A.  Barker    and  I. 
Clason. 
William  Jarvis. 

Do. 

Prescctt    &    Sher 
man,    Norton    & 
Bush. 
Samuel  Kelley. 

W.  Codman,  W.  R. 
Vigers,  and  A.  & 
G.  Thompson, 
Ingraham,  Plui'iiix 
&  Nixon. 
E.    H.  Derby  and 
W.  Codman. 
Samuel    Wetmoro 
and  others. 
J.  F.  Delaj'laine. 
James  H.  Hooe. 
Brigham  <fc   Bige- 
low. 
R.  Elwell. 

Thomas  Ketland. 

T  li  e    captain,    C. 
Peck,   and    F. 
Woodward. 
J.  P.  Kettle. 

T.  B.  Freeman. 
Joseph  Wintlirop. 

Abraham     Heaton 
and  others. 

Thomas  Tennant. 
W.  Watkinson, 
Lawrence    & 
Whitney. 
John    Murrav     & 
Sons. 
John     Murrav    & 
Sons,  E.Stevens. 
John    Murray     & 
Sons. 

Columbia 

do 

36 

107 

100 
130 
47 
150 

200 
94 
179 

Boston  

...do  
New  York  .... 
Baltimore  
Xow  York  

....do  
do  

do 

Kegulator 

Dromo  — 
Lydia  

Augustus 
Purse  

Sumner  ... 
Edmund  .  . 
Sumatra  .  . 

Laura  

Zephiro..  . 

Resolution 
Robert  
Sibac  

Valencia  .  . 

Lisbon  
Cadiz  
....do  
St.  Sebas- 
tians. 
Lisbon.  .  .  . 
....do  
do 

93 

30 
149 
16 
140 

O.  Rich  

Dan  Rhodes,  jr  .. 

48 
76 

....do  

St.  Sebas- 
tians. 
Teneriffe  . 
Lisbon  
Cadiz  
....do  
Lisbon  .  .  . 
....do  

150 

96 

13 

67 
25 
'29 
H)0 
21 

140 

54 
71 

""So" 

do  

Philadelphia  .  . 
Boston  
do 

Wm.  Ell'ott  
J.  Lord,  jr  
R.  W.  M'eade  .  . 

Newport  
New  York  
.do    

Eliza  
Sylph  
Regulator 

do                     Ottio  . 

Cadiz 

180 
42 

100 
32 
60 

59 
300 

IG 

610 
30 

59 
20 

76 

39 
30 

7 
150 

14 
120 

300 

Boston  

Constella- 
tion. 
Alfred.... 
Cephalus.. 
Elizabeth 
Little. 

Warren  .  .  . 
Canton  .  .  . 

T  a  a  m  a  a- 
haad. 
M  o  u  n  t 
Hope-. 
Mary  Ann 

Concord  .  . 
Diara  
Enterprise 

Fish  Hawk 
Lady  I  Tam- 
il ton. 
Little  Cher- 
ub. 
Ceres  

Sally  

Cumber- 
land. 
Corporal 
Trim. 
La  Chiena 
Neustra  .. 
Bellona  .  .  . 

Henry    & 
Clermont. 
Industry  . 
J  a  in  e  s 

Wells. 

Four  Sis- 
ters. 
Eliza  Lan» 

Gen.  Col- 
burn. 

Lisbon  .... 

....do  
Cadiz  

Lisbon  
do  

....do  ..... 
....do  
Corunna  .  . 

Gibraltar  . 
Lisbon.... 
Villa  Real. 

Lisbon.  .  .  . 
....do  

....do  
Villa  Real. 

Cadiz  
Lisbon  

Wm.  Jarvis  &  Co. 
.  .  .  .do  

....do  
Norfolk  
New  Haven  .  .  . 

Warren.  R.  I.. 
New  York  

....do  
do 

459 
20 

Samuel  Kelley, 
master. 

E.  H.  Derby  

....do  
....do  

Alexandria  .  .  . 
Boston  

15      William  Jarvis.. 
24     John  Smith  

John  Corliss  

Gloucester.  .. 
Sag  Harbor... 

Philadelphia.. 
New  Haven. 

Boston  

113 

50 

186 

James  Odcll  

Philadelphia.. 
Charleston  
Norfolk 

....do  

A  yam  on  te 
Cadiz  
Lisbon.... 

....do  

....do  
....do    .... 

do  

-d°  

....do  

80 

300 
105 
50 

19 

108 
125 

120 
151 
109 

200    

....do  

New  Haven  .  .  . 
Georgetown  .. 

Baltimore  
New  York  

....do  
....do....,;... 
....do  

J  .  N.  DeForrest 
(.supercargo). 

145 

183 

191 

EAST    OF   THE    MISSISSIPPI    RIVER. 


195 


Vessels  arriving  in  the  United  States  September  1,  1810,  to  August  31,  1811,  etc. —  Cont'd. 


Date. 

Port  of  arrival. 

Vessel. 

Sailed 
•from— 

No. 
land- 
ed. 

Lost 
on 
pas- 
sage. 

Shipped  by— 

Consigned  to— 

1811. 
Jan      8 

New  York  

Gen.  Put- 

Lisbon    .  . 

115 

89 

8 
11 
11 

Baltimore  
Marblehead... 
New  York  

nam. 
L  on  don 
Packet. 
Hannah  .. 

Belisarius 

....do  
Corunna  .  . 
Lisbon 

263 
4 
206 

64 

Goold  Bros.  <fe  Co 

T.    P.   James 

(master)  . 

Sons. 
John  Sherlock. 

Robert  Hooper. 

11 
14 

Alexandria  .  .  . 
Boston 

Zeriah  .... 

....do  
do 

50 
gj 

150 
20 

Edward  Grant  .  . 
Goold  Bros  &  Co 

Sons. 
Lawrence  &  Fowle. 

15 

do       

Polly  and 

Valencia 

40 

169 

15 

do      

Betsy. 
Ann 

Lisbon 

60 

244 

16 

Norfolk    

John  and 

Cadiz 

105? 

Sons,     W.    Cod- 
man,    W.    Swan 
and  A.  Riker. 

16 

Marblehead... 

Adeline. 
Print  

Lisbon..} 

107 
75 

30 

Goold  Bros.&  Co. 
William  Jarvis 

bee. 
William  Gray. 
William  Gray. 

17 

Boston 

Eliza  and 

do 

55 

32 

A  Pratt  jr 

Thomas  Thaxter. 

Georgetown  .  . 

Lydia. 
Ann  

...do  ... 

120 

Chaa.  O'Neill.  .  .  . 

23 

New  York  

Liberty 

do  

163 

18 

John    Murray    & 

24 

do    

Asia 

...do    ., 

87 

193 

Sons. 
J  Barker. 

26 

Baltimore  

Nimrod    .  . 

....do  

22 

Goold  Bros.  &Co. 

28 

Charleston  ... 

Cadiz 

125 

31 

North    Yar- 

"William. 
Orient 

Lisbon 

Feb      6 

mouth. 
Alexandria   .  . 

Hunter 

Cadiz 

47 

John  and  Thomp- 

13 

New  York     . 

5 

10 

Capt  Hays 

son  Mason. 
Capt.  Hays. 

14 

...do  

Henry 

do 

142 

74 

Lawrence  &  Whit- 

18 

Boston  

T  e  1  e  m  a- 

do 

80 

Goold  Bros.  &  Co. 

ney. 
Eben  Parsons. 

24 

New  York 

chus. 
Orion 

Cadiz 

35 

40 

J.  D.  Miller,  G.  S. 

27 

.  do  

Triton 

do 

108 

52 

Munford.   and 
Capt.  Howlmiil. 
G.  C.  Howlaiul  and 

Mar.     3 

do    

Julius  Cae- 

Peter Harmon  v. 
R.Crowningshieid. 

Alexandria 

sar. 
Martha 

do 

19 

Burling  &S\van. 
George  Taylor. 

r6 

Philadelphia 

Re  p  u  b  1  i- 

do 

88 

56 

Thomas  Ketland. 

Charleston 

can. 
Fidelia 

118 

104 

10 

New  York 

Thomas 

Lisbon 

68 

William  Codman. 

10 

...do 

140 

Smith  &  Huhbell. 

11 

11 

Baltimore  
New  York.... 
do 

Scioto.... 
Pocahontas 
Fox 

Lisbon  
....do  
do 

32 
135 

68 
15 
93 

William  Jarvis.. 

Smith  &  Buchanan. 
R.  CrowningshieM. 
W.  Osborn  and  R. 

14 

do 

Atlantic 

do 

100 

51 

C.  Smith. 
A.  Cranston  &  Co., 

15 

do 

Chelsea 

Madeira 

92 

58 

D.    Hadden,    T. 
H.  Merry,  and  to 
order. 
John  Murray  &. 

17 

Baltimore  

Madeira 

Cadiz  

300 

Moses  Abbott  .  .  . 

Sons. 
Jacob  Adams. 

20 

Philadelphia 

70 

21 

New  York 

Betsy 

do 

80 

20 

Taylor    &   Hamil- 

22 

..    do 

do 

ton. 
Carpenter  &  Fow- 

22 

do 

Elizabeth. 

do 

135 

45 

ler. 
Hall,  Hall  &  Co., 

21 

do 
uo  

do 

85 

115 

and  D.  Hadden. 
W.  Codman  and  U, 

25 

do 

ton. 

do 

250 

30 

Hadden 
John  Murray  & 

27 

do 

Betsy. 

do 

400 

Sons. 
John  Murray  & 

. 

do 

theTagus. 
Union 

do 

43 

7 

Sons  ;  Leroy,  Bay- 
ard <fe  McKvt-is. 
James  Robertson. 

27 

Baltimore  

Theresa  .. 

Madeira  .. 

26 

Andrew  Smith  .  . 

John  Sherlock,  C. 
&  P.  Wirgman. 

196 


SHEEP    INDUSTRY    OF    THE    UNITED    STATES 


Vessels  arriving  in  the  United  States  September  1,  1810,  to  August  31,  1811,  etc. — Cont'd. 


Date. 

Port  of  ar- 
rival. 

Vessel. 

Sailed 
from  — 

No. 
land- 
ed. 

Lost 
on 
pas- 
sage. 

Sh  ippcd  by— 

Consigned  to— 

1811. 
Mar.  28 

Boston  

Traveler  .  . 

Teneriffe  . 

44 

Madan  Bros 

Thomas  Thaxter 

Apr     2 

Maria 

Cadiz 

2 

do 

Harriett  .  . 

Lisbon 

64 

58 

Co. 
N    L    &  G    Gris- 

2 

do 

Gideon     .  . 

.     do 

70 

8 

wold. 
Miles  Smith 

4 

Philadelphia.. 

T  h  o  m  a  s 

Cadiz  

170 

Thomas  Ketland 

5 

do        

Ketlaiid. 
Amiable  .  . 

....do  .   ... 

200 

Do 

11 

....do  

Brainin  .  .  . 

Madeira  .  . 

500 

4 

Joseph   S.    Lewis- 

12 

New  York.  .  .  . 

Mentor  .  .  . 

....do  

41 

27 

Mordecai        a  n  d 
Sam.  Lewis;  Benj. 
B.  Howell  <fe  Co.' 
Jenkins  &:  Havens  • 

17 

do 

Solon    

Lisbon 

146 

27 

March  <fc  Ben- 
son. 
Post  &•  Minturn 

17 

...do  

Cornelia  .  . 

....do  

293 

37 

N.  L    &.  G     Gris- 

22 

Philadelphia.. 

William 

..do      .. 

wold:  E.  Leaven  - 
worth,  Strong    & 
Havens. 

23 

....do  

Penii. 
John      C. 

do 

25 

New  York.... 

Stocker. 
Kdward 

do 

78 

?2 

May   13 

Baltimore  

Hannah  .  . 

Teneritt'e 

'     16 

Savannah  

Eagle  

Lisbon.  .  .  . 

25 

James    Johnson, 

16 
25 

20 

New  York  
Boston  

....do    

Charles... 
Latona  .  .  . 

Ruth 

....do  
....do  

St  Ubes 

"~i28" 
5 

""23" 

"Win.   Jarvis    <fc 
Co..  Jones  &.  Co. 

Oliver     Sturges, 
and  A.  Richards 
&  Co. 
Capt.  Field. 
I.  Thorndike. 

E  Snow 

29 

Philadelphia.. 

Ken  si  n  g  - 

Lisbon 

Eyre  &  Massey 

29 

Norfolk  

ton. 
John  and 

do 

105  > 

31 

Savannah  

Mary. 
Florida... 

...do  ... 

219 

George  Scott. 

31 

Boston  

Samuel  .  .  . 

....do 

8 

Heurv  Paine. 

June    1 

Providence  .  .  . 

Charlotte  . 

....do  .... 

50 

Buikiey,  A  1  cock 

Brown  &  Ives. 

21 

Boston  

Venus  .... 

do 

54 

&  Oxcnford. 

29 

Philadelphia.. 

Fair  Amer- 

Cadiz. .  . 

Clapp. 
Brill  ton  &.  Barton. 

29 

Boston  

ican. 
Augusta.  . 

St.  TJbes 

9 

Jonathan  Buffing- 

July     1 

New  York  

Felix  .  . 

Lisbon 

ton. 
J.  &  E.  Lymau. 

2 

....do  

Klizsi  Bar- 

....do   

10 

J.  Barker  and  the 

2 

....do  

ker. 
Maria  .... 

do 

2')o 

captain. 
N     L    A:   G     Gris- 

10 

Philadelphia. 

Mars  .... 

....do  

120 

wold,  E.  Leaven- 
worth,    and     A. 
Cranston  &  Co. 
James   McMurtrie 

15 

Charleston  

Corpo  r  a  1 

Rivadeo 

90 

105 

and    Jonathan 
Worth. 
Joseph  Wiuthrop. 

17 

Philadelphia.. 

Trim. 

den.  Eaton 

Lisbon. 

5 

35 

18 

New  York  

Calcutta.. 

....do  

210 

150 

Hicks,   Jenkins  <fc 

20 

Boston 

F'irro 

Co. 

23 
Aug.  10 

New  Haven  .  . 
Alexandria  ..  . 

Star. 
II  11  1  d  a  h 
and  Maria. 
Svltil  . 

Lisbon  
do 

24 

Levi  Goodrich.  .  . 

Elisha  Aver. 
L.  Goodrich  and  J. 
M.  Deforrest. 

20 

Providence  .  .  . 

Mern  .... 

....do  

36 

B.    &    T.   C.    Hop- 

27 

Philadelphia.. 

Reaper  

...do 

273 

pin. 

31 

Newport  

Paulina... 

Cadiz  

6 

Benjamin  Gray  . 

Benjamin   Gray  of 
Little  Compton, 
master    o  i'   the 
A'essel. 

17,  693 

5,924 

EAST    OF    THE    MISSISSIPPI    RIVER. 


197 


The  inaccessibility  of  some  of  the  custom-house  records,  the  defective 
•ondition  and  total  destruction  of  others,  prevents  a  complete  his- 
tory of  these  shipments,  but  this  schedule  shows  that  various  parties 
\vere  shipping,  and  that  the  consignments  were  widely  distributed.  It 
u  ill  be  observed  that  in  most  of  the  cases  the  loss  on  the  passage  is  not 
.riven,  which,  as  a  general  rule,  was  5  per  cent.  Others  exceeded  this, 
tor  many  of  them  loaded  with  sheep  affected  with  claveau  or  sheep-pox 
lost  heavily.  The  Broker  lost  104  out  of  194,  the  Factor  154  out  of  356, 
the  Lydia  149  out  of  279,  the  Purse  140  out  of  290,  the  Laura  the  same, 
the  Otko  300  out  of  480,  the  Sally  186  out  of  200,  the  Gen.  Colburn  191 
out  of  300,  the  Ann  244  out  of  304,  the  Fox  93  out  of  128,  and  so  on  iu 
ui  eater  or  lesser  proportion. 

The  tiumner  left  Lisbon  in  the  latter  part  of  September  with  200 
sheep.  Her  arrival  is  nowhere  recorded,  yet  that  she  did  arrive  is  evi- 
dent from  the  fact  that  her  loss  is  not  mentioned,  and  that  a  letter  com- 
ing by  her,  elsewhere  given,  arrived  at  its  destination. 

The  total  number  of  vessels  arriving  from  September  1,  1810,  to  Au- 
gust 31,  1811,  as  shown  by  this  statement,  was  180  vessels,  168  of  which 
landed  17,693  sheep,  and  lost  5,924  on  the  passage.  These  are  the  fig- 
ures as  given,  but  it  must  be  borne  in  mind  that  in  some  cases  the  total 
number  given  as  landed  is  too  high,  including,  as  it  does,  the  number 
lost,  the  report  making  no  allowance  for  the  latter  and  stating  the  «m- 
tire  number  shipped.  Twelve  vessels  are  without  the  number  shipped. 
Allowing  that  these  landed  the  average  number  carried  by  the  168, 
which  was  105,  would  add  1,260  to  the  total  landed,  making  an  aggre- 
gate of  18,953  sheep.  Add  to  this  number  the  698  given  in  the  preced- 
ing totals  as  arriving  in  1810,  prior  to  September  1,  and  we  have  19,651 
Merino  sheep  arriving  in  the  United  States  from  April  1,  1810,  to  Au- 
gust 31,  1811.  The  number  shipped  from  Spain  and  Portugal  probably 
reached  26,000. 

Number  of  vessels  ai~riving  at  different  port  ft  in  the  United  States  from  Spain  and  Portugal 
from  September  1, 1810,  to  A  ugust  31, 1811,  with  Merino  sheep,  and  the  number  of  sheep. 


Port. 

Vessels.    Sheep. 

Port. 

Vessels. 

Sheep. 

\orth  Yarmouth   Me 

1 

28 
1 
2 
2 
2 
3 
4 
1 
1 
4 
1 

*105 
2.033 
85 
65 
310 
186 
109 
315 
59 
111 
284 
30 

Xew  York 

67 

12 
§ 

10 
5 

2 
1 

1  8,095 
!2.569 
§l.:i79 
§423 
139 
1,04£ 
563 
244 
200 

J'.nstnll 

Philadelphia  

Xew  Bedford 

'  Baltimore 

Gloucester 

1  Alexandria  

1  Norfolk 

*  Charleston    .  

Providence  

Savannah  
j  Unknown  

Total  

Xew  Haven 

180 

18,  953 

Sag  llarbor  

Estimated.         t  Five  cargoes  estimate  1.         J  Four  cargoes  estimated.         §  One  cargo  estimated. 


tThe  one  vessel  arriving  at  ^North  Yarmouth,  Me.,  January  31,  1811, 
tias  left  no  record  of  the  number  of  sheep  she  landed,  nor  does  it  appeal 


198  SHEEP    INDUSTRY    OF    THE    UNITED    STATES 

to  whom  they  were  consigned.  Neither  does  it  appear  that  any  other 
vessel  of  our  list  cleared  for  a  Maine  port,  all  the  consignments  being 
entered  at  Boston.  The  America,  which  landed  at  Boston  September 
24,  1810,  had  141  sheep.  Twenty- seven  of  these  were  delivered  to  J. 
F.  Wood,  at  Wiscasset,  and  31  to  Messrs,  bewail  &  Watson,  at  Port- 
land. Those  sent  to  Mr.  Wood  were  sold  late  in  the  season,  and  brought 
low  prices,  Mr.  Wood  being  the  principal  purchaser.  Some  of  those 
sent  to  Newall  &  Watson  died  shortly  after  being  put  ashore,  and  none 
were  sold  until  the  next  spring,  at  which  time  only  17  of  them  remained 
alive,  but  6  lambs  had  come  meanwhile.  They  were  moved  elsewhere, 
and  probably  added  to  the  flock  that  Mr.  Jarvis  finally  took  to  Weath- 
ersfield,  Vt. 

Either  from  the  small  number  sold  by  Mr,  Wood  and  those  brought 
by  the  Orient,  or  by  purchases  made  in  Boston,  Governor  Hunton,  John 
Davis,  Dr.  Hubbard,  Gen.  Chandler,  and  Judge  Lincoln,  all  of  Maine, 
were  supplied  with  the  Merino  sheep  in  1810  and  1811,  most  of  them 
in  1810.  These  were  the  first  Merino  sheep  introduced  into  Maine. 

Twenty-eight  vessels,  with  2,033  sheep,  landed  at  Boston.  Most  of 
these  were  consigned  to  those  who  sold  them  at  private  sale  or  reserved 
them  for  their  own  use.  The  earliest  public  sales  were  by  C.  Coolidge 
&  Co.,  who  offered  200  at  auction  on  September  27,  1810.  These  were 
Paulars,  shipped  by  Jarvis  on  the  Ontario  and  Belisarius,  and  the  aver- 
age price  received  was  about  $124  each.  Another  sale  by  the  same 
party  of  107  realized  $13,671,  an  average  of  $128  each.  Coolidge  &  Co. 
made  many  complaints  to  Mr.  Jarvis  that  his  consignment  of  sheep  to 
different  parties  prevented  them  from  keeping  up  the  prices,  which  they 
could  do  if  they  were  given  a  monopoly.  Private  sales  made  early  in. 
September  realized  $110  for  each  sheep.  These  low  prices,  compared 
to  those  of  March  and  April,  when  $500  to  $1,500  was  given  for  a  single 
sheep,  are  attributed  to  the  great  increase  in  the  number  arriving,  nearly 
every  seaport  from  Boston  to  Charleston  having  its  arrival  of  Merino 
immigrants.  On  October  4  John  Clark  sold  30  sheep  imported  by  him 
in  the  Amelia,  9  Negretti  rams  and  21  Paular  ewes,  and  on  the  10th  W. 
&  T.  N.  Wood  offered  at  private  sale  "  25  Merino  rams,  all  that  remain 
of  92  Paulars  in  the  Henry,  landed  only  sixteen  days  since."  On  the 
llth  Coolidge  &  Co.  sold  10  rams  and  30  ewes,  Paulars  shipped  by  Jar- 
vis,  and  on  the  21st  C.  Hayward,  auctioneer,  offered  65  Merino  sheep— 
26  rams,  24  ewes,  and  15  lambs— "  purchased  of  the  monks  of  the  Con- 
vent of  St.  Carlos  in  Estremadura."  The  same  auctioneer  advertised 
on  the  10th,  13  black  Merino  rams,  "  selected  from  the  best  flocks  in 
Spain/  The  prices  realized  in  these  October  sales  were  a  little  higher 
than  those  of  September.  The  purchasers  were  farmers  of  Massachu- 
setts and  Vermont,  and  the  sheep  found  their  way  into  nearly  every 
county  of  Massachusetts  and  into  many  of  those  of  Vermont  and  New 
Hampshire.  From  a  purchase  made  by  a  gentleman  at  these  sales  in 
September,  1810,  we  have  this  information.  His  purchase  consisted  of  5 


EAST    OF    THE    MISSISSIPPI    RIVER.  199 

full-blood  ewes  and  1  ram  (Paular)  just  landed  from  Spain.  In  1812 
the  fleeces  of  the  5  ewes  weighed  25  pounds  4  ounces;  in  1813  the  5 
fleeces  weighed  29  pounds  12  ounces,  and  in  1814  they  weighed  32  pounds 
2  ounces,  or  over  25  per  cent  improvement  in  two  years,  one  of  the  most 
striking  cases  of  the  early  records. 

Of  the  arrivals  at  Boston  from  November  1, 1810,  until  September, 
1811,  not  much  is  known  of  note.  The  sheep  as  they  came  in  were  soon 
disposed  of  and  transported  to  various  parts  of  New  England ;  and  they 
were  of  all  kinds,  Paulars,  Montarcos,  Negrettis,  and  Aguirres. 

The  cargo  of  the  Henry,  landed  September  22, 1810,  and  of  the  Summer, 
of  the  15th,  were  Paulars  purchased  of  Col.  Downie  by  Goold  Bros.  & 
Co. ;  40  of  those  imported  by  Jonathan  Allen,  October  20,  1810,  were 
sold  to  go  to  Pittsfield,  Mass. 

The  85  Paulars  landed  at  New  Bedford  September  5,  1810,  found 
slow  sale  at  that  place.  A  few  small  lots  were  disposed  of  and  the  resi- 
due sent  elsewhere,  7  rams  and  33  ewes  being  sold  at  auction  in  New 
York,  November  3. 

The  65  sheep  landed  at  Gloucester,  27  for  Fitz  W.  Sargent,  owner  of 
the  vessel  on  which  they  came,  and  shipped  by  Elias  Davis  from  Lisbon, 
and  the  39  shipped  by  John  Corliss  to  Eobert  El  well,  were  all  disposed 
of  to  farmers  in  the  vicinity  of  Gloucester. 

Of  the  310  sheep  arriving  at  Newburyport,  shipped  by  Jarvis  and  con- 
signed to  Jacob  Little,  13  were  sold  by  Mr.  Little  for  $2,312.50,  an 
average  of  $177.85  each ;  4  were  disposed  of  at  lower  prices,  and  274 
were  delivered  to  the  agents  of  Mr.  Jarvis;  some  of  them  were  sent  to- 
New  York  and  sold,  22  Paular  ewes  and  2  Paular  rams  by  James  Seton 
on  October  17,  and  by  P.  H.  Schenck,  who,  on  October  29,  oifered  1 
Paular  buck  and  7  Paular  and  Aguirres  ewes  just  reshipped  from  New- 
buryport. But  few  died,  an  evidence  that  they  were  healthier  sheep 
than  others  arriving  at  that  time,  or  that  they  had  better  care;  perhaps 
the  latter,  for  with  one  of  the  vessels  came  a  shepherd,  also  his  dog, 
which  gave  the  newspapers  of  the  day  an  opportunity  to  announce  the 
arrival  of  a  full  blooded  Spanish  Merino  shepherd ! 

Of  the  182  sheep  landed  at  Marblehead  for  William  Gray,  a  large 
commission  and  shipping  merchant  of  Boston,  and  the  4  for  Eobert 
Hooper,  we  have  no  record  beyond  the  facts  already  presented  in  the 
shipping  schedule.  Between  September  1,  1810,  and  August  31,  1811, 
but  three  vessels  are  on  record  as  arriving  at  Newport,  E.  I.,  with  sheep, 
the  Eliza,  from  Cadiz,  with  29  Infantados,  shipped  by  Eichard  W. 
Meade  to  Blodget  &  Power,  and  the  Paulina,  with  6  Infantados  brought 
from  Cadiz  by  the  captain,  Benjamin  Gray,  and  taken  to  his  home,  Little 
Compton.  We  have  no  further  record  of  these  two  importations. 

On  September  7,  1810,  Capt.  Paul  Cuffe  and  Isaac  Cory  inserted  an 
advertisement  in  the  Newport  and  Providence  papers  offering  for  sale 
at  auction,  on  September  21,  1810,  at  the  farm  of  David  Buffum,  in 
Newport,  E.  I.,  "74  Merino  rams  and  ewes,  warranted  of  the  pure 


SHEEP  INDUSTRY  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES 

Merino  breed,  shipped  by  William  Jarvis,  American  consul  at  Lisbon." 
As  these  sheep  were  shipped  from  Lisbon  before  Jarvis  purchased  any 
Aguirres,  it  may  be  assumed  that  all,  or  nearly  all,  were  Paulars.  It 
is  barely  possible,  though  not  probable,  that  a  few  may  have  been  Via- 
dillos,  or  the  unknown  variety  purchased  in  connection  with  Oilman, 
O'Neill,  and  Coolidge  &  Co.  Capt.  Ouft'e  was  master  of  a  vessel,  one 
of  those  to  whom  Jarvis  sold  sheep,  and  of  whom  Coolidge  &  Co.  com- 
plained that  they  were  carrying  so  many  sheep  that  they  depressed 
the  prices.  Chapman  says:  "Some  of  the  older  citizens  of  Newport 
remember  Capt.  Cuife  as  a  sea  captain  of  tall,  commanding  appearance, 
who  came  to  the  meeting  of  the  Friends  when  in  port;  and  they  also 
remember  that  he  was  generally  accredited  with  importing  into  New- 
port from  Spain  Merino  sheep,  from  which  the  flocks  of  David  Buffum, 
William  Bailey,  and  others,  principally  sprung,  though  there  is  a  proba- 
bility that  blood  from  the  Humphreys  importation  may  have  been  also 
introduced  into  some  of  the  flocks  at  Newport."  October  18,  1810, 
David  Buffum  offered  for  sale  00  full-blooded  Merino  sheep. 

Of  the  four  arrivals  at  Providence,  aggregating  315  sheep,  but  little 
can  be  added  to  the  facts  already  given  in  the  table.  On  January  21, 
1811,  Messrs.  Blodget  &  Power  advertised  for  sale  65  rams  and  ewes, 
full-blooded  Transhumantes,  shipped  by  William  Jarvis  from  Lisbon, 
and  notice  was  given  that  as  the  original  cost,  expenses,  and  average 
loss  on  the  passage,  exceeded  the  price  then  obtainable,  of  course  the 
importations  must  cease  or  the  price  enhance.  Nothing  is  known  as  to 
the  cargo  arriving  November  24,  1810,  at  Warren,  K.  I.  The  111  sheep 
by  the  Orion  from  Cadiz,  which  arrived  at  New  London,  Conn.,  Sep- 
tember 10,  1810,  were  undoubtedly  part  of  those  purchased  by  Mr. 
Hall  from  the  Duke  de  Infantado,  and  it  is  believed  that  they  were  sent 
to  Mr.  Hall's  home  at  Pomfret. 

During  the  period  under  consideration  four  vessels,  carrying  284 
Merino  sheep,  landed  their  cargoes  at  New  Haven,  Conn.  The  first 
was  the  schooner  Elizabeth  Little,  sailing  by  way  of  Turks  Island  and 
New  York.  The  sheep  were  noted  on  their  arrival,  about  the  middle 
of  November,  1810,  as  "  GO  genuine  Merino  sheep,  selected  from  the 
best  flocks  in  Spain,"  and  they  were  offered  for  sale  by  Prescott  & 
Sherman  and  Norton  &  Bush,  to  whom  they  were  consigned.  They 
were  sold  at  auction  November  30,  but  we  have  no  record  of  the  pur- 
chasers and  prices. 

The  next  arrival  was  the  brig  Ceres,  Capt,  William  Fairchild,  from 
Villa  lieal,  Spain,  in  forty-five  days,  with  150  Merino  sheep  consigned 
to  F.  Woodward,  C.  Peck,  and  the  captain.  Upon  the  day  of  their 
arrival,  December  27,  1810,  78  of  these  sheep  were  advertised  to  be 
sold  at  auction  January  9,  1811,  by  Joel  Atwater,  auctioneer.  The 
advertisement  reads: 

These  sheep  were  selected  from  the  Duke  Infnntado's  flock  of  1,500  by  a  person 
who  went  from  this  country  for  the  purpose, 'and  are  said  by  judges  to  be  superior  to 
any  that  have  been  imported. 


EAST    OF    THE    Mississippi    RIVER.  201 

The  issues  of  the  Connecticut  Journal  of  January  10,  17,  24,  and 
February  7, 1811,  contain  an  advertisement  by  Capt.  William  Fairchild 
of  "GU  full-blooded  Merino  sheep  selected  from  the  Duke  Infantado's 
flock,  imported  in  the  brig  Ceres,  Capt.  William  Fairchild,  direct  from 
Spain,  to  be  sold  at  private  sale.  Inquire  of  the  subscriber,  in  Wooster 
street." 

These  sheep  were  undoubtedly  a  part  of  the  purchase  made  by 
Charles  Henry  Hall  of  the  Duke  de  Infantado,  of  which,  as  he  says,  he 
sent  a  part  to  New  York  and  Philadelphia.  Mr.  Hall's  letter  regarding 
this  purchase  was  published  in  1844,  and  is  here  partially  given : 

The  Duke  del  Infantado,  it  is  true,  joined  the  patriot  cause,  and  went  ambassa- 
dor TO  England  from  the  Cortes  at  the  time  Ferdinand  was  detained  in  France,  and 
returned  to  Cadiz,  when  that  city  was  in  a  state  of  siege.  There  I  was  introduced 
to  the  duke  by  the  Tinted  Starrs  ambassador,  Mr.  Erving.  His  flocks,  he  informed 
me,  were  in  positions  of  safety  from  the  contending  armies  in  various  parts  of  Spain, 
some  of  them  in  Andalusia.  The  result  of  my  interview  was  a  purchase  from  the 
duke  of  a  flock  of  400  sheep  by  myself  and  associates,  which  were  shipped  to  Vir- 
ginia, consigned  to  Messrs.  Brown  &  Rives,  at  Richmond.  Subsequently  there 
were  obtained  from  the  duke  2,000  more  sheep  having  this  mark  (a  brand  of  Y  upon 
t'ie  <ide  of  the  face  of  the  sheep)  which  were  shipped  to  New  York  and  Philadelphia 
lor  account  of  Commodore  Charles  Stewart,  Consul  Richard  Hackley,  myself,  and 
others.  Of  one  of  the  cargoes  Chancellor  Livingston  had  a  large  lot  of  my  Infan- 
tado sheep  which  he  purchased  of  my  agent,  Mr.  Henry  Ward,  and  I  think  in  some 
of  his  writings  he  speaks  of  the  high  estimation  in  which  he  held  the  flocks  of  the 
above-named  duke. 

In  noting-  the  large  importation  of  Infantado  sheep  from,  Spain  during 
isio  and  1S11,  and  commenting  upon  this  letter  of  Mr.  HalPs,  Albert 
Chapman  makes  these  remarks: 

Some  things  in  this  letter  are  corroborated  by  other  circumstances.  H.  Ward  is 
given  as  one  of  the  consigners  of  Merino  sheep  that  arrived  at  New  York  on  board 
the  Maria  Theresa  from  Cadiz  and  thirty-eight  days  from  Villa  Real,  Spain.  She 
arrived  October  19,  1810.  The  brand  on  the  face  of  the  sheep  is  the  same  as  was 
upon  the  sheep  imported  into  Xew  Haven  in  1810,  as  described  by  Jacob  N.  Blakeslee, 
a  more  full  account  of  which  we  shall  publish  hereafter.  Another  coincidence  is 
that  both  vessels  sailed  from  Villa  Real,  not  from  Lisbon,  where  most  of  the  con- 
fiscated flocks— perhaps  all — were  shipped. 

And  Mr.  Chapman  concludes  by  admitting  that  there  are  several 
reasons  for  believing  that  the  importation  by  the  Ceres  was  from  the 
Infantado  stock,  and  probably  a  part  of  the  purchase  described  by  Mr. 
Hall.  The  account  as  given  by  Mr.  Blakeslee,  referred  toby  Mr.  Chap- 
man, may  here  be  produced,  as  stated  by  Prof.  W.  H.  Brewer,  of  Xew 
Haven,  in  18(58  or  1870: 

There  were  two  importations  into  New  Haven.  In  1810  an  importation  by  Peck 
&  Atwater,  of  Xew  Haven.  In  1811  another  by  Abraham  Heaton  &  Co.,  John  De 
Forrest  supercargo.  Merino  sheep  fell  in  price  about  that  time.  These  were  sold 
at  auction,  at  least  some  of  them  were.  I  saw  all  the  sheep  of  both  these  impor- 
tations. Both  had  the  same  brand  on  the  nose,  a  V  or  Y»  *ork  upwards;  no  hair 
where  tlie  mark  was  put  on.  I  was  then  told  that  this  was  the  Infantado  brand. 
Capt.  Peck  told  me  that  they  were  the  best  flock  in  Spain,  and  were  called  the  Infau- 


202        SHEEP  INDUSTRY  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES 

tartos.     When  the  Heaton  importation  was  sold  there  was  one  particular  ram  that  1 1 
wanted.     He  was  unlike  the  others;  he  had  a  peculiar  fleece.     Several  wanted  him.  j 
He  was  sold  when  some'of  us  were  away  getting  something  to  eat.     Daniel  Bacon, 
of  Woodbury,  got  him.     I  afterwards  got  two  rams  of  his  get,  but  I  never  owned 
that  identical  ram. 

We  have  introduced  this  statement  of  Mr.  Blakeslee  to  show,  by 
cumulative  facts,  that  the  sheep  imported  by  the  Ceres  were  Infanta- 
dos,  but  Mr.  Blakeslee  was  in  error  in  that  part  of  his  statement  wli  ere 
he  said  that  the  Heaton  importation  had  also  the  Infantado  brand,  for 
that  importation  was  from  Lisbon  and  consisted  of  Guadaloupes  and 
Negrettis. 

The  Heaton  importation  here  spoken  of  consisted  of  30  Guadaloupes 
and  12  Negrettis  shipped  from  Lisbon  by  one  of  Heatoii's  agents.     Mr.) 
Heaton  says  that  the  sheep  were  smuggled  into  Portugal,  and  that  he 
knew  that  one-half  of  them  were  of  the  Guadaloupe  breed,  "  considered 
in  Spain  superior  to  any  other  breed  of  sheep  raised  there,"  and,  con-i 
tiiiues  Mr.  Heaton,  "there  has  not  been  any  breed  of  sheep  imported 
that  compared  with  the  Guadaloupe  breed."    The  sheep  came  on  the) 
Bellona  and  arrived  at  New  York  December  3\,  1810,  forty- two  days 
from  Lisbon,  consigned  to  J.  &  E.  Town  send,  and  thence  the  vessel 
sailed  to  New  Haven,  where  it  arrived  January  3,  1811.    At  New  York 
the  number  of  sheep  reported  was  50;  at  New  Haven,  42,  consigned  tol 
Abraham  Heaton  and  others.     The  following  advertisement  will  explain 
from  whence  they  came  and  some  other  particulars.     It  is  from  the  Con- 
necticut Journal  of  January  10,  1811 : 

To  be  sold  at  auction,  in  this  city  (New  Haven),  on  the  17th  instant,  January 
1811),  42  Merino  sheep,  imported  in  the  brig  Bellona,  from  Lisbon.  Thirty  of  these 
sheep  are  the  improved  breed;  the  most  unquestionable  documents  accompany  them, 
proving  them  to  be  of  unmixed  race  of  Leonese  Merinos,  of  the  flock  termed  Guada- 
loupe. They  were  purchased  of  the  prior  of  the  royal  monastery  of  Guadaloupe,  in 
Spain,  and  warranted  genuine.  *  *  The  remaining  12  are  of  the  Negretti 

breed,  with  certificates  attesting  their  genuineness. 

The  sale  was  well  attended  and  much  anxiety  was  shown  for  the 
possession  of  a  remarkable  ram,  so  remarkable,  indeed,  that  Mr.  Hea- 
ton, writing  in  1864,  said  of  him:  "  His  size  and  form  were  so  superior 
I  almost  see  him  standing  before  me  now.  His  fleece  was  uncommonly 
large,  and  admitted  to  be  finer  than  any  other  wool  that  had  been  seen 
in  this  country."  This  Guadaloupe  ram  was  sold  to  Daniel  Bacon  for 
$350  or  $275,  after  a  sharp  competition.  In  Mr.  Bacon's  hands  he 
became  celebrated  as  a  very  superior  stock  ram,  and  afterwards 
obtained  a  wide  notoriety  as  the  improver  of  many  flocks.  Subse- 
quently Mr.  Bacon  sold  this  ram  to  W.  E.  Lampson  for  $1,300,  and  he 
added  his  blood  to  the  Atwood  strain  of  Merinos. 

From  the  Infantado  importation  by  the  Ceres  and  the  Guadaloupe 
and  Negretti  importation  by  the  Bellona  sprung  the  flock  of  Jacob  N. 
Blakeslee,  and  some  others  in  Connecticut.  Some  of  both  importa- 
tions he  took  upon  shares,  some  from  Mr.  Peck  and  Mr.  Woodward, 


EAST    OF   THE    MISSISSIPPI    RIVER.  203 

consignees  of  the  Ceres,  and  some  from  Joel  Atwater,  the  auctioneer 
of  both  lots.  Peck  &  Atwater  bought  a  part  of  the  cargo  of  the 
Bellona,  but  never  imported  any  sheep. 

The  24  sheep  bought  by  Levi  Goodrich  in  Lisbon  and  landed  at  New 
Haven  by  the  Huldah  and  Maria,  on  July  23,  1811,  must  have  been 
disposed  of  at  private  sale,  of  which  no  record  has  appeared. 

Sixty-seven  vessels,  carrying  nearly  one  half  of  the  Merinos  imported 
into  the  country,  about  this  time,  landed  their  cargoes  at  the  port  of 
New  York.  As  far  as  can  be  ascertained  the  number  landed  was  8,695. 
This  varies  but  little,  if  any,  from  the  exact  number.  Many  of  these 
sheep  were  consigned  to  private  parties,  by  whom  they  had  been  ordered 
before  shipment,  and  no  knowledge  of  them  is  attainable  beyond  the 
time  when  they  cleared  the  vessel's  deck,  but  of  some  we  have  indistinct 
traces  which  we  will  follow. 

The  first  vessel  to  arrive  in  September,  1810,  was  the  Sally,  with  6 
sheep,  consigned  to  S.  Hathaway.  These  sheep  were  from  Lisbon,  said 
to  have  been  purchased  of  Jarvis,  and  were  sold  at  auction  September 
21  as  Segovian  sheep,  "young  and  handsome,  and  belonging  to  the 
flock  of  the  Bishop  de  Castro." 

On  the  22d  of  September  the  cargoes  of  the  Rockland  and  the  Caliope 
were  sold  at  the  country  seat  of  Francis  B.  Winthrop,  at  Home's  Neck, 
N.  Y.  James  Seton  was  the  auctioneer,  and  he  disposed  of  215  Paulars, 
Xegrettis,  and  Aguirres.  Many  were  present,  and  the  whole  flock 
was  sold  for  $57,000,  averaging  $265  each.  One  ram  brought  $910. 
Among  the  purchasers  were  Chancellor  Livingstoa,  John  B.  Church, 
the  Crugers,  Morgan  Lewis,  Mr.  Johnson,  and  many  other  gentlemen 
of  wealth  and  spirit. 

On  October  1  James  Seton  sold  2  full-blooded  Merino  rams  imported 
in  the  Wanderer,  and  on  the  3d  Tripler,  Shotwell  &  Co.  sold  at  auction, 
at  Brooklyn,  35  Paulars  and  Aguirres.  This  was  succeeded  by  a  sale 
at  Brooklyn,  on  the  5th,  of  the  cargo  of  the  Fortitude,  Paulars  and 
Xegrettis.  These  sheep  were  advertised  as  full-blooded,  "  in  great 
health  and  good  order,  imported  in  the  ship  Fortitude,  Capt.  Griffith, 
from  Lisbon."  One  hundred  and  fifty  sheep  were  sold  at  these  prices: 

52  rams $18, 324. 80 

98  ewes..  22,104.88 


150  total  of  the  flock 40,429.68 

Highest  rani 820.00 

Lowest  ram 100.00 

Highest  ewe 325.00 

Lowest  ewe 60. 00 

Average  price  of  rams 352. 40 

Average  price  of  ewes 225. 56 

Average  price  of  whole  flock 269. 52 

On  October  9  another  sale  took  place  at  Brooklyn  of  70  Paulars, 
arrived  on  the  Julia  Ann  from  Lisbon;  and  on  the  same  day  and  place, 
by  the  same  auctioneer,  there  were  sold  "  55  rams  from  Estramadura  in 


204  SHEEP    INDUSTRY    OF    THE    UNITED    STATES 

finest  order  and  good  wool,  from  Cadiz,  and  equal  to  the  Merino  breed."* 
The  prices  realized  at  these  sales  were  but  a  shade  lower  than  those  of! 
the  5th,  above  given.  Of  the  cargo  of  the  Factor,  consigned  to  W.  &' 
S.  Craig,  these  gentlemen  offered  at  auction,  October  15,  180  rams  of 
the  Negretti  and  ewes  of  Paular  flocks.  The  prices  were  well  main- 
tained, and  the  sheep  were  spoken  of  as  being  in  good  condition  and 
equal,  if  not  superior,  to  any  in  the  market.  Two  hundred  and  fifty 
sheep  were  put  up  at  auction  oil  October  31,  by  Mr.  Dunham,  but  35 
rams  ami  6  ewes  only  were  sold;  the  highest  priced  ram  was  $250;  the 
lowest,  $90 ;  the  highest  priced  ewe  was  $140 ;  the  lowest  was  $60.  The 
average  price  of  the  rams  was  $121  each,  that  of  the  ewes  $128.65  each. 

Of  the  sheep  brought  by  the  Cincinnati,  Hoofman  &  Glass,  on  Novem- 
ber 2,  "offered  at  the  seat  of  Gen.  Depeyster,  at  Harlem  Heights,  8 
miles  from  New  York,  90  real  Transhumante  ewes  and  rams  from  the 
flock  of  Count  de  Montarco,  just  from  Lisbon.  They  are  the  property 
of  a  house  of  first  respectability  in  Lisbon,  and  who  have  been  concerned 
in  the  purchase  and  sale  of  a  very  great  proportion  of  the  real  Merinos 
imported  into  the  United  States  from  Portugal."  Eighty  sheep  of  the 
same  flock  were  sold  at  the  seat  of  Peter  Stuyvesant  the  next  day,  and 
two  days  thereafter  80  Paulars,  belonging  to  Mr.  Jarvis,  reshipped  from 
Newburyport,  were  ottered  for  sale  at  Stuyvesant's  place.  We  have  no 
record  of  the  sales  beyond  the  advertisements. 

On  November  13  Wetinore  &  Jackson  sold  for  G.  Haven  80  Paular 
and  Negretti  sheep  "from  the  flock  of  the  Marshal  Beresford,  well  known 
in  Europe."  These  were  sold  in  front  of  the  New  York  custom  house. 
They  were  a  part  of  the  cargo  of  the  Laura.  On  the  17th  John  J-ubel 
offered  for  sale  130  Negrettis  and  Paulars,  by  the  Purse,  from  St.  Sebas- 
tians, and  on  the  same  day  E.  &  A.  Townsend  offered  27  sheep,  by  the 
Laura,  from  Lisbon;  also  17  sacks  of  Merino  wool. 

The  cargo  of  the  Concord  from  Gibraltar — 16  rams  and  43  ewes — was 
ottered  at  private  sale  on  the  day  of  arrival.  That  of  the  Canton  from 
Lisbon,  owned  by  different  parties,  was  sold  on  different  days.  Wet- 
more  &  Jackson  offered  75  on  December  5,  W.  K.  Vigers  offered  170  on 
the  6th,  and  again  on  15th  Wetmore  &  Jackson  offered  70,  the  property 
of  A.  G.  Thompson.  On  the  12th,  James  Seton  sold  9  Infantados 
imported  in  the  ship  Otho. 

Another  arrival  of  Infantados  was  that  of  the  Maria  Theresa,  October 
19,  1810,  with  200  consigned  to  Isaac  Clason,  owner  of  the  vessel,  and 
to  H.  Ward,  the  agent  of  Charles  Henry  Hall,  by  whom  they  were 
shipped.  This  was  a  part  of  the  purchase  from  the  Duke  de  Infantado. 

There  were  nine  arrivals  during  the  month  of  January,  1811,  but  only 
three  recorded  sales.  James  Seton  on  the  12th  offered  90  Merino  ewes 
just  from  Lisbon,  pure  Guadaloupe  sheep;  on  the  13th  offered  40  by  the 
James  Wells;  and  again  on  the  16th  offered  60  rains  and  ewes  from  the 
flock  of  the  Count  del  Campo.  The  prices  realized  were  low  and  dis- 
couraging. Seven  of  the  nine  vessels  arriving  this  month  had  their 


EAST    OF    THE    MISSISSIPPI    RIVER.  205 

cargoes,  wholly  or  in  part,  consigned  to  John  Murray  &  Sons.  These 
gentlemen  refrained  from  forcing  the  market  and  kept  the  sheep  con- 
<igned  to  them  until  spring. 

There  were  no  sales  in  February.  On  March  22,  James  Seton  offered 
LI  rains  and  51  ewes,  imported  from  Lisbon  in  the  Thomas,  and  on  the 
JStli  40  Merino  rams  imported  on  the  Atlantic. 

The  largest  sale  in  New  York  was  that  of  John  Murray  &  Sons.  Over 
1,700  sheep  were  consigned  to  them,  and  they  began  to  come  in  when 
prices  were  low,  and  unfortunately  many  of  them  were  diseased.  They 
w-ere  not  forced  on  the  market  but  kept  over  winter,  notice  being  given 
on  February  13,  1811,  that  sales  at  auction  would  commence  on  March 
4  of  several  flocks  of  the  best  breeds  in  Spain.  The  sale  continued 
for  some  days,  but  the  prices  did  not  rule  high. 

The  cargo  of  the  Traveller,  which  arrived  on  October  16,  1810,  con- 
signed to  Richard  Crowningshield,  consisted  of  Moutarcos  which  were 
ottered  for  sale  March  30,  1811,  and  at  the  same  time  there  was  offered 
Ithe  cargo  of  the  Poeahontas,  which  arrived  March  11.  These  sheep 
were  described  as  young,  "of  large  frame,  very  handsomely  marked, 
tine  close  fleece,  and  of  the  Guadaloupe  flocks  which  are  much  admired 
for  the  closeness  of  their  fleece." 

Some  of  the  first  importations  into  New  York  early  found  their  way 
to  Albany,  where,  in  September,  1810,  there  was  a  sale  of  1  ram  for 
$900,  another  at  $150,  1  ram  and  2  ewes  at  $1,400,  and  1  ram  and  3 
ewes  at  $1,100. 

Not  all  the  sheep  advertised  from  November  to  March  were  sold  on 
the  stated  days,  and  small  lots  were  constantly  disposed  of  at  private 
sale,  or  in  the  custom-house  yard,  at  auction.  March  was  a  clearing 
up  month,  no  less  than  fourteen  entire  cargoes  being  disposed  of  with 
remnants  of  other  importations. 

On  April  5  James  Seton  offered  for  sale  400  Merino  sheep  of  the 
Monturco  flock,  imported  by  the  Mount  Hope  in  the  preceding  Novem- 
ber. This  cargo  of  1,000  sheep  was  purchased  by  Gen.  E.  H.  Derby, 
of  Charles  O'Neill,  at  Lisbon.  Four  hundred  and  fifty  died  on  the  pas- 
sage and  many  more  after  being  landed.  The  sale  was  but  partially 
successful.  Some  of  the  sheep  were  sold  at  low  prices,  and  the  remain- 
der taken  to  Connecticut  and  Massachusetts.  The  70  Merino  sheep  by 
the  (JMeon,  consigned  to  Miles  Smith,  were  taken  to  that  gentleman's 
place  on  the  Raritan  River,  opposite  New  Brunswick,  N.  J.  Mr.  Smith 
was  a  neighbor  of  Capt.  Farmer,  the  breeder  of  Leicester  sheep,  men- 
tioned in  a  preceding  chapter,  and  with  whom  Mr.  Smith  divided  his 
purchase.  Both  gentlemen  bred  from  the  importation  many  years 
and  disposed  of  the  product  in  the  central  counties  of  New  Jersey. 

The  Montarcos,  arriving  by  the  Harriett  on  April  2,  were  sold  at  Bull's 
Bead  by  James  Seton  on  the  lltli.  On  the  15th  Wetmore  &  Jackson 
sold  24  rams  and  90  ewes  imported  on  the  Amazon  from  Villa  Real,  by 
Smith  &  Hubbell,  On  the  26th  James  Seton  offered  for  sale  at  P.  Stuy- 


SHEEP    INDUSTRY    OF    THE    UNITED    STATES 

vesant's,  2  miles  from  New  York,  100  ewes  and  100  bucks,  Negretti, 
Guadaloupe,  and  Montarcos,  from  Lisbon  in  the  ship  Cornelia. 

Of  the  twenty-two  arrivals  at  Philadelphia,  with  about  2,500,  the 
first  was  the  Transit  from  Ayamonte,  near  Cadiz,  carrying  200  Infan 
tado  sheep.  Capt.  Edward  Meade  was  master  of  the  vessel  and  Capt. 
Charles  Stewart,  U.  S.  Navy,  was  a  passenger  and  part  owner  of  the 
sheep.  The  sheep  were  part  of  the  purchase  made  by  Charles  Henry 
Hall  of  the  Duke  de  Infantado,  elsewhere  noted.  They  were  offered  at 
private  sale  and  were  advertised  as  having  been  "  selected  with  the  great- 
est care  from  the  Duke  de  Infantado's  flock  of  30,000  on  the  mountains 
of  Sierra  Morena,  the  best  in  Spain."  Failing  to  dispose  of  them  at 
private  sale,  Freeman  &  Passmore  ottered  150  at  auction,  on  September 
20.  This  sale  was  unsuccessful;  was  postponed  from  time  to  time,  and 
again  the  sheep  were  on  private  sale,  but  few  being  disposed  of  at  the 
close  of  the  year. 

On  September  7,  Freeman  &  Passmore  advertised  that  57  full-blooded 
Merinos  had  just  landed  (by  the  James  Murdoch,  probably),  selected 
from  one  of  the  finest  flocks  in  Spain,  and  that  they  would  be  offered  for 
sale  on  the  12th.  They  were  not  all  sold,  and  on  the  19th  50,  including 
some  of  another  lot,  were  again  offered  without  reserve  and  sold  at  very 
low  figures.  As  a  commentary  on  the  slow  sales  and  low  prices  at  this 
time  it  may  be  stated  that  a  Philadelphia  paper  asserts,  at  a  later  day, 
that  when  the  Merinos  were  first  offered  for  sale  near  Philadelphia  their 
merits  were  so  unknown  or  overlooked  that  their  lambs  were  sold  to 
the  butchers  for  lack  of  other  purchasers,  though  the  sheep  were  then 
offered  at  moderate  prices. 

The  Jarvis  shipments  to  Philadelphia  were  consigned  to  Levi  Hol- 
lingsworth  &  Sons.  The  first  arrival  was  the  Sally  and  Mary,  Septem- 
ber 12,  with  L'OO  sheep.  The  largest  purchaser  was  James  Caldwell,  of 
New  Jersey,  for  his  farm  at  Haddonfield.  At  this  sale  he  bought  190 
sheep  for  $28,500,  or  $150  each,  and  at  another  sale  made  purchases 
amounting  to  $3,000.  Of  these  sheep  we  find  notice  the  folio  wing  year. 
The  first  meeting  of  the  "Merino  Society  of  the  United  States,"  of 
which  Mr.  Caldwell  was  president,  was  held  at  his  farm  at  Haddonfield, 
on  October  5,  1811,  and  was  largely  attended  by  members,  farmers,  pro- 
prietors, and  manufacturers.  Between  200  and  300  full-blooded  Merinos 
in  the  finest  order,  both  of  fleece  and  flesh,  were  shown,  "  their  appear- 
ance proving,  beyond  all  controversy,  that  the  soil,  climate,  and  food  of 
Jersey  are  congenial  with  the  health  and  excellence  of  this  inestimable 
animal.  A  large  number  of  those  examined  were,  when  purchased 
from  the  importers,  feeble,  pining,  and  more  or  less  diseased,  but  the 
whole  flock  was  completely  recruited." 

The  account  then  goes  on  to  a  comparison  with  the  descendants  of 
the  Muller  ram  and  the  Humphrey  ewes: 

And  it  is  certain  that  Mf.  Caldwell,  in  all  his  enterprising  purchases  from  .the  late 
importations  of  Spanish  sheep,  has  never  met  with  any  equal  in  appearance,  fineness 


EAST    OF    THE    MISSISSIPPI    RIVER.  207 

>f  fleece,  and  length  of  pile  to  those  of  his  own  raising  from  his  original  flock.   About 
100  laiubs  have  been  the  produce  of  this  year,  nearly  all  of  which  have  been  so  far 

reared  without  accident  or  distemper. 
It  is  not  probable  that  Mr.  Caldwell  took  the  whole  of  his  purchase 
to  his  farm,  for  on  September  22  he  advertised  for  sale  70  Merino  rams 
and  ewes,  "  fine-wooled,  full-blooded  Traushuinantes,  of  the  Paular  and 
Aguirres  breed.  They  were  of  the  flocks  of  the  Prince  of  Peace  and 
purchased  at  the  sales  ordered  by  the  Junta  of  Estreinadura,  by  Wil- 
liam Jarvis,  at  Lisbon,  whence  they  have  just  arrived  by  the  bark  Sally 
and  Mary." 

These  sheep  did  not  go  off  at  private  sale,  and  on  October  4  they 
were  offered  at  auction,  and  the  following  incentive  held  out  to  those 
who  still  hesitated : 

From  the  last  accounts  from  Lisbon  the  prospects  of  further  importation  of  full- 
blooded  Merinos  are  at  an  end,  consequently  this  appears  likely  to  be  the  only 
opportunity  of  procuring  such  as  are  deemed  of  importance,  there  being  a  part  only 
of  the  Transit's  cargo  remaining  in  this  State,  and  which  are  held  by  judges  of 
Merinos  to  be  the  only  two  original  full-blooded  lately  imported  accompanied  by 
proper  vouchers. 

Jarvis  said  that  he  sent  about  350  sheep  to  Philadelphia,  and  Chap- 
man, who  had  access  to  his  papers,  thinks  that  nearly  or  quite  that 
number  were  consigned  to  Hollingsworth  &  Sons,  the  last  cargo  arriv- 
ing September  20,  1810,  and  in  consequence  of  large  arrivals  found  a 
low  market.  As  we  find  no  record  of  any  such  arrival  we  accept  Mr. 
Chapman's  account: 

There  were  140  shipped,  but  a  number  died  on  the  passage  and  more  soon  after. 
December  24,  following,  only  118  were  left.  They  were  in  bad  condition  and  diseased 
when  they  arrived.  In  January,  1811,  Michael  Kippley  offered  $50  each  for  the  whole 
flock.  May  13  they  were  offered  Judge  Griffith,  of  New  Jersey,  for  $60  each.  May  14 
they  were  offered  at  $45  each  for  the  entire  lot.  May  20  Messrs.  Young,  Dupont,  and 
Warner  offered  to  take  the  lot  on  shares.  We  have  been  unable  to  ascertain  the  final 
disposition  of  these  sheep.  The  last  letters  discuss  the  question  of  sending  them  to 
Now  York  by  sea  or  overland,  as  was  ordered  or  proposed  by  Mr.  Jarvis,  but  there  is 
no  light  upon  the  final  disposition  of  them. 

Mr.  Chapman  also  notes  that  in  addition  to  the  large  sale  made  to 
Mr.  Caldwell,  that  gentleman,  Mr.  Warner,  and  others  bought  $5,9GO 
worth  with  no  numbers  given,  and  that  at  another  sale  14  were  disposed 
of  at  $75  each. 

On  October  26,  1810,  James  Yard,  commission  merchant,  offered  for 
sale  "120  Merino  sheep  just  landed  from  the  ship  Hope  from  Lisbon, 
from  the  noted  flocks  of  Paular,  Negretti,  and  Aguirres."  They  were 
not  immediately  sold  and  were  put  up  at  auction  by  Peter  Kuhn  &  Son 
on  November  14  following. 

The  arrivals  at  this  port  now  fell  off,  but  13  sheep  arriving  in  Novem- 
ber and  but  7  or  less  in  December.  The  latter  came  in  the  Little  Cherub, 
of  which  the  New  York  Gazette,  December  11, 1810,  says: 

Arrived,  the  brig  Little  Cherub,  fifty-four  days  from  Villa  Real,  with  7  out  of  120 


208        SHEEP  INDUSTRY  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES 

Merino  sheep  bound  to  Philadelphia,  in  distress,  owned  by  Thomas  Ketland.  Novem- 
ber 24,  while  lying  in  the  Gulph,  shipped  a  sea  which  swept  her  waistboards,  staii- 
cheons,  both  bouts,  and  cleared  her  decks. 

Whether  slic  reached  Philadelphia  from  New  York  with  the  7  sheep 
we  do  not  know. 

The  next  cargo  of  sheep  arriving  at  Philadelphia  was  in  the  Cum- 
berland, from  Lisbon.  She  arrived  January  1, 1811,  with  120  sheep  con- 
signed to  T.  B.  Freeman,  and  on  the  3d  they  were  offered  at  private 
sale,  accompanied  by  documents  showing  that  they  were  from  the  royal 
flock,  from  the  prior  of  the  royal  monastery  of  Guadaloupe.  But  few 
were  disposed  of  at  private  sale,  and  on  the  23d  Freeman  &  Passmore 
announced  that  60  would  be  put  up  at  auction  on  the  29th. 

On  the  13th  of  April  Freeman  &  Passmore  offered  for  sale  170  full- 
blooded  Merinos,  just  landed  from  the  Thomas  Ketland,  then  to  be  seen 
on  the  Jersey  shore,  at  Bispham's  Ferry.  They  were  sold  at  auction  on 
the  20th.  They  were  from  Cadiz.  A  consort  of  the  Thomas  Ketland  was 
not  so  fortunate  as  to  land  her  cargo.  The  Amiable,  owned  by  Thomas 
Ketland,  after  landing  a  cargo  of  flour  and  meat  at  Cadiz,  took  on  board 
as  part  of  her  return  cargo  200  Merino  sheep.  She  sailed  from  Cadiz 
for  Philadelphia,  was  overtaken  by  a  storm,  lost  her  200  sheep,  put  in 
at  St.  Bartholomew  in  distress,  whence  she  made  her  way  to  Philadel- 
phia, arriving  April  5. 

On  April  11  Joseph  S.  Lewis  &  Co.  and  Benjamin  B  Howell  &  Co. 
offered  for  sale  the  cargo  of  the  ship  Branrin,  Capt.  Singleton,  from 
Ayainonte,  consisting  of  500  Merino  sheep,  selected  by  a  competent  judge 
from  the  best  flocks  of  Spain.  Only  4  were  lost  by  death  on  the  pas- 
sage, which  fact  was  adduced  as  proof  of  their  condition;  whereas  in 
many  cases  one-half  and  three  fourths  had  died  on  the  passage.  The 
flock  was  on  the  farm  of  Samuel  L.  Howell,  near  Cooper's  Ferry,  New 
Jersey,  and  as  sales  were  slow  it  was  brought  up  to  Philadelphia,  and 
on  May  11  put  up  at  public  sale,  without  reserve,  on  very  liberal  terms 
as  to  time  of  payment.  No  record  of  the  purchasers  of  these  sheep  or 
the  prices  paid  for  them  is  preserved;  the  papers  of  the  day  abounded 
in  political  discussions,  heavy  explanations  of  public  and  semi-public 
men,  and  column  after  column  of  European  news,  but  very  little  of 
domestic  interest  of  any  kind,  and  they  ended  their  interest  in  Merino 
sheep  when  the  advertisement  was  inserted  and  paid  for.  We  learn, 
however,  from  these  same  advertising  columns  that  hay  in  bales,  suita- 
ble for  Merino  sheep,  was  on  the  market;  that  persons  of  experience  in 
sheep  shearing  offered  to  shear  the  Merinos  on  reasonable  terms,  and 
that  the  domestic,  wool  from  the  Merino  was  offered  to  manufacturers, 
also  10,000  pounds  of  Merino  wool  from  Lisbon,  brought  over  with  sheep, 
salt,  corks,  and  wine.  One  glimpse,  however,  we  get  in  a  letter  from  a 
farmer  to  the  Luzerrie  Agricultural  Society: 

These  animals,  though  so  little  known  in  Pennsylvania,  have  maintained  a  price 
far  beyond  what  was  expected  by  their  most  sanguine  advocates,  insomuch  that  it 
is  evident  a  desire  to  possess  them  has  even  preceded  a  knowledge  of  their  value. 


EAST    OF    THE    MISSISSIPPI   RIVER.  209 

From  the  first  of  May  to  the  last  of  August,  1811,  there  were  live 

larrivals  at  Philadelphia  of  vessels  carrying  sheep,  but  of  only  one  of 
which  have  we  any  information,  except  the  record  of  arrival.  This 
was  of  the  Reaper,  which  arrived  August  27,  with  a  recorded  cargo  of 

f  273  sheep.  On  August  31  Freeman  &  Passmore  advertised  for  sale  on 
September  18,  280  full-blooded  Merino  rams  and  ewes,  with  documents 

f  to  prove  that  they  were  from  the  best  flocks  of  Spain.    This  is  the  last 

i  reported  sale  in  Philadelphia  for  that  year. 

The  sheep  imported  into  Philadelphia  brought  diseases  with  them ; 
some  became  diseased  after  their  arrival.  Especially  was  this  the  case 
with  many  that  had  not  received  proper  care  during  the  winter  of  1810-'ll . 
They  were  attacked  with  what  the  doctors  of  that  day  called  sheep- 
pneumonia,  and  were  treated  as  were  human  beings,  by  bleeding  and 

\  purging,  which  was  pronounced  very  successful.  They  purged  the 
sbeep  with  molasses  and  yeast,  and  bled  the  animal  by  opening  a  vein 

\  near  the  articulation  of  the  lower  jaw. 

Among  the  many  purchasers  of  Jarvis7  sheep  at  the  Philadelphia 
and  Baltimore  sales  was  John  Warner,  of  Wilmington,  Del.,  whose 
flock  was  sold  soon  after  his  death  in  1814.  It  then  consisted  of  nearly 
400  full  bloods  and  half-bloods  selected  from  the  best  importations. 

Of  the  220  shipped  by  Jarvis  to  Gen.  Smith,  of  Baltimore,  35  rams 
and  170  ewes,  205  in  all,  were  sold  at  auction  on  October  8, 1810,  at 
Montebello,  the  country  seat  of  Gen.  Smith,  near  Baltimore.  The  net 
proceeds  of  the  sale  was  $22,159.69,  or  an  average  of  $108  each.  They 
were  Paulars  and  Aguirres,  and  were  advertised  as  "  being  part  of 
the  flocks  of  the  Prince  of  Peace,  purchased  by  him  of  the  Carthusian 
friars." 

Two  days  before  this,  on  October  6,  another  sale  took  place  at  Canton, 
near  Baltimore,  of  "  a  choice  parcel  of  fine  LeonesaPaular  race  of  Merino 
sheep,  60  rams  and  140  ewes,  imported  from  Lisbon  in  the  Sachem,  Capt. 
Stevens."  These  were  guaranteed  by  a  chain  of  documents  by  Marquis 
Roniana,  Col.  Downie,  and  Consul  Jarvis.  They  were  a  part  of  those 
purchased  from  Col.  Downie  by  Goold  Bros.  &  Co.,  and  consigned  to 
Hall  &  Barry.  All  were  not  disposed  of  at  this  sale,  and  Mr.  John 
Barry  offered  the  residue  at  private  sale. 

On  November  16,  C.  O.  Muller  advertised  for  sale  at  the  seat  of  the 
late  Capt.  William  Robinson,  about  1  mile  from  Baltimore,  28  rams  and 
12  ewes,  full-blooded  Merinos,  from  the  upper  part  of  Estremadura. 
We  know  nothing  of  the  previous  history  of  these  sheep,  but  believe 
them  to  have  been  imported  directly  by  their  former  owner,  Capt.  Rob- 
inson. 

The  shipments  of  40  by  the  Caroline  to  William  Patterson  &  Sons, 
and  of  31  Infantados  by  Richard  W.  Meade  to  C.  and  C.  Wirgmau  seem 
to  have  been  absorbed  by  private  demands,  for  there  is  no  further  note 
of  them,  nor  of  the  unknown  shipment  to  Appleton  &  Company.  On 
April  17, 1811,  Thomas  Tennaut  offered  at  public  sale  6  ranis,  52  ewes, 
22990 14 


210        SHEEP  INDUSTRY  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES 

and  9  lambs,  part  of  tlie  cargo  of  the  Industry,  selected  by  a  gentleman 
of  Lisbon  from  the  best  flocks  of  Spain.  The  sale  was  not  successful, 
but  12  being  disposed  of.  He  then  offered  them  at  private  sale  in  lots 
of  1  ram  and  8  ewes  each. 

On  the  same  day  and  at  the  same  place,  Oilman  &  Sons  offered  at 
auction  a  part  of  the  cargo  of  the  London  Packet ,  arriving  three  months 
before.  The  sheep  were  described  as  "  a  choice  parcel  of  true  and  un- 
mixed breed  of  Leonesa  Guadaloupe."  They  were  disposed  of  at  low 
prices  and  in  small  lots,  mostly  to  farmers  of  the  adjacent  country.  On 
April  13,  Thomas  Chase  sold  2  rams  and  30  ewes,  being  part  of  the 
cargo  of  the  Nimrod,  which  arrived  from  Lisbon  in  March.  They  were 
shipped  by  Goold  Bros.  &  Co.,  and  advertised  as  Guadaloupes.  Of 
the  cargoes  arriving  from  Cadiz  by  the  Madeira  and  Hannah,  9  rams,  80 
ewes,  and  8  lambs  were  sold  at  auction  by  Henry  Thompson  on  April 
9,  1811,  who  represented  them  as  genuine  Merino  sheep  selected  by  E. 
S.  Hackley.  They  were  undoubtedly  of  the  Infantado  purchase.  The 
32  sheep  arriving  by  the  Scioto,  March  10,  1811,  were  Montarcos. 

Nine  vessels  landed  318  sheep  at  Alexandria,  the  cargo  of  one  of 
them  being  unknown.  The  greater  part  of  these  were  consigned  to 
James  H.  Hooe,  a  commission  and  shipping  merchant.  The  cargo  of 
the  Adeline  (14  rams  and  42  ewes)  was  sold  October  8.  They  were  from 
Jar  vis  and  advertised  as  selected  by  him  from  his  true  "  Leonesa 
Paulars,"  and  were  accompanied  by  the  certificates  of  the  Marquis  of 
Eomafia  and  others,  who  conducted  the  sale  on  the  part  of  the  Spanish 
Junta.  The  next  sale  made  by  Mr.  Hooe,  and  his  largest  one,  was  at 
his  farm.  Burgundy,  near  Alexandria,  on  November  3,  when  he  sold  to 
George  Fitch,  for  $10,864.11,  18  rams  and  83  ewes  shipped  by  Jarvis 
and  others  on  the  Citizen.  These  sheep  were  advertised  as  Paulars, 
and  were,  when  sold,  resliipped  to  New  York,  where  they  arrived 
November  13,  consigned  to  Kelso  &  Crump.  Two  of  the  sheep  by  the 
Citizen,  shipped  by  and  consigned  to  K.  Sebastian,  were  taken  to  the 
eastern  shore  of  Maryland.  The  sale  of  November  3  was  succeeded 
one  week  later  by  one  of  8  large  Merinos,  purchased  by  Capt,  Luckett, 
at  Lisbon,  and  brought  by  him  on  his  vessel,  the  Brazilian,  early  in 
October.  These  were  fine  selected  Paulars  and  brought  good  prices. 
The  next  sale  was  on  January  12,  1811,  when  Mr.  Hooe  offered  6  rams 
and  14  ewes,  being  the  cargo  of  the  Diana,  which  arrived  December  4, 
1810.  They  were  advertised  as  of  the  Paular,  Negretti,  and  Escurial 
breeds,  just  received  from  Mr.  Jarvis  at  Lisbon.  Seventeen  were  sold 
for  $1,250,  and  later  the  other  3,  1  ram  and  2  ewes,  were  sold  for  $300. 

The  Ziriah,  with  50  sheep  purchased  by  Edward  Grant,  of  Goold 
Bros.  &  Co.,  arrived  early  in  January,  1811,  and  on  the  7th  of  the 
month  John  G.  Ladd  advertised  1  ram  and  2  ewes  of  the  cargo,  and  on 
January  26  Lawrenson  &  Fowle  inserted  an  advertisement  in  the 
Alexandria  Gazette  that  on  February  9  2  rains  and  30  ewes,  selected 
by  a  gentleman  at  Lisbon  from  a  flock  of  800  Transhumantes,  would 


EAST    OF    THE    MISSISSIPPI    RIVER.  211 

be  sold  at  auction  at  Broomlawn.    The  sale  was  not  very  successful,  for 
many  of  the  sheep  were  diseased. 

The  next  sale  at  Alexandria  was  apart  of  the  cargo  of  the  Hunter, 
which  arrived  February  6,  1811,  bringing  47  Infantados  from  Cadiz. 
John  Mason  and  Thompson  Mason  reserved  some  of  these  for  their 
own  farms,  and  the  disposition  of  the  remainder  is  told  in  this  adver- 
tisement of  Robert  Patton,  jr.,  auctioneer,  in  the  Alexandria  Gazette 
of  February  14,  1811 : 

For  sale,  on  the  20th  of  this  month,  11  rams  and  13  ewes,  with  6  young  lambs,  of 
tin.4  real  Merino  breed,  imported  in  the  brig  Hunter,  Capt.  Johnston,  from  Cadiz, 
being  part  of  the  flock  of  his  excellency  the  Duke  d'  Infantado,  as  certified  by  Don 
Antoni  Maino,  corregidor  of  Gibraltar;  and  which  sheep  were  obtained  from  the 
interior  by  Richard  S.  Hackley,  esq.,  American  consul  at  Cadiz,  and  particularly 
selected,  being  part  of  the  flock  imported  by  Gen.  John  and  Thompson  Mason  in  the 
brig  Hunter. 

We  have  no  further  record  of  these  sheep,  unless  it  be  in  the  adver- 
tisement of  Jacob  Morgan,  of  Alexandria,  April  25, 1811,  who  offered 
for  sale  5  ranis  and  15  ewes  shipped  by  Richard  S.  Hackley,  American 
consul  at  Cadiz,  Spain.  As  no  arrivals  are  reported  from  Cadiz  suc- 
ceeding that  of  the  Hunter,  it  is  presumed  that  these  sheep  are  a  part 
of  her  shipment.  It  is  also  probable  that  of  this  importation  Dr. 
Increase  Matthews,  of  Putnam,  Ohio,  bought  an  Infantado  ram  and  2 
ewes  June  13,  1811,  and  had  them  taken  in  a  wagon  from  Alexandria 
to  his  farm  in  Ohio,  where  he  kept  up  a  pure  flock  until  about  1850. 

On  June  5,  1811,  Mr.  Hooe  offered  at  public  sale  60  to  70  Merino 
sheep,  principally  ewes  of  the  best  breeds  in  Spain,  Paulars  and 
Aguirres,  shipped  some  months  ago  by  Jarvis,  "  and  are  now  in  good 
order,  and  their  fleeces  remarkably  fine.77  A  few  of  these  were  sheep 
that  had  been  diseased  and  kept  over  winter;  some  of  them  were 
brought  from  Richmond  the  latter  part  of  March,  which  Myers  &  Co. 
had  been  unable  to  dispose  of  at  that  place.  They  were  not  sold  on 
June  5,  and  the  sale  was  postponed  to  the  24th,  at  which  time  we  lose 
trace  of  them. 

The  Merinos  (Infantados)  imported  by  the  Masons,  as  also  those 
offered  for  sale  by  Mr.  Morgan,  both  lots  shipped  by  Richard  S.  Hack- 
ley,  American  consul  at  Cadiz,  were  undoubtedly  a  part  of  those 
spoken  of  by  Charles  Henry  Hall  in  his  letter  already  quoted,  as  being 
purchased  of  the  Duke  de  Infantado. 

There  were  two  arrivals  at  Georgetown,  D.  C.,  the  Henry  and  Clcr- 
mont,  carrying  19  sheep,  and  the  Ann  with  120,  both  from  Lisbon.  The 
Henry  and  Clermont  arrived  early  in  January,  1811,  and  on  the  19th 
Robert  Parrott  offered  14  ewes,  1  ram,  and  4  lambs,  "  selected  out  of  a 
flock  of  some  thousands  bought  by  one  of  the  houses  of  Goold  Bros.  & 
Co.,  of  the  prior  of  the  royal  monastery  of  Guadakrape  and  conducted 
to  Lisbon  by  Manuel  Larin,  their  mayoral  or  chief  shepherd."  The 
Ann's  cargo  consisted  of  Montarcos  shipped  by  Charles  OMfeil.  On 


212        SHEEP  INDUSTRY  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES 

April  13,  1811,  Bobert  Ober,  of  Georgetown,  advertised  for  sale  at 
auction,  "  at  the  sheep  shearing  in  this  town,  20  to  30  full-blooded 
Merino  rams  arrived  from  Lisbon,  exported  by  Torlades  &  Co.,  of  the 
Count  de  Morlaires'  flock;  among  them  are  Eoyal Escurial  and  Paular.l 

It  is  impossible  to  give  accurately  the  number  of  sheep  arriving  at 
Norfolk,  the  customs  records  for  the  period  having  been  destroyed 
during  the  war  of  the  rebellion.  Ten  vessels  are  reported  as  having 
entered  there,  seven  of  which  landed  734  sheep.  Allowing  the  other 
three  to  have  carried  on  an  average  the  same  as  the  seven  whose  num- 
bers are  given  (105),  the  total  number  would  foot  up  about  1,050.  For 
the  reason  just  given,  it  is  impossible  to  give  in  all  cases  the  parties 
shipping  the  sheep  or  to  whom  consigned. 

Of  the  94  arriving  by  the  Woodrop  Sims,  September  4,  1810,  70—19 
rams  and  51  ewes — were  advertised  on  the  5th,  and  quite  freely  after- 
wards, but  the  sales  Avere  slow,  and  they  were  offered  at  auction  on 
October  2.  The  sale  was  unsuccessful,  and  again  they  were  held  at 
private  sale.  One  ram  and  5  ewes  were  sold  to  a  gentleman  in  South 
Carolina  for  $750,  and  on  October  10  $100  each  was  offered  for  40.  Many 
died,  and  sales  stopped.  The  shipment  was  made  by  Jarvis  and  con- 
signed to  Moses  Myers  &  Son.  All  subsequent  shipments  to  Norfolk 
were  equally  unfortunate.  The  large  number  arriving,  their  poor  con- 
dition, falling  prices,  no  sales,  and  the  need  of  great  care,  with  poor 
results  from  their  best  efforts,  were  very  depressing,  and  Myers  &  Son 
wrote  to  Mr.  Jarvis  January  20,  1811,  that  they  could  "  see  no  prospect 
of  success,  more  having  arrived,  and  we  look  for  a  ship  which  has  more 
on  board  to  our  address.  Heaven  knows  what  will  become  of  them." 
Late  in  January  32  were  sent  to  J.  Roddey  &  Co.,  Charleston,  S.  C., 
arriving  February  1.  In  February  the  weather  was  such  as  had  not 
been  experienced  for  years.  Sixteen  died,  and  the  remainder  were  put 
into  a  house  where  a  fire  protected  them  from  the  cold.  In  March  there 
were  78  survivors,  but  during  that  month  the  dogs  destroyed  18  in  one 
night.  On  March  12  20  were  shipped  to  Messrs.  Smith  &  Buchanan 
at  Baltimore.  April  19  only  35  sheep  and  4  lambs  survived.  "Never," 
said  Myers  &  Son  to  Jarvis,  "have  we  had  a  more  unpleasant  consign- 
ment. We  were  never  more  anxious  than  for  your  order  to  ship  the 
residue ;  they  perplex  us  much." 

Of  the  sheep  consigned  to  Myers  &  Son  at  Norfolk,  some  were  sent 
to  M.  &  B.  Myers,  at  Richmond.  The  first  were  those  arriving  by  the 
Greyhound,  Capt.  Baxter,  September  11,  1810.  These  were  advertised 
by  Samuel  Myers  on  the  20th,  as  "  114  Merino  sheep  shipped  by  Jar- 
vis,"  Negretti,  Paulars,  and  Aguirres.  They  had  no  sale  and  were  put- 
up  at  auction  October  3,  and  for  want  of  bidders  the  sale  was  indefi- 
nitely postponed.  They  were  placed  on  the  farm  of  Robert  Temple, 
near  Richmond,  and  on  January  17,  1811,  were  again  put  up  at  auction 
"at  Ampthill,  seat  of  Robert  Temple."  There  were  5  Paular,  3 
Negretti,  and  2  Aguirres  rams,  and  15  Paular  and  58  Aguirres  ewes, 


EAST    OF    TITE    MISSISSIPPI    RIVER.  213 

ogother  with  Ilieir  lambs,  12  in  number.     The  purity  of  the  sheep  was 
;uai  anteed  by  Jarvis.    The  sale  was  not  successful,  only  18  being  dis- 
used of— a  Paular  ram,  3  Paular  and  2  Aguirres  ewes  being  sold  to 
B.  Venable,  president  of  the  Virginia  Bank,  for  $1,200,  and  2  rams, 
ewes,  and  2  lambs  to  other  parties  for  $862.    The  Merinos  did  not 
eem  to  be  appreciated  and  the  business  was  dull,  the  sheep  badly  dis- 
ased  upon  their  arrival,  and  the  consignees  apparently  ignorant  of  the 
care  and  management  of  them.     Of  the  remainder  of  these  Kichmond 
sheep,  1  Paular  and  1  Negretti  ram,  2  Paular  and  14  Negretti  ewes  were 
shipped  to  New  York,  March  22,  1811 5  and  5  rams,  43  ewes,  and  14 
lambs  to  Mr.  Hooe,  at  Alexandria,  where  they  were  offered  for  sale 
June  5,  and  again  on  June  24. 

We  have  given  the  number  of  arrivals  at  Charleston  as  five  vessels, 
with  563  sheep.  The  first  was  a  brig,  which  arrived  September  25, 1810, 
with  150  sheep  from  Cadiz.  As  the  records  of  the  Charleston  custom- 
house were  destroyed  during  the  war  of  the  rebellion  we  are  unable  to 
say  to  whom  they  were  consigned.  The  papers  of  that  day  are  silent 
on  the  subject,  nor  do  they  contain  any  advertisement  concerning  them. 
The  Corporal  Trim,  arriving  January  1,  1811,  brought  80  sheep  from 
Lisbon  consigned  to  Joseph  Winthrop.  Several  of  these  were  killed 
by  dogs  a  few  days  after  their  arrival,  and  the  others  were  sold  at  pri- 
vate sale.  Of  the  125  by  the  Susan  and  William,  from  Cadiz,  we  have 
no  record,  and  our  knowledge  of  the  cargo  of  the  Fidelia,  is  fragment- 
iary.  All  that  is  certain  is,  that  on  March  6, 1811,  the  Fidelia,  bound  to 
Charleston,  put  in  at  Philadelphia  in  distress,  having  on  board  118  sheep ; 
;she  had  lost  104.  Why  she  should  have  put  in  at  an  inland  port  is 
strange,  unless  she  was  owned  there.  There  is  no  subsequent  record  of 
her  cargo.  It  is  possible  that  the  sheep  were  unloaded  and  disposed  of 
at  Philadelphia,  although  there  is  no  evidence  of  that  fact.  The  Cor- 
poral Trim  arrived  on  July  15,  1811,  with  90  consigned  to  Joseph  Win- 
throp, which  were  disposed  of  at  private  sale.  An  arrival  not  included 
in  the  schedule  as  given  was  that  of  32  sheep  from  Norfolk  on  Febru- 
ary 1,  1811,  consigned  to  J.  Eoddey  &  Co. 

The  first  recorded  arrival  of  the  Merinos  at  any  point  south  of  Charles- 
ton was  on  November  15,  1810,  when  Marquaud,  Paulding  &  Co.,  of  Sa- 
vannah, Ga.,  offered  for  sale  "four  Merino  rams  of  first  breeds  (any 
trifling  reports  to  the  contrary  notwithstanding)  just  arrived  from  Es- 
;remadura,  via  New  York."  The  prices  realized  were  low.  In  the  Sa- 
rannah  Republican  of  January  31,  1811,  appears  the  following: 

NEW  YORK,  January  21,  1811. 

The  ship  Ann,  late  from  Lisbon,  brought  out,  consigned  to  Lawrence  &  Whitney, 
*  Merino  rams  of  extraordinary  beauty,  size,  and  fine  fleece.  They  are  of  the  Escu- 
jrial  breed,  and  were  selected  from  a  very  large  flock  at  an  expense  of  six  times  the 
extraordinary  price  of  Merino  sheep.  We  understand  they  are  pronounced  by 
persons  well  acquainted  with  the  animals  to  be  the  most  valuable  Merino  rams  ever 
imported  into  this  country. 


214        SHEEP  INDUSTRY  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES 

A  few  days  after  this,  February  11,  1  ram  arid  1  ewe,  described  as 
Escurials  aiid  warranted  full-blooded,  were  advertised  at  Savannali  as 
just  received  from  New  York  and  for  sale.  There  is  no  further  record 
of  them,  but  it  is  scarcely  probable  that  they  were  Escurials. 

The  sheep  consigned  to  James  Johnson,  Oliver  Sturgess,  and  A. 
Richards  &  Co.,  arriving  at  Savannah  by  the  Eagle  on  May  16,  1811, 
were  advertised  in  the  Savannah  papers  for  some  time  and  sold  slowly. 
Two  hundred  and  nineteen,  consigned  to  George  Scott,  arrived  on  May 
31,  and  on  June  4  Mr.  Scott  advertised  for  sale  40  rams  and  100  ewes 
of  the  Escurial  and  Kegretti  breeds,  and  added  that  if  not  sold  by  July 
1  they  would  be  sent  northward.  Some  were  sold  at  very  low  prices, 
and  on  June  14  10  rams  and  30  ewes  were  put  up  at  auction.  Mr.  Scott 
did  not  dispose  of  all  his  sheep,  and  late  in  July  shipped  the  remainder 
to  Adams  &  Wood,  Boston,  Mass. 

The  importations  of  1810  and  1811  gave  the  United  States  nearly 
20,000  Merino  sheep,  some  of  the  choicest  of  Spain,  in  addition  to  those 
descended  from  the  previous  importations  of  Dupont,  Adams,  Living- 
ston, Humphreys,  Mease,  and  Muller,  and  it  is  reasonable  to  believe 
that  with  few  exceptions  they  were  pure-blooded,  for  as  stated  else- 
where all  restrictions  on  their  exportation  had  been  removed.  There 
was  no  great  difficulty  in  obtaining  them;  the  best  breeds  could  be 
purchased  by  any  one  so  choosing  as  readily  as  those  of  inferior  quality, 
and  as  thousands  were  being  slaughtered  and  eaten  by  the  armies  oper- 
ating in  Spain  and  Portugal  it  is  reasonable  to  suppose  that  they  could 
be  bought  cheap  from  those  who  were  compelled  to  withdraw  into  the 
restricted  military  lines  arouu  d  Lisbon  and  Cadiz.  There  were,  however, 
reasons  personal  and  political  why  certain  parties  and  some  men  of 
commanding  influence  discouraged  the  importation  of  these  sheep  and 
sought  to  give  them  a  bad  name,  coinciding  very  nearly  in  expression 
with  some  English  papers  of  1809  and  1810,  in  deriding  our  infant  man- 
ufactures and  our  Merino  sheep. 

The  hostile  attitude  of  England  in  1811,  and  the  breaking  out  of  hos- 
tilities in  1812,  checked  further  importation,  and  but  few  Merinos  were 
imported  from  Spain  to  the  United  States.  Some  there  Avere,  but  not 
of  sufficient  importance  to  note.  Two,  however,  from  the  variety  of  the 
cargo  in  one  vessel  and  the  prices  realized  for  the  sheep  in  the  other  we 
give.  On  April  19,  1814,  a  Portuguese  ship  arrived  at  Boston  with  an 
assorted  cargo  of  Merino  wool,  salt,  raisins,  currants,  hardware,  teas, 
Jesuit's  bark,  etc.,  and  44  Merino  sheep— 36  had  been  lost  on  the  passage. 
At  a  sale  of  Merino  sheep  at  Boston,  May  26,  1814,  just  imported  in  the 
Don  Quixote  from  Lisbon,  30  full-blooded  Escurial  rains  and  200  full- 
blooded  Escurial  ewes  and  4  ram  lambs  brought  not  less  than  $100  each 
and  most  of  them  $150  each. 

There  was  but  little  or  no  incentive  to  make  importations  after  1814, 
and  the  close  of  the  war  with  England,  the  collapse  of  the  manufactur- 
ing interest,  and  the  low  prices  to  which  the  Merinos  fell,  and  the  fact 


EAST    OF   THE    MISSISSIPPI    RIVER.  215 

tliat  the  descendants  of  the  earlier  importations  were  better  than  any 
then  to  be  had  in  Spain,  forbidding-  it. 

From  Maine  to  Georgia  on  the  Atlantic  coast,  and  into  all  the  inte- 
rior States  and  Territories  east  of  the  Mississippi,  with  the  possible  ex- 
ception of  Alabama,  Indiana,  and  Illinois,  the  Merino  sheep  had  been 
carried  by  the  beginning  of  1815,  and  beyond  the  Mississippi  it  had 
made  its  appearance  as  early  as  August,  1811,  a  St.  Louis  paper  of  that 
time  announcing  that  "this  valuable  animal  is  already  introduced  into 
upper  Louisiana,  where  it  promises  to  flourish  in  great  perfection.  n 
And  from  Maine  to  Georgia  and  in  all  the  interior  States  advertise- 
ments of  full-bloods,  half-bloods,  and  all  degrees  of  purity,  evinced  their 
general  dissemination  and  the  active  trade  in  them. 


CHAPTER    IV. 

THE  DISSEMINATION  OF  THE  SPANISH  MERINO  THROUGHOUT  NEW 
ENGLAND — THE  PROGRESS  OF  THE  FINE-WOOL  INDUSTRY  AND 
ITS  DECLINE. 

The  dissemination  of  the  Merino  sheep  throughout  the  United  States 
was  not  uniform  in  its  character,  nor  was  it  universally  encouraged. 
There  was,  at  first,  a  very  general  prejudice  against  them.  The  first 
importations  of  Seth  Adams,  Dupont,  Chancellor  Livingston,  and  Col. 
Humphreys  attracted  but  little  attention,  and  that  mostly  of  an  un- 
favorable character.  It  was  only  when  the  necessity  of  our  infant  manu- 
factures required  fine  wool  that  Merino  sheep  began  to  be  appreciated, 
and  then  in  different  degree  by  different  sections  of  the  country.  New 
England  was  given  up  to  commerce;  the  Middle  States  to  commerce 
and  agriculture;  the  South  solely  to  agriculture.  When  the  East  saw 
its  commerce  destroyed  by  foreign  powers  and  the  indifference,  if  not 
hostility,  of  its  own  General  Government,  it  turned  its  attention  to  manu- 
factures, and  from  sheer  necessity  to  the  improvement  of  its  wool,  hence 
it  welcomed  the  advent  of  the  Merino  sheep.  The  Middle  States  saw 
in  these  sheep  the  improvement  of  their  agriculture  and  an  aid  to  manu- 
factures. The  South  was  not  committed  to  the  improved  sheep ;  cotton 
was  its  great  staple  and  manufactures  but  slightly  favored.  We  pro- 
pose to  note  the  introduction  of  these  sheep  into  the  various  States  east 
of  the  Mississippi  River,  the  formation  and  history  of  some  of  the  early 
and  most  noted  breeding  flocks,  and  the  progress  of  the  fine  wool  in- 
dustry, beginning  with  the  New  England  States. 

MASSACHUSETTS. 

The  first  flock  of  Merino  sheep  that  was  founded  in  the  United  States 
was  by  Seth  Adams,  at  Dorchester,  Mass.,  in  1801,  the  foundation  be- 
ing a  single  pair  imported  from  France  in  October  of  that  year.  Mr. 
Adams  bred  some  pure  bloods  from  this  pair  and  some  crosses  on  the 
common  sheep.  In  1807  he  removed  to  Muskingum  County,  Ohio,  tak- 
ing 20  to  30  sheep  with  him,  and  bred  pure,  selling  to  various  parties 
in  Ohio  and  Kentucky.  No  sheep  of  the  State  now  trace  a  pedigree 
to  his  flock,  and  as  far  as  known  no  flock  of  his  blood  was  left  in  Mas- 
sachusetts after  his  removal,  although  half-blood  and  other  grades  were, 

217 


218        SHEEP  INDUSTRY  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES 

About  1803  or  1804  some  of  the  Humphreys  sheep  were  taken  from 
Connecticut  into  Franklin  County,  Mass.,  and  bred  pure  in  direct  blood, 
by  Capt.  David  Deunison,  of  Colerain,  as  late  as  I860,  and  these  sheep 
preserved  their  excellence  at  least  until  1857,  for  at  that  time  five  ewes 
were  shown  at  the  annual  fair  and  were  allowed  "a  gratuity  of  a  vol- 
ume of  the  Eeport  of  the  Commissioner  of  Patents. "  A  premium  was 
withheld  because  the  rules  required  a  pen  of  six  sheep  to  be  shown, 
and  Capt.  Dennison  paraded  but  five.  Many  flocks  of  the  best  sheep 
of  Massachusetts  derived  their  blood  from  the  Dennison  flock. 

In  1807  Elkanah  Watson  purchased  some  Merinos  from  Chancellor 
Livingston  and  began  the  formation  of  a  flock  at  Pittsfield,  Berkshire 
County,  which  he  thought  by  1810  would  number  1,500,  including 
crosses.  He  also  made  purchases  of  Humphreys  and  Livingston  in 
1808  and  1809,  and  formed  a  good,  pure-blood  flock,  from  which  he  dis- 
tributed rams  and  ewes  over  the  entire  county  to  improve  the  native 
sheep.  Mr.  Watson's  breeding  was  an  incident  of  his  woolen  manu- 
facture. He  embarked  in  the  making  of  woolen  goods  and  sought  to 
grow  and  encourage  the  growth  of  the  raw  material  at  the  doors  of  his 
factory.  His  breeding  flock  for  this  purpose  was  kept  up  until  Berk- 
shire County  was  changed  from  a  coarse- wool  district  to  a  fine- wool  one, 
until  her  beautiful  hills  were  covered  with  valuable  flocks  and  the  pop- 
ulation so  completely  absorbed  in  growing  wool  and  manufacturing  it 
that  other  branches  of  industry  were  practically  abandoned. 

About  the  time  that  Mr.  Watson  began  the  foundation  of  his  flock 
and  the  operations  in  his  factory  the  Berkshire  Reporter,  in  a  leading 
article,  called  attention  to  the  great  importance  of  the  Merino  sheep, 
especially  to  the  intimate  and  vital  relation  they  bore  to  the  manufac- 
turing interest  and  the  prosperity  of  the  country.  Says  the  article : 

From  this  point  of  view  and  under  a  certainty  that  every  pound  of  wool  of  the 
Spanish-mixed  breed  will  bring  into  the  country,  direct  or  indirect,  at  least  $1,  and 
if  manufactured  into  cloths  or  hats  double  that  sum,  it  would  be  well  for  every 
thinking  farmer  to  calculate  how  much  his  own  interest  and  the  substantial  wealth 
of  the  country  could  be  advanced  in  a  few  years  should  the  increase  of  our  flocks 
and  the  quality  of  our  wool  be  universally  pursued  as  a  first  object. 

An  agricultural  society  was  proposed  for  the  county,  represented  by 
two  members  from  each  town,  chosen  in  town  meetings,  to  assemble 
once  in  each  quarter,  the  object  being  the  promotion  of  agriculture  in 
general;  and  as  a  first  object  to  procure,  if  possible,  for  each  town  one 
or  two  Spanish  rams  at  the  expense  of  the  town  and  to  prevent  monopoly 
by  individuals.  As  raising  sheep  would  require  fewer  hands  than  the 
plow,  an  accession  of  hands  would  be  gained  for  manufacturing,  and  all 
females  and  children  would  find  abundant  employment  at  all  seasons, 
which  would  also  have  a  good  eifect  on  the  morals  of  the  community  by 
checking  dissipation  and  inculcating  habits  of  industry.  These  sug- 
gestions had  their  fruition  in  the  Pittsfield  cattle  show,  one  of  the  most 
successful  of  its  kind  in  the  United  States,  and  the  model  on  which 


EAST    OF   THE    MISSISSIPPI    RIVER.  219 

most  of  them  were  subsequently  formed,  barring  a  few  peculiarities 
exclusively  Kew  England  in  their  character.  The  initial  movement 
had  for  its  foundation  two.  Merino  sheep.  Mr.  Watson,  who  had  moved 
from  Albany,  N.  Y.,  to  Pittsfield  in  the  spring  of  1807,  says: 

In  the  fall  of  1807  I  procured  the  first  pair  of  Merino  sheep  that  had  appeared  in 
Berkshire  County,  if  not  in  the  State.  They  were  the  first  I  had  ever  seen ;  although 
defective  in  the  grade  I  was  led  to  expect,  yet,  as  all  who  examined  their  wo^l  were 
delighted  with  its  texture  and  fineness,  I  was  induced  to  notify  an  exhibition  under 
the  great  elm  tree  in  the  public  square  in  Pittsfield  of  these  two  sheep  on  a  certain 
day.  Many  farmers,  and  even  women,  were  excited  by  curiosity  to  attend  this  first 
novel  and  humble  exhibition.  It  was  by  this  lucky  accident  I  reasoned  thus :  If  two 
animals  are  capable  of  exciting  so  much  attention,  what  would  be  the  effect  on  a  larger 
scale  with  larger  animals?  The  farmers  present  responded  to  my  remarks  with  ap- 
probation. We  became  acquainted  by  this  little  incident,  and  from  that  moment  to 
the  present  agricultural  societies,  cattle  shows,  and  all  in  connection  therewith  have 
predominated  in  my  mind,  greatly  to  the  injury  of  my  private  affairs. 

As  early  as  1807  the  Shakers  at  Hancock  raised  Merino  sheep  from 
rams  of  Humphreys  flock,  and  with  one-third  and  one-half  bloods  made 
excellent  blue  broadcloth. 

A  zealous  and  intelligent  breeder  of  Merino  sheep  was  Col.  James 
Shepherd,  of  Northampton.  In  1810  he  bought  1  ram  and  11  ewes  of 
Col.  Humphreys,  which  he  bred  pure  for  many  years,  forming  an  excel- 
lent flock.  In  1822  he  added  to  his  flock  a  pair  of  Saxonies,  the  first 
of  the  kind  imported  into  the  United  States. 

The  earlier  importations  of  Adams,  Livingston,  and  Humphreys  had 
well  established  the  Merino  in  the  State  before  the  larger  importations 
of  1810-'ll,  but  they  did  not  attract  much  attention.  The  necessities 
of  the  country  drew  public  attention  to  the  later  importations,  and  the 
Merino  sheep  was  then  welcomed  as  a  great  acquisition  and  had  an 
early  introduction  into  politics.  The  production  of  cotton  in  the  South 
was  shaping  the  politics  of  the  country  and  its  industrial  system.  The 
Merino  sheep  was  hailed  as  the  foundation  of  a  manufacturing  industry 
in  the  States  and  welcomed  by  some  as  an  offset  to  the  growing  power 
of  cotton.  A  few  papers  of  the  extreme  type  enlarged  upon  this  sub- 
ject, but  a  quotation  from  one  must  suffice: 

The  introduction  of  this  most  valuable  animal  promises  great  and  permanent  ben- 
efits to  our  country,  especially  to  the  Eastern  States.  The  Middle  and  Southern 
States,  from  their  more  bounteous  soil  and  climate,  have  sources  of  wealth  which  we 
do  not  possess.  True  patriotism  and  true  wisdom,  which  always  cooperate  together, 
dictate  to  us  to  place  our  competition  with  our  sister  States  on  means  which  nature 
and  habit  have  put  in  our  power,  and  to  make  the  most  of  these  means.  Our  hilly 
country  is  peculiarly  adapted  for  sheep.  The  enterprise,  frugality,  and  persevering 
industry  of  the  inhabitants  of  New  England  constitute  a  complication  of  powerful 
machinery,  competent,  when  well  directed  upon  what  it  operates,  to  produce  the 
greatest  and  most  beneficial  results.  The  providential  acquisition  of  this  inestima- 
ble animal,  one  of  the  greatest  blessings  which  has  grown  out  of  the  evils  of  the 
present  times,  is  in  every  point  of  view  worthy  the  attention  of  all  classes  of  citi- 
zens, especially  farmers.  The  golden  fleece  of  the  Merino  sheep  presents  to  every 
prudent  and  thrifty  farmer  a  mine  of  wealth  from  which  he  may  draw,  in  proportion 


220        SHEEP  INDUSTRY  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES 

to  his  industry,  economy,  and  the  extent  of  his  means.  All  hands,  male  and  female, 
may  participate  in  the  honor  and  profit  of  the  acquisition ;  and  the  independent 
farmers  and  planters  of  the  eastern  sections  of  the  Union,  if  true  to  their  own  inter- 
est, in  that  liberal  and  enlightened  competition  which  virtue  and  freedom  most  ap- 
prove, will  find  no  occasion  to  envy  the  planter  of  the  Southern  States.* 

If  other  papers  and  many  public  men  were  more  guarded  in  expres- 
sion they  were  not  less  zealous  at  heart,  and  gave  public  utterance  to 
the  thought  that  even  had  the  character  of  the  nation  depreciated,  as 
many  thought  it  had,  it  had  acquired  in  the  years  from  1806  to  1810 
immense  resources  and  wealth.  To  say  nothing  of  the  numerous  manu- 
factures of  woolen,.cotton,  and  almost  every  fabric  formerly  imported 
from  abroad,  daily  starting  up  in  every  part  of  the  Union,  but  more 
particularly  in  Massachusetts,  Connecticut,  New  York,  and  Pennsyl- 
vania, the  acquisition  of  the  Merino  sheep  itself  was  an  invaluable  na- 
tional treasure,  because,  with  the  spirit  then  developing  for  improving 
the  land  and  manufacturing  wool,  it  would  be  the  foundation  of  a 
valuable  branch  of  agriculture,  and  the  bond  between  the  farmer  and 
manufacturer  by  the  pursuit  of  which  both  would  prosper. 

In  the  introduction  and  distribution  of  the  Merino  throughout  Mas- 
sachusetts no  encouragement  was  received  from  the  State.  The  legisla- 
ture, controlled  in  great  measure  by  the  mercantile  interests,  did  not 
take  kindly  to  them,  and  were  not  favorable  to  the  manufacturing  in- 
terests then  awakening  in  the  State;  so  the  credit  for  the  propagation 
of  this  valuable  animal  belongs  to  private  enterprise  and  the  encour- 
agement of  the  Massachusetts  Agricultural  Society.  This  society  had 
awarded  premiums  to  Seth  Adams  and  Col.  Humphreys,  had  a  stand- 
ing offer  for  the  production  of  the  greatest  amount  of  wool  to  the  carcass, 
and  in  1809,  offered  "  to  the  person  or  persons  who  shall  import  into  this 
Commonwealth,  directly  from  the  Kingdom  of  Spain,  the  first  five  rams 
of  the  Merino  breed  the  sum  of  $50  each;  and  for  the  first  10  ewes  ofthe 
same  breed  the  sum  of  $25  each."  In  the  proceedings  for  1809  were 
printed  Lord  Somerville's  history  of  the  Merino  sheep,  and  two  letters 
of  Col.  Humphreys. 

The  first  ram  brought  into  the  State  under  the  offer  of  the  society 
was  by  Capt.  Bartlett,  of  Plymouth,  in  the  summer  of  1809,  the  next  four 
by  Capt.  Knap,  of  Newburyport,  and  the  10  ewes  by  Cornelius  Coolidge. 
Importations  followed  in  quick  succession,  among  them  one  of  Jon- 
athan Allen,  of  Pittsfield,  who  went  to  Lisbon  and  purchased  100  Mon- 
tarcos,  which  he  took  into  Berkshire  County  during  November,  1810. 
The  dissemination  of  the  Merino  throughout  the  State  was  quite  gen- 
eral, and  many  flocks  were  formed  and  increased  in  size  until  the  fail- 
ure of  manufactures  in  1815  and  1816,  when  entire  flocks  were  devoted 
to  the  knife,  and  apparently  for  no  other  reason  than  that  they  would 
persist  in  eating,  even  though  their  fleece  was  not  readily  saleable. 
Many  seemed  to  have  embarked  in  the  business  of  raising  them  with 

*  Boston  Patriot,  October  3;  1810. 


EAST    OP    THE    MISSISSIPPI   RIVER.  221 

the  idea  that  large  flocks  could  be  crowded  into  and  maintained  upon 
small  fields,  without  turnips  or  other  winter  food,  and  then  produce  $8 
or  $10  worth  of  wool  each*.  But  when  peace  came  and  prices  fell  and 
experience  had  shown  that  the  Merino  would  eat,  he  was  denounced 
for  his  destruction  of  grass  lands  and  his  voracity.  His  owner  became 
disgusted  with  him  because  he  did  not  know  how  to  manage  him,  and 
sacrificed  him  as  rashly  as  he  had  bought  him. 

In  reviewing  this  period  of  Merino  sheep  husbandry  in  Massachu- 
setts, Mr.  J.  Lowell,  at  the  first  annual  meeting  of  the  Brighton  Cattle 
Show,  in  1816,  says : 

There  probably  never  existed,  in  the  history  of  nations,  a  people  who  were  so  liable 
to  push  their  national  or  accidental  advantages  as  far  as  the  people  of  the  United 
States.  The  state  of  our  commerce,  restricted  alike  by  other  nations,  and  the  policy 
now  happily  abandoned  by  our  Government,  favored  the  natural  propensity  of  our 
citizens  to  extend  their  speculations  in  the  fine-wooled  sheep  to  an  extreme  which 
bordered  on  rashness,  may  we  not  say  on  delirium  f  The  counteraction  produced  by 
recent  political  events  unforeseen,  by  the  absurd  manner  in  which  this  admirable 
breed  of  sheep  were  attempted  to  be  preternaturally  forced  into  abundance,  by  the 
want  of  skill  and  experience,  most  obviously  distinguished,  has  threatened  the  de- 
struction of  one  of  the  greatest  blessings  of  this  nature  which  our  country  ever  en- 
joyed. It  is  only  necessary  for  sober  and  thinking  men  to  recollect  what  was  the 
state  of  our  flocks  prior  to  the  introduction  of  the  Merino  race.  That  it  was  imprac- 
ticable for  our  manufacturers  to  rival  any  one  nation  in  Europe  in  the  finer  fabrics, 
and  it  will  soon  be  seen  that  this  fine-wooled  breed  was  absolutely  necessary  to  our 
success  as  a  manufacturing  people.  Great  as  the  sacrifices  have  been,  they  are  far 
below  the  real  value  to  the  nation,  and  we  have  the  pleasure,  the  patriotic  gratifica- 
tion on  reflecting  that  the  loss  has  not  been  a  national  one.  It  has  been  between 
ourselves ;  what  one  lost  a  more  prudent  citizen  gained. 

In  Massachusetts,  as  elsewhere,  an  argument  urged  by  some  against 
the  Merino  sheep  was  its  inferiority  as  an  article  of  food.  This  reason 
was  combated  by  its  supporters  as  being  without  foundation,  its  flesh 
being  described,  when  properly  treated,  as  very  juicy  and  toothsome. 
However,  this  discussion  was  dropped  when  its  superiority  as  a  wool- 
producer  was  apparent.  When  its  wool  was  unsalable  the  discussion 
was  renewed,  and  among  those  who  stepped  forward  to  stem  the  tide 
that  was  rapidly  consigning  these  sheep  to  destruction  as  absolutely 
worthless  was  Gorhain  Parsons.  Mr.  Parsons  owned  a  fine  flock  of 
Merinos,  and  he  began  experiments  upon  some  of  them  to  discover  how 
far  they  could  be  carried  as  a  mutton  sheep.  A  ram  lamb  was  yeaned 
May  26,  1812,  his  sire  and  dam  both  being  imported  sheep.  He  was 
castrated  June  8,  1812,  and  allowed  to  run  with  the  flock  without 
any  extra  feeding  till  December  19,  1815,  and  was  then  put  by 
himself  for  fattening  and  fed  on  second-crop  hay,  corn,  oats,  barley, 
and  meal,  varied  from  time  to  time  as  best  suited  him.  On  April  23, 
1816,  he  was  killed,  after  showing  140  pounds  live  weight.  The  meat 
when  dressed  for  the  butcher  weighed  77J  pounds,  the  rough  tallow  13 
pounds,  the  pelt  with  fleece  16  pounds  j  head,  liver,  heart,  etc.,  12 


222        SHEEP  INDUSTRY  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES 

pounds;  the  feet,  intestines,  and  other  offal,  21f  pounds.     The  total 
sum  realized  on  this  sheep  is  thus  stated: 

June  3,  1813,  lie  was  shorn  of  6 J  pounds  of  wool,  which  sold  at  8s.  6d $9. 21 

May  13,  1814,  he  was  shorn  of  8|  pounds  of  wool,  which  sold  at  12s 17. 50 

May  24,  1815,  he  was  shorn  of  9^  pounds  of  wool,  which  sold  at  6s.  6d 10. 02 

April  23, 1816,  wool  pulled  from  the  pelt  9  pounds  13  ounces,  sold  at  6s 9. 81 

Meat  and  tallow  at  price  obtained  for  native  sheep  9d 11 . 21 


Total 57.75 

Mr.  Parsons  states  that  the  wether  was  a  small  eater,  and  he  was 
confident  that  he  was  fatted  on  two-thirds  the  quantity  required  for 
native  sheep  of  the  same  frame.  The  mutton  was  pronounced  by  gen- 
tlemen who  partook  of  it  to  be  of  much  finer  grain  and  better  flavor 
than  that  of  the  common  sheep  of  the  country. 

The  slaughter  of  the  sheep  continued;  many  had  been  destroyed  and 
others  threatened  with  destruction  when,  in  1818,  the  Massachusetts 
Agricultural  Society,  through  the  pen  of  its  secretary^  besought  the  far- 
mers not  to  abandon  them  in  despair,  and  protested  against  their  en- 
tire destruction  and  neglect,  as  no  other  animal  of  their  size  was  so 
valuable. 

Upon  the  revival  of  manufactures,  after  1820,  more  attention  was  paid 
to  the  Merino,  and  when  increasing  luxury  and  fashion  demanded  finer 
fabrics  a  finer  wool  was  required,  and  Col.  Shepherd,  an  extensive 
manufacturer  of  Northampton,  led  the  way  in  the  importation  of  the 
Saxony  Merino  in  1822  and  1823,  followed  in  succeeding  years  by  large 
importations  into  Boston  and  other  ports.  The  origin  of  the  Saxony 
Merino  from  the  Spanish  flocks  and  its  development  must  here  be  told. 

Spain  guarded  with  jealous  care  her  fine-wooled  Merino  flocks,  and  it 
does  not  appear  that  they  found  their  way  into  any  other  European  state 
until  1723,  when  Sweden  procured  a  small  flock.  The  native  sheep  of 
Sweden,  such  as  existed  at  that  time,  unmixed  with  improved  or 
superior  sheep,  were  of  a  very  inferior  kind.  They  were  of  medium 
size,  but  with  long  and  slender  bodies,  the  legs  also  long  and  bare  of 
wool.  The  tail  was  short,  slim,  and  destitute  of  wool  at  its  lower  part. 
The  head  small,  with  horns  short  and  slight  and  curving  to  the  rear. 
The  fleece  open,  coarse  in  quality,  and  of  a  medium  length,  in  color 
usually  white,  although  there  were  many  flocks  carrying  black  fleeces. 
These  sheep  were  of  a  hardy  constitution  and  not  affected  by  the 
severity  of  the  climate.  Their  flesh  was  good  and  not  too  fat;  indeed, 
to  English  taste  not  fat  enough.  Ordinarily  the  ewes  bore  two  lambs 
in  the  year,  and  the  rams  and  old  ewes  were  sheared  two  or  three  times 
yearly. 

Attempts  were  made  to  improve  this  native  breed  by  crossing  with 
the  sheep  of  Germany;  with  the  Leicester  and  Cheviot,  of  Great 
Britain;  with  the  Flemish  and  Eidersteil  sheep,  and  even  with  those 
of  Iceland  and  the  islands  on  the  Norway  coast,  and  upon  the  whole 


EAST   OF    THE    MISSISSIPPI   RIVER.  223 

the  result  was  quite  a  success.  Naturally  the  cross  on  those  of  the 
islands  and  Iceland  endured  better  the  rigor  of  the  climate  and  lived 
on  the  coarsest  food.  Upon  this  foundation  Sweden  introduced  the 
Spanish  Merino. 

Mr.  Alstroemer,  a  spirited  and  patriotic  individual,  who,  as  early  as 
L7 15,  had  made  the  attempt  to  improve  the  poor  native  breed,  believed 
that  improvement  should  not  be  limited  to  the  partial  success  attained 
>y  the  use  of  the  German,  English,  Dutch,  and  Iceland  breeds.    With 
the  view  of  progressing  beyond  this  point  and  producing  a  fine-wooled 

teep,  he  imported  from.  Spain  in  1723  a  small  flock  of  pure  Merinos, 

id  succeeded  in  acclimating,  naturalizing,  and  propagating  in  a  rigor- 
ms  climate  a  breed  which  from  appearances  and  tradition  could  be 
maintained  only  in  a  warm  one.    Thus  Sweden  became  the  first  nation 
of  Europe  to  take  advantage  of  the  superior  fleeced  sheep  of  Spain. 

For  some  years  the  attempt  was  met  with  discouragement  of  many 
kinds,  unt  il,  in  1739,  the  Swedish  Government,  convinced  that  the  ig- 
norance of  the  shepherds  was  a  great  obstacle  to  success  in  the  propa- 
gation of  the  breed,  instituted  a  shepherd's  school,  the  direction  and 
charge  of  which  was  given  to  Mr.  Alstroemer.  In  1740  the  State  created 
a  fund  for  the  purpose  of  awarding  premiums  to  individuals  who  bred 
rams  of  the  Spanish  breed;  and  from  that  time  a  bounty  of  25  per  cent 
was  paid  upon  the  value  of  fine  wool,  of  good  quality,  to  the  grower, 
until  1781,  when  it  was  reduced  to  15  per  cent;  and  still  further  to  12 
per  cent  from  1786  to  1792,  at  which  latter  date  the  bounty  ceased. 
Sweden  then  possessed  upwards  of  100,000  full-bred  Merinos,  and 
nearly  1,000,000  mixed  bloods,  and  was  able  to  supply  all  her  wants 
in  wool  without  any  importations  from  Spain,  and  the  sheep  had  not 
degenerated  in  the  space  of  more  than  seventy  years,  though  Sweden, 
of  all  cultivated  countries,  is  perhaps  the  least  calculated  for  sheep ; 
the  length  of  the  days  during  its  short  summer  parches  its  barren  fields, 
and  for  seven  months  it  is  buried  in  snow. 

The  breeding  of  these  fine  sheep  was  almost  exclusively  undertaken 
by  well-to-do  farmers.  The  Swedish  peasants,  who  had  ordinarily  only 
a  very  small  number  of  sheep,  and  who  were  in  the  habit  of  manufac- 
turing the  materials  of  their  own  clothing,  were  obliged  to  preserve 
their  old  breeds,  which  only  produced  long  and  coarse  wool,  that  they 
knew  not  how  to  dispense  with. 

The  Merinos  did  not  increase  rapidly,  for  it  happened  here,  as  else- 
where, that  there  was  a  prejudice  against  them,  some  not  willing  to 
abandon  the  sheep  of  their  fathers  and  grandfathers,  others  not  believ- 
ing the  breed  could  be  successfully  propagated.  Some  willingly  under- 
took the  experiment,  and  imagining  the  sheep  of  that  breed  could  be 
left  to  shift  for  themselves  and  go  without  care  subjected  them  to  the^ 
same  system  that  they  were  accustomed  to  follow  with  their  hardy 
native  sheep,  by  inclosing  them  in  damp,  badly  cleaned,  infectious 
stables,  in  which  the  air  was  foul  by  reason  of  too  much  heat.  They 


224        SHEEP  INDUSTRY  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES 

fed  them  part  of  the  year  with  an  insufficient  quantity  of  straw  or  poor 
fodder,  made  them  graze  in  the  forests,  on  the  borders  of  swamps,  on 
wet  and  meagre  pastures  where  the  animals  found  neither  the  proper 
quantity  nor  quality  of  nourishment.  It  was  noticeable,  however,  that 
the  Merino  subjected  to  this  bad  treatment  imperceptibly  degenerated, 
and  that  their  wool  deteriorated  in  quality.  While  such  was  the  case 
with  careless  keeping  by  inattentive  people,  it  was  observed,  on  the 
other  hand,  that  with  careful  and  attentive  farmers  and  breeders  the 
wool  preserved  its  primitive  quality.  The  same  was  observed  in  Hol- 
land and  various  parts  of  Germany,  all  of  which  went  to  show  that  the 
degeneracy  of  the  Merino,  on  being  taken  from  Spain  to  other  countries, 
was  caused  more  by  poor  treatment,  ignorance,  and  carelessness  than 
by  the  change  of  climate.  This  will  be  found  to  hold  good  everywhere 
and  strictly  so  in  Spain,  where  it  has  been  found  that  the  Merino  de- 
generates unless  given  the  necessary  care.  Lasteyrie,  in  his  travels  in 
Spain,  found  similar  results  of  degeneration  to  those  experienced  in 
Sweden  5  good  care  gave  good  animals  and  fine  wool ;  bad  care,  poor 
animals  and  coarse  wool,  upon  which  he  remarks  that  "this  difference 
proves  that  nature,  in  nearly  all  circumstances,  complies  with  our  needs 
only  when  we  know  how  to  consult  her  in  her  operations,  follow  her  in 
her  progress,  and  aid  her  with  intelligence." 

With  the  small  farmer,  poor  and  unprovided  with  sufficient  fodder, 
the  Merinos  suffered  some  deterioration  in  size  and  fleece,  but  in  the 
hands  of  the  rich  and  careful  landowners  they  increased  in  size  and 
kept  up  the  quality  of  the  fleece.  They  preserved  their  primitive  forms  ; 
their  fleece  was  thick  and  the  fibers  very  close.  Their  wool  lost  noth- 
ing of  its  fineness,  length,  or  elasticity.  The  weight  of  the  fleece  was 
kept  up,  some  rams  producing  13  pounds  (12  ounces  to  the  pound). 
The  naturalized  animals  were  larger  and  stronger  than  those  of  Spain. 

SchulzenTieim's  flock,  in  the  province  of  Upland,  were  descended  di- 
rectly from  individuals  imported  from  Spain,  and  at  the  end  of  fifty 
years  preserved  the  quality  of  the  wool  perfectly,  a  comparison  with 
the  best  Spanish  Merino  showing  no  deterioration.  His  experiments, 
extending  through  five  generations,  demonstrated  by  a  comparison  of 
the  fleeces  that  the  last  descendants  lost  none  of  the  qualities  which 
made  the  breed  commendable,  going  to  prove  conclusively  that  the 
Spanish  Merino  could  be  propagated  and  kept  in  cold  countries  with- 
out losing  anything  of  the  fineness  and  beauty  of  their  wool.  The  suc- 
cess was  to  that  degree  that  it  resulted  in  diminishing  the  importation 
of  short  wool  and  in  increasing  the  manufacture  of  the  fine  cloths;  and 
after  the  lapse  of  more  than  a  century  the  stranger  race  produced  wool 
nearly  as  soft  and  fine  as  at  its  first  importation. 

The  course  of  this  improvement  in  the  sheep  and  wool  of  Sweden  was 
'not  unobserved  by  the  German  States,  whose  sheep  were  generally  in- 
ferior and  whose  wool  was  coarse.  Efforts  had  been  made  to  improve 
the  few  coarse  sheep  that  had  grown  up  in  neglect  during  the  intestine) 


EAST    OF    THE    MISSISSIPPI    RIVER.  225 

Wars,  by  the  importation  of  Danish,  English,  and  Turkish  rams,  and 
the  rttbrt  was  measurably  successful,  but  it  was  reserved  for  the  Span- 
fish  Merino  to  insure  complete  success,  and  it  was  in  Saxony,  at  the 

j4 Inning  of  the  present  century,  that  naturalization  had  obtained  the 
most  marked  success  and  produced  the  most  beneficent  results.  The 
different  varities  of  sheep  indigenous  to  the  country,  some  of  which 
had  a  good  quality  of  wool  and  others  a  very  coarse  wool,  were  equally 
improved  by  the  Spanish  animals  introduced  into  Saxony  in  1765  and 
again  in  1778. 

ID  the  former  year  Prince  Xavier,  administrator  of  the  Electorate, 
during  the  minority  of  the  elector,  Frederick  Christian,  having  before 
him  the  experience  of  Sweden,  and  seeking  to  repair  the  devastation 
caused  by  the  "  Seven  years'  war,77  obtained  permission  of  his  brother- 
iii  law,  the  King  of  Spain,  to  take  from  Spain  300  Merinos  and  intro- 
duce them  into  Saxony.  Two  hundred  and  twenty  nine  were  selected 
from  the  best  Spanish  flocks — 23  of  them  Escurials — and  shipped  from 
Cadiz  in  May,  1765,  in  charge  of  a  Spanish  mayoral  or  chief  shepherd. 
Ninety-two  rams  and  128  ewes  arrived  safely  in  Saxony,  and  a  commis- 
sion was  appointed  whose  chief  object  was  to  distribute  the  rams  to 
landholders,  either  by  actual  sale  or  letting  at  reasonable  rates,  so  as 
to  improve  all  the  native  sheep  of  Saxony  and  to  make  the  culture  of 
tine  wool  as  general  as  that  of  inferior  quality  formerly  had  been.  The 
zoological  gardens  at  Stolpen,  near  Dresden,  on  the  frontier  of  Bo- 
hemia, at  first  were  prepared  as  a  depot  for  the  distribution  of  these 
sheep,  where  they  were  taken  and  entrusted  to  the  care  of  the  Spanish 
shepherd  who  had  brought  them  from  Spain.  The  domains  of  Milkel, 
Maxon,  Klipphausen,  Oberau,  and  Glauschnitz  were  the  first  to  enjoy 
the  benefits  of  the  improvement.  That  part  of  the  importation  retained 
at  Stolpen  the  shepherd  kept  unmixed,  with  the  view  to  ascertain  how 
tar  the  pure  Spanish  breed  could  be  naturalized  in  Saxony.  In  March, 
1 774,  there  remained  at  Stolpen  5  only  of  the  original  importation  and 
392  of  their  pure-blooded  progeny. 

It  was  found  after  a  lapse  of  ten  years  that  the  pure  Spanish  breeds 
had  preserved  their  quality,  that  they  had  not  degenerated,  and  that 
the  product  of  the  cross  breeding  had  acquired  a  wool  which  yielded 
to  those  of  Spain  neither  in  fineness  nor  in  beauty. 

When  experience  assured  the  commission  that  it  was  easy  to  accli- 
mate the  Merino  and  to  improve  the  native  sheep  by  means  of  cross 
Inceding  it  occupied  itself  with  the  general  improvement  of  the  flocks, 
alter  having  castrated  weak  and  defective  rams.  It  sold  in  1776  to 
tanners  animals  of  the  age  of  four  years,  but  as  the  prejudice  against 
everything  new  was  as  strong  in  Saxony  as  elsewhere,  and  the  major- 
ity of  sheepmasters  still  averse  to  the  improvement,  sales  moved  slowly 
and  with  difficulty.  But  the  Elector,  determined  to  accomplish  his 
object,  compelled  the  farmers  and  tenants  occupying  the  Electoral 
lands  to  buy  a  certain  number  of  Merino  sheep. 
15 


226        SHEEP  INDUSTRY  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES 

The  tenants  and  farmers,  however,  soon  became  alive  to  their  true 
interests;  prejudice  was  overthrown,  and  the  Electoral  sheepfold  not 
proving  adequate  to  the  demands,  now  daily  increasing,  new  importa- 
tions were  made  from  Spain.  Reasons  for  a  new  importation  were  the 
scarcity  of  full-blooded  animals  remaining  in  Saxony,  and  the  fact 
that  the  crossings  and  subsequent  breedings  had  not  been  as  properly 
conducted  as  they  might  have  been. 

In  March,  1777,  the  king  of  Spain  consented  that  more  sheep  should 
be  sold  to  Saxony,  but  it  was  exceedingly  difficult  to  find  in  all  Saxony 
a  competent  man  to  make  the  selection  in  Spain.  A  Mr.  Vogel,  Avho 
was  in  charge  of  the  ducal  possessions  at  Ehrenberg,  was  finally  se- 
lected, and  being  furnished  with  the  proper  papers,  instructions,  and 
references,  and  accompanied  by  a  shepherd  who  had  long  been  in 
charge  of  the  fold  at  Stolpen,  left  Dresden  late  in  1777,  arriving  at 
Madrid  early  in  March,  1778,  and  in  the  Estremaduras  on  the  18th  of 
that  month,  where  he  made  selections  and  purchases,  as  set  forth  in 
his  report  of  the  5th  of  April,  of  276  head,  viz,  176  ewes  and  100 
rams. 

Ewes  from  the  cabana  of  the  Marquis  d'Yranda 156 

Ewes  from  the  cabana  of  the  Countess  da  Cuenta 20 

176 

Rams  from  the  cabana  of  the  Duke  of  Villa  Paterna 21 

Rams  from  the  cabana  of  the  Marquis  d' Yranda 57 

Rams  from  the  cabana  of  the  Duchess  da  Negretti 17 

Rams  from  the  cabana  of  the  Countess  da  Cuenta 106 

201 

On  May  21,  1778,  this  flock  reached  Cadiz,  from  which  place  they 
were  shipped  to  Hamburg,  where  they  arrived  August  1,  1778.  In 
consequence  of  internal  commotions  in  the  country  they  were  detained 
on  the  road  from  Hamburg,  and  did  not  arrive  at  Stolpen  until  May 
23,  1779,  the  flock  then  consisting  of  55  rams  and  169  ewes.  After 
their  arrival  in  Saxony  there  were  no  efforts  made  to  keep  the  sheep 
from  the  various  cabanas  distinct,  the  idea  then  prevailing  that  one 
Spanish  sheep  was  as  good  as  another,  without  any  regard  from  which 
cabana  it  came.  The  progeny  of  this  last  importation  compared  not 
only  favorably  with  that  of  the  first,  but  really  excelled  it.  The  Saxons 
soon  discovered  that  half-blooded  or  quarter-blooded  rams  could  not  be 
relied  upon  to  breed  from  the  native  sheep;  that  in  a  comparatively 
short  time  the  Spanish  blood  was  entirely  bred  out.  They  therefore 
retained  rams  and  ewes  of  pure  blood  for  breeders,  and  in  many  flocks 
all  the  native  blood  was  bred  out. 

It  was  thought  advisable  that  the  Stolpen  flock,  composed  exclusively 
of  full -blood  Merinos,  should  be  enlarged  to  make  more  certain  and 
prompt  the  propagation  of  the  fine  breeds.  The  increase  took  place 
gradually  here,  as  well  as  in  other  flocks,  so  that  the  number  of  sheep 


EAST    OF    THE    MISSISSIPPI    RIVER.  227 

of  pure  breed  belonging  to  the  Elector  in  1800  was  3,400,  and  500  were 
sold  annually  at  public  sale,  a  number  not  sufficient  to  meet  the  demand, 
though  in  addition  to  those  of  the  Electoral  flock  it  was  easy  to  procure 
good  pure-bred  sheep  from  private  individuals. 

Lasteyrie,  who  visited  Saxony  in  1799,  and  to  whom  the  world  is  in- 
debted for  nearly  all  that  is  known  about  European  sheep  husbandry 
at  the  beginning  of  the  present  century,  says  that  he  observed  several 
flocks  belonging  to  private  individuals  and  found  that  the  pure  breeds 
and  also  those  formed  by  cross-breeding  gave  wool  of  the  first  quality. 
These  animals  were  generally  smaller  and  of  bad  shape.  The  dif- 
ferences depended  on  the  quantity  and  quality  of  food  given  to  the 
sheep  in  the  different  folds.  There  were,  it  is  true,  degenerate  breeds, 
but  that  degeneration  was  from  bad  coupling,  want  of  care,  from  the 
insufficiency  and  the  bad  quality  of  food,  and  from  the  unhealthfulness 
of  the  stables,  where,  following  the  customs  of  the  country,  the  dung 
was  left  for  a  whole  year. 

The  Government,  having  given  particular  attention  to  the  improve- 
ment of  breed  and  learning  by  experience  that  flocks  of  the  Spanish 
breed  degenerated  when  they  were  too  much  neglected,  applied  itself 
to  instructing  the  growers  by  forming  schools  for  the  shepherds  and 
widely  spreading  writings  for  the  guidance  of  the  countrymen  on  the 
treatment  of  sheep.  It  wisely  considered  that  it  was  its  duty  and  its 
interest  to  give  these  helps  to  agriculture.  It  felt  that  these  helps 
should  be  given  every  time  that  the  people  had  neither  the  means, 
knowledge,  nor  force  of  will  necessary  in  new  and  difficult  enterprises, 
and  the  recompense  was  ample  in  the  great  improvement  that  followed. 

The  course  of  breeding  adopted  by  the  Saxon  sheep-masters  tended 
to  develop  an  extreme  fineness  of  wool  at  a  material  sacrifice  of  other 
properties.  The  best  were  reserved  for  propagating  the  race,  and  by 
this  means  the  characters  which  indicate  the  property  of  producing 
fine  wool  were  maintained  or  increased  in  the  progeny.  The  care  with 
which  this  system  was  pursued  was  the  main  cause  of  that  unrivaled 
excellence  to  which  the  fine-wooled  sheep  of  Saxony  attained ;  but,  as 
just  remarked,  this  course  of  breeding  was  at  the  expense  of  other 
qualities.  Size  of  carcass,  weight  of  fleece,  and  constitutional  vigor 
were  rapidly  diminished.  The  loss  of  hardiness  was  met  by  an  extreme 
care  of  the  animal,  extending  to  those  minute  and  methodical  arrange- 
ments so  congenial  to  the  spirit  of  German  agriculture,  and  which  were 
rendered  economically  practicable  by  the  cheapness  of  labor.  It  is 
proper  here  to  note  the  methods  employed  by  those  in  charge  of  the 
Electoral  farms,  and  by  others,  in  raising  these  sheep  to  such  a  high 
degree  of  perfection  as  fine-wool  producers. 

It  was  endeavored,  as  far  as  soil  and  climate  permitted,  to  treat  the 
Merino  sheep  just  as  they  were  treated  in  Spain.  On  one  point,  how- 
ever, a  departure  from  the  Spanish  custom  prevailed.  It  was  generally 
believed  in  Saxony  and  other  parts  of  Germany,  as  well  as  in  Holland, 


228        SHEEP  INDUSTRY  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES 

that  the  intermixture  of  sires  and  dams  with  their  own  progeny,  or  even 
that  of  animals  derived  from  the  same  parentage,  would  occasion  de 
generation  in  fine-wooled  sheep.  Under  this  conviction  the  Saxon 
breeders  often  bought  from  other  flocks  rams  which  they  substituted 
for  those  of  their  own,  and  laud  proprietors  bound  their  tenants  by  a 
clause  in  their  leases  to  renew  every  year  a  certain  number  of  rams. 
The  undistinguished  mixture  of  the  same  flock,  which  took  place,  inj 
Sweden,  France,  and  every  part  of  Germany,  demonstrated  in  a  decisive 
measure  that  it  was  needless  to  procure  other  rams  while  any  one  pos- 
sessed those  of  good  qualities.  The  facts  observed  coincided  with  those 
known  of  Spain,  where  the  animals  bred  among  each  other  for  ages 
without  distinction  of  parentage.  The  mode  of  feeding,  care,  and  treat- 
ment is  given  from  the  observation  of  Lasteyrie. 

The  usual  food  given  the  sheep  during  winter  consisted  of  hay,  after- 
math, trefoil,  and  oats  or  rye  straw.  The  hay  was  distributed  twice 
or  three  times  in  the  course  of  the  day,  and  in  greater  or  smaller  quan- 
tities, as  it  was  more  or  less  substantial.  Those  who  had  no  hay  sub- 
stituted for  it  peas  haulin,  vetches,  or  lentils.  Care  was  taken  to  cut 
the  latter  kind  of  fodder  before  maturity,  that  it  might  be  more  nutri- 
tious and  that  the  fall  of  leaf  should  be  prevented,  which  would  other- 
wise take  place  for  want  of  moisture.  Some  farmers  made  amends  for 
want  of  hay  by  the  use  of  cakes  from  oleaginous  grain,  by  bran  and 
crushed  corn,  or  sometimes  meal.  They  mixed  the  cakes  and  meal  in 
vessels  filled  with  water,  which  were  placed  in  the  sheep-houses,  and 
the  residuum  at  the  bottom  of  these  vessels  was  given  to  the  sheep. 
This  method  contributed  to  preserve  them  in  good  health  at  a  season 
when  it  was  difficult  to  procure  fresh  food.  Grain  given  in  this  manner 
was  found  to  be  more  nutritious,  particularly  if  the  meal  had  been  mixed 
in  hot  water.  This  food  was  best  adapted  to  the  lambs;  when  given 
to  sheep  about  6  or  7  pounds  of  meal  were  allotted  to  a  hundred.  When 
there  was  a  want  of  provender  or  the  snow  was  of  long  continuance, 
corn  was  given  to  the  sheep,  but  as  this  was  expensive  it  was  generally 
very  soon  replaced  by  roots  of  different  kinds,  such  as  beets,  turnips, 
carrots,  and  more  especially  potatoes.  This  method,  hardly  adopted  at 
all  in  France,  was  strongly  recommended  to  owners  of  flocks.  It  was 
well  known  that  the  dry  food  on  which  sheep  were  obliged  to  live  dur- 
ing a  bad  season  often  occasioned  disorders,  for  which  reason  the  Eng- 
lish farmer  cultivated  turnips  largely  as  his  winter  resource.  Thus  he 
was  enabled  to  keep  a  larger  stock  than  he  otherwise  could,  a  provi- 
sion of  roots  being  added  to  his  ordinary  fodder.  The  Saxon  wethers 
and  the  ewes  without  lambs  had  no  food  but  hay  or  other  inferior  sort, 
the  best  being  reserved  for  the  ewe  mothers,  the  rams,  and  the  lambs. 
During  winter  the  flocks  were  taken  into  the  fields  or  woods,  when  the 
season  permitted.  Breeders  who  had  no  winter  pasturage  kept  their 
flocks  in  the  sheep-houses  from  the  beginning  of  November  till  April, 
but  care  was  taken  that  they  moved  about  in  the  courts  every  day  and 


Sttkelt  a  Wilielms  uiho  Co  Newark 


'  ER   YOU  ATT. 


SAXONY  MERINO  RAM. 


EAST    OF    THE    MISSISSIPPI    RIVER.  229 

remained  in  the  open  air  three  or  four  hours.  The  doors  of  the  houses, 
too,  were  frequently  opened,  that  the  air  might  be  incessantly  changed. 
There  were  some  Saxon  flock-owners  who  had  no  pastures  at  all,  and 
kept  their  sheep  in  their  houses  and  yards  throughout  the  year,  nor  did 
tliis  treatment  seem  injurious  either  to  their  health  or  the  fineness  of 
their  wool,  as  long  as  care  was  taken  to  supply  them  with  proper  food 
and  to  keep  their  houses  dry  and  airy.  The  general  custom,  however, 
was  to  put  them,  during  favorable  weather,  into  pastures,  where  they 
found  a  sufficient  quantity  of  food ;  and  when  these  were  not  to  be  had 
they  were  driven  to  the  hills  and  other  dry  places.  They  left  the 
houses  in  the  morning  as  soon  as  the  dew  entirely  disappeared,  and 
rested  in  the  shade  during  the  heat  of  the  day.  When  rain  fell  heavily 
or  the  fogs  were  thick  they  were  kept  in  their  houses,  nor  were  they 
suffered  to  go  into  the  fields  after  a  heavy  shower  of  hail.  In  this  re- 
spect the  Saxons  imitated  the  shepherds  of  Spain.  It  was  customary 
on  some  Saxon  farms  to  let  the  sheep  drink  in  their  stables  during  win- 
ter instead  of  taking  them  to  the  watering  places.  The  Saxon  breeders 
not  only  considered  salt  salutary  to  sheep,  but  were  of  opinion  that  it 
imparted  a  greater  degree  of  fineness  to  the  fleece.  Upon  the  whole 
the  different  methods  of  management  were  varied  and  modified  accord- 
ing to  the  nature  of  the  soil  and  its  products.  Good  farmers  observed 
the  principle  without  which  no  flock  can  prosper,  that  is,  to  keep  a  num- 
ber of  animals  only  in  proportion  to  the  quantity  of  support  grown  on 
the  land.  Experience  has  proved  that  the  quality  of  wool  produced  by 
a  flock  is  always  proportionate  to  the  quality  and  extent  of  the  nutri- 
ment which  it  has  received. 

The  shearing  of  the  sheep  in  Saxony  takes  place  at  the  beginning  of 
May,  after  the  fleece  has  been  washed  on  the  back  of  the  animal.  For- 
merly the  wool  was  washed  in  warm  water  after  being  cut  from  the 
sheep,  according  to  the  Spanish  plan;  but  this  custom  has  been  aban- 
doned in  consequence  of  the  wool  felting  into  balls,  by  which  its  value 
was  much  reduced.  The  mode  of  washing  generally  pursued  consists 
in  driving  the  sheep  through  a  brook  or  rivulet.  The  next  morning 
they  are  again  plunged  into  the  stream,  that  every  part  of  the  fleece 
may  be  equally  penetrated.  After  this  the  wool  is  pressed  by  the 
hand,  beginning  at  the  head  and  proceeding  regularly  to  the  extremi- 
ties. In  the  afternoon  they  are  driven  once  more  through  the  water, 
then  two  days  are  allowed  for  the  fleeces  to  become  dry,  and  on  the 
next  day  they  are  shorn. 

Thus  for  many  years  the  Saxon  flock-masters  took  the  greatest  care 
of  their  flocks,  breeding,  feeding,  and  rearing  them  with  but  one  object. 
Every  other  point  was  made  secondary  to  the  fineness  of  the  fleece. 
This  course  pursued  steadily  through  generations  gave  at  length  the 
perfect  Saxon  Merino.  Originally  springing  from  the  hardy  Spanish 
Merino,  the  same  parent  stock  from  which  has  sprung  the  hardy  Ameri- 
can and  French  Merino,  it  was  bred  down  to  a  badly  formed,  weak, 


230        SHEEP  INDUSTRY  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES 

light-fleeced  animal.  But  the  sacrifice  of  physical  points  attainted  the 
end  in  view — a  wool  of  almost  gossamer  fineness,  weighing  only  10  or 
20  ounces  to  the  fleece,  but  finding  a  market  willing  to  pay  a  good  price 
for  it. 

From  the  first  period  of  its  introduction  until  1814,  when  Europe  once 
more  began  to  enjoy  the  blessings  of  a  general  peace,  Saxon  wool  was 
gradually,  though  surely,  spreading  itself  over  the  surface  of  the  king- 
dom of  Saxony;  but  when  the  continental  trade  was  thrown  quite  open 
by  the  events  of  the  short  campaign  of  1815,  and  the  minds  of  men  were 
set  at  rest  by  the  final  overthrow  of  Napoleon,  the  Saxon  wool-dealers 
began  to  open  a  regular  trade  in  this  article  to  England,  and  they  soon 
discovered  the  real  value  of  their  new  branch  of  German  commerce. 

Pounds. 

In  the  first  year  (1814)  there  were  imported  into  England 3,593,146 

In  1819  there  were  imported  into  England 4,557,938 

In  1824  there  were  imported  into  England 15,432,657 

In  1828  there  were  imported  into  England 23,110,882 

The  great  increase  in  the  demand  for  this  wool  naturally  excited  the 
emulation  of  the  states  lying  contiguous  to  Saxony,  and  the  flock- 
masters  of  the  kingdom  carried  on,  for  a  considerable  period,  a  very 
prosperous  trade  in  rams  and  ewes  with  the  landowners  of  Silesia, 
Bohemia,  Austria,  and  other  parts,  who  were  desirious  of  changing  the 
nature  of  their  flocks  to  this  more  profitable  breed.  All  the  superabun- 
dance of  grain,  which  had  no  external  market  to  absorb  it,  was  given  to 
the  sheep  in  order  to  accelerate  their  approach  to  the  maximum  degree 
of  fineness  of  which  their  wool  was  susceptible,  thus  actually  creating  a 
profitable  consumption  for  their  corn,  through  the  eagerness  of  England 
to  obtain  a  superior  quality  of  wool. 

This  eagerness  for  fine  wool  was  not  confined  to  the  English  manu- 
facturer. When  the  goods  of  great  excellence  fabricated  from  this  fine 
Saxon  wool  were  imported  into  the  United  States  they  challenged  ad- 
miration and  found  quick  sales.  The  American  manufacturers  began 
the  importation  of  the  wool,  and  finally  introduced  the  Saxony  Merino 
sheep  into  the  United  States. 

Dr.  Henry  S.  Kandall  says  that  these  Saxony  sheep,  when  introduced 
into  the  United  States,  lacked  at  least  one-fifth  and  often  more  of  the 
weight  of  the  parent  Spanish  Merino  as  it  then  was;  they  were  longer 
legged  in  proportion  to  size,  slimmer,  finer  boned,  and  thinner  in  the 
neck  and  head.  At  every  point  they  gave  indications  of  a  more  deli- 
cate organization.  Their  fleeces  averaged  from  1£  to  2  pounds  of 
washed  wool  in  ewes  and  from  2  to  3  pounds  in  rams.  There  was 
sufficient  yolk  in  the  fleece  to  give  it  pliancy  and  brilliancy,  but  the 
yolk  was  colorless,  limpid,  and  easily  liberated  in  washing.  It  never 
assumed  a  viscid,  waxy  consistency  or  became  indurated  into  "  gum," 
either  within  or  on  the  outer  extremity  of  the  wool,  and  consequently 
having  nothing  on  the  surface  to  catch  and  retain  dirt  the  fleece 
remained  almost  white  externally.  The  staple  was  usually  from  an 


S»ck«liaWJJiel«sUli»Co  Nn 


ELECTORAL  ESCURIAL  RAM,  No.   177. 
OF  VON  THAER'S  SHEEPFOLD  AT  MOEOUN  IN  PRUSSIA. 
DRAWN  FROM  NATURE  BY  CH.  L.  FLEISCHMANN  FOR  U.  S.  PATENT  OFFICE,  1847. 


EAST    OF    THE    MISSISSIPPI    KIVER.  231 

inch  to  aii  incli  and  a  half  in  length  on  the  back  and  sides,  shorter  on 
fthe  belly,  and  formed  a  considerably  less  compact  mass  than  that  of 
rthe  Spanish  Merino.  In  the  best  sheep  the  surface  of  the  fleece  was 
smooth  and  even  (as  if  it  had  been  cut  off  at  a  uniform  length),  and  it 
broke  into  masses  of  same  size;  but  in  inferior  animals  the  wool  grew 
in  small  disconnected  tufts,  which  .ended  in  points  externally.  These 
fell  apart  on  the  shoulder  and  along  the  back,  and  in  some  instances 
partly  hung  down  like  hair  or  Leicester  wool,  instead  of  standing  at 
right  angles  to  the  surface.  The  last  indicated  extreme  thinness  of 
fleece.  When  to  this  were  added  a  gauzy,  half-peeled  nose  and  ear — an 
ear  as  thin  and  almost  as  transparent  as  parchment — a  pale  skin,  a 
carcass  without  depth  and  about  6  inches  thick,  a  camel- shaped  neck, 
and  long  spider  legs,  the  "  lower  deep"  of  debility  and  degeneracy  was 
reached.  But  there  was  an  atoning  beauty  about  the  wool  of  the  Saxon 
which  it  was  hard  to  resist.  It  flashed  with  such  a  gem-like  luster;  it 
was  so  beautifully  fine  and  even ;  it  had  such  an  exquisite  downiness 
of  touch,  that  all  other  wool  seemed  base  by  the  side  of  it.  "  It  was  so 
pliant,"  says  Randall,  "  that  a  lock  of  it  held  upright  by  the  outer  end, 
between  a  thumb  and  finger,  and  gently  played  up  and  down,  would 
bend  and  dance  like  a  plume."  According  to  Youattfs  measurements 
the  fiber  was  about  ^J-g-  of  an  inch  in  diameter,  but  he  did  not  obtain 
fine  specimens  of  the  wool.  Such  is  the  picture  presented  us  of  the 
Saxony  Merino  at  the  period  of  its  importation  into  the  United  States — 
the  period  of  its  greatest  physical  degeneracy,  for  at  that  time  began  a 
reaction  in  the  mode  of  breeding  them. 

The  first  importation  of  Saxony  Merino  sheep  into  the  United  States 
was  made,  in  1822,  by  Mr.  Samuel  Henshaw,  a  merchant  of  Boston,  and, 
as  stated  elsewhere,  at  the  instance  of  Col.  James  Shephard,  a  woolen 
manufacturer  of  Northampton,  Mass.  The  number  imported  was  four. 
Two  went  to  J.  W.  Miller,  at  Philadelphia,  and  two  to  Northamp- 
ton, to  Col.  Shephard  and  Isaac  C.  Bates.  *  The  fleeces  of  the  two  sent 
to  Philadelphia  weighed,  in  the  dirt,  17f  pounds,  and  the  animals  were 
very  superior.  Mr.  Miller  states  that  the  fleeces  were  covered  with  tar 
and  dirt,  having  been  two  months  on  board  ship,  and  when  washed 
weighed:  First  quality,  2  pounds  2  ounces;  second  quality,  1  pound 
8  ounces;  third  quality,  14  ounces;  fourth  and  inferior  quality,  2  pounds 
8  ounces ;  a  total  of  7  pounds,  or  3  J  pounds  to  each  sheep.  Mr.  Miller, 
who  had  a  fine  flock  of  Spanish  Merinos,  near  Philadelphia,  crossed 
them  with  these  Saxony  rams  and  had  eighty  or  ninety  lambs  the  first 
sea  son.  From  the  cross  of  one  ram,  sent  to  Northampton  with  a  Merino 
flock,  there  were  offered  for  sale  in  October,  1824,  fifty  rams.  In  1823 
Henshaw  and  Bates  made  another  importation  of  one  ram  and  three 
ewes,  and  on  July  5,  of  the  same  year,  there  arrived  from  Hamburg  two 

*  Isaac  C.  Bates  and  Col.  James  Shephard,  of  Northampton,  recently  imported  two 
Saxon  bucks,  which  have  arrived.  They  were  purchased  in  Saxony  more  than  a  year 
since.  (New  England  Farmer,  November  23,  1822.) 


232  SHEEP    INDUSTRY    OF    THE    UNITED    STATES 

Saxony  rains  and  three  ewes  for  Hon.  Joseph  Strong,  of  South  Hadley, 
Mass. 

In  1824,  Messrs.  G.  &  T.  Searle,  of  Boston,  imported  seventy- seven 
Saxony  sheep.  They  were  selected  and  purchased  by  a  Mr.  Kretchman, 
a  correspondent  of  the  firm,  residing  at  Leipsic,  and  were  shipped  at 
Bremen  on  the  American  schooner  Velocity.  Henry  D.  Grove,  subse- 
quently an  enthusiastic  and  honest  breeder  of  the  Saxons,  in  New  York 
State,  was  engaged  to  take  charge  of  the  sheep  on  the  passage,  and 
also  shipped  six  sheep  on  his  own  account.  Mr.  Grove  says  that  fully 
one-third  of  the  sheep  purchased  by  Mr.  Kretchman  (who  shared  profit 
and  loss  in  the  undertaking)  were  not  full-blooded  Saxons.  The  cargo 
was  sold  at  auction  as  "pure-blooded  Electoral  Saxons,"  and  thus,  un- 
fortunately, in  the  very  outset  the  pure  and  impure  became  hopelessly 
mixed.  The  average  price  realized  per  head  was  $69.35.  At  this  sale 
Samuel  Hurlbert  &  Co.,  of  Winchester,  Conn.,  purchased  seven  rams, . 
seven  ewes,  and  a  lamb,  being  the  first  to  be  introduced  into  that  State. 

In  the  fall  of  1824  Mr.  Grove  entered  into  an  agreement  with  the 
Messrs.  Searle  to  return  to  Saxony  and  purchase,  in  connection  with 
Kretchman,  from  160  to  200  Electoral  sheep.  He  was  detained  at  sea 
seven  weeks,  which  gave  rise  to  the  belief  that  he  had  been  shipwrecked 
and  lost.  When  he  finally  arrived  the  sheep  had  already  been  bought 
by  Kretchman,  and  they  were  a  shabby  lot.  On  being  informed  of 
what  the  purchase  consisted,  Grove  protested  against  taking  them 
to  America  and  insisted  on  a  better  selection,  but  to  no  purpose.  Any- 
thing was  good  enough  for  an  American.  A  quarrel  ensued,  and 
Kretchman  went  so  far  as  to  engage  another  to  take  charge  of  the  sheep 
on  this  passage,  but  Mr.  Grove's  friends  interfering  the  trouble  was  ad- 
justed, and  finally  Mr.  Grove  was  induced  to  take  charge  of  the  sheep 
across  the  water.  The  number  shipped  was  167 ;  15  of  them  perished 
on  the  passage.  Eighty  one  rams,  57  ewes,  and  20  lambs  were  sold  at 
Brighton,  near  Boston,  July  14,  1825,  and  the  prices  realized  averaged 
$158.80  per  head,  excluding  lambs.  The  highest  price  was  $425,  which 
was  paid  for  a  buck  by  Judge  Pendleton,  of  Dutchess  County,  N.  Y. 
Judge  Effingham  Lawrence,  of  Long  Island,  paid  $235  for  a  ewe.  The 
whole  cargo  found  ready  purchasers  from  the  New  England  States  and 
New  York.  Says  Mr.  Grove : 

A  portion  of  this  importation  consisted  of  grade  sheep,  which  sold  as  high  as  the 
pure  bloods,  for  the  American  purchasers  could  not  know  the  difference.  It  may  be 
readily  imagined  what  an  inducement  the  Brighton  sale  held  out  to  speculation,  both 
in  this  country  and  Saxony.  The  German  newspapers  teemed  with  advertisements 
of  sheep  for  sale,  headed  "Goed  for  the  American  Market,"  and  these  sheep,  in  many 
instances,  were  actually  bought  up  for  the  American  market  at  $5,  $8,  or  $10  a  head, 
when  the  pure  bloods  could  not  be  purchased  at  prices  less  than  $30  to  $40. 

In  1825  (exact  date  not  known),  a  miserable  lot  of  Saxony  sheep  ar- 
rived at  Portsmouth,  N.  H.  Fortunately,  there  were  but  13  all  told. 

In  March,  1826, 191  Saxony  sheep  arrived  in  New  York  by  the  brig 
Wittiam,  on  German  account.  They  were  sold  on  the  26th  of  that 


EAST    OF    THE    MISSISSIPPI    RIVER.  233 

month,  mid  the  highest  price  realized  was  $350  for  a  ram,  tiie  purchaser 
being  Mr.  Hurd,  of  Dutchess  County,  N.  Y.  The  lowest  ram  sold 
for  $160.  The  ewes  sold  generally  from  $36  to  $85.  One  of  the 
Hurlberts,  of  Connecticut,  who  had  bought  fifteen  Saxonies  the  year 
before,  was  present  and  made  some  purchases,  and  affirmed  that  such 
was  the  rage  for  those  sheep  in  his  State  that  within  a  few  weeks  he 
had  sold  a  pair  of  twin  lambs  before  they  were  a  fortnight  old  for  $430. 
These  191  sheep  were  for  the  most  part  well  descended  and  valuable 
animals.  A  few  of  them  were  grade  sheep.  In  June,  1826,  the  brig 
Louisa  brought  out  173  on  German  account.  Not  more  than  one-third 
of  them  had  any  pretentious  to  purity  of  blood.  Then  followed  another 
shipment  on  German  account  of  158  from  Bremen  into  New  York.  Some 
of  these  were  diseased  before  they  left  Bremen,  and  22  died  before  the 
arrival  of  the  brig. 

The  next  cargo  coming  to  New  York  was  selected  by  Mr.  Grove,  165 
in  number,  and  owned  by  Mr.  Grove  and  Mr.  F.  Gebhard,  of  New  York. 
They  cost  $65  per  head  landed  at  New  York,  and  sold  at  an  average  of 
$50  per  head,  thus  entailing  a  loss  of  over  $2,400.  They  were  of  the 
best  Saxony  blood.  A  cargo  of  81  arrived  at  New  York  shortly  after, 
soon  followed  by  another  of  184  on  German  account,  by  the  brig  Warren. 
With  a  few  exceptions  these  were  good,  pure-blooded  sheep.  Another 
vessel  from  Bremen  brought  over  200  of  the  most  miserable  character, 
some  of  them  being  hardly  half-grade  sheep.  This  lot  is  known  as 
the  "  stop-sale  sheep."  The  ship  Phebe  Ann  brought  120  sheep.  More 
were  landed  at  New  York  of  which  there  is  no  account.  At  a  sale  in 
New  York,  July  12, 1826,  presumably  of  the  cargo  of  81  sheep,  38  rams 
and  40  ewes  brought  an  average  of  $27  per  head  each.  A  cargo  of  60 
arrived  at  Philadelphia  early  in  1826,  and  on  May  27  William  Patter- 
son, of  Baltimore,  received  direct  from  Bremen  12  of  the  very  finest 
Saxons. 

Messrs.  Searle  &  Co.  imported  three-  cargoes  into  Boston  in  1826, 
numbering  in  the  aggregate  513  sheep.  They  were  about  the  same  in 
character  as  their  former  importations — in  the  main  good,  but  mixed 
with  some  grade  sheep.  Of  these,  321  rams  and  ewes  and  58  lambs 
were  sold  at  Brighton,  May  14,  1826.  The  average  amount  realized 
was  $44  per  head.  The  highest  price  was  $210  and  the  lowest  $15. 
Among  the  purchasers  at  this  sale  was  William  Jar  vis,  who  secured 
about  50  head  at  from  $32.50  to  $137.50  each,  the  latter  for  a  yearling 
ram.  These  he  crossed  with  his  Spanish  Merinos,  a  step  which  he  soon 
found  cause  to  regret.  Early  in  July,  1826,  a  cargo  arrived  at  Boston 
on  German  account,  Eniil  Bach,  of  Leipsic,  supercargo.  A  few  were 
good  sheep  and  of  pure  blood,  but  taken  as  a  whole  they  were  a  mis- 
erable lot.  The  owners  sank  about  $3,000  in  the  venture,  notwith- 
standing they  were  advertised  as  "  selected  from  the  most  renowned 
Electoral  flocks  in  Saxony."  The  average  amount  realized  per  head 
was  $18.64.  Next  came  another  cargo  on  German  account,  Wasinuss 


234        SHEEP  INDUSTRY  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES 

&  Multer  owners.  It  numbered  210,  and  the  whole  cost  in  Germany 
was  $1.125.  With  the  exception  of  a  small  number,  procured  to  make 
a  flourish  on  in  their  advertisements  for  sale,  these  were  sheep  having 
no  pretensions  to  purity  of  blood.  Two  of  the  five  named  cargoes  ar- 
riving at  Boston  (in  addition  to  the  one  sold  May  14,  1823)  were  sold 
at  auction  at  Brighton.  A  sale  of  October  21  included  124  bucks  and 
76  ewes,  by  the  ship  Tartar.  The  total  amount  of  this  sale  was  $5,354, 
the  rams  averaging  $25.85  and  the  ewes  $28.25.  The  other  cargo,  by 
the  ship  Catharine,  consisted  of  174  rams  and  30  ewes,  and  realized 
but  $2,051.50,  the  rams  averaging  $9.71  and  the  ewes  $12.05.  Some 
old-fashioned  Spanish  Merinos  were  put  up  at  one  of  these  sales.  They 
were  from  three-eighths  to  full  blood,  and  fetched  from  $5.50  to  $26 
each. 

Early  in  1826  Oapt.  Chandler,  of  the  brig  Samuel,  imported  into  Bos- 
ton, from  Bremen,  167  Saxon  sheep.  The  wool  of  these  sheep  was  of 
extreme  fineness  and  beauty,  and  July  13, 1826,  190  rams  and  30  ewes 
were  offered  for  sale  at  Brighton,  which  had  arrived  from  Bremen  by  the 
Hyperion,  said  to  be  pure  Electoral  Saxons. 

A  correspondent  of  the  Cultivator  who  lived  near  Brighton,  where 
the  first  flocks  of  these  Saxony  sheep  were  sold  at  auction,  and  at  which 
he  was  a  purchaser,  says  that  the  novelty  of  the  consideration  that  a  new 
breed  of  sheep  far  surpassing  the  Merino,  which  in  preceding  estima- 
tion had  been  considered  the  ultimatum  of  excellence  and  so  recently 
sold  at  extravagant  prices,  at  once  excited  the  highest  sheep  frenzy  and 
assembled  at  the  first  sale  all  those  who  had  imbibed  a  particle  of  taste 
and  interest  in  sheep  culture.  Of  this  and  many  other  flocks  imported 
at  this  time  four  flocks  might  be  admitted  to  be  called  Saxony  sheep, 
and  of  these  one-half  might  be  denominated  prime.  These  sheep  were 
generally  labeled,  but  the  best  were  branded  either  with  a  cross  or  a 
crown.  The  same  writer  saw  two  entire  flocks  sold,  which  were  brought 
as  a  return  cargo,  the  captain  being  master  and  factor,  which  would 
disgrace  any  country  whose  name  should  be  associated  with  pure  blood 
and  fine  wool.  These  sheep  were  purchased  by  speculators  and  sold 
through  the  country  as  Saxony  sheep. 

In  August,  1827,  the  brig  Comet  came  into  Boston  harbor  from  Ham- 
burg with  101  Saxony  sheep,  all  rams  from  one  to  four  years  old.  They 
were  sold  at  Brighton  at  prices  ranging  from  $8  to  $64,  the  average 
price  being  $27  per  head.  This  was  an  importation  of  Watmuss  & 
Multer,  and  Mr.  Grove  says  the  sheep  were  selected  exclusively  from 
grade  flocks  of  a  low  character.  Shortly  after  this  the  Messrs.  Searles 
imported  in  the  Mentor  from  Hamburg  182  Saxons.  These  were  sold 
October  18,  1827.  The  21  rams  sold  from  $18  to  $68,  and  the  161  ewes 
from  $6  to  $72.  They  were  like  the  importations  preceding,  a  mixture 
of  pure  and  impure  blooded  sheep.  The  papers  of  the  day  in  chron- 
icling the  sale  remarked  that  the  disposition  to  purchase  seemed  good, 
but  the  sheep  were  not  as  good  as  former  exportations.  Mr.  Grove 


EAST    OF    THE    MISSISSIPPI   RIVER.  235 

says  it  is  due,  however,  to  the  Messrs.  Searle  to  say  that,  as  a  whole, 
their  importations  were  much  better  than  any  other  made  into  Boston. 
Having  determined  to  settle  in  the  United  States,  Mr.  Grove  re  turned 
to  Saxony  and  spent  the  winter  of  1826-'27  in  visiting  and  examining 
many  flocks.  He  selected  115  from  the  celebrated  flock  of  Macherns, 
embarked  onboard  the  ship  Albion,  and  landed  in  New  York  June  27, 

1827.  In  1828  he  received  80  more  selected  by  a  friend  from  the  same 
Macherns  flock  and  drove  them  to  Shaftsbury,  thence  to  Hoosic,  N.  Y., 
where  he  established,  and,  until  his  death,  maintained,  one  of  the  best, 
if  not  the  best,  Saxony  Merino  flocks  in  the  country. 

Other  importations  came  in  1828.  In  June  about  200,  noted  as  the 
best  ever  imported  into  Boston,  arrived  in  the  Bremen  and  were  sold  at 
auction  the  month  following.  In  August  the  Corsair  arrived  from 
Hamburg  with  134  Saxony  sheep,  consigned  to  G.  &  T.  Searle,  and  the 
commercial  editor  of  a  Boston  paper,  noting  the  arrival,  says:  "It  is 
pleasant  to  believe  that  we  may  have  a  supply  of  the  finest- wooled 
breeds  of  sheep,  but  the  coarsest  wool,  taxed  by  the  late  tariff,  we  hope 
never  will  be  grown  in  the  United  States,  though  the  duty  on  it  must 
operate  as  a  burden  on  the  consumers  of  the  coarsest  cloths  without  a 
corresponding  benefit  to  any  other  persons."  These  sheep  of  Searle's — 
48  rams  and  85  ewes  of  the  celebrated  Macherns  flock — were  sold  at 
auction  by  Coolidge,  Poor  &  Head,  October  14,  1828. 

On  September  25,  1828,  there  arrived  at  New  York  25  rams  and  112 
ewes,  characterized  as  Saxons  of  the  purest  blood.  There  were  other 
importations  at  other  ports  during  the  years  1824,  1825,  1826,  1827,  and 

1828,  and  many  after  the  last  named  date,  which  can  not  here  be  fol- 
lowed, the  simple  object  being  in  noting  the  importations  of  the  five 
years  (1824-1828)  to  show  that  enough  were  brought  over  to  change 
the  character  of  all  the  American  flocks,  should  the  mania  affect  all  the 
owners,  which  was,  unfortunately,  with  few  exceptions,  the  case;  and 
to  mark  its  effect  als*o  upon  the  woolen  manufacture.    During  these 
years  the  recorded  arrivals  of  Saxony  sheep  at  the  ports  of  Boston,  New 
York,  Portsmouth,  Philadelphia,  and  Baltimore,  principally  at  the  two 
first-named  places,  numbered  3,400;  77  in  1824;,  1G4  in  1825;  2,288  in 
1826;  398  in  1827,  and  550  in  1828. 

The  first  appreciable  effect  that  the  introduction  of  the  Saxony  sheep 
had  was  the  further  destruction  of  the  old  Spanish  Merino.  The  Spanish 
flocks,  with  few  exceptions,  were  crossed  with  the  Saxony,  and  finally 
almost  disappeared.  So  near  to  practical  extinction  were  they  that 
when  it  was  found  somewhat  later  that  the  Spanish  Merino  was  the 
most  valuable  for  American  purposes,  but  few  flocks  could  be  found 
from  which  to  renew  the  old  blood,  and  these  flocks  comprised  but  few 
animals.  For  a  time  all  other  sheep  were  lost  sight  of  and  speculation 
ruled  the  day.  This  speculation  set  in  shortly  after  the  passage  of  the 
tariff  act  of  1824  and  the  consequent  increase  in  the  woolen  manufac- 
ture, but  it  was  a  speculation  of  a  losing  kind,  many  of  the  importa- 


236  SHEEP    INDUSTRY    OF    THE    UNITED    STATES 

tions  not  paying  expenses,  for  the  farmers  and  many  others  had  not  yet 
recovered  from  their  severe  losses  on  the  Spanish  Merinos  between  1816 
and  1820,  and  were  slow  to  respond  to  the  appeals  made  in  behalf  of  the 
Saxony.  For  a  short  time  the  prices  ruled  not  as  high  as  the  importers 
had  anticipated,  though  higher  than  the  Spanish  Merino  was  held  at 
that  time.  In  addition  to  the  prices  noted  at  the  importers7  sales,  it  is 
known  that  many  sales  were  made  throughout  the  country  at  a  great 
advance  upon  them.  In  January,  1825,  a  Saxon  ram  sold  in  Connecticut 
for  $230;  two  at  $120  each;  one  at  $100;  one-half  of  another  for 
$100.  One  ewe  sold  for  $110  and  three  for  $100  each.  In  April,  1826, 
at  a  sale  at  Albany,  ST.  Y.,  seven  rams  sold  for  $150  to  $210  each, 
and  fourteen  ewes  at  $60  each — prices  deemed  so  low  that  the  sale 
was  stopped.  Many  descendants  of  Saxony  Merino  and  Spanish  Merino 
crossed  were  on  the  market  in  1826  and  1827,  and  the  rapid  multiplica- 
tion of  them  was  marvelous.  But  the  importation  had  declined  in  1827. 
The  early  American  history  and  fortunes  of  this  sheep  are  bound  up 
with  the  question  of  the  American  tariff  and  the  condition  of  British 
trade.  The  tariff  act  of  1824  encouraged  the  American  woolen  manu- 
facture and  2,288  Saxony  sheep  were  imported  in  1826.  But  the  neces- 
sities of  the  British  manufacturer  threw  an  immense  quantity  of  wool- 
ens on  the  American  market  which  more  than  neutralized  the  good 
effects  of  the  tariff,  and  the  Saxony  Merino  shared  in  the  general 
depression,  only  398  being  imported  in  1827.  Wool  declined  rapidly  in 
price  and  Saxony  sheep  fell  from  a  general  average  of  about  $30  per 
head  to  less  than  $24  per  head,  many  rams  selling  as  low  as  $8  and 
ewes  at  $6.  For  the  Spanish  Merino  there  were  no  sales.  Half-blood 
Merinos  and  common  sheep  were  consigned  to  destruction  by  tlion- 
sands.  But  with  the  passage  of  the  tariff  of  1828,  generally  known  as 
the  "woolens  bill,"  the  interest  in  Saxony  sheep  revived,  and  there  was 
a  great  excitement  among  the  wool-growers  and  the  woolen  manufac- 
turers, an  excitement  and  exhilaration  that  carried  beyond  the  bounds 
of  sober  reason.  "Especially  among  the  former  were  scores  exhibited 
that  would  be  remembered  with  amusement,"  says  Henry  S.  Eandall, 
uhad  not  their  results  proved  so  injurious  to  public  and  private  in- 
terests." What  he  says  upon  this  point  applies  not  only  to  Massa- 
chusetts and  New  England,  but  to  every  part  of  the  United  States 
where  flne-wooled  sheep  husbandry  was  followed: 

Intelligent  and  enterprising  farmers  pulled  down  their  barns  to  build  greater. 
or  at  least  made  the  most  costly  preparations  for  growing  wool,  and  then  sent  one 
hundred  or  one  thousand  miles  to  purchase  Saxon  sheep  at  $100  or  $500  a  head. 
When  the  prodigies  arrived,  with  what  a  blank  look  the  proprietor,  and  with  what 
an  irrepressible  titter  the  farm  laborers  first  surveyed  the  little  strangers!  If  they 
had  been  exposed  to  storms  and  hardships  on  their  journey,  they  did  indeed  present  a 
very  disconsolate  appearance.  The  public  were  in  the  midst  of  a  fine-wool  cyclone. 
The  manufacturer  and  producer  talked  of  the  exquisite  fineness  of  this  or  that  clip — 
but  whether  the  sheep  which  bore  it  yielded  much  or  little,  had  good  or  bad  car- 
casses, were  hardy  or  feeble,  was  scarcely  a  matter  of  thought.  Enormously  exag- 
gerated expectations  of  the  future  demand  for  Saxon  wool  were  entertained;  it  was 


EAST    OF    THE   MISSISSIPPI    RIVER.  237 

to  increase  with  our  increasing  population;  the  tariff  was  to  raise  prices  to  the 
highest  pitch;  and  then  the  tariff  and  the  high  prices  were  to  stand  for  generations, 
if  not  forever. 

It  is  remarkable  that  this  Saxon  mania  had  so  little  effect,  comparatively,  on  the 
estimated  value  of  the  descendants  of  the  Spanish  Merino  in  our  country.  They 
rose  in  value;  hut  their  chief  value  seemed  to  be  considered  as  resting  on  the  fact 
that  they  would  grade  up  more  rapidly  than  common  sheep  toward  the  Saxon  stand- 
ard of  fineness;  in  other  words,  make  a  better  cross  with  the  Saxon.  The  idea  that 
they  had  a  separate  value,  approaching  that  of  the  latter,  appears  to  have  entered 
nobody's  mind.  Yet  at  that  very  time  the  average  of  Saxon  wool  was  not  10  cents 
higher  a  pound  than  Spanish,  and  the  product  of  a  Spanish  sheep  was  worth  more 
in  market  than  the  product  of  a  Saxon  sheep.  Even  the  prices  of  fine  wool  did  not 
rise  until  near  the  close  of  1830.  American  producers  of  very  tine  wools  have  ever 
fed  on  expectation,  but  never  attained  the  fruition  of  their  hopes. 

Wool  did  not  respond  to  the  sanguine  hopes  of  the  wool-grower. 
Wool  that  sold  in  1825  for  42  and  45  cents  sold  for  30  and  35  cents  in 
1 S29,  and  down  to  29  and  33  J  cents — well- washed,  full-blood  American 
Merino  wool.  Clean  Saxony  wool  sold  all  the  way  from  35  to  80  cents. 
This  was  early  in  the  year.  In  July  there  was  a  decline  on  all  these 
prices,  full-blood  Merino,  washed,  selling  as  low  as  27  cents,  and  at  this 
time,  at  Northampton,  Mass.,  the  difference  in  price  between  the  three- 
quarter  bred  Merino  and  half-blood  Saxony,  between  pretty  fine  and 
very  fine  wool,  was  only  a  few  cents.  Some  fleeces  of  half- Saxony  sold 
for  32  and  33  cents.  At  the  same  time  a  Saxon  ram  that  had  cost 
$80  sold  for  $12.  It  was  so  in  all  New  England;  the  grower  could 
realize  but  90  cents  to  $1.10  for  his  fleece,  though  the  sheep  were  of 
improved  breed  and  cost  $1.15  to  $1.50  per  year  to  keep.  What  was 
true  in  Massachusetts  and  New  England  was  true  in  the  Middle  States 
and  the  West.  Wool  was  low  everywhere. 

The  great  decline  in  wool  was  fatal  to  sheep  husbandry,  and  the  new 
Saxony  sheep  lost  its  popularity.  In  most  communities  there  was  no 
sale  for  them.  But  there  were  other  causes  for  the  decline  of  the  Saxony 
sheep.  After  they  had  been  generally  crossed  on  the  Spanish  Merino 
and  its  grades  it  was  found  to  be  less  hardy  than  the  Spanish  Merino, 
and  wherever  its  blood  was  introduced  it  was  universally  followed  by 
a  decline  in  constitution  and  all  its  attendant  evils.  Their  fleeces  were 
too  light  to  protect  them  sufficiently  from  the  cold  and  wet,  and  besides 
the  fleece  was  not  remunerative,  averaging  only  2J  pounds.  Though 
not  strictly  in  place,  the  early  experience  of  William  Jarvis  with  these 
Saxony  sheep  may  here  be  told,  for  what  was  true  of  them  in  Vermont 
was  found  true  in  Massachusetts.  Writing  in  1832,  he  says : 

I  have  been  an  attentive  breeder  of  Merino  sheep  for  twenty-two  years,  and  six 
years  of  Saxony,  and  my  own  experience,  as  well  as  that  of  my  neighbors,  has  proved 
that  the  Spanish  Merino  has  a  more  vigorous  constitution,  is  a  hardier  animal,  and 
much  less  liable  to  diseases  than  the  Saxony.  *  *  *  In  1826  a  greater  number  of 
Saxony  sheep  were  imported  than  I  believe  were  before,  or  have  been  since,  all  put 
together.  Two  cargoes  were  sold  at  Brighton  in  May  of  that  year,  containing  nearly 
500,  which  I  closely  examined,  and  think  there  were  not  20  among  them  of  any 
one  flock  which  was  readily  determined  by  the  earmarks.  I  purchased  54,  4  of  which 
only  were  from  the  same  flock.  I  put  8  bucks  out  of  these  to  300  Merino  ewes, 


238        SHEEP  INDUSTRY  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES 

and  the  progeny  was  more  feeble  than  I  had  ever  witnessed  from  Merino  bucks. 

1  did  not  raise  more  than  3  lambs  from  5  ewes  for  two  successive  years,  and  in  put- 
ting full-blooded  Saxony  bucks  to  the  ewes  thus  crossed  I  have  not  raised  more  than 

2  lambs  to  5  ewes.     I  have  been  still  more  unsuccessful  in  raising  lambs  from  the 
full-blooded  Saxony  ewes  and  bucks,  although  they  have  been  rather  better  kept 
than  my  other  sheep.     Frora  my  full-blooded  Merino  stock  my  increase  was  com- 
monly 9  lambs  to  10  ewes,  and  never  less  than  4  lambs  to  5  ewes ;  and  those  Merino 
bucks  had  always  been  selected  for  fineness  and  weight  of  fleece  and  shape  from  my 
own  flock.     A  more  distant  cross  could  not  have  been  made  than  between  the  Sax- 
ony and  Merino — and  yet  the  same  ewes  which  commonly  raised  9  lambs  from  10  ewes, 
and  I  believe  never  less  than  4  lambs  from  5  ewes  when  put  to  Merino  bucks  of  the 
same  stock,  only  raised  3  lambs  from  5  ewes  when  crossed  with  the  imported  Saxo- 
nies.    Hence  it  is  evident  that  the  lesser  increase  on  the  part  of  the  Saxony  breed 
must  be  attributable  to  some  other  cause  than  breeding  "  in-and-in."    The  form  of 
the  sheep  alone  will  satisfy  an  experienced  agriculturist  of  the  true  cause.     They  are 
long-legged,  thin-quartered,  flat-sided,  narrow-loined,  not  sufficiently  deep-chested, 
and  long-necked.     All  domestic  animals  of  this  shape  have  feeble  constitutions.     But 
it  may  be  asked,  how  does  it  happen  that  those  sheep  which  are  descended  from  the 
Spanish  are  so  inferior  in  form  to  them  ?     The  most  probable  solution  of  the  question 
is,  that  the  persons  who  were  sent  by  the  Elector  of  Saxony  into  Spain  to  select  were 
not  aware  of  a  fact  known  to  every  attentive  breeder,  that  individuals  of  the  same 
flock  which  have  the  most  feeble  constitutions  generally  have  the  finest  and  lightest 
fleeces;  and  as  fineness  was  their  principal  object  they  selected  the  finest-wooled 
sheep  without  any  reference  to  form  of  carcass  or  weight  of  fleece.     In  this  they  have 
succeeded,  for  the  Saxony  wool  is  certainly  finer  than  the  Spanish;  but  the  latter 
will,  sheep  for  sheep,  at  least,  yield  one-third  more  in  weight  of  wool,  and  it  pos- 
sesses the  felting  or  fulling  property  in  as  high  a  degree.  * 

The  experience  of  a  Connecticut  wool-grower  who  had  brought  his 
Spanish  Merino  flock  up  to  4J  to  4J  pounds  washed  wool  was  similar. 
On  the  importation  of  the  Saxony  he  bought  largely  and  was  sadly  dis- 
appointed, for  he  lost  not  only  in  the  value  of  the  fleece,  but  still  more 
by  feebleness  of  constitution.  His  Spanish  Merino  lambs  used  to  drop 
in  March,  and  their  close  hairy  coats  afforded  them  protection.  But 
March  was  too  cold  for  the  delicate  and  half  naked  Saxons.  He  was 
obliged  to  have  them  drop  in  May.  This  was  bad  management,  for 
when  the  lambs  were  weaned  it  was  so  late  in  the  season  that  the 
mothers  would  not  get  fat  before  winter  set  in.  The  Merino  lambs  were 
so  hardy  that  the  loss  of  one  could  almost  always  be  traced  to  some  acci- 
dent or  neglect,  but  the  Saxons  would  die  in  spite  of  all  that  could  be 
done,  the  loss  being  15  to  20  per  cent.  The  average  weight  of  the  fleeces 
became  very  much  reduced,  and  he  never  sold  his  clip  at  over  80  cents  a 
pound.  In  1833  he  found  out  his  mistake  and  sold  out  the  whole,  rescrv- 
in g  such  of  the  old  Merinos  as  he  could  select.  And  such  also  was  the  ex- 
perience of  the  farmers  of  Massachusetts.  From  1834  the  Saxon  flocks 
began  to  decline  and  the  Spanish  Merino  to  appreciate.  In  1837  old 
Merino  rams  (the  Spanish)  sold  for  $25,  Saxons  for  $15  to  $20,  and  the 
Spanish  and  Saxon  cross  from  $5  to  $15.  In  1842  pure  Spanish  and 
Saxony  Merino  rams  and  ewes  sold  for  $6  to  $10  each,  while  South- 
downs  sold  for  $15  to  $25  each. 

*  Niles  Weekly  Register,  February  25,  1832. 


EAST    OF    THE    MISSISSIPPI    RIVER.  239 

In  1830  there  were  330,682  sheep  in  the  State  and  the  number  in- 
creased t<>  .584,614  in  1838,  mostly  Spanish  Merinos  and  Saxonies  and 
their  crosses,  shearing  1,056,327  pounds  of  wool.  In  western  Massa- 
chusetts wool  growing  was  one  of  the  most  lucrative  pursuits  of  the 
fanner.  The  hill  towns  between  the  valley  of  the  Connecticut  and  the 
western  line  of  the  State  were  extensively  engaged  in  growing  wool. 
On  the  hillsides  near  Berkshire  Mountains,  where  the  soil  is  hard  and 
cold  and  not  rich  for  cultivation,  but  admirably  adapted  by  nature  for 
grazing,  immense  numbers  of  sheep  grazed  among  the  rocks  and  wood- 
lands and  on  the  warm  sunny  slopes.  Sheep  husbandry  was  practi- 
cally limited  to  wool-growing,  the  small,  fine- wool  breeds  being  of  little 
value  except  for  their  fleece,  and  the  prices  of  wool  dependent  upon  a 
struggling  wool  industry.  It  was  demonstrated  to  the  farmers  of  the 
State  that  the  wide  ranges  of  cheap  lands  opening  up  at  the  West  were 
better  adapted  to  the  business,  and  flocks  were  gradually  sacrificed  from 
about  1840.  The  demand  for  mutton  had  been  increasing  for  many 
years  and  gave  much  encouragement  to  the  business  of  fattening 
wethers.  The  cross-bred  Merino  and  common  wether  was  very  popu- 
lar, and  the  full-bred  Merino  wether  was  not  despised,  when  properly 
fattened  and  handled  by  the  butcher.  But  the  Southdown,  the  Leices- 
ter, and  the  Lincoln  crosses  on  the  Merino  ewe  or  the  pure-bred  English 
sheep  stood  highest  in  estimation.  Col.  Jacques,  near  Boston,  had 
some  fine  Leicester  sheep  in  1822;  Capt.  Lowe,  of  Boston,  imported 
some  Texel  sheep  from  the  Netherlands  in  1823  for  Col.  Jacques:  and 
in  1824  another  importation  of  Texel  sheep  was  made  by  Col.  T.  H. 
Perkins,  of  Boston.  In  1825  A.  A.  Lawrence  imported  6  Southdowns 
and  10  Lincolnshires,  and  in  1827  Gen.  John  Coffin  presented  to  the 
Massachusetts  Agricultural  Society  4  rains  and  3  ewes  of  the  long- 
wooled  Devonshire  Notts,  selected  by  himself  in  England.  One  of 
these  sheep  sheared  13  pounds  of  long,  fine  wool.  In  1829  Mr.  Picker- 
ing imported  2  rams  and  2  ewes  of  the  Lincolnshire  breed  and  3  rams,  6 
ewes,  and  6  lambs  of  the  Leicester  breed.  One  of  the  Lincolnshire  ra  1 1 1  s 
was  shorn  on  the  passage  of  19  pounds  of  wool.  There  were  many 
direct  importations  for  several  succeeding  years,  and  improved  mutton 
breeds  were  brought  into  the  State  from  Rhode  Island  and  New  York. 

In  1840  the  number  of  sheep  in  Massachusetts  was  378,226,  yielding 
941,906  pounds  of  wool.  The  flocks  rarely  exceeded  200  to  300  sheep; 
many  kept  but  a  small  number,  generally  of  fine  wool  three-fourths  or 
seven-eighths  blood.  The  Saxony  did  not  prevail  to  a  great  extent,  as 
most  of  the  sheep  were  bred  without  that  extraordinary  care  and  expense 
required  by  them  and  the  preservation  of  purity  of  blood  and  very  few 
of  the  pure  blood  were  to  be  found.  The  fleece  of  the  Saxonies  yielded 
not  much  more  than  2  pounds,  while  the  Spanish  Merino  averaged  .; 
pounds  of  well-washed  wool.  The  common  or  native  sheep  were  very 
scarce  and  not  well  defined.  It  was  a  large,  coarse-boned,  coarse- wooled 
animal,  yielding  3  to  4  pounds  of  wool,  extremely  hardy  and  prolific,  but 


240        SHEEP  INDUSTRY  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES 

few  remained  that  had  not  for  the  twenty- five  years  preceding  been 
more  or  less  tinctured  with  Merino  blood  with  a  resultant  increase  in 
weight  of  fleece  and  fineness  of  wool. 

In  1845  there  165,428  Merinos  and  crosses,  yielding  487,050  pounds 
of  wool;  in  1855  the  Merinos  had  decreased  to  65,548,  yielding  only 
188,504  pounds  of  wool.  The  Saxonies  in  1845  numbered  33,875,  pro. 
ducing  93,218  pounds  of  wool,  and  in  1855  had  decreased  to  6,806,  with 
14,549  pounds  of  wool.  In  1845  the  total  value  of  all  the  sheep  and 
wool  was  $923,420;  while  in  1855,  only  10  years  later,  it  was  $464,889— 
showing  a  depreciation  in  ten  years  of  nearly  half  a  million  dollars. 
The  whole  number  of  sheep  had  decreased  from  354,943  in  1845  to 
145,215  in  1855,  and  the  wool  product  from  1,016,230  pounds  in  1845  to 
416,156  pounds  in  1855. 

The  period  from  1845  to  1855  marks  the  transition  from  fine-wool  to 
coarse- wool  and  mutton  industry.  In  1845  the  fine-wooled  sheep  num- 
bered 199,303,  or  43,663  more  than  all  others,  while  in  1855  they  num- 
bered only  72,390,  or  435  less  than  the  coarse  and  middle  wools.  The 
causes  are  various. 

The  tariff  of  1846  was  ruinous  to  the  fine-wool  industry  of  the  United 
States.  At  that  date  many  factories  were  producing  broadcloth  equal 
in  quality  to  any  made  in  Germany  and  Great  Britain.  Large  quanti- 
ties of  fine  Saxony  and  Spanish  Merino  wools,  equal  in  many  respects 
to  that  produced  in  Saxony,  France,  or  Spain,  was  raised  in  Massachu- 
setts and  adjoining  States  and  found  a  ready  market  at  fairly  remuner- 
ative prices.  But  when  that  tariff  went  into  operation  the  American 
manufacturer  could  not  compete  with  the  cheap  labor  and  vast  capital 
of  the  Old  World;  consequently,  the  manufacture  of  broadcloth  was 
abandoned  and  so  absolutely  that  in  1860  there  was  scarcely  a  loom  in 
the  United  States  making  that  kind  of  goods.  The  machinery  released 
from  making  broadcloth  was  employed  in  fabricating  medium  and  coarse 
fancy  cassimeres,  which  required  a  coarser  and  longer  stapled  wool  than 
fine  broadcloth.  But  the  farmer  could  not  change  his  sheep  so  quickly ; 
they  were  fine-wooled,  and  with  the  loss  of  the  broadcloth  trade  the 
value  of  fine  wool  suffered  depreciation;  the  sheep  were  valuable  for 
wool  only.  Their  carcasses  being  small,  their  lambs  small,  and  the 
sheep  being  tender,  rendered  them  scarcely  remunerative;  the  breeds 
were  suffered  to  run  out  and  the  cultivation  of  fine  wool  was  nearly  de- 
stroyed in  the  State  and  seriously  affected  in  every  other  State.  Whole 
flocks  that  had  been  bred  up  on  common  sheep  and  become  fine-wooled 
ones  were  now  crossed  back  into  coarse- wooled  flocks.  It  was  under 
this  system  that  nearly  200,000  fine-wooled  sheep  in  1845  were  reduced 
to  72,290  in  1855.  And  the  tariff  affected  quite  as  disastrously  coarse- 
wool  growing. 

In  1845  the  long  and  middle  wool  sheep  of  the  State  constituted 
about  two-fifths  of  the  whole  number  and  some  improvement  was  being 
made  by  the  introduction  of  pure  bred  Southdowns,  Lincolns,  and  Lei- 


EAST    OF    THE    MISSISSIPPI    RIVER.  241 

cesters,  the  former  giving  3J  pounds  of  wool  each,  and  the  latter  6 
pounds,  well  adapted  to  spinning  worsted.  The  Leicesters  had  been 
introduced  as  early  as  1823,  but  not  until  1842  did  they  receive  special 
attention  on  account  of  their  wool  alone. 

In  1842  a  few  enterprising  firms  in  Massachusetts  commenced  the 
manufacture  of  worsted  goods  and  were  bidding  fair  to  establish  that 
business  on  a  permanent  basis.  This  called  for  another  and  entirely 
different  class  of  wool — a  kind  produced  in  great  perfection  in  England, 
the  raising  of  which  secured  to  that  country  the  control  of  the  manu- 
facture of  coarse  and  medium  worsteds  and  enabled  her  to  compete 
Avitli  the  world.  When  this  worsted  business  commenced  there  was  a 
demand  for  long  worsted  wool,  and  some  of  the  farmers  imported  some 
of  the  loug-wooled  breeds  of  sheep  with  the  intention  of  supplying  the 
demand  for  that  class  of  wool.  Ten  factories,  employing  846  hands, 
were  in  operation  in  1845  in  Massachusetts.  These  produced  2,321,338 
yards  of  woven  goods,  and  617,360  pounds  of  yarn.  But  the  tariff  of 
1846  closed  up  that  business  and  coarse- wooled  sheep  shared  the  same 
fate  as  the  fine- wooled  ones — they  fell  from  155,640  in  1845  to  72,825  in 
1855,  and  there  was  scarcely  a  decent  flock  of  sheep  of  any  kind  in  the 
State.  Yet  the  manufacture  of  mousseline  de  laine  continued,  but  for 
a  number  of  years  the  filling  was  a  fine  woolen  thread  and  not  worsted, 
and  required  a  medium  wool  with  a  medium  length  of  staple. 

Daniel  Webster  is  said  to  have  imported  the  first  Cheviot  sheep  into 
Massachusetts,  and  in  1846  had  20  pure-bred  ones,  and  in  1852  there 
were  some  Cheviot  sheep  shown  at  the  Norfolk  County  fair. 

In  September,  1853,  Richard  S.  Fay  had  a  flock  of  Oxford  Downs 
on  his  farm.  Mr.  Fay  made  his  own  selection  from  one  of  the  best 
flocks  in  England.  The  original  stocks  from  which  the  Oxford  Down 
breed  was  created  were  Southdown  and  Cotswold,  and  from  a  judicious 
course  of  systematic  breeding  for  twenty-five  years  it  became  a  distinct 
race,  combining  the  hardiness  and  flavor  of  the  Southdown  with  the 
weight  of  fleece  and  size  of  the  Cotswold.  These  sheep  were  put  upon 
Mr.  Fay's  farm  upon  their  arrival  in  September,  1853,  with  the  native 
Vermoiiters,  .upon  rocky  hills,  which  for  twenty  years  had  been  over- 
run with  dyer's  broom.  They  fared  as  well  as  the  rest,  keeping  in  tine 
health  and  condition  until  driven  in  by  winter.  They  were  fed  the 
same  as  other  sheep  during  the  winter,  and  at  lambing  season  were 
given  oil-cake  and  turnips,  but  no  hay  or  straw.  The  Oxfordshires 
became  immediately  popular,  and  many  importations  were  made  by 
David  Sears,  jr.,  of  Boston,  by  which  they  became  widely  extended. 
These  importations  had  gray  faces  and  legs,  not  quite  so  dark  as  the 
Southdowns,  head  fine,  and  well  set;  small  bone,  deep  brisket,  round 
hams,  good  flat  back;  hips  wide,  and  tail  set  up  high,  belly  straight; 
buttock  square,  legs  rather  short  and  fine,  and  twist  full;  the  loin  wide 
and  deep,  and  a  wide  spread  between  the  hind  legs  for  the  development 
of  the  udder,  indicating  good  milkers.  They  were  exceedingly  gentle, 
22990 16 


242  SHEEP   INDUSTRY    OF    THE    UNITED    STATES 

quiet,  and  orderly,  never  jumping,  and  not  inclined  to  ramble;  were 
hearty  feeders,  and  would  thrive  on  anything  given  them,  and  bore 
scanty  pasturage  better  than  any  other  lar^e  sheep.  The  ewes  com- 
monly had  twins,  and  suckled  them  both;  the  lambs  were  very  thriv- 
ing, often  reaching  100  pounds  in  five  months  on  nothing  but  milk  and 
grass.  A  yearling  ram  from  Mr.  Fay's  flock  gained  15  pounds  in  three 
weeks,  and  a  ram  lamb,  weighing  85  pounds  at  five  months,  at  six 
months  weighed  105,  on  nothing  but  grass.  A  rani  seventeen  months 
old  weighed  250  pounds,  and  at  twenty-one  months  old  300  pounds, 
and  a  five-year-old  ram  in  1860  weighed  360  pounds.  Mr.  Fay's  ewes 
weighed  from  150  to  180  pounds.  The  fleeces  of  these  sheep  were  thick 
and  heavy  and  found  a  ready  market,  the  wool  being  of  a  very  desir- 
able quality  for  certain  fabrics.  Mr.  Fay's  flock  averaged  over  7 
pounds  of  unwashed  wool,  for  which,  in  1860,  he  got  34  cents  per 
pound.  As  a  breed  from  which  to  raise  early  lambs,  one  of  the  most 
desirable  and  profitable  branches  of  farming  in  Massachusetts,  the 
Oxford  Downs  were  considered  unrivaled  011  account  of  the  quick 
growth,  early  maturity,  healthiness,  and  thriftiness  of  the  lambs. 
They  made  a  most  excellent  cross  for  lambs  on  the  native  sheep.  The 
quality  of  their  mutton  was  unsurpassed,  and  they  possessed  the  rare 
merit  of  ripening  early.* 

The  improved  Cotswold  or  New  Oxfordshire,  with  large  frames  and 
very  white,  open  fleeces  of  moderately  fine  wool,  were  liked  by  many 
Massachusetts  farmers.  Lawrence  Smith,  of  Middlefield,  who  had  bred 
them  over  eight  years,  or  since  1853,  thus  writes  to  the  Massachusetts 
board  of  agriculture  in  1860 : 

I  doubt  whether  they  are  as  hardy  as  the  old-fashioned  Cotswolds  or  Southdowns. 
I  have  never  had  any  trouble  with  them  in  regard  to  cold  weather  or  changes  of  cli- 
mate; indeed,  they  prefer  an  open,  cool,  airy  situation  to  any  other,  and  nothing  is 
more  destructive  to  their  health  than  tight,  ill- ventilated  stables.  My  present  expe- 
rience warrants  uie  in  saying  that  one-half  the  ewes  will  have  twins.  They  are 
capital  nurses  and  milkers.  I  have  not  had,  for  the  past  seven  years,  a  single  case 
of  neglect  on  the  part  of  the  dam,  nor  have  I  lost  a  single  lamb  from  lack  of  consti- 
tution. Yearling  ewes  will  weigh  in  store  condition  from  125  pounds  to  175  pounds; 
fat  wethers  at  3  years  old  from  175  pounds  to  250  pounds.  My  heaviest  breeding 
ewe  last  winter  weighed  211  pounds.  My  flock  of  store  sheep  and  breeding  ewes 
usually  shear  from  5  to  7  pounds.  My  ram  fleeces  sometimes  weigh  10  pounds 
unwashed,  and  will  sell  in  this  condition  for  25  cents  per  pound.  I  never  feed  my 
store  sheep  and  lambs  with  grain,  but  give  them  early-cut  hay  and  occasionally  a  few 
roots. 

A  few  sheep  of  the  black-faced  heath  breed  were  imported  in  1859  by 
Sanford  Howard  for  Isaac  Stickney,  of  Boston,  but  in  1860  the  Hamp- ! 
shires  and  Shropshires  had  not  made  their  appearance  in  Massachu-  j 
setts.    The  prevailing  breeds  were  the  Leicester s,  the  Southdowns,  and 
the  Gotswolds. 

In  1860  the  fine-wool  industry  had  greatly  declined,  and  a  committee 

*  Report  of  the  Massachusetts  Board  of  Agriculture,  I860. 


EAST    OF   THE   MISSISSIPPI    RIVER.  243 

of  the  board  of  agriculture  reported  that  the  sheep  husbandry  of  the 
State  was  tending  with  a  remarkable  directness  and  rapidity  to  the 
growing  of  coarse  and  middle-wooled  sheep  for  their  flesh,  and  to  the 
exclusion  of  those  breeds  raised  only  for  their  wool  all  over  the  State, 
except  on  the  mountain  ranges  in  the  western  part,  where  remoteness 
from  market  and  extensive  tracts  of  rough  pasture  still  maintained  a 
limited  number  of  Merino  flocks.  Among  the  causes  to  which  these 
changes  were  traceable  the  committee  noted  the  fluctuations  in  the 
prices  of  fine  wool,  varying  from  54  cents  down  to  28  cents  during  the 
period  from  1840  to  1860 ;  the  uncertainty  of  disposing  of  the  clip;  the 
impossibility  of  competing  with  the  immense  sheep-walks  of  the  West 
and  South,  and  Australia;  the  disproportionately  increased  expense, 
trouble,  and  loss  in  a  large  flock  of  fine- wools  over  a  smaller  and  more 
profitable  flock  of  mutton  sheep ;  the  ready  sale  and  quick  returns  for 
mutton  and  lamb,  and  the  destruction  of  sheep  by  dogs. 

Other  reasons  submitted  in  this  report  were  that  the  demand  for 
wool  was  more  particularly  for  middle  and  coarse  grades,  which  found 
a  surer  and  steadier  market  than  fine  wools.  The  prevalence  of  pleuro- 
pneumonia  among  the  cattle  of  the  Commonwealth  had  in  a  very 
marked  manner  turned  the  attention  of  farmers  to  sheep-raising  as 
being  a  safer  as  well  as  more  profitable  investment.  But  the  most  satis- 
factory reason  was  found  in  the  steady,  gradual  demand  for  mutton 
and  lamb  in  the  markets,  an  increase  in  a  much  greater  ratio  than  the 
population,  going  to  show  that  the  people  were  rising  in  their  apprecia- 
tion of  that  excellent  article  of  food.  The  extent  of  this  appreciative 
growth  is  shown  by  a  quotation : 

At  Brighton,  on  the  market  day  previous  to  Christmas,  1839,  two  Franklin  County 
men  held  400  sheep,  every  one  in  the  market,  and  yet  so  ample  was  that  supply  and 
so  inactive  the  demand,  that  they  could  not  raise  the  market  a  half  cent  a  pound, 
and  finally  sold  with  difficulty.  Just  twenty  years  after  that,  at  the  same  place,  on 
the  market  day  previous  to  Christmas,  1859,  5,400  sheep  changed  hands  from  the 
drover  to  the  butcher. 

In  1860  the  sheep  of  all  kinds  numbered  123,445,  yielding  377,267 
pounds  of  wool,  showing  a  loss  of  22,000  sheep  and  40,000  pounds  of 
wool  since  1855.  The  loss  was  principally  in  fine  sheep,  the  coarse- 
wooled  and  middle-wooled  exceeding  the  fine-wooled  by  nearly  that 
number.  The  demand  for  wool  was  on  the  increase,  and  the  prices 
more  uniform  than  for  many  years  previous,  particularly  for  middle  and 
coarse  wools,  which  found  a  surer  and  steadier  market  than  fine  wools. 
The  war  of  the  rebellion  suddenly  increased  the  demand  for  woolen 
goods  of  all  kinds,  sheep  husbandry  revived,  the  value  of  sheep  of  every 
description  was  greatly  enhanced,  and  the  production  of  wool  was  a 
vital  interest.  Sheep  increased  from  123,445  in  1860  to  169,442  in  1865, 
producing  596,808  pounds  of  wool.  The  fine-wooled  sheep  numbered 
but  58,554,  the  coarse  and  middle  wooled  110,888.  The  fine-wooled 
averaged  3^  pounds  of  wool  per  head,  the  coarse- wooled  3^0  pounds 


244  SHEEP   INDUSTRY    OF    THE    UNITED    STATES 

of  wool  per  head,  and  the  average  price  of  wool  in  1865  reached  76  cents 
per  pound.  Up  to  1860  fine  wool  was  the  wool  for  the  market,  but  the 
war  called  for  army  goods  made  of  coarse  grade  wool  of  long  staple, 
and  from  all  the  lots  coming  into  the  hands  of  dealers  the  fleeces  pos- 
sessing these  qualities  were  carefully  selected  and  a  high  price  obtained 
for  them.  At  the  same  time  the  demand  for  the  finest  grades  was 
good,  but  the  demand  for  the  medium  grades  was  not  so  good.  The 
two  extremes,  the  long  coarse  and  the  fine,  commanded  the  highest 
prices.  After  the  war  the  worsted  manufacture  revived  and  a  demand 
grew  up  for  another  grade  of  wool,  a  combing  wool,  and  these  wools 
commanded  the  highest  prices  in  1868  and  1869.  The  chief  character- 
istics of  combing  wool  are  a  long,  moderately  fine  staple  of  strong  fiber. 
Massachusetts  but  feebly  supplied  wool  of  any  kind.  Her  sheep  dimin- 
ished rapidly  from  169,442  in  1865  to  58,773  in  1875,  and  to  55,140  in 
1885,  producing  only  44,000  pounds  of  fine  wool  and  213,000  pounds  of 
coarse  wool. 

The  decrease  in  fine-wooled  sheep  was  very  marked,  and  so  indeed 
was  that  of  the  coarse- wooled.'  The  great  capacity  of  the  West  for  the 
production  of  fine  wool,  with  free  lands  on  which  to  feed  their  sheep, 
and  means  of  transportation,  rendered  competition  out  of  the  question; 
on  the  other  hand,  the  increased  consumption  of  mutton  and  lamb  at 
the  East  developed  coarse  and  middle- wooled  sheep  husbandry  by 
which  the  market  was  supplied  with  choice  meat  and  the  manufacturer 
with  combing  and  delaine  wool.  Franklin  County,  in  1880,  made  more 
than  one-fourth  of  all  the  mutton  produced  in  the  State,  and  its  fat 
lambs,  nearly  10,000  of  them,  outnumbered  those  of  any  other  county. 
Its  sheep  husbandry  may  be  taken  as  the  type  of  that  of  the  State. 
Here  the  Downs  are  taken  as  the  basis  of  the  business  of  keeping 
sheep,  raising  early  lambs,  and  making  mutton.  Southdowns  are  pre- 
ferred. Shropshire  or  Oxford  Down  rams,  when  they  can  be  had, 
crossed  in  add  size  and  wool  without  detracting  from  the  splendid 
mutton  qualities,  aptitude  to  fatten,  quiet  disposition,  and  perfection 
of  form  for  the  butcher,  with  tendency  to  twins,  and  great  capacity  for 
milk  found  in  properly  bred  Southdowns.  Many  of  the  farmers  like  to 
take  a  cross  of  Ootswold,  Leicester,  or  Lincoln  for  size  of  carcass  and 
length  of  staple  in  the  fleece.  For  a  good  strong  pasturage  the  Cots- 
wold  was  thought  to  be  the  best  sheep  for  wool  and  mutton.  The 
grades  grew  to  good  size,  made  early  lambs,  and  yielded  a  good  carcass 
of  mutton  and  had  a  heavy  fleece  of  a  fair  quality  of  combing  wool. 
But  the  capacity  of  the  pastures  generally  was  not  sufficient  to  carry 
so  heavy  a  sheep  as  the  Cotswold.  They  deteriorated  on  light  pastur- 
age. A  class  of  large  graded  Merinos,  supposed  to  be  from  the  French, 
was  held  in  much  esteem  by  some,  as  producing  large  lambs  with  more 
fleece.  James  S.  Grinnell,  who  made  the  annual  report  on  live  stock 
to  the  Massachusetts  Board  of  Agriculture  in  1880,  says: 

Unwise,  thriftless,  and  stupid  as  has  been  the  course  of  many  of  our  farmers  to  quit 
entirely  a  paying  and  pleasant  branch  of  farming  if  judiciously  conducted,  the  few 


EAST   OF   THE   MISSISSIPPI   EIVER.  245 

who  have  continued  in  it  have,  by  their  skill  and  good  judgment,  partially  redeemed 
us  mid  h.ivc  shown  what  may  he  done.  They  have  made  their  sheep  to  average 
(Franklin  County,  1880)  $4.50  each,  which  in  1845  were  valued  at  $1.67  each,  and  the 
lambs,  thru  worth  $1.50,  they  have  brought  to  the  average  of  $4.50  each,  and  no  end 
to  the  demand.  The  wool,  too,  from  these  sheep  has  come  to  4  and  6  pounds,  worth 
42  cents,  against  2  pounds  and  14  ounces  at  38  cents,  in  1845. 

Iii  the  closing  words  of  his  report  Mr.  Grinnell  presents  the  reverse 
of  the  picture : 

We  can  not,  however,  expect  to  have  this  line  of  profitable  farm  industry  extended 
as  it  should  be,  until  an  anti-canine  millenium  shall  dawn  on  our  great  and  general 
court,  and  give  them  light  and  sense  and  independence  enough  to  legislate  for  the 
protection  of  our  harmless,  necessary  sheep,  against  the  bloodthirsty,  carnivorous 
brother  of  the  wolf.  Each  succeeding  year  seems  to  be  harder  for  sheep-raising  than 
the  previous  one;  and  we  almost  despair  of  relief  as  we  see  in  the  indifferent  legis- 
lator the  grasping  dog-owner  and  pot-hunter,  and  an  occasional  selfish  farmer,  who. 
having  lost  no  sheep  himself,  desires  a  repeal  of  all  dog  laws — a  trinity  for  the  encour- 
agement of  mischief  and  the  suppression  of  industry. 

It  is  the  general  opinion  among  observing  people  that  the  degree  of 
civilization  or  culture  of  the  rural  population  is  shown  by  the  propor- 
tion of  sheep-killing  or  mongrel  dogs  that  are  permitted  among  them. 
Massachusetts  had  3  per  cent  of  her  sheep  killed  by  dogs  in  1890,  and 
yet,  says  a  recent  publication,  "when  it  was  proposed  to  muzzle  all 
dogs  in  the  State  ladies  attended  the  sitting  of  the  Senate  chamber 
with  poodles  in  their  laps,  and  an  eloquent  speaker  made  such  a' moving 
address  on  cruelty  to  animals  that  members  were  observed  to  weep." 
The  country  in  the  vicinity  of  Fitchburg,  Worcester  County,  is  well 
adapted  to  sheep-raising,  and  that  county  in  1836  raised  28,276  sheep, 
against  3,224  in  1885.  At  a  fair  and  cattle  show  held  some  time  since 
at  Fitchburg  no  premiums  were  paid  for  sheep,  but  $2.25  was  paid  for 
St.  Bernard  dogs  and  50  cents  to  a  pug  pup.  The  secretary  of  the 
Massachusetts  board  of  agriculture  reported  in  1889  that  sheep  hus- 
bandry would  be  profitable  were  it  not  for  the  increasing  ravages  of 
dogs,  and  that  it  appeared  to  be  only  a  question  of  time  when  sheep 
would  only  be  kept  on  the  farms  of  those  who  could  afford  to  guard 
them  from  the  ravages  of  dogs  by  shepherds. 

The  value  of  sheep  as  fertilizers  was  early  recognized  in  Massachu- 
setts, and  the  valley  of  the  Connecticut  furnishes  an  instructive  lesson 
of  the  benefits  of  the  sheep  husbandry  to  the  tobacco-grower.  Prior 
to  1869  long-wooled  sheep  were  imported  from  Canada  and  fed  upon  the 
tobacco  lands  as  one  of  the  most  efficient  and  economical  means  of  sup- 
plying abundantly  the  animal  manures  required  for  the  successful  cul- 
tivation of  tobacco.  This  practice  was  found  so  profitable  that  it  was 
quite  generally  followed  throughout  the  Connecticut  Valley,  both  in 
Massachusetts  and  Connecticut.  Mr.  J.  F.  C.  Allis,  of  East  Whately, 
Mass.,  made  a  statement  in  1878  of  the  plan  pursued  by  himself,  which 
may  stand  as  the  course  followed  by  other  practical  farmers  engaged  in 
that  industry: 

We  feed  from  200  to  600  sheep,  buying  in  the  fall  and  selling  in  the  spring.     We 


246        SHEEP  INDUSTRY  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES 

have  bought,  directly  after  shearing,  of  Michigan  farmers,  and  had  the  sheep  pastured 
till  November.  By  early  selecting  and  buying  we  are  more  sure  of  getting  the  best 
sheep,  and  more  easily  obtain  all  wethers,  and  usually  at  minimum  cost.  Merinos 
crossed  with  long-wool  sheep  weighing  from  90  to  110  pounds,  from  3  to  5  years  of 
age,  are  the  kind  we  select,  as  they  take  on  fat  easily,  and  their  mutton  is  preferred 
in  New  York  and  Brighton  markets.  Long-wool  sheep,  as  we  think,  are  not  good 
feeders;  they  do  not  take  on  fat  so  easily;  and,  although  they  cost  more,  will  not 
sell  higher  when  we  are  ready  to  market  them. 

We  keep  our  sheep  under  cover,  and  commence  to  feed  lightly  about  December  1, 
yarding  them  close,  from  40  to  50  in  a  pen,  always  keeping  them  well  bedded  with 
wheat  and  rye  straw  or  coarse  hay.  We  commence  to  feed  the  sheep  light  with 
grain,  gradually  increasing  till  they  eat  1  quart  each  daily;  we  seldom  give  more; 
the  object  being  to  give  them  all  they  will  eat  without  cloying. 

In  1871  we  fed  200  sheep  from  December  1,  and  85  more  from  December  24,  and 
sent  them  to  Brighton  market  April  10,  1872.  We  fed  725  bushels  of  corn,  with  15 
tons  of  hay.  From  1865  to  1873  Massachusetts  Connecticut  River  valley  farmers  fed 
from  8,000  to  10,000  yearly,  mostly  coming  from  Michigan,  some  from  Ohio;  but 
Michigan  Merinos  crossed  with  long-wooled  sheep  are  considered  the  best  feeders. 

During  those  years  sheep  for  feeders  found  a  ready  sale,  and  agents  from  tobacco- 
growers  would  take  from  one  to  two  months  in  marketing  flocks,  and  would  car  them 
here  1,000  to  2,000  at  a  time. 

Since  1873,  owing  to  financial  causes  and  their  effect,  and  almost  always  lower 
markets  for  the  same  class  of  mutton  in  the  spring  than  in  the  fall,  the  number  fed 
has  gradually  decreased,  till  last  year  only  about  2,000  were  fatted.  Farmers  were 
satisfied  to  feed  when  they  would  receive  pay  for  grain,  considering  the  manure 
would  pay  for  hay  and  care  of  sheep.  During  the  best  year  of  feeding,  sheep  would 
sell  in  the  spring  for  double  the  price  paid  in  fall ;  the  average  price  one-third  more. 
Since  1873  more  caution  has  been  taken,  the  pressure  of  time  being  too  hard  for 
profitable  sheep-feeding. 

The  cause  for  feeding  so  many  sheep  for  their  mutton  in  this  valley  is  the  high  value 
of  the  sheep  manure  for  tobacco-growers,  it  having  the  effect  on  our  light  soil  to  pro- 
duce dark-colored  silky  leaf,  of  good  burning  quality,  suitable  for  wrapping  fine 
cigars:  the  tobacco  burns  white,  and  has  a  good,  sweet  flavor,  perhaps  owing  to  the 
potash  it  derives  from  the  manure.  So  valuable  do  we  consider  this  sheep  manure 
that  we  have  shipped,  since  1870,  from  West  Albany,  from  50  to  150  cords,,  costing 
from  $8  to  $10  a  cord,  every  spring.  On  our  light  soils,  called  pine  lands,  after  rais- 
ing crops  of  tobacco,  2,000  pounds  to  the  acre,  we  have  sown  wheat,  yielding  30 
bushels  plump  berry,  and  heavy  weight  of  straw,  on  land  which,  without  this  dress- 
ing of  manure,  is  fit  only  for  white  beans.  We  of  late  years  feed  with  our  sweetest 
and  finest  hay,  and  mix  with  our  corn  one-third  cotton-seed  meal.  By  so  feeding  our 
sheep  fatten  more  easily,  being  more  hardy  and  better  conditioned,  besides  increas- 
ing the  value  of  the  manure  and  rendering  it  more  full  of  plant  food. 

Farmers  in  hill  towns,  and  some  in  the  valley,  are  keeping  ewes  for  raising  lambs 
for  early  spring  market;  and  those  farmers  who  have  good  pasturage  for  fall  market 
realize  for  lambs  of  from  40  to  70  pounds  from  $8  to  $10  each. 

This  branch  of  sheep-husbandry  will  undoubtedly  increase  among  farmers,  who 
will  keep  from  15  to  30  head,  notwithstanding  the  difficulty  of  good  pasturage  and 
the  worry  and  destruction  caused  by  dogs. 

Sheep  invariably  are  the  best  that  are  penned  in  November  and  December,  coming 
direct  from  pasture.  Having  only  had  light  feeding  of  grain,  they  car  better  and  are 
more  hearty  feeders.  The  Connecticut  River  fed  sheep  have  a  ready  sale,  at  full 
market  rates,  in  early  and  late  spring,  both  in  Brighton  and  New  York  markets. 

Fattening  wethers  for  market  would  rapidly  increase  if  the  spring  market  could 
be  more  relied  upon.  Perhaps  this  reliance  will  come  from  the  increasing  foreign 
demand  for  good  mutton. 


r.AST    OF    THE    MISSISSIPPI    KIVKK. 


247 


Tin-  M;isx;ir1iu.«'Us  census  of  1  s85  givrs  tlic  number  of  slieep  in  each 
county  and  the  value  thereof,  and  tlie  amount  of  wool  produced. 


County. 

Num- 
ber of 
sheep. 

Average 
value. 

Spanish 
Merino 
wool. 

Saxon 
Merino 
wool. 

Other 
wools. 

Barnstable 

347 

$3  81 

Pound*. 

Pound*. 

Pound*. 

3>,  rkshire  

17  'Ml 

3  76 

14  889 

10  120 

Bristol 

785 

3  59 

235 

OR 

Dukes  

9,  038 

2.21 

158 

33  Q06 

1  TTti 

4  73 

775 

190 

6    CM 

I'rauklin  

...                 .11  506 

3  66 

6  355 

3  340 

39  710 

Hampden 

3  399 

3  64 

'659 

810 

10     OCQ 

Hampshire  

5  027 

3  70 

2  57-> 

506 

24  599 

Middlesex  

1,091 

7.47 

'325 

322 

-,  -.-.7 

^santucket 

415 

4  16 

1  658 

Norfolk  

i        206 

3.88 

25 

498 

Plvmoutli  

1  069 

4  32 

833 

69 

3  121 

Suffolk  

'  26 

3.00 

Worcester 

3  224 

5  56 

912 

1  400} 

15  59o 

Total 

55  140 

3  64 

27  738 

16  9134 

212  893 

The  following  table  sliows  the  number  of  sheep  in  the  State  of  all 
kinds,  and  the  wool  product  at  different  periods  from  1830  to  1890: 


Year. 

Spanish 
Merino 
and 
grades. 

Spanish 
Merino 
wool. 

Saxon 
Merino 
and 
grades. 

Saxon 
Merino 
wool. 

All  other 
kinds 
of  sheep. 

Coarse 
and 
medium 
wool. 

Sheep 
of  all 
kinds. 

Wool 
of  every 
kind. 

Yield 
per 
head. 

1810 

Pound*. 

Pounds. 

Pounds. 

360  682 

Pounds. 

'"'"•    -41 

Pounds. 
2  78 

- 

384  614 

1  056  327 

2  74 

1*40 

378  226 

941  906 

2  50 

1845 

165  4°8 

487  050 

33  875 

93  218 

155  640 

435  962 

354  943 

1  016  230 

2  86 

]  S.'iO 

188  651 

585  i36 

3  11 

I.-.'M  
1800  

65,584 

188,504 

6.806 

14.  549 

72,825 

213,  103 

145,  215 
123,445 

416.  156 
377  267 

2.88 
3.05 

-  5  
l>7it  .  .    . 

55,428 

221,354 

3,126 

10,804 

110,888 

364,650 

169.  442 
78,560 

596.608 
306,659 

3.52 
3.90 

14,456 

70,927 

1,631 

6,430 

42,686 

129,  578 

58,773 
67,979 

206.  935 
299.089 

3.52 
4.04 

5  969 

27  738 

16  9131 

212  893 

55  140 

257  5444 

4.67 

.... 

56,530 

296,787 

5.25 



The  number  of  sheep  here  given  for  1890  is  the  estimate  made  by  the 
Tnited  States  Department  of  Agriculture.  The  returns  of  the  State 
assessors  show  but  45,899.  The  breeds  are  not  given,  but  there  has 
l>;-ena  decline  of  the  Spanish  and  Saxony  Merinos  greater  than  in  those 
of  English  descent.  Mr.  James  S.  Grinnell,  of  the  State  Board  of  Agri- 
culture, doubts  if  there  is  among  the  1,000  Saxonies  estimated  one  genu- 
ine pure-bred  Saxony,  and  the  number  of  pure-bred  Spanish  Merinos  is 
confined  to  some  half  dozen  flocks. 

The  average  price  of  Massachusetts  wool  was  36  cents  per  pound  in 
I84d,  .°>7  cents  in  1855,  76  cents  in  1865,  and  41  cents  in  1875;  and  in 
the  latter  year  there  was  a  close  approximation  in  price  of  the  various 
wools.  The  finest  Saxony  was  44  cents,  the  Spanish  Merino  42,  and 
the  coarse  and  middle  wools  41  cents.  The  sheep  also  differed  but  little 
in  price,  the  Saxony  Merino  grades  $4.90,  the  Spanish  Merino  $4.03,  and 
the  long-wooled  mutton  sheep  $4.21. 


248  SHEEP    INDUSTRY    OF    THE    UNITED    STATES 

The  Spanish  Merino  sheep  introduced  into  Massachusetts  by  Seth 
Adams  in  1801,  and  by  others  from  that  time  to  1811,  weighed  about  110 
pounds  for  the  rams  and  62  pounds  for  the  ewes.  The  rams  gave  from 
6  to  9  pounds  of  unwashed  wool,  the  ewes  from  5  to  8  pounds.  In  1801 
the  rams  have  a  live  weight  of  115  to  160  pounds  and  give  fleeces  weigh- 
ing from  16  to  33  pounds,  the  ewes  having  a  live  weight  of  70  to  90 
pounds  and  yield  fleeces  of  15  to  21  pounds. 

The  Spanish  Merino  and  its  grades  form  but  small  part  in  the  econ- 
omy of  the  State.  Of  the  whole  number  in  the  State  they  constitute 
less  than  5  per  cent;  sheep  of  English  blood  about  95  per  cent.  The 
wool  is  80  per  cent  clothing  and  delaine,  such  as  is  raised  on  a  South- 
down cross.  At  the  sheep  exhibit  of  the  agricultural  fair  at  Boston, 
1889,  there  were  44  pens  of  Ootswolds,  Hampshires,  Shropshires,  South- 
downs,  and  Dorsets,  aggregating  more  than  150  animals,  but  there  was 
not  one  Merino. 

The  most  profitable  branch  of  sheep  husbandry  in  Massachusetts  at 
the  present  day,  and  also  the  most  fascinating  because  it  requires  skill  in 
management  and  pays  handsomely,  is  the  growing  of  early  lambs  for 
market.  For  this  purpose  Ohio,  Michigan,  and  Canada  grade  ewes  are 
bought  late  in  summer  or  early  in  the  fall  and  put  to  a  Southdown, 
Hampshire,  or  other  ram  of  improved  mutton  breed.  The  ram  chosen 
stands  wide  on  his  legs,  and  the  latter  straight  up  and  down,  topped 
with  swelling  quarters;  thick  through  the  heart;  bright,  game  eyes. 
Health,  vigor,  and  muscle  are  deemed  of  paramount  importance  in  both 
the  sire  and  dam  of  early  market  lambs,  hence  they  should  have  all 
the  exercise  obtainable  within  the  limits  of  the  farm.  The  ram  is  usually 
fed  well  on  oats,  pumpkins,  green  corn  fodder,  or  clover  hay.  The  lambs 
are  dropped  from  January  1  to  March  15;  some  growers  have  them 
earlier.  A  grower  in  Franklin  County  presents  the  cost  and  returns 
on  early  lambs : 

Keep  of  the  ewe  in  summer $1. 00 

Keep  of  the  ewe  in  winter 2.  50 

Feed  for  lamb $2.  00  to    5.  50 

Received  for  the  lamb 7.  70 

Received  for  the  ewe  fleece 1.  60  to    9.  30 

There  remained  the  old  ewe  with  the  manure. 

One  of  the  most  successful  sheep  breeders  and  importers  of  New 
England  is  Mr.  E.  F.  Bowditch,  of  Framingham,  Mass.  Mr.  Bowditch 
is  also  very  successful  in  raising  early  lambs.  He  has  a  farm  of  500 
acres  near  South  Framingham.  In  summer  and  early  fall  a  flock  or 
flocks  of  sheep>  aggregating  about  600,  have  the  run  of  the  fields;  in 
winter  they  are  driven  into  sheds.  The  sheds,  two  in  number,  and  350 
and  270  feet  long,  are  subdivided  into  pens,  in  each  of  which  are  30  to  40 
sheep.  The  sheds  have  also  a  number  of  box  stalls  for  rams,  ewes  that 
refuse  to  own  their  lambs,  and  sheep  that  need  doctoring.  In  eonnec- 


EAST    OF    THE   MISSISSIPPI    RIVER.  249 

t ion  with  these  are  shearing  rooms  and  storage  quarters.    Mr.  Bowditoh 
kindly  furnishes  some  details  of  his  management: 

J  tind  that  a  good  sized,  ragged,  well  built,  grade  Down  ewe  bred  to  a  Hampshire 
rani  gives  me  the  best  and  quickest  returns  in  early  lambs.  My  ewes  are  coupled  at 
beginning  of  July  and  the  ram  is  taken  away  from  the  flock  the  15th  of  October. 
We  have  a  few  early  lambs  in  December,  many  more  in  January,  but  most  of  them 
in  February  and  early  March.  I  generally  run  a  flock  of  from  600  to  700  grade  ewes 
and  keep  a  little  flock  of  50  or  more  thoroughbred  Hainpshires.  In  summer,  if  on 
good  pasture  or  full  supply  of  green  foliage,  I  feed  very  little  grain;  if  overstocked 
I  make  the  ration  up  with  grain,  so  as  to  keep  my  ewes  on  the  gain  rather  than  on  the 
lose.  As  soon  as  the  pasture  becomes  thoroughly  frosted,  I  at  once  yard  my  sheep  for 
the  winter  and  they  are  never  allowed  to  go  outside  the  yard  until  the  next  spring. 
I  feed  before  lambing,  cut  corn  stalks,  late  sown  barley,  as  well  as  peas  and  oats, 
tin-  latter  being  a  most  valuable  crop  when  cured  for  winter  feeding.  With  this  dry 
forage  I  add  a  mixture  of  cob  meal  and  bran — very  nearly  equal  parts — with  the  addi- 
tion of  a  little  old  process  linseed-oil  meal,  giving  of  the  mixture  enough  to  keep  my 
ewes  in  the  proper  condition.  As  soon  as  the  ewes  drop  their  lambs  they  are  changed 
into  a  separate  pen  and  fed  with  the  best  of  early  cut  hay  and  rowen,  and  all  the  grain 
they  will  eat  of  this  before-named  mixture.  In  one  corner  of  the  pen  a  small  rack  to 
hold  rowen  and  a  trough  for  grain  is  placed,  separated  from  the  rest  of  the  pen  by  a 
fence,  which  prevents  the  ewes  from  coming  in,  but  allows  the  lambs  free  entrance 
at  any  time.  The  mixture  of  grain  I  give  my  lambs  is  three  parts  finely  ground  corn 
meal  to  one  part  old  process  linseed-oil  meal.  If  a  lamb  is  from  a  ewe  which  is  a 
large  milker,  with  the  treatment  above  named,  we  expect  him  to  be  ready  for  market 
at  fifty  days  old  and  to  dress  25  pounds.  The  price  received  from  the  lamb  would  vary 
from  $8  to  $10  the  1st  of  February  down  to  $5  or  $6  the  1st  of  May,  prices  being  in- 
fluenced, as  in  everything  else,  by  the  demand  and  supply.  One  secret  which  must 
be  observed  with  the  lambs  as  well  as  with  the  sheep  is,  tney  must  have  a  good  sup- 
ply of  pure  water,  good  ventilation,  and  be  kept  cool  and  dry. 

Mr.  Bowditch  keeps  running  water  in  each  pen,  and  states  that  a 
sheep  will  drink  from  4  to  6  quarts  daily.  Everything  is  carried  on  in 
a  systematic  and  business-like  manner  and  the  profits  of  the  business  are 
very  gratifying,  running  from  40  to  60  per  cent.  Mr.  Bowditch  does  not 
devote  himself  exclusively  to  early  lamb  raising,  but  takes  interest  in 
the  thoroughbred  Hampshires  and  horned  Dorset  sheep,  keeping  flocks 
of  each.  He  imported  the  horned  Dorsets  as  early  as  May,  1887,  being 
among  the  earliest  importers  to  make  a  direct  importation  into  the 
Tinted  States,  the  importation  being  from  the  flocks  of  Thomas  Chick, 
Stratton,  Dorset,  England.  He  has  also  done  much  by  his  writings 
and  lectures  to  revive  an  interest  in  sheep  culture  in  Massachusetts 
and  throughout  New  England,  and  believes  that  sheep  raising  is  not 
only  profitable,  but  almost  indispensable  to  help  to  bring  up  New  Eng- 
land agriculture  to  its  proper  condition. 

There  is  a  growing  sentiment  among  intelligent  Massachusetts 
farmers  that  keeping  sheep  for  the  good  they  do  the  soil  is  becoming  a 
necessity;  that  the  soils  of  New  England  can  be  kept  up  only  by  the 
plan  pursued  in  Old  England,  an  advanced  system  of  sheep  husbandry 
and  agriculture.  Where  the  relations  are  reciprocal,  the  land  supports 
the  sheep  and  the  sheep  maintain  the  land.  The  profits  must  come  in 
this  order :  First,  in  the  improvement  of  pastures;  second,  in  the  sale  of 


250        SHEEP  INDUSTRY  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES 

early  lambs;  third,  in  the  sale  of  yearling  lambs  and  fat  ewes,  and  fourth, 
in  the  sale  of  wool.  The  raising  of  wool  alone  is  not  profitable,  but  it 
would  pay  to  raise  the  sheep  if  they  had  no  wool. 

Some  feeding  experiments,  conducted  by  the  Massachusetts  State 
Agricultural  Experiment  Station,  supplement  Mr.  Bowditch's  practice. 
These  experiments  were  devised  for  the  purpose  of  ascertaining  the  cost 
of  feed,  when  fattening  lambs  for  market  by  means  of  winter  fodder 
rations.  Six  grade  lambs,  three  ewes,  and  three  wethers,  bought  Sep- 
tember 4,  1889,  of  a  farmer  of  the  vicinity,  served  for  the  experiment. 
They  consisted  of  five  Hampshire  Down  and  one  Merino  grades.  Each 
animal  occupied,  during  the  entire  period  of  observation,  a  separate 
pen.  They  were  shorn  before  being  weighed  at  the  beginning  of  the 
experiment. 

The  daily  diet  of  the  entire  lot  consisted,  daring  the  first  week,  of 
rowen.  They  were  subsequently  treated  in  two  divisions,  each  com- 
prising three  animals.  This  division  was  made  for  the  purpose  of  com- 
paring the  effect  of  two  distinctly  different  daily  fodder  rations  on  the 
financial  results  of  the  operation.  The  first  division,  a  wether  and 
two  ewes,  received  a  daily  diet  much  richer  in  nitrogenous  food  con- 
stituents than  the  one  adopted  for  the  second  division,  one  ewe  and  two 
wethers.  This  was  brought  about  by  feeding  to  the  first  division,  as 
grain  feed,  a  mixture  of  wheat  bran  and  of  gluten  meal,  and  to  the  sec- 
ond division  one  consisting  of  a  liberal  proportion  of  corn  meal  with  some 
wheat  bran  and  gluten  meal.  The  coarse  portion  of  the  daily  feed  was 
in  both  cases  essentially  the  same,  namely,  either  rowen,  or  rowen  and 
corn  ensilage,  or  corn  ensilage  alone.  It  was  cut  before  being  mixed 
with  the  grain  feed  when  fed.  The  daily  fodder  ration  was  divided 
into  three  equal  parts  and  fed  respectively  in  the  morning,  at  noon, 
and  in  the  evening.  The  amount  of  feed  left  unconsumed,  if  any,  was 
collected  each  morning  and  deducted  from  the  daily  ration  offered  the 
preceding  day  for  consumption.  The  observation,  in  case  of  the  first 
division  of  lambs,  one  wether  and  two  ewes,  were  continued  for  152 
successive  days — September  5,  1889,  to  February  4,  1890 — while  in 
case  of  the  second  division,  one  ewe  and  two  wethers,  they  were  ex- 
tended to  March  18,  1890,  and  lasted  thus  for  194  consecutive  days. 
Low  rate  of  increase  in  live  weight  and  local  market  condition  advised 
the  extension  of  the  trial  in  the  latter  case. 

The  three  lambs  of  the  first  division,  fed  on  richer  nitrogenous  food, 
gained  within  152  days  in  live  weight  in  the  aggregate  107J  pounds, 
or  each  individual  on  an  average  35.8  pounds;  while  those  of  the  sec- 
ond division  gained  during  194  days  in  the  aggregate  only  86  pounds, 
or  each  individual  on  an  average  28.7  pounds.  The  gain  of  live  weight 
during  the  experiment  of  each  division  and  each  animal  is  here  shown : 


EAST    OF    THE    MISSISSIPPI    RIVER. 


251 


DIVISION  I. 

[Time  ot  observation  extended  over  152  days.] 


". 

1 

2. 

3. 

Experiments  in  feeding. 

Live 
weight  at 
the  begin- 
ning of 
the  experi- 
ment. 

Live 
weight  at 
the  time  of 
killing, 
before 
shearing. 

Gain  in 
live  weight 
during  the 
experi- 
ment. 

Pounds. 
79  00 

Pounds. 
118  25 

Pound*. 
39  25 

o 

66  00 

98  50 

32  50 

0 

70  75 

106  50 

35  75 

215.75 

323.25 

107.50 

DIVISION  II. 
[Time  of  observation  extended  over  194  days.] 


4. 

5. 

6. 

Experiments  in  feeding. 

Live 
weight  at 
the  begin- 
ning of 
the  experi- 
ment. 

Live 
weight  at 
the  time  of 
killing, 
before 
shearing. 

Gain  in 
live  weight 
during  the 
experi- 
ment. 

Pounds. 
67  50 

Pounds. 
102  50 

Pounds. 
35  00 

5 

66.25 

86  50 

20  50 

g 

78  75 

109  50 

30  75 

212.50 


208.  50 


86.25 


Pound. 

Di  vision  I.  Entire  lot  gained  in  live  weight  on  an  average  per  day 0. 706 

Division  II.  Entire  lot  gained  in  live  weight  on  an  average  per  day 0.445 

The  amount  of  raw  wool  secured  after  the  close  of  the  experiments. 
DIVISION  I. 


1. 

2. 

3. 

Experiments  in  feeding. 

Live 
weight 
with  wool. 

Live 
weight 
after  shear- 
ing. 

Amount 
of  wool 
obtained. 

1 

Pounds. 
118  25 

Pounds. 
114  38 

Ibs.    02. 
3       14 

L>    

98.50 

94.60 

3       15 

3 

106  50 

102  00 

4         8 

323.25 

310.  98 

12       5 

DIVISION  II. 


4. 

5. 

6. 

Experiments  in  feeding. 

Live 
weight 
with  wool. 

Live 
weight 
after  shear- 
ing. 

Amount 
of  wool 
obtained. 

4 

Pounds. 
102  50 

Pound*. 
99.25 

Ibs.    oz. 
3        4 

5  

86.50 

82.00 

4        8 

6 

109.50 

105.  00 

4        8 

298.50 

286.25 

12        4 

252 


SHEEP  INDUSTRY  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES 


The  first  division  yielded  32  pounds  5  ounces  of  wool;  the  second  di- 
vision 12  pounds  4  ounces;  the  first  the  result  of  152  days'  growth  and 
the  latter  that  of  194  days.  Lamb  No.  5  was  a  Merino  grade,  which  it 
will  be  noted  made  the  least  gain  in  live  weight;  the  others  were  Hamp- 
shire Down  grades. 

The  difference  between  the  live  weights  of  the  animals  of  the  first 
division,  at  the  close  of  the  experiment,  after  shearing,  and  the  dressed 
lambs  when  sold,vamounted  on  an  average  to  44.3  per  cent. 

Yield  dressed  weiylds. 

1.  66  pounds,  at  11  cts.  per  pound $7. 26 

2.  54  pounds,  at  11  cts.  per  pound 5. 94 

3.  60  pounds,  at  11  cts.  per  pound 6. 60 

180  pounds - 19.80 

The  difference  between  the  live  weight  of  the  animals  of  the  second 
division,  at  the  close  of  the  experiment,  after  shearing,  and  the  dressed 
lambs  when  sold,  amounted  to  46.3  per  cent. 

Yield  of  dressed  weights. 

4.  54  pounds  at  11  cts.  per  pound $5. 94 

5.  46  pounds  at  11  cts.  per  pound 5.  06 

6.  60.50  pounds  at  11  cts.  per  pound 6. 65 

160. 50  pounds 17. 65 

The  wool  was  sold  at  22  cents  per  pound  and  the  pelts  at  12J  cents 
each,  and  the  financial  results  of  the  experiment  are  thus  stated : 

DIVISION  I. 


Cost  of  lamb,  feed  consumed,  etc. 

1. 

2. 

3. 

Cost  of  lamb   .  -  . 

$4.10 

$3.41 

$3.  62  ?  ,.,0, 

Cost  of  feed  consumed  .     ...                       

4.53 

3.11 

\08<$22.85 

Value  received  for  meat  

8.63 
7.26 

6.52 
5.94 

7.70 
6.60) 

Value  received  for  wool  and  pelt  

.98 

.99 

1.  11  >   28.  55 

Value  of  obtainable  manure. 

2.19 

1.52 

1.96$ 

Difference  in  favor,  $5.  70 

10.43 

8.45 

9.67 

DIVISION  II. 


Cost  of  lamb,  feed  consumed,  etc. 

4. 

5. 

6. 

Cost  of  lamb  

$3  49 

$3.43 

$4.  08  ?  4.0, 

Cost  of  feed  consumed  

4  24 

3  03 

3  82  $  ^  U" 

Value  received  for  meat  

7.73 
5  94 

7.46 
5  06 

7.90 
6  65) 

Value  received  for  wool  and  pelt  

.80 

1.11 

1.12  >25.  17 

Value  of  obtainable  manure  

1  71 

1  23 

1.55) 

Difference  in  favor  

8.45 

7.40 

3  08 

EAST    OF    THE    MISSISSIPPI    RIVER.  253 

The  conclusions  drawn  by  Prof.  Goessmann  from  these  experiments 
were  that  the  superior  feeding  effect  of  a  daily  diet  rich  in  digestible 
nitrogenous  food  constitueuts  when  raising  lambs  for  the  meat  market 
was  well  demonstrated  in  Division  1  as  compared  with  those  in  Division 
'1  ;  that  the  good  services  of  the  particular  fodder  rations  used  in  case 
of  the  first  division  of  lambs  is  shown  by  the  fair  rate  of  increase  in  live 
weight;  that  corn  ensilage  as  a  substitute  in  part  for  rowen  gave  very 
satisfactory  results;  and  that  the  profit  obtained  with  reference  to  both 
divisions  of  lambs  was  due  to  the  commercial  value  of  the  fertilizing 
constituent  contained  in  the  obtainable  manure.  This  value  in  the  case 
of  the  first  division  of  lambs  was  $5.67.  To  appreciate  this  value  prop- 
erly it  needs  to  be  considered,  that  in  determining  the  financial  results 
of  the  experiment  all  home-raised  fodder  articles  were  counted  on  the 
basis  of  their  retail  selling  price  in  the  vicinity  of  the  experiment  sta- 
tion. Sheep  are  known  to  produce  one  of  the  best  homemade  manures.* 

Regarding  the  manurial  value  of  hay  it  has  been  stated  by  Prof. 
Goessmann,  in  one  of  his  many  valuable  contributions  to  agricultural 
science,  that  a  ton  fed  to  stock  upon  the  farm  returned  more  than 
60  per  cent  of  its  value  to  the  farm,  or  in  other  words,  that  from 
$5.93  to  $9.60  worth  of  fertilizing  constituents,  or,  as  an  average  for  a 
quarter  of  a  century  shows  in  New  York,  $6.37  went  in  every  $10  worth 
of  hay  sold  from  the  farm.  And  yet  our  farms  need  this  very  fertility 
material  which  this  hay  contains,  and  which,  by  feeding  it  to  sheep  or 
cattle,  might  be  kept  upon  the  farms  and  largely  increase  the  fertility 
of  our  lands.  How  many  farmers  are  there  who,  when  carrying  $20 
worth  of  hay  to  market,  reflect  that  they  are  robbing  their  ground  of 
over  $13  worth  of  its  value  had  the  hay  been  fed  to  stock? 

That  intelligent  sheep-breeding  can  be  made  to  pay  in  Massachusetts 
is  well  demonstrated  by  some  figures  given  in  the  report  of  the  board 
of  agriculture  of  that  State  for  1891 : 

A  farmer  had  21  breeding  ewes  in  1890.  They  were  high-grade 
Southdowns,  upon  which  were  used  the  very  best  of  pure-bred  South- 
down rams.  They  were  fed  upon  rowen  twice  a  day  during  the  winter 
till  the  1st  of  March.  After  that  they  were  fed  oftener,  and  a  daily 
ration  of  grain  was  added,  consisting  of  bran,  4  quarts,  oats,  4  quarts, 
and  corn,  2  quarts.  They  were  turned  to  pasture  May  1.  The  receipts 
that  year  were  as  follows : 

28  lambs,  average  weight,  August  1,  91  pounds,  6J  cents  per  pound $165.62 

168  pounds  of  wool,  at  22  cents 36.96 

202.58 

or  nearly  $10  per  head.    The  expenses — 

Grain  fed -"- $9.00 

Hay,  6£  tons,  at  $10  per  ton 63.00 

Pasturing  21  sheep  28  weeks,  5  cents  per  week 

Service  of  ram 5.25 

106.65 
•Bulletin  No.  37,  July,  1890,  Massachusetts  State  Agricultural  Experiment  Station. 


254  SHEEP    INDUSTRY    OF    THE    UNITED    STATES 

Leaving  a  balance  of  receipts  above  expenses  of  $95.93,  without  in- 
cluding the  value  of  the  manure,  which  was  a  fair  equivalent  for  the 
labor,  the  gentleman  who  made  the  report  stating  that  he  would  gladly 
care  for  1,000  sheep  for  one-half  the  manure,  if  anyone  would  furnish 
the  hay  and  grain. 

Another  case  is  where  the  person  raised  early  lambs  or  spring  lambs, 
which  were  sent  to  market  without  ever  being  turned  to  grass.  In 
this  case  the  lambs  were  dropped  in  December  and  carried  to  market 
in  March  and  April  j  the  flock  numbered  17  breeding  ewes.  The  receipts 
from  these  17  ewes  were  as  follows : 

150  pounds  of  wool  at  23  cents $34.  00 

16  lambs  a t  $9.06f 145. 00 

3  lambs  at  $5 15. 00 

194. 50 

Estimate  of  expenses. 

5.1  tons  of  hay  at  $10  per  ton $51. 00 

Grain  for  sheep 25.  50 

Grain  for  lambs 16.  00 

Pasturing  17  sheep  28  weeks,  at  3  cents  each 14.  28 

Service  of  ram 4. 25 


111.00 

Balance  of  receipts  above  expenses  $83.47.  In  this  case  there  were 
no  lambs  to  be  pastured,  and  the  ewes  could  be  pastured  for  about  one- 
half  the  cost  of  those  that  have  lambs,  as  lambs  must  have  the  best  of 
pasture.  The  flock  was  produced  by  crossing  a  Spanish  Merino  rain 
upon  grade  Cotswold  and  Leicester  ewes,  weighing  from  125  to  150 
pounds.  They  dropped  their  lambs  very  early,  most  of  them  in  Decem- 
ber, were  ready  for  market  early,  and  brought  better  prices  than  those 
dropped  later. 

The  third  flock  consisted  of  53  ewes,  6  lambs,  and  1  ram,  making  60 
in  all.  The  expenses  were : 

Grain  for  sheep  and  lambs $104.  50 

Hay,  estimated  at  $2  per  head 120. 00 

Pasturing  60  sheep  28  weeks  at  3  cents 50.  40 

Services  of  ram. .  13. 25 


288. 15 

The  receipts  for  lambs  and  wool  were  $629.50,  or  almost  $10.50  per 
head,  and  the  receipts  above  expenses  $341.35. 

These  sheep  were  the  Vermont  Merinos,  the  ewes  weighing  100  to  110 
pounds  each,  shearing  probably  8  to  10  pounds  of  wool  each.  They 
dropped  their  lambs  in  November  and  December.  The  ram  was  a  pure- 
bred Southdown. 

The  Americans  have  yet  much  to  learn  in  the  science  of  farming,  and 
England  is  a  good  object-lesson.  Old  English  farms  which  have  been 
tilled  for  centuries  show  no  signs  of  running  out  or  of  old  age.  They  pro- 
duce five  times  the  amount  of  v/heat  per  acre  that  they  did  three  hun- 


EAST    OF    THE    MISSISSIPPI    RIVER.  255 

(Iretl  years  ago,  and  they  are  constantly  increasing  in  productiveness. 
British  writers  and  farmers  declare  that  "  the  sheep  is  literally  the 
basis  of  English  husbandry;  that  they  have  become  an  indispensable 
necessity,  as  there  is  no  other  means  of  keeping  up  the  land."  The 
secret  of  success  in  English  husbandry  is  ascribed  to  turnips  and  sheep. 
The  turnips  make  mutton  and  the  sheep  make  wheat.  No  country  of 
like  extent  breeds  sheep  so  extensively,  and  no  country  exceeds  it  in 
agricultural  wealth.  There  seems  to  be  no  valid  reason  why  the  keep- 
ing of  sheep  would  not  have  the  same  results  on  the  soil  of  Massachu- 
setts and  other  States  as  it  has  in  England. 

Sheep  have  no  equals  as  improvers  of  old  pastures — those  which  do 
not  and  can  not  carry  more  than  half  or  two  thirds  as  much  stock  as 
they  did  formerly.  It  is  calculated  that  where  once  in  Massachusetts, 
and  elsewhere  in  New  England,  60  acres  were  ample  for  a  certain  number 
of  live  stock,  now  100  acres  barely  suffice,  a  loss  equivalent  to  2  acres  in 
every  10. 

Horned  cattle,  especially  cows  in  milk,  soon  graze  out  the  available  phosphates — 
bone- forming  andmilk-snpplying  elements — and  with  the  cropping  out  of  the  phos- 
phates, the  succulent  and  nourishing  grasses  give  place  to  sour  grasses,  tap-rooted 
weeds,  coarse  herbage.  Many  of  these,  which  hunger  can  hardly  compel  a  horse  or 
cow  to  eat,  are  eaten  by  sheep  with  avidity.  It  is  found  by  actual  test  that  sheep 
will  eat  some  140  kinds  of  herbage  which  other  pasture-fed  animals  refuse.  Of  all 
the  domestic  animals  sheep  are  the  most  indiscriminate  feeders,  as  well  as  very  close 
feeders.  They  nip  the  shoots  of  almost  every  shrub  and  weed  and  extirpate  many 
kinds  in  a  very  few  years.  It  is  said  that  by  sheep-feeding  pastures  their  produc- 
tiveness may  be  increased  5  per  cent  per  annum,  or  brought  up  to  carry  double  the 
stock  in  twenty  years.  But  their  usefulness  in  improving  pastures  is  not  restricted 
to  that  of  weed- destroyers ;  their  manure,  which  is  a  highly  concentrated  form,  is 
minutely  divided  and  evenly  distributed  over  the  soil  surface,  where  it  stiff ers  no 
waste,  while  it  possesses  in  the  highest  degree  the  requisite  essentials  to  restore  to 
the  soil  the  phosphates  which  it  loses  by  depasturing  with  cattle.  This,  in  England, 
is  so  well  understood  that  they  turn  it  to  greater  advantage  by  feeding  them  with 
oil-cake  when  in  pasture  to  give  their  droppings  an  additional  value.  They  are 
powerful  digesters,  not  only  converting  the  driest  and  coarsest  herbage  into  food, 
but  destroying  the  vitality  of  everything  they  consume;  and  thus  they  do  not,  like 
cattle,  scatter  foul  seeds  behind  them,  while  from  whatever  is  eaten  they  extract 
more  nutritive  matter  than  any  other  animal.* 

The  soil-invigorating  power  of  sheep  is  so  great  "that  a  pasture  suf- 
ficient to  feed  1,000  sheep  the  first  year,  as  a  result  of  their  own  drop- 
pings, will  feed  1,365  the  next  year,  or  4  sheep  will  highly  manure  1 
acre  of  land  per  year."  Another  estimate  is  that  100  sheep  in  fifteen 
days  would  enrich  an  acre  of  land  sufficient  to  carry  it  through  4  years' 
rotation.  The  Italians  have  a  proverb  that  "  a  sheep  is  the  best  dung 
cart,"  the  proof  of  which  can  be  shown  in  the  fact  that  36  pounds  of 
sheep  excreta  are  equal  as  a  fertilizer  to  100  pounds  of  ordinary  farm- 
yard manure,  being  richer  in  nitrogenous  substances  than  that  of  the 
cow  or  horse,  ranking  next  in  ammonia  and  richer  in  the  phosphates 
than  guano  or  the  droppings  of  fowls. 

*  Samuel  Wasson,  in  Report  of  Maine  Board  of  Agriculture. 


256 


SHEEP  INDUSTRY  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES 


Massachusetts  grows  less  than  2.1  ounces  of  wool  to  each  of  her  inhab- 
itants— not  enough  to  supply  them  with  ear-tabs.  In  1890  she  had 
but  56,530  sheep,  not  enough  to  give  her  adult  inhabitants  meat  for 
two  days.  Of  538,490  sheep  consumed  in  Boston  in  1888,  but  9,051 
were  raised  in  the  State.  The  source  of  her  supply  for  that  year,  and 
running  back  to  1882,  is  given  in  the  following  table: 


States. 

1888. 

1887. 

1886. 

1885. 

1884. 

1883. 

1882. 

19,  080 

38,  635 

40,  758 

16,  027 

4,769 

9,482 

36,  656 

21  223 

24  541 

33  946 

44  870 

47  974 

44  793 

45  170 

56,  167 

59,  254 

65,  574 

103,  659 

101,905 

100,  396 

113,  369 

Massachusetts  

9,051 

9,005 

9,776 

8,527 

10,  742 

7,435 

7,616 

New  York 

11,  391 

15,  945 

46,  020 

29,  764 

34,  330 

31,  115 

34,  883 

Western  States  

338,  820 

367,  209 

285,  201 

403,  700 

335,  758 

427,  078 

345,  777 

82,  758 

76,  707 

42,  812 

33,  299 

32,  563 

28,  491 

43,  137 

Total 

538  490 

591  476 

524  089 

639,  847 

568,  041 

648,  790 

626  608 

In  1890  the  number  of  live  sheep  discharged  at  Brighton  and  Water- 
town  was  583,545,  of  which  the  West  furnished  370,067,  Canada  88,313, 
Massachusetts  0,181,  Ehode  Island  and  Connecticut  48  head.  The  re- 
ceipts in  March  show  about  5,000  head,  and  in  September  and  October 
about  17,500  head,  indicating  a  growing  demand  for  mutton. 

From  1890  to  1892  there  has  been  a  slight  increase  in  the  number  of 
sheep  in  the  State,  and  there  are  indications  that  farmers  are  beginning 
to  pay  more  attention  to  them.  Those  in  the  vicinity  of  large  cities  find 
increasing  demand  at  fair  prices  for  early  spring  lambs,  and  no  stock 
makes  better  returns. 

CONNECTICUT. 

The  first  flock  of  Merino  sheep  kept  in  Connecticut  was  imported  by 
Col.  David  Humphreys,  of  Derby,  in  1802,  and  has  been  fully  noticed 
in  preceding  pages.  From  this  flock  are  descended  some  of  the  best 
flocks  of  the  present  day,  and  nearly  all  claim  descent  from  it.  Hum- 
phreys sold  and  let  his  rams  in  Massachusetts,  Rhode  Island,  and  Ver- 
mont, and  as  early  as  1807  sent  many  full  and  half  blood  sheep  into 
Pennsylvania,  Ohio,  Kentucky,  and  Tennessee.  His  flock  was  broken 
up  soon  after  his  death  in  1818,  not,  however,  before  it  had  furnished 
pure  superior  sheep  to  nearly  every  part  of  the  Union,  and  in  particular 
to  lay  the  foundation  of  the  best  flocks  of  Connecticut  as  well  as  those 
of  the  whole  country ;  but  it  is  doubtful  whether  there  is  in  existence  a 
sheep  that  can  establish  its  claim  as  being  line-bred  to  any  importation 
made  prior  to  1812,  at  least  such  is  the  opinion  of  undoubted  authority. 
There  is  around  the  history  of  the  early  flocks,  not  only  in  Connecticut 
but  elsewhere,  some  doubt  thrown,  not  by  wanton  misrepresentation  of 
facts,  but  through  the  loose  statement  of  them  and  in  many  cases  the 
want  of  precise  information.  It  was  not  until  many  years  after  the 
flocks  were  founded  that  much,  if  any,  attention  was  paid  to  pedigrees, 
consequently  entire  accuracy  was  not  always  attainable.  We  are  led 


EAST    OP    THE    MISSISSIPPI    RIVER.  257 

to  these  remarks  from  the  fact  that,  although  of  the  flock  we  are  first 
to  notice  there  was  kept  an  apparently  strict  and  painstaking  account 
from  the  day  the  first  full-blood  sheep  was  purchased  in  1813  until  1830, 
there  is  yet  some  doubt  and  much  controversy  concerning  some  of  the 
blood  in  it. 

Stephen  Atwood,  of  Woodbury,  Conn.,  was  in  1806-7  a  young  man 
in  the  employ  of  Youuglove  Cutler,  and  Mr.  Cutler  had  a  flock  of  pure 
Humphreys  sheep.  At  the  expiration  of  his  service  with  Mr.  Cutler 
young  At  wood  purchased  a  ewe,  and  he  offered  to  work  a  year  longer 
for  a  ram.  Whether  the  ewe  was  of  full  blood  or  not  is  unknown,  but 
in  his  memorandum  book  we  find  entries  in  October  and  November, 
1810,  and  in  October,  1811,  showing  that  he  had  several  half-blood  and 
three-quarter-blood  ewes  which  he  bred  to  full-blood  Merino  rams 
owned  by  Dr.  B.  Stoddard  and  Daniel  Bacon;  also  that  he  had  at  least 
two  half-blood  rams  that  he  turned  in  with  his  ewes.  He  had  at  this 
time  probably  no  full-blood  ewes,  but  he  had  use  of  full-blood  rams  and 
probably  owned  one.  In  June,  1813,  he  purchased  a  ewe  from  the  flock 
of  Col.  Humphreys.  He  writes  Henry  S.  Bandall  that  he  bought  this 
ewe  of  Col.  Humphreys  for  $120,  and  put  her  to  a  ram  "that  Young- 
love  Cutler  bought  of  Col.  Humphreys  in  1807."  In  1844  Mr.  Atwood 
said  that  he  purchased  a  ewe  from  the  flock  of  Col.  Humphreys  and 
put  her  to  bucks  in  his  immediate  neighborhood,  and  her  descendants 
to  bucks  raised  from  Humphreys  ewes  until  about  1829  or  1830,  since 
which  time  he  used  bucks  of  his  own  raising.  In  his  memoranda  he 
says:  " Bought  of  John  Biggs  in  June,  1813,  one  full-blooded  ewe  6 
years  old,  and  put  her  to  W.  K.  Lampson's  full-blood  buck,  and  in  the 
spring  following  she  had  twins,  one  ram  and  one  ewe  lamb.7'  This  was 
generally  accepted  as  the  origin  of  Mr.  Atwood's  flock,  although  there 
are  some  who  take  exceptions  to  the  Biggs  ewe,  and  call  attention  to 
the  fact  that  the  age  of  the  Biggs  ewe  at  its  purchase  corresponds  to 
the  age  of  the  ewe  purchased  of  Younglove  Cutler,  and  that  no  proof 
can  be  offered  that  the  purchase  was  ever  made  of  Biggs.  But,  as 
just  said,  it  was  generally  accepted  that  the  foundation  of  the  Atwood 
Merino  was  the  Biggs  ewe  bre:l  to  Humphreys  bucks  and  their 
descendants  to  other  Humphreys  blood.  In  the  Ohio  Merino  Sheep 
Begister  (1885)  there  is  printed  a  letter  written  by  Mr.  Atwood  in  1853, 
in  which  he  enlarges  on  the  purchase  of  the  Biggs  ewe,  and  adds :  "  I 
bought  said  (Biggs)  ewe,  and  in  1819  I  bought  from  the  Lemuel  Stone 
flock,  that  he  raised  from  Col.  Humphreys'  flock,  five  ewe  lambs  that 
I  selected,  and  with  these  five  lambs  and  the  ewe  I  bought  first  I  have 
raised  my  flock  of  sheep."  Controversy  has  been  carried  on  regarding 
the  flock,  which  we  purpose  to  avoid.  The  full-blooded  buck  used  on 
the  Biggs  ewe  in  1813,  and  owned  by  W.  K.  Lampson,  has  been  the 
subject  of  some  controversy.  It  was  purchased  by  Mr.  Lampson  of 
Daniel  Bacon,  and  Mr.  Bacon  purchased  him  of  Abraham  Heaton  for 
* .;.".()  at  the  sale  of  the  sheep  arriving  by  the  Bellona,  at  New 
22990 17 


258        SHEEP  INDUSTRY  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES 

January  3, 1811.  It  is  claimed  that  this  ram,  which  may  be  called  the 
Bacon  ram,  was  an  Infantado.  Such  is  not  the  fact,  as  the  cargo  of  the 
Bellona  consisted  of  Guadaloupes  and  Negrettis.  Mr.  Atwood,  how- 
ever, used  other  full-blood  ranis  of  Humphreys  descent,  and  with  the 
exception  of  the  Bacon  ram,  and  possibly  a  Blakeslee  ram  from  the  flock 
of  Humphreys  and  Heaton  sheep,  he  had  essentially  an  Humphreys 
flock.  If  not  pure  Humphreys  it  approached  it  nearer  than  others  at 
that  time.  But  it  is  better  known  now  as  the  Atwood  Merino,  the  lead- 
ing Merino  of  the  United  States. 

Mr.  Atwood  began  his  flock  with  the  idea  of  combining  three  prop- 
erties, viz,  constitution,  quantity,  and  quality,  and  he  succeeded  in  a 
remarkable  degree.  He  was  one  of  the  earliest  and  most  successful 
improvers  of  Merino  sheep,  and  from  1844  to  1850  his  sheep  were  in 
greater  demand  and  brought  higher  prices  than  those  from  the  flocks  of 
other  breeders,  and  most  of  the  best  flocks  in  Vermont  and  other  States 
trace,  in  whole  or  in  part,  their  pedigree  to  his  flock. 

It  is  of  interest  to  note  the  proceeds  of  Mr.  Atwood's  shearings  as 
recorded  in  his  memorandum  books.  In  1814  the  old  Riggs  or  Hum- 
phreys ewe  sheared  3  pounds  9  ounces  of  wool,  sold  at  $1.50  per 
pound,  and  in  1815  she,  with  her  twin  lambs  or  yearlings,  sheared  13 
pounds — an  average  of  4J  pounds  each.  In  1816  the  old  ewe  with  her 
lambs — viz,  one  2-year  old  ewe,  one  yearling  ewe,  one  2-year  old  ram, 
and  one  yearling  ram — sheared  23  pounds  11  ounces,  an  average  of  4J 
pounds,  nearly.  In  1820  17  full-blooded  sheep  sheared  70  pounds  5 
ounces,  or  an  average  of  4  pounds  each  with  2  ounces  over.  In  1824 
103  sheep  sheared  425  pounds.  Thirteen  of  the  heaviest  fleeces  weighed 
8  pounds  9  ounces  each.  In  1825  118  sheep  sheared  459  pounds  9 
ounces,  and,  like  that  of  1824,  so  entered  on  the  memoranda  that  the 
full-blooded  wool  can  not  be  separated  from  the  other  wool,  but  one 
Guadaloupe  ewe  is  put  down  as  giving  4  pounds  12  ounces,  and  another 
3  pounds  15  ounces.  In  1826  140  sheep  sheared  545  pounds  2  ounces, 
but  again  the  full-blood  wool  can  not  be  distinguished  from  the  other. 
It  averaged  3  pounds  11  ounces,  nearly.  In  1828  152  sheep  sheared  629 
pounds  15  ounces,  or  an  average  of  4  pounds  2  ounces,  nearly.  In  1829 
167  sheep  had  640  pounds  of  wool,  an  average  of  about  3J  pounds. 

A  comparison  of  these  figures  and  others  shows  that  Mr.  Atwood 
made  large  and  material  improvements  in  the  weight  of  his  fleece.  In 
1814  the  Riggs  ewe  sheared  3  pounds  9  ounces ;  in  1816  she  sheared  4 
pounds  4  ounces,  and  a  yearling  ewe  sheared  5  pounds.  In  1820  his 
heaviest  ram  fleece  was  7  pounds  1  ounce,  his  heaviest  ewe  fleece  4 
pounds  6  ounces.  In  1824  his  heaviest  ram  fleece  was  7  pounds  3  ounces. 
In  1826  one  ewe  gave  4  pounds  5  ounces  and  several  rams  are  recorded 
as  giving  from  4  pounds  10  ounces  to  7  pounds  14  ounces.  In  1828  the 
ram  fleeces  ran  from  6  pounds  12  ounces  to  7  pounds  9  ounces,  and  one 
ewe  sheared  4  pounds  10  ounces.  In  1844  Mr.  Atwood's  ewes  sheared 
yearly  5  pounds  of  wool  per  head,  his  lambs  5  pounds  each,  and  wethers 


EAST    OF   THE    MISSISSIPPI    RIVER.  259 

6  pounds;  his  rams  from  7  to  9  pounds  per  head.  The  heaviest  ewe 
fleece  that  year  was  6  pounds  6  ounces,  and  the  heaviest  ram  fleece  12 
pounds  4  ounces.  All  the  weights  given  are  of  washed  wool,  and  Mr. 
Atwood  washed  his  sheep  as  thoroughly  as  possible  in  the  river,  and 
let  them  run  six  or  eight  days  before  shearing.  Add  to  the  weights  as 
given  the  usual  allowance  for  shrinkage  by  river  washing,  which  is 
about  one-third,  and  the  old  Eiggs  ewe  would  show  6  pounds  6  ounces 
as  her  best  fleece,  unwashed,  as  against  the  same  weight  given  by  a  ewe 
in  1844,  of  washed  wool.  Making  the  same  addition  for  shrinkage,  the 
last  fleece  would  weigh  unwashed  9  pounds  9  ounces.  This  difference 
of  3  pounds  and  3  ounces  is,  then,  just  the  amount  of  improvement  that 
Mr.  Atwood  was  able  to  show  on  his  best  ewe  in  1816,  or  in  twenty-eight 
years.  In  1816,  the  first  year  in  which  his  minutes  show  the  weight  of 
a  ram  fleece,  his  heaviest  ram  fleece  weighed  7  pounds  3  ounces.  In  1844 
his  heaviest  ram  fleece  was  12  pounds  4  ounces.  These  fleeces,  with  the 
addition  of  the  shrinkage  by  washing,  would  have  weighed — the  first, 
10  pounds  12J  ounces,  the  last  18  pounds  6  ounces,  or  a  gain  of  7 
pounds  9J  ounces  in  the  period  of  twenty- eight  years.  These  same 
memoranda,  when  compared  with  his  statement  to  Mr.  Morell  in  1844, 
that  his  ewes  would  each  shear  yearly  5  pounds  and  his  rams  from  7 
to  9  pounds,  show  that  Mr.  Atwood  made  as  great  proportionate  in- 
crease of  weight  of  fleece  on  his  whole  flock  as  on  these  best  rams  and 
ewes.  From  1820  to  1844,  while  increasing  his  flock  of  full-blood  ewes 
from  7  to  75,  he  improved  the  weight  of  their  fleeces  fully  2  pounds  of 
washed,  or  3  pounds  of  unwashed  wool;  the  7  in  1820  shearing  an  aver- 
age of  2  pounds  15  ounces  washed,  equal  to  about  4  pounds  8  ounces 
unwashed;  the  75  in  1844  an  average  of  5  pounds  washed,  or  7 pounds 
8  ounces  unwashed.  In  view  of  these  facts  it  is  certain  Mr.  Atwood 
never  received  full  credit  for  the  great  improvements  he  made  in  the 
weights  of  his  fleeces.  Considering  his  lack  of  light,  of  examples  of 
improvements,  and  the  large  increase  of  numbers  of  his  flock,  it  can 
safely  be  said  he  deserves  equal  credit  with  noted  succeeding  breeders 
on  this  point.* 

It  were  well  at  this  point  to  follow  the  line  of  this  improvement  made 
by  others  on  the  Atwood  sheep.  In  1844  Edwin  Hammond,  of  Middle- 
bury,  Vt.,  purchased  29  ewes  and  3  rams  of  Mr.  Atwood  and  his  neigh- 
bors. The  rams  and  a  part  of  the  ewes  were  from  the  Atwood  flock,  and 
were  of  Atwood's  own  breeding.  These  ewes  were  divided  after  they 
were  taken  to  Vermont,  but  the  rams  were  owned  in  company.  In  184."> 
27  ewes  and  1  ram  were  purchased  of  Mr.  Atwood.  Two  more  pur- 
chases were  made  in  company  with  Mr.  E.  P.  Hall,  and  one  subse- 
quently in  which  Mr.  Hall  was  not  interested.  One  of  the  purchases 
was  the  entire  crop  of  ewe  lambs  raised  by  Mr.  Atwood  in  one  year. 
These  purchases  were  all  made  of  Mr.  Atwood  within  a  period  of  three 
years  from  the  time  of  the  first  purchase  in  January,  1844,  and  formed 

*  Register  of  the  Vermont  Merino  Sheep  Breeders'  Association,  Vol.  II. 


260  SHEEP    INDUSTRY    OF    THE    UNITED    STATES 

the  foundation  of  the  flock  of  Atwood  sheep  that  afterwards  became  so 
famous  in  the  hands  of  Edwin  Hammond.  Mr.  Hammond  was  the 
leading  breeder  of  his  time,  and  made  great  and  rapid  strides  in  the 
improvement  of  Merino  sheep.  In  February,  1863,  Henry  S.  Randall 
visited  this  flock,  and  states  that  the  sheep  composing  it  were — 

large,  round,  low,  strong-boned  sheep — models  of  compactness,  and  not  a  few  of 
them  almost  perfect  models  of  beauty  for  fine-wooled  sheep.  They  were  in  very 
high  condition,  though  the  ewes  were  fed  only  on  hay.  Two  of  these  weighed  about 
140  pounds  each.  Numbers  would  have  reached  from  110  to  125  pounds.  One  of  the  two 
largest  ewes  had  yielded  a  fleece  of  17|  pounds,  and  the  other  Impounds  of  unwashed 
wool.  The  whole  flock,  usually  about  200  in  number,  with  the  due  proportion  of 
young  and  old,  and  including,  say,  2  per  cent  of  grown  rams  and  no  wethers,  yields 
an  average  of  about  10  pounds  of  unwashed  wool  per  head.  The  ram  Sweepstakes, 
bred  and  owned  by  Mr.  Hammond,  has  yielded  a  single  year's  fleece  of  unwashed 
wool  weighing  27  pounds.  His  weight  in  full  fleece  is  about  140  pounds.  Earns 
producing  from  20  pounds  to  24  pounds  are  not  unusual  in  his  flock. 

This  shows  a  great  improvement,  equal  to  that  made  by  Mr.  Atwood, 
but  not  exceeding  it.  From  1814  to  1844  Mr.  Atwood  improved  the 
fleeces  of  his  ewes  equal  to  3  pounds  of  washed  wool,  and  from  1844  to 
1863  Mr.  Hammond  did  about  the  same,  or  perhaps  a  little  less,  for, 
according  to  Mr.  BandalFs  statement,  the  whole  flock  in  1862  sheared 
about  10  pounds  each,  or  only  about  2  pounds  8  ounces  more  than  Mr. 
Atwood's  ewe  fleeces,  unwashed,  sheared  at  the  time  Mr.  Hammond 
purchased  of  him,  and  this  statement  of  Mr.  Eandall  includes  the 
rams  of  Mr.  Hammond's  flock,  which  Mr.  Atwood's  did  not. 

Mr.  Albert  Chapman,  in  his  exhaustive  article  on  the  improvement 
of  Merino  sheep,  published  in  the  second  volume  of  the  Eegister  of 
the  Vermont  Merino  Sheep  Breeders'  Association,  in  noticing  Mr.  Ham- 
mond's flock  and  his  improvement  on  Atwood's  sheep,  says : 

Mr.  Atwood's  heaviest  ewe  fleece  in  1844  was  equal  to  9  pounds  9  ounces  unwashed 
wool;  Mr.  Hammond's  in  1862,  17  pounds  8  ounces,  or  nearly  double,  though  just 
how  much  the  heaviest  ewe  fleece  weighed,  shorn  the  first  year  after  he  received  his 
Atwood  sheep,  we  have  no  data  to  show;  but  all  the  accounts  and  data  we  have  of 
both  flocks  do  show  that  the  improvements  effected  by  both  these  breeders  were  very 
great,  and  entitle  both  to  a  large  measure  of  praise  and  gratitude  for  the  superior 
judgment  and  skill  they  exercised  in  breeding  their  flocks,  the  great  improvement 
they  effected  in  Merino  sheep  and  left  for  the  use  of  those  who  have  followed  them- 
It  lias  been  charged  by  some  that  Mr.  Hammond  greatly  increased  the  size  of  his 
sheep  and  the  weight  of  their  fleece  by  introducing  the  blood  of  the  French  Merino 
into  his  flock  of  Spanish  Merinos ;  or,  as  expressed  by  one  of  his  critics,  his  sheep 
"  took  a  big  jump  after  he  had  wintered  a  French  ram."  Mr.  Hammond  never  mate- 
rially increased  the  size  of  his  sheep.  We  do  not  believe  he  thought  any  such* 
increase  was  desirable.  The  rams  Old  Matchless  and  Old  Black  were  quite  as  large  as 
Sweepstakes.  Mr.  W.  R.  Remele,  who  was  a  partner  with  Mr  R.  P.  Hall  in  the 
sheep  purchased  of  Mr.  Atwood,  and  who,  as  administrator  of  the  estate  of  Edwin 
Hammond,  sold  the  main  portion  of  the  flock  after  his  death,  says  the  live  weight 
of  the  flock  at  the  time  of  Mr.  Hammond's  death  was  not  individually  1  pound 
greater  on  the  average  than  when  he  brought  them  from  Connecticut  in  1844.  As  to 
increasing  the  weight  of  his  fleeces  by  a  French  cross,  there  is  no  probability  that 
such  a  cross  would  have  produced  such  a  result. 


EAST    OF    THE    MISSISSIPPI    RIVER.  261 

Improvement  in  the  At  wood  Merino  has  gone  ou.  The  heaviest  fleece 
shown  by  Mr.  Hammond  Weighed  27  pounds;  twenty-seven  years  more 
progress  gave  an  average  of  over  31  pounds  on  64  rams,  9  of  which 
yielded  fleeces  averaging  36  pounds  3  ounces  each.  Of  these  nine,  6 
attained  fleeces  the  average  of  which  exceeded  37  pounds.  Nor  was 
this  confined  to  the  rams.  Ewes  shearing  more  than  17J  pounds  are 
common,  and  the  records  show  that  many  have  exceeded  Mr.  Ham- 
mond's ewes  by  5  pounds  more  of  fleece,  and  that  in  1883  one  had  pro- 
duced 7  pounds  8  ounces  more  than  the  best  ewe  fleece  ever  produced 
by  Mr.  Hammond. 

The  increased  percentage  of  wool  to  the  carcass  also  shows  a  great  im- 
provement. Mr.  Randall  stated  in  1864  that  21  per  cent  of  wool  in  pro- 
portion to  meat  had  never  been  exceeded.  The  second  volume  of  the 
Vermont  Register  (1883)  shows  63  sheep  averaging  more  than  25  per 
cent  of  wool,  and  1  ram  in  the  list  yielded  15.2  per  cent  more  wool  than 
1*1  per  cent,  and  5  exceeded  it  by  more  than  10  per  cent.  These  facts 
show  the  great  character  of  the  At  wood  and  Hammond  flocks  and  that 
of  their  descendants  all  over  the  United  States,  and  the  subject  may  be 
pursued  here  no  further. 

Mr.  Atwood's  flock  usually  numbered  from  150  to  200,  and  in  1866 
was  divided  among  his  three  sons,  Chauncey,  George  S.,  and  Eben,  each 
taking  an  equal  third.  At  this  time  George  S.  Atwood  bought  out  his 
brother  Chauncey's  interest.  George  S.  Atwood  had  commenced  a 
flock  in  1839,  by  the  purchase  from  his  father  (Stephen  Atwood)  of  one 
two-year  old  ewe  and  one  ewe  lamb,  the  choice  from  those  ages.  He 
bred  from  these  two  and  their  descendants,  always  using  his  father's 
rams  and  those  bred  within  the  flock,  to  which  was  added  the  share 
coming  to  him  from  his  father's  flock  and  the  purchase  from  his  brother 
in  1866.  In  1871  he  purchased  5  ewes  from  the  estate  of  his  brother 
Eben,  bred  direct  from  his  father's  old  flock.  He  used  no  other  rams 
than  his  own  until  the  fall  of  1880,  when  he  let  his  sheep  out  to  Mr. 
Albert  Chapman,  of  Middlebury,  Vt.,  for  three  years.  The  entire  flock 
older  than  the  lambs  (24  in  number)  were  taken  to  Vermont  where  they 
remained  until  1884,  at  which  time  22  of  the  original  ewe  sheep  and  his 
share  of  the  female  increase  (10)  were  returned  to  Mr.  Atwood  in 
Connecticut.  In  1887  the  flock  numbered  20  rams  and  48  ewes. 

Old  Black,  one  of  the  early  noted  stock  rams  of  the  Hammond  flock, 
.was  bred  by  Mr.  Atwood  in  1841  and  was  sold  by  him  to  W.  R.  Sanford, 
of  Orwell,  Vt.,  who  afterwards  sold  an  interest  in  him  to  Edwin  Ham- 
mond and  W.  R.  Remele,  of  Middlebury,  Vt.,  and  was  used  by  them 
together.  His  live  weight  was  about  135  pounds  and  his  heaviest  fleece 
was  about!4  pounds  unwashed  wool.  He  was  long,  tall,  flat-ribbed, rather 
long  in  the  neck  and  head,  strong-boned,  inclined  to  be  roach- backed, 
deep  chested,  moderately  wrinkled;  his  wool  was  about  1J  inches  long, 
of  medium  thickness,  very  yolky,  and  dark-colored  externally ;  face  a 
little  bare,  and  much  wool  on  the  shanks.  He  was  not  possessed  of  a 


262        SHEEP  INDUSTRY  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES 

strong  constitution;  was  an  an  admirable  sire  of  ewes,  but  was  not 
so  good  for  rams.  He  was  sold  when  15  years  old  to  Capt.  S.  Sheldon, 
Fairhaven,  Vt.,  and  died  four  years  afterwards. 

Old  Matchless  was  also  bred  by,  Mr.  Atwood  in  1841,  and  sold  to 
Messrs.  Hammond  and  E.  P.  Hall  in  1844,  with  the  first  purchase 
of  rams  and  ewes  made  by  these  gentlemen  of  Mr.  Atwood.  His  live 
weight  was  from  135  to  145  pounds,  of  excellent  form,  commanding 
appearance,  and  strong  constitution.  He  yielded  10J  pounds  of  wool 
when  a  lamb,  but  his  usual  fleece  afterwards  was  about  12£  pounds. 
His  fleece  was  about  2  inches  long,  inclined  to  be  coarse,  of  medium 
thickness,  quite  yolky,  but,  thin  and  short  on  the  belly.  He  was  not 
well  covered  on  the  head,  and  was  bare  on  the  shanks.  He  gets  large, 
strong,  but  not  very  well-covered  lambs,  and  was  not  as  good  a  stock 
ram  as  Old  Black. 

Sweepstakes  was  bred  by  Edwin  Hammond  in  1856,  and  was  one  of 
the  most  celebrated  stock  rams.  He  weighed  in  full  fleece  about  150 
pounds,  and  taken  all  in  all  was  about  as  perfectly  formed  Merino  ram 
as  had  ever  been  seen  up  to  that  time,  and  defective  in  no  essential 
particular.  He  had  a  powerful  constitution.  His  fleece  was  of  high 
style  and  quality,  and  stood  up  stiff  and  unyielding  to  the  touch  and 
opened  in  blocks  or  seams;  oil  abundant  and  buff  in  color;  staple,  2J 
inches  long;  fiber,  3J  inches  long;  quality  of  fiber  about  medium 
and  very  uniform  throughout  the  fleece.  He  stood  very  straight  upon 
his  legs,  and  was  well  covered  with  wool  at  all  points  of  the  body,  and 
profusely  to  the  feet  all  around.  His  heaviest  fleece  weighed  27  pounds. 
He  made  a  marked  improvement  in  the  Hammond  flock,  and  was  pre- 
eminently a  ram  getter.  He  won  the  sweepstakes  premium  on  best 
ram  of  any  age  at  the  Vermont  State  fair  in  1861.  He  was  extensively 
used  by  other  Vermont  breeders,  and  by  some  outside  the  State.  He 
had  a  heavy  neck,  tail,  and  flank,  and  had  a  plain  body.  He  died  at 
the  Cream  Hill  stock  farm,  Shoreham,  yt.,  in  1867.  The  illustration 
presented  of  him  is  taken  from  the  Vermont  Eegister. 

The  Cook  ram,  yeaned  in  1841,  and  bred  by  Stephen  Atwood,  was 
sold  when  a  lamb  to  David  and  C.  E.  Cook,  Charlotte,  Vt.,  and  used  by 
them  as  a  stock  ram  on  the  ewes  purchased  of  Mr.  Atwood  at  the  same 
time  until  1845.  Little  Earn,  yeaned  in  1841,  was  sold  by  Mr.  Atwood 
to  Messrs.  Hammond  and  Hall,  January  27,  1844,  and  used  by  them  as 
a  stock  ram.  Atwood,  yeaned  in  1842,  was  sold  to  S.  L.  Bissell,  Shore- 
ham,  Vt.,  at  the  New  York  State  fair  at  Poughkeepsie.  Mr.  Bissell, 
on  the  way  home,  sold  a  half  interest  in  him  to  M.  W.  C.  Wright,  of 
Shoreham,  and  Mr.  Wright  sold  a  half  of  his  interest  to  S.  W.  Jewett, 
of  Weybridge.  Soon  after  he  was  sold  to  L.  C.  Eemele,  of  Shoreham, 
and  Prosper  Elitharp,  of  Bridport.  This  ram  weighed  about  100  pounds. 
His  heaviest  fleece  was  15  pounds,  which,  after  cleansing,  weighed  6 
pounds.  He  made  great  improvements  in  the  flocks  wrhere  he  was  used, 
and.  his  blood  has  descended  through  the  pedigrees  of  many  of  the  most 


• 


MERINO  RAM  "SWEEPSTAKES." 

ONE  OF  THE  BEST  IMPROVED  SPAN.8H  MER.NO  RAMS  OF  TWENTY  YEARS  AGO 
,  "  REGISTER  OF  THE  VERMONT  MER.NO  SHEEP  BREEDERS    A88OC.AT.ON,      VOU   I,  « 


EAST    OF    THE- MISSISSIPPI    RIVER.  263 

( -de]  trak'd  slircp  of  Vermont.  He  died  in  1850,  the  property  of  Mr.  Eli- 
tharp.  Black  Buck  was  sold  to  C.  B.  Cook,  of  Vermont,  the  Atwood 
ram  sold  to  D.  &  G.  Cutting,  and  the  George  Atwood  ram,  sold  also 
to  D.  &  G.  Cutting,  Shoreham,  Vt.,  were  additional  channels  through 
which  the  Atwood  blood  found  its  way  into  many  of  the  Vermont  flocks 
and  laid  the  foundation  of  others. 

Another  noted  flock  of  Connecticut  was  that  of  Jacob  K.  Blakeslee, 
of  Watertown,  and  we  give  the  history  of  it  as  furnished  the  Cultivator 
by  Mr.  Blakeslee  in  1844: 

My  pure-bloods  are  the  offspring  of  some  of  the  first  that  ever  came  into  the  United 
States,  brought  into  the  country  by  David  Humphreys  in  1802,  which  were  a  present 
to  his  wife  by  her  father.  After  a  few  years  two  pairs  of  them  were  purchased  by 
Daniel  Bacon,  of  Woodbury,  Litchfield  County.  They  were  kept  in  their  pure  state 
till  1811.  There  was  then  an  importation  of  the  Guadaloupe  sheep  by  a  company 
formed  in  Litchfield  County,  John  De  Forest,  supercargo.  They  arrived  at  New 
Haven,  and  were  sold  at  auction  January  17,  1811.  There  was  one  full-blood  Escu- 
rial  buck,  which  was  purchased  by  Daniel  Bacon  at  $275,  and  was  crossed  upon 
those  sheep  that  came  by  the  way  of  Mrs.  Humphreys.  He  continued  this  cross  till 
1816  or  1817,  when  he  sold  his  Escurial  buck  to  William  K.  Lampson.  He  kept  his 
sheep  pure  till  the  introduction  of  Saxony  sheep.  He  then  sold  the  remainder  of  his 
flock  to  Daniel  Martin.  I  began  a  flock  of  sheep  in  1815  that  were  imported  by  Peck 
&  At  water,  New  Haven.  A  part  of  them  were  the  Negretti  and  a  part  Montarco.  I 
let  them  run  together  till  1823.  I  then  procured  the  use  of  a  buck  for  three  seasons, 
bred  by  Daniel  Bacon  from  his  Escurial  buck.  The  average  weight  of  the  fleeces  of 
the  stock  from  this  buck  was  4  pounds,  and  the  wool  brought  me  10  cents  a  pound 
more  than  the  original  stock.  In  1828  I  purchased  a  buck  that  was  raised  by  Daniel 
Bacon.  From  that  time  down  to  the  present  (1844)  I  have  kept  that  blood  pure;  this 
flock  is  now  a  cross  of  three  sorts  of  Spanish  sheep,  and  perfectly  clear  from  native 
or  Saxony  blood.  My  farm  is  not  a  healthy  farm  for  sheep,  and  of  course  they  are  a 
little  under  size.  They  are  a  full,  round,  handsome  bodied  sheep,  with  shortish  legs 
and  a  very  round  neck.  They  have  very  heavy  fleeces  for  their  size.  Their  wool  is 
a  long  staple,  a  great  deal  of  crimp  and  very  compact  at  the  outer  end.  They  have 
generally  wool  about  their  face  and  on  their  legs  down  to  their  feet.  After  taking 
great  pains  to  wash  them,  the  average  weight  of  their  fleeces  this  season  was  3£ 
pounds,  and  there  are  very  few  flocks  of  Saxony  sheep  that  are  finer.  Mr.  Samuel 
Lawrence,  of  Lowell,  who  has  had  this  wool  for  four  seasons  past,  has  given  his  opin- 
ion that  there  is  no  Merino  wool  that  compares  with  it.  This  improvement  has  been 
made  by  a  cross  of  the  different  breeds.  I  am  decidedly  of  the  opinion  that  there  is 
no  full-blood  animal  equal  to  a  cross;  the  reason  I  give  is  that  there  is  no  perfect 
animal  on  the  face  of  this  earth ;  where  an  animal  is  imperfect  you  can  never  remedy 
the  defect  by  the  use  of  an  animal  that  has  the  same  defect. 

This  statement  is  incorrect  in  some  points.  The  buck  spoken  of  as 
being  purchased  by  Daniel  Bacon  was  not  an  Escurial  but  a  Guada- 
loupe, and  the  importation  spoken  of  as  being  made  by  Peck  &  Atwater 
was  in  reality  made  by  Abraham  Heaton  and  others,  and  consisted  of 
30  Guadaloupes  and  12  Negrettis.  But  the  main  facts  remain  that  Mr. 
Blakeslee's  flock  was  made  up  from  the  two  importations  into  Few 
Haven,  December  27,  1810,  and  January  3,  1811,  consisting  of  Infan- 
tados,  Guadaloupes,  and  Negrettis,  and  that  afterwards  he  purchased 
rams  bred  by  Daniel  Bacon,  descended  from  the  ram  imported  in  the 
Bellona,  January  3,  1811,  and  described  by  Mr.  Heaton  as  of  superior 


264  SHEEP   INDUSTRY    OF    THE    UNITED    STATES 

size  and  form,  and  by  Mr.  Blakeslee  as  the  best  of  all  the  original 
importations  he  had  ever  seen.*  On  June  2, 1846,  Mr.  Blakeslee  stated 
that  he  had  been  informed  by  Dr.  Samuel  Elton,  who  was  one  of  the 
importers  of  the  cargo  of  1811,  that  the  Bacon  or  Lampson  buck  was  a 
full-blooded  Escurial. 

Mr.  Blakeslee  made  a  great  improvement  on  his  sheep.  When  he 
began  his  flock  in  1815  his  sheep  averaged  not  far  from  3  pounds  of  wool 
to  the  head.  They  were  Spanish  Merinos  of  the  finest  kind.  By  care- 
ful breeding  the  fleeces  were  largely  increased.  The  first  buck  that  he 
ever  sheared  gave  5  pounds.  He  had  bucks  in  1869  that  sheared  11 
pounds.t 

Mr.  Blakeslee  died  in  1877,  and  the  disposition  of  his  flock  is  not 
definitely  known.  Chapman  says  but  little  of  this  blood  is  now  left  in 
the  flocks  of  Vermont,  it  being  crossed  out  here  as  elsewhere  by  the 
Atwood  and  Eich  blood.  The  more  marked  characteristics  of  his  sheep 
were  their  moderate  size,  smooth  bodies,  covered  with  a  fleece  unri- 
valed by  that  of  any  other  pure  Merino  family  of  that  day  for  length 
of  staple,  fine,  crimpy,  elastic  fiber  with  a  free  circulating  oil  that  gave 
great  softness  to  the  feel,  and  brilliancy  to  the  appearance  of  the  whole 
fleece.  They  were  somewhat  inferior  to  the  other  families  of  Merino 
sheep  in  constitution.  The  great  reaction  from  the  Merino  for  Saxon 
fineness  and  weak  constitution  demanded  sheep  of  a  much  more  decided 
type  for  heavy  fleece — strong  constitution,  and  more  of  the  distinguish- 
ing marks  of  the  Merino  as  exhibited  in  heavy  folds  and  wrinkles.  For 
these  reasons  the  Blakeslee  blood  has  been  bred  out  of  most  flocks  until 
those  few  where  it  was  introduced  have  a  very  small  fraction  of  it  left.f 

Of  the  flock  of  Daniel  Bacon  nothing  definite  of  its  early  history  has 
come  down  to  us.  From  all  that  is  known  it  is  supposable  that  he 
commenced  his  flock  with  Humphreys  sheep  some  time  before  the  im- 
portations of  1810  and  1811,  and  that  he  had  a  full-blood  ram  before  the 
Ceres  or  Bellona  importations  of  December  27,  1810,  and  January  3, 
1811,  is  certain  from  this  extract  from  Stephen  Atwood's  memoranda: 
"October  29, 1810,  took  three-quarters  blood  ewes  to  Bacon's  full-blood 
buck."  And  again:  " November  1  (1810),  took  four  ewes  to  Bacon's 
full  blood  buck;  and  the  smut  three-eighths  went  to  the  Bacon  ram  No- 
vember 10.  Plat  ewe  and  Beardsley  ewe — two  three-fourths  ewes — went 
to  Bacon's  ram  between  the  1st  of  November  and  time  of  S.  Atwood's  ewes 
going  to  the  Stoddart  buck."  As  Mr,  Atwood  says  he  bred  from  Hum- 
phreys rams,  this  must  be  accepted  as  showing  that  Bacon  had  Hum- 
phreys rams,  which  is  further  confirmed  by  the  statement  made  by  Mr. 
Blakeslee  that  "two  pairs  of  them  (Humphreys  sheep)  were  purchased 
by  Daniel  Bacon"  and  kept  pure  till  1811.  Then  he  purchased  the 
Guadaloupe  buck  and  put  in  his  flock,  and  from  the  progeny  he  sold, 

*  See  further  of  these  importations,  Chapter  in,  pp.  200-203. 

t  Statement  of  Mr.  Blakeslee  at  meeting  of  Connecticut  Board  of  Agriculture,  1869. 

t  Register  of  the  Vermont  Merino  Sheep  Breeders'  Association,  Vol.  I. 


EAST    OF    THE    MISSISSIPPI    RIVER.  265 

October  14, 1820,  a  half  Guadaloupe  and  about  half  Humphreys  buck 
to  Mr.  Atwood,  which  was  used  by  the  latter  in  his  flock.  The  subse- 
quent history  of  this  flock  has  been  told  in  the  statement  made  by  Mr, 
Blakeslee.  The  chief  interest  attached  to  it  arises  from  the  presence 
of  the  Guadaloupe  ram  in  it,  spoken  of  by  all  the  breeders  of  that  day 
as  greatly  superior  to  any  other  sheep  then  owned  in  the  country,  and 
much  sought  after  and  used  very  generally  by  other  breeders,  among 
whom  were  both  Stephen  Atwood  and  Jacob  N.  Blakeslee. 

There  were  many  other  flocks  of  Merinos  in  Connecticut  at  an  early 
day,  but  the  data  concerning  them  are  meager  and  defective.  Mr. 
Chapman  made  a  painstaking  investigation  there  under  many  difficul- 
ties. The  earliest  breeders  had  all  passed  away,  and,  with  the  ex- 
ception of  Mr.  Atwood,  left  no  record  of  the  origin  and  breeding  of 
their  flocks.  Those  who  started  their  flocks  a  little  later,  if  still  living, 
had  nearly  all  sold  their  sheep,  and  having  lost  their  direct  interest  in 
the  subject  seemed  to  remember  very  little  that  could  be  used  as  accu- 
rate and  reliable  data  as  to  times  when  different  strains  of  blood  from 
the  later  importations  were  introduced  into  their  flocks.  But  he  found 
facts  sufficient  to  warrant  him  in  the  conclusion  that  most  of  the  early 
Merino  flocks  of  Connecticut  were  started  from  the  importation  which 
Col.  Humphreys  made  in  1802,  and  that  subsequently  the  blood  of  the 
Heaton  or  other  importations  of  1810  and  1811  was  introduced  into  all 
those  flocks,  without  any  exception,  in  greater  or  less  degree,  under 
such  circumstances  as  preclude  the  possibility  of  any  having  been  kept 
purely  or  distinctively  Humphreys.*  Among  these  early  breeders  were 
W.  K.  Lampson,  who  purchased  the  Bacon  ram;  Youuglove  Cutler, 
who  began  with  a  few  Humphreys  sheep  and  afterwards  had  some  of 
the  Heaton  importation ;  Lemuel  Stone,  of  whom  Mr.  Atwood  said  he 
purchased  Humphreys  sheep  in  1819;  and  Joseph  and  Samuel  H.  Ket- 
tleton,  both  of  whom  had  flocks  started  from  the  Humphreys  importa- 
tion, into  which  was  bred  the  blood  of  the  Heaton  importation  at  an 
early  day.  Twenty  ewes  of  Joseph  Nettleton's  flock  were  sold  to  J.  S. 
Pettibone,  Manchester,  Yt.  Joseph  Nettleton  died  in  1824  and  his 
flock  was  purchased  by  his  brother,  Samuel  H.  Kettleton. 

One  of  the  early  and  choice  flocks  of  Connecticut  was  that  of  John  A. 
Taintor,  who  bred  from  the  Paular  and  Guadaloupe,  and  which  was 
particularly  distinguished  for  the  quantity  and  quality  of  their  wool, 
differing  from  the  others  in  a  looseness  of  skin  on  the  neck,  with  a  more 
evident  degree  of  throatiness.  Their  lambs  were  generally  produced 
with  a  coarse,  heavy  appearance,  which  was  succeeded  by  a  coat  of 
unusual  closeness  and  of  excellent  quality.  The  great  object  he  had  in 
view  when  he  formed  his  flock  was  quantity  and  quality,  for  with  the 
first  requisite  he  always  found  the  hardiest,  strongest  constitutions. 
He  endeavored  to  obtain  a  fleece  that  would  produce  the  greatest  profit, 
and  so  well  had  he  succeeded  that  to  the  time  when  the  Saxony  sheep 

*  Register  of  the  Vermont  Merino  Sheep  Breeders'  Association,  Vol.  n. 


266        SHEEP  INDUSTRY  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES 

were  introduced  his  entire  flock  averaged  4J  to  4|  pounds  of  washed 
wool,  and  sold  at  70  to  75  cents  a  pound.  There  were  no  wethers,  and 
the  ewes  would  shear  from  3f  to  4J  pounds;  bucks  from  6  to  9  pounds, 
and  yearlings  from  4  to  4J  pounds.  Soon  after  crossing  with  the 
Saxons  he  lost  not  only  in  the  value  of  the  fleece,  but  still  more  by 
feebleness  of  constitution.  In  1833  he  became  satisfied  of  his  mistake 
and  sold  out  all  his  Saxons,  reserving  to  himself  such  of  his  old  Merinos 
as  he  could  select  that  had  escaped  the  general  slaughter,  and  by  repur- 
chasing some  he  had  previously  sold  formed  a  new  flock.  There  was  at 
this  time  in  Connecticut  a  general  disposition  to  get  rid  of  the  light- 
fleeced  Saxon  and  replace  them  by  the  Spanish  Merino. 

Among  the  early  breeders  was  a  Mr.  Wadsworth,  of  Middletown, 
Conn.,  who,  on  June  8,  1825,  exhibited  a  ram,  6  years  old,  weighing 
140  pounds,  that  had  never  been  sheared  and  had  not  shed  his  wool. 
The  length  of  his  fleece  was  17  inches,  estimated  to  weigh  30  to  40 
pounds.  For  fineness  of  texture,  length  of  staple,  and  beauty  of  appear- 
ance, it  was  believed  not  to  be  surpassed  by  any  single  fleece  in  the 
country.  The  animal  enjoyed  perfect  health  and  did  not  suffer  from 
the  changes  and  the  extremes  of  the  climate. 

Although  Connecticut  was,  in  many  parts,  well  adapted  to  the  raising 
of  Merino  sheep,  and  had  many  factories  to  consume  their  wool,  for 
causes  operating  similarly  to  those  of  Massachusetts  the  growing  of 
fine  wool  was  not  successfully  prosecuted,  and  she  yielded  her  breeding- 
advantages  to  Vermont,  many  of  the  choice  sheep  of  her  most  noted 
flocks  being  taken  into  that  State.  In  1824  the  Saxony  Merinos  were 
introduced  into  the  State  and  most  of  the  flocks  crossed  with  them, 
that  of  Stephen  Atwood  being  the  noted  exception.  Mr.  Scoville, 
of  Salisbury,  commenced  a  Saxon  flock  this  year  and  maintained  it  for 
many  years,  disposing  of  choice  animals  to  woolgrowers  of  Massachu- 
setts and  other  States.  Mr.  Hurlburt,  of  Winchester,  in  connection 
with  Henry  Watson,  of  East  Windsor,  purchased  some  of  the  best 
Saxons  of  the  first  importations,  and  Charles  B.  Smith,  of  Walcottville, 
at  a  later  day,  made  importations  from  the  best  Saxony  flocks.  In  1845 
there  were  Spanish  Merinos  and  Saxony  Merinos  of  various  grades  dis- 
posed all  over  the  State,  but  the  pure  blood  flocks  could  be  counted  on 
one's  fingers.  In  1846  John  Ward,  of  Salisbury,  had  a  flock  of  700 
Saxons  with  fleeces  averaging  2J  pounds.  E.  G.  Camp,  of  Litchfield, 
had  170  Saxons,  derived  mostly  from  the  flock  of  Charles  B.  Smith. 
The  wool  was  very  fine,  averaged  2}|-  pounds  to  the  sheep,  and  sold  for 
66  to  68  cents  per  pound.  Henry  Watson  had  a  flock  of  high  grade 
Saxons  crossed  with  Spanish  Merino  rams.  The  average  yield  of  wool 
was  3  pounds  per  head,  the  rams  giving  5  to  6J  pounds.  The  market 
for  Saxony  sheep  from  1840  to  1850  was  not  good  in  Connecticut,  but 
many  were  sold  in  western  Pennsylvania  and  Ohio. 

With  the  elimination  of  the  Saxony  opened  the  era  of  the  French 
Merino.  The  orginal  breeds  of  France  have  been  so  generally  crossed 


EAST    OF    THE    MISSISSIPPI   RIVER.  267 

that  a  description  of  them  would  be  attended  with  many  difficulties. 
Kvrry  pasture  had  its  favorite  sheep,  every  district  had  many  varieties 
of  pasture,  but  it  can  be  said  upon  the  whole  that  except  towards  the 
south  of  the  country  they  did  not  yield  a  fleece  possessing  much  value 
for  the  woolen  manufacture;  they  were  in  fact  the  kind  of  sheep  still 
found  in  all  the  countries  bordering  the  German  Ocean  from  the  Elbe 
to  the  Seine. 

The  first  concerted  improvement  in  the  sheep  of  France  was  in  the 
direction  of  better  wool,  and  was  before  1721,  when  some  Spanish  ewes 
were  brought  into  the  country.  Towards  the  middle  of  the  century 
other  Spanish  sheep  were  procured,  and  Trudaine,  the  French  minis- 
ter, imported  a  flock  in  1776.  Private  individuals  made  importations 
between  1776  and  1786.  In  1785  Louis  XVI,  who  two  years  before  had 
bought  the  domain  of  Kambouillet,  on  which  he  had  established  an 
experimental  farm,  obtained  from  the  King  of  Spain  permission  to  pur- 
elm  se  and  take  from  the  Kingdom  a  flock  of  pure  Merinos.  The  Span- 
ish King  gave  orders  that  the  selection  should  be  made  from  the  finest 
flocks  of  his  Kingdom.  The  flock  was  selected  around  Segovia  from 
the  flocks  known  as  the  Serales,  Perella,  Paular,  Negretti,  Escurial, 
Alcola,  San  Juan,  Portago,  Iranda,  and  Salezar,  and  was  taken  by  easy 
stages  to  Eambouillet,  after  having  passed  the  winter  in  the  lands  of 
Bordeaux.  About  60  died  on  the  journey  and  the  number  arriving  at 
Kambouillet  was  366 — 318  ewes,  41  rams,  and  7  wethers.  Shortly  after 
their  arrival  it  was  discovered  that  they  were  affected  with  the  rot, 
which  carried  off  35  ewes  and  60  lambs. 

Pictet,  a  French  writer,  who  paid  great  attention  to  sheep  husbandry, 
says  of  this  flock  of  Spanish  Merinos,  selected  from  11  (10)  cabanas, 
that  there  was  no  uniformity  in  their  appearance  or  outline;  some  were 
long  legged,  others  short  and  thick  legged;  on  some  the  entire  head  and 
part  of  the  face  and  the  legs,  down  to  the  very  hoofs,  were  covered  with 
wool,  while  on  others  these  parts  were  destitute;  some  had  straight 
and  others  round  faces ;  some  broad  and  others  narrow  foreheads ;  some 
with  large  and  others  with  small  ears ;  some  with  a  large  dewlap  and  folds 
around  the  neck,  others  with  none;  some  with  rounded  ribs,  broad  hips, 
and  small  back,  others  the  reverse;  some  with  bulging  and  others  with 
depressed  backbones. 

Another  writer,  a  few  years  later,  said  that  the  flock  was  composed  of 
individuals  of  extraordinary  beauty,  unknown  until  then  in  all  those  of 
the  same  breed  that  had  been  chosen  from  a  great  number  of  flocks  and 
brought  from  Spain  at  different  periods.  These  animals  were  of  a  motley 
color,  disagreeable  to  the  eye,  though  immaterial  in  regard  to  quality; 
the  characteristic  differences  were  blended  somewhat  in  the  successive  alli- 
ances of  the  individuals  in  which  they  showed  themselves,  and  it  resulted 
in  a  breed  that  perhaps  resembles  none  of  those  of  which  the  first  flock 
was  composed,  but  which  yields  nothing  in  beauty  as  to  form,  size  of 


268        SHEEP  INDUSTRY  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES 

body,  and  good  constitution  of  the  animal,  and  fineness,  softness,  anc 
quality  and  quantity  of  wool. 

The  height  of  these  sheep  varied  from  24  to  30  inches,  the  first  being 
in  places  where  the  pasture  was  light,  the  soil  dry,  and  the  feed  poor. 
The  perfect  ram  is  thus  described  by  Prof.  Gilbert,  the  manager  of  the 
Eambouillet  flock : 

The  highest  type  of  ram  of  a  pure  race  has  the  eyes  extremely  lively,  and  all  his 
movements  are  quick.  His  face  is  free  and  rhythmical.  In  those  of  first  quality  the 
head  is  wide,  flat,  square;  the  lines  of  his  front,  instead  of  being  arched  and  short 
as  in  the  French  races,  are  straight,  rounded  on  both  sides,  and  very  large.  His  ears 
are  very  short,  the  horns  very  thick,  large,  full  of  wrinkles,  and  turned  in  redoubled 
spirals.  The  nape  is  very  wide  and  thick.  The  neck  is  short,  the  crop  round,  the 
back  well  rounded,  the  loins  wide,  the  dewlap  hangs  very  low  and  wide.  The  stern 
is  wide  and  round,  and  the  legs  strong,  large,  and  well  wooled.  His  broad  body  is 
covered  with  a  very  fine,  well-crimped  wool,  long,  soft,  and  compact,  constituting  a 
wool  superior  to  all  other  races.  It  is  even  over  all  parts  of  his  body,  from  his  eyes 
to  his  hoofs.  It  is  remarkably  free  from  yolk,  but  with  oil  sufficient  to  promote  the 
greatest  growth,  finest  fiber,  and  most  compact  fleece,  which  always  parts  as  a  book 
opens.  The  finest  ewes  approximate  in  form  the  character  and  beauty  of  the  finest 
rams. 

At  the  time  of  the  importation  of  this  flock  the  weights  of  the  mi- 
sheared  rams  were  approximately  110  to  120  pounds,  that  of  the  ewes, 
also  unsheared,  was  about  72J  to  88  pounds.  The  fleece  of  the  rams 
weighed  about  8  &  pounds ;  that  of  the  ewes  about  7  J  pounds.  The  wool 
of  the  ram  was  2f-0  inches  in  length;  that  of  the  ewe  2  inches. 

The  flock  was  gradually  increased,  and  rams  and  ewes  were  given  and 
distributed  among  the  farmers,  and  every  means  used  to  extend  the 
breed  among  the  agriculturists  of  France;  but  as  soon  as  it  was  per- 
ceived that  the  unenlightened  cultivators  of  the  soil  did  not  appreciate 
them,  even  as  a  gift,  they  were  offered  for  sale,  and  the  provincial  ad- 
ministrations, then  established,  secured  them.  They  were  thus  sent 
into  Burgundy,  Bresse,  Dauphiny,  Champagne,  Normandy,  Berry, 
Poitou,  Picardy,  Brie,  Beauce,  and  other  places  where  their  virtue  was 
attested  by  the  increased  value  of  flocks  into  which  the  blood  was  intro- 
duced. 

The  Eambouillet  flock  was  put  under  the  care  of  an  agricultural  com- 
mission at  the  beginning  of  the  French  revolution,  and  through  all  the 
horrors  of  that  great  popular  upheaval  it  was  preserved  from  dangers 
which  on  several  occasions  menaced  it. 

From  the  day  of  its  foundation  in  1786  to  the  present,  a  period  of 
over  a  century,  this  flock  has  been  conducted  with  the  closest  attention. 
Every  particular  has  been  noted  and  studied.  It  has  been  carefully 
guarded,  and  every  means  taken  to  insure  its  purity.  The  record  of  its 
progress,  therefore,  to  the  date  of  the  introduction  of  some  of  its  individ- 
uals into  Connecticut  and  elsewhere  in  the  United  States  must  be 
stated. 

Grain  was  fed  to  a  very  limited  degree.  Lucern,  clover,  and  the 
good  pasture  of  high  meadows  were  very  satisfactory  to  the  sheep. 


8.   DEL. 


RAMBOUILLET  RAM,  1787. 
FROM  "ANNUAL  REPORT   DEPARTMENT  OF  AGRICULTURE,"  187&. 


RAMBOUILLET  RAM,  1873. 
FROM  "ANNUAL  REPORT   DEPARTMENT  OF  AGRICULTURE,"  18?5. 


EAST    OF    THE    MISSISSIPPI    RIVER.  269 

During  the  coupling  season  oats  were  given  to  the  rams  to  invigorate 
them,  under  the  conviction  that  the  invigoration  had  a  powerful  influ- 
ence upon  the  size  and  constitution  of  the  lambs,  and  the  quality  of 
the  wool.  One  month  before  lambing  some  bran  and  oats  were  given 
to  the  ewes.  Bourgeois,  once  director  of  the  flock,  said  that  a  ewe  of 
medium  size  should  eat  2J  pounds  of  grain  every  day;  and  again,  that 
the  ewes  every  day  in  lambing  time  should  have  a  half-pound  mixture 
of  bran  and  oats,  with  a  half  pound  of  lucern  or  kidney  beans  and  2 
pounds  of  one  or  the  other  of  these  two  feedings  when  the  flock  did  not 
go  to  the  fields.  Independent  of  this,  2  pounds  of  barley  straw  should 
be  given.  With  this  food  the  sheep  were  kept  in  good  condition.  The 
flock  was  treated  in  this  manner  for  a  long  time,  and  the  sheep  never 
attained  a  corpulence  that  was  excessive  or  prejudicial  to  health.  They 
were  vigorous  and  robust.  In  1802  the  average  measurement  of  the 
ewes  in  height  was  24  J  inches,  in  1834  146  ewes  measured  an  average 
of  25J  inches.  About  the  latter  date  there  was  a  change  in  the  man- 
agement. The  advanced  size  and  fleece  were  respected,  but  the  new 
management  wanted  a  change  in  the  direction  of  mutton.  Several 
English  breeds  had  been  imported  into  France  exclusively  for  mutton, 
and  their  cross  on  the  Merinos,  then  distributed  widely  in  some  of  the 
districts,  attracted  attention,  and  outside  pressure,  if  we  may  so  term 
it,  was  felt  at  the  Kambouillet  directory.  They  sought  to  have  the 
Merinos  approximate  the  type  of  those  races  characterized  by  large- 
ness of  body,  beauty  of  form,  and  regularity  of  proportions,  and  to 
attain  this  object  as  the  result  of  selection  and  high  feeding.  There 
was  no  question  about  the  importance  of  the  fleece,  but  they  sought 
after  good  form  and  large  AV eight  of  carcass. 

In  1802  the  finest  ewes  weighed,  shorn,  90  pounds  ;  since  they  suffered  from  the 
natural  influence  of  their  new  habitation  the  average  weight  was  80  pounds.  Their 
descendants  in  1847  averaged  120  pounds.  In  this  space  of  forty-five  years  the  fleece 
had  not  increased  materially,  having  only  advanced  from  7  pounds  9  ounces  to  7 
pounds  10  ounces.  It  is  proven  that  these  conditions  depended  upon  the  regimen 
of  the  sheep,  successively  fed  upon  substantial  pasture  and  abundantly  supplied 
with  grain.  This  was  a  regimen  for  early  maturity.  It  is  probable  that  this  tend- 
ency to  produce  a  sheep  more  for  mutton  than  for  wool  was  not  satisfactory.  It  is 
shown  by  attested  data  in  1881  that  the  food  of  the  sheep  had  been  continuously 
moderated,  and  their  weight  gradually  resumed  the  limits  natural  to  them  before 
their  importation,  while  some  exceptionally  fine  sheep  attained  notable  propor- 
ions.  It  must  be  understood  that  as  there  are  precocious  races  which  demand 
and  must  be  supplied  with  rich  food,  and  require  to  live  in  abundance,  there  are 
other  races  that  are  slow  to  develop,  and  are  satisfied  with  very  little,  and  can 
endure  much  privation.  Of  sheep,  the  Merino  is  of  the  latter  type;  and  to  develop 
them  to  the  type  sought,  their  natural  environment  must  be  changed.  In  a  word, 
the  Merino  is  a  cosmopolitan  race,  and  prospers  wherever  it  is  found.  Other  races 
will  not  do  this;  consequently,  the  Merino  is  more  susceptible  to  advancement  than 
other  sheep.* 

In  January,  1880,  William G.  Markhammade  some  inquiries  of  Mon- 
sieur Bernardine,  director  of  the  Kambouillet  flock  at  that  time,  and 

*  History  of  Kambouillet  sheep.    American  Kambouillet  Record. 


270 


SHEEP  INDUSTRY  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES 


regarding  the  history  and  tendency  of  the  improvement  Mr.  Bernard- 
iiie  replied : 

From  1840  the  object  was  to  produce  Merinos  of  which  the  animals  were  at  the 
same  time  valuable  for  slaughtering  and  for  the  production  of  wool.  The  fleece 
ceased  to  be  the  entirely  predominating  consideration  in  the  choice  reproducing  ani- 
mals. The  chief  end  was  plump  and  well-developed  forms,  and  by  a  rich  regimen 
animals  were  obtained,  about  1850,  having  very  large  weight,  but  which  were  very 
exacting  and  less  robust,  and  the  fleece  of  which  was  not  in  relation  with  their 
weight,  either  as  to  quantity  or  quality  of  wool.  The  end  in  view,  the  mutton,  had 
almost  destroyed  the  folds,  which,  with  the  exception  of  a  few  subjects,  scarcely 
comprised  more  than  those  of  the  neck,  and  the  result  was  to  diminish  the  value  of 
the  animals  in  the  eyes  of  foreigners.  Shortly  after  1850  these  errors  were  renounced, 
and  efforts  were  made  to  bring  the  flock  back  to  its  true  and  ancient  type  by  making 
choice  more  with  regard  to  wool,  and  repudiating  the  exaggeration  of  development 
in  the  choice  of  reproducing  animals  and  the  superabundant  and  onerous  feeding 
that  had  been  practiced  to  attain  this  end.  The  Negretti  type  again  acquired  im- 
portance and  the  folds  they  bore  were  no  longer  excluded,  but  sought  after  rather  as 
characters  essential  to  animals  furnishing  the  richest  fleeces,  and  corresponding  bet- 
ter with  the  desire  of  foreigners,  who  came  to  Rambouillet  to  seek  reproducing  ani- 
mals. It  was  especially  since  1867  that  the  improvement  of  the  flock  has  realized 
marked  progress  with  regard  to  production  of  wool,  and  a  return  to  their  primitive 
aptitude  to  live  exclusively  011  pasture  and  to  support  intemperate  conditions,  and 
the  privations  resulting  from  dry  seasons  and  the  natural  aridity  of  pasturage. 

The  average  weight  of  unsheared  rams  has  been  as  follows : 

Pounds. 
In  1786..  ..110  to  120 


In  1801 
In  1802 
In  1847 
In  1851 
In  1867 
In  1878 


114 
131 

201 


159 


For  ewes  tiic  average  weight  has  been  as  follows: 


Pounds. 
In  1786..  ..72  to  88 


In  1801 
In  1802 
In  1847 
In  1851 
In  1867 


93H 


135, 


In  1878  ......................................................    115  vV 

In  1786  the  height  of  these  sheep  ranged  from  24  to  30  inches. 
1801  and  1802  the  height,  length,  and  girth  were  as  here  shown  : 


In 


180 

1. 

18C 

2. 

Rams. 

Ewes. 

Rams. 

Ewes. 

Height  

Inches. 

28  8 

Inches. 
26  8 

Inches. 
28  3 

Inches. 
25  6 

Len^t  li  

45  6 

46  4 

53  1 

59  2 

Girth  

50  8 

50  4 

43  3 

44  4 

EAST    OF    THE    MISSISSIPPI    RIVER. 


271 


The  following  table  was  recorded  at  Rambouillet,  February  12,  1801, 
showing  weight  and  dimensions  of  two,  three,  and  four  year  old  rains 
and  ewes : 


- 

Age. 

Weight. 

Height. 

Length. 

Girth. 

Rams 

Yean. 
4 

Lbs.    oz. 
109    1  5 

Inches. 
28  4 

Inchet. 

Indies. 

Do                                          

q 

122    4  5 

28  8 

46  8 

V>  A 

Do 

2 

111 

28  8 

46  0 

114 

28  8 

XK    C 

E 

A 

92    6  4 

°6  8 

Do                                                      

I 

97    1  5 

27  2 

47  2 

50  8 

Do                   

2 

93    6  5 

26  4 

47  2 

50  4 

Average  of  ewes  

93  11  25 

26  8 

46  4 

50  4 

The  shearing  of  1794  showed  the  following  product: 

Lbs.  Oz. 

13  mature  rams  averaged  each 8  8 

86  young  rams  averaged  each 6  9 

199  breeding  ewes  averaged  each 6  9 

67  ewes,  2  and  3  years  old,  each 6  9 

85  ewe  lambs  averaged  each 6  1 

In  1796  the  average  weight  of  fleece  of  the  entire  flock  was  6  pounds 
9  ounces;  in  1797  it  was  8  pounds;  in  1798  it  was  7  pounds;  and  8 
pounds  in  1799  and  1800.  In  1801  the  average  weight  of  fleece  was  9 
pounds  1  ounce. 

In  1804  the  wool  produced  was  as  follows :  45  rams  gave  an  average 
of  7  pounds  7  ounces;  101  ewes,  4  years  old  and  over,  7  pounds  13 
ounces ;  60  ewes,  from  2  to  3  years  old,  7  pounds  12  ounces ;  70  lambs 
averaged  6  pounds. 

In  1813  the  wool  of  one-third  of  the  flock,  which  was  weighed  prepara- 
tory to  sale,  yielded  as  follows :  13  rams,  146  pounds,  average  8  pounds 
12  ounces;  43  ewes,  316  pounds,  average  7  pounds  7  ounces;  21  ewes, 
from  2  to  3  years  old,  148  pounds,  average  7  pounds  1  ounce;  29  lambs, 
204  pounds,  average  7  pounds. 

The  general  average  was  7  pounds  13  ounces  per  fleece. 

In  1817  the  average  weight  of  the  fleece  was  higher.  It  was  8  pounds 
for  one  flock  composed  of  sheep  of  the  different  classes,  in  the  same 
proportion  as  the  fleeces  of  1813.  In  1834, 107  rams  averaged  11  pounds 
12  ounces;  206  ewes  averaged  7  pounds  3  ounces,  and  77  lambs  6 
pounds  13  ounces  each.  In  1838,  40  rams  yielded  an  average  of  10 
pounds  4  ounces;  201  ewes  and  85  lambs,  an  average  of  7  pounds. 


272 


3HEEP    INDUSTRY    OF    THE    UNITED    STATES 
Shearing  of  June,  1847. 


No. 

Ages. 

Average 
weight 
after 
shearing. 

Average 
weight 
of  fleece. 

Select  rams  

2 

1  J  years  .... 

Lbs.     Oz. 
187      8 

Lbs.     Oz. 
12      8 

10 

190      9  6 

10    12 

Breeding  ewes  

158 

3  to  7  years 

120    13  8 

7      95 

77 

101    11  2 

8      17 

Shearing  of  May,  1851. 


4 

1J  years 

160 

4  8 

11 

]  5 

Breedin<T  ewes  

194 

3£  to  11£  years  .  .  . 

108 

7  4 

6 

12  7 

61 

94 

13 

8 

3 

Shearing  of  March,  1869. 


7 

171 

2  3 

]5      51 

60 

11  years 

135 

1  6 

13      11 

Breeding  ewes  

186 

3£  vears  and  over  . 

104 

9.5 

8      97 

113 

li  years 

90 

5  1 

9    12  2 

Shearing  of  May,  1877. 


Adult  ram  s              

15 

2|  years  

165 

12.5 

16 

9  3 

64 

1£  years 

136 

7  2 

14 

14  4 

77 

2-i  years  -  .            

88 

8.1 

10 

14  6 

Breeding  ewes  

324 

3£  years  and  over  . 

92 

9 

13.1 

110 

1£  years 

85 

10.8 

10 

10  4 

All  ewes        

521 

1J  years  and  over  . 

90 

2.3 

10 

3.1 

Some  experiments  made  at  Eambouillet  on  the  growth  of  the  fleece 
are  of  interest.  On  the  recommendation  of  Mr.  Gilbert  there  was  made, 
in  1798,  this  experiment:  A  ewe,  eighteen  months  old, had  never  been 
sheared ;  her  fleece  removed  in  1799  Aveighed  14  pounds  10  ounces.  This 
fleece,  of  which  the  fibers  were  double  the  ordinary  length,  showed  no 
loss  in  respect  to  weight,  though  there  are  few  ewes  which  produced  in 
thirty  months  the  same  quality  of  wool.  A  second  ewe,  which  was  like- 
wise sheared  at  the  age  of  thirty  months,  in  1800,  gave  a  much  greater 
quantity  of  wool,  though  she  had  suckled  a  lamb.  Her  fleece,  which 
weighed  21  pounds,  had  wool  8  inches  long.  The  ewe  of  last  year  gave 
in  each  of  the  two  following  years  0  pounds,  and  the  ewe  sheared  of 
the  same  age  gave  the  same  at  one  shearing  in  two  years  as  the  other 
gave  in  two  shearings  in  the  same  length  of  time.  In  1801 8  ewes  were 
sheared,  of  which  the  fleeces  had  two  years'  growth  and  weighed  from  16 
to  20  pounds.  It  appeared  after  the  different  experiments  that  the  wool 
which  was  left  to  grow  for  two  years  acquired  double  the  length,  while 
it  preserved  its  fineness  and  lost  nothing  in  respect  to  quantity.  It 
was  not  observed  that  sheep  submitted  to  this  experiment  suffered 
much  from  the  heat,  nor  that  it  affected  their  health.  It  was  only 
noticed  that  the  lambs  found  more  difficulty  in  sucking  the  ewes,  because 
of  the  length  of  the  wool  which  entirely  hid  the  udder. 


EAST    OF    THE    MISSISSIPPI    RIVER.  273 

Those  who  opposed  the  introduction  of  the  Merino  asserted  in  the 
beginning  that  the  wool  would  degenerate;  facts  disproved  the  asser- 
tion and  then  they  sought  to  depreciate  the  breed  by  as  roundly  as- 
serting that  the  poor  foreigners  were  not  of  a  nature  to  take  on  much 
fat,  and  that  for  mutton  they  were  very  inferior,  tough,  stringy,  and 
tasteless,  or  if  of  any  taste,  a  very  offensive  one.  This  assertion  was 
contradicted  by  facts.  It  was  admitted  to  be  true  that  the  mutton 
eaten  in  Spain  was  generally  lean  and  tough,  with  a  disagreeable  taste, 
but  it  was  shown  that  this  was  due  to  the  fact  that  they  were  only 
killed  and  served  as  food  when  they  were  no  longer  useful  for  repro- 
duction, or  when  they  had  grown  old.  The  contractors  for  butchering 
them  conducted  them  to  commons  situated  in  the  neighborhood  of 
towns,  and  so  divested  of  grass  that  the  sheep  found  difficulty  to  get 
enough  to  keep  them  alive.  The  Spaniards  kept  very  few  castrated 
sheep  in  their  traveling  flocks,  at  most  in  the  proportion  of  two-sevenths, 
and  those  which  were  castrated  were  of  an  advanced  age.  All  breeds 
and  varieties  submitted  to  such  bad  treatment  would  naturally  give 
poor  mutton  in  return.  Besides,  the  coarse-wooled  breeds  in  Spain 
had  not  more  delicate  flesh  than  the  Merinos,  and  those  were  found  who 
testified  that  they  had  eaten  in  Spain  Merino  mutton  as  savory  as 
that  of  the  best  mutton  of  France. 

Tessier  and  Huzard  reported  some  experiments  made  with  much 
care.  To  completely  refute  the  prejudice  existing  against  the  meat  of 
the  Merinos,  they  selected  several  young  Barnbouillet  wethers.  They 
fed  them  only  two  months,  in  the  stable,  with  oats  and  hay,  and  they 
were  fat.  The  meat,  not  so  dark  as  the  native  French  wethers,  was 
tender  and  sweeter.  Another  experiment  followed.  On  the  8th  of 
March,  1800,  3  wether  lambs  were  set  apart  to  be  fattened.  They 
were  of  the  same  age  but  of  unequal  weight,  aggregating  243  pounds. 
There  was  more  or  less  a  difference  of  13  pounds.  At  first  they  were 
fed  on  lucerne  and  bran,  then  the  bran  was  discontinued  and  barley 
and  oats  substituted  for  it.  The  animals  were  weighed  nearly  every 
fortnight,  as  was  the  food  destined  for  them  for  the  same  period  of 
time.  They  were  permitted  to  eat  as  much  as  they  wanted.  They  were 
weighed  on  June  3,  at  the  end  of  eighty-six  days,  and  their  total  weight 
was  326  pounds,  a  gain  of  83  pounds.  The  smallest  of  the  3  was  killed 
for  mutton,  and  weighed  99|  pounds. 

Pounds. 

Flesh  and  bone 51 

Fleece 7i 

Tallow 5± 

Liver  and  lungs 4 

Head,  feet,  skin,  and  intestines 28 J 

Blood  ..                                                                                              3i 


274        SHEEP  INDUSTRY  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES 

average  of  346  pounds  for  each  sheep,  or  4  pounds  a  day.  It  was  nol 
when  they  increased  the  most  that  they  ate  the  most,  but  they  ate  the 
most  from  the  fifteenth  to  the  forty-fifth  day. 

The  fattening  of  the  other  2  wethers  was  continued  sixty-five  days, 
in  which  time  they  consumed  653  pounds  of  oats,  barley,  and  lucerne. 
They  were  sheared  in  June  and  killed  August  20,  yielding,  respectively, 
57  and  55  pounds  of  meat  and  bone;  20  and  18  pounds  of  suet;  5  and  4 
pounds  of  liver  and  lungs;  34  pounds  each  of  head,  legs,  skin,  and 
intestines,  and  5  pounds  each  of  blood;  total,  121  and  116  pounds.  The 
meat,  as  in  the  case  of  the  first  one  killed,  was  found  to  be  excellent. 

It  was  observed  as  the  result  of  the  experiment  that  the  wether 
weighing  the  most  at  the  end  of  the  test  was  that  one  which  was  of 
medium  weight  at  the  beginning;  that  the  one  weighing  the  least  of 
the  three  at  the  end  was  the  one  which  weighed  the  least  at  the  begin- 
ning; that  the  greatest  increase  in  each  took  place  in  the  first  twelve 
days;  that  there  was  an  abatement  of  increase  during  a  warm  spell  in 
two  of  the  animals,  after  which,  the  weather  being  cooler,  the  increase 
was  greater;  that  on  two  occasions  one  increased,  while  the  two  dimin- 
ished; these  were  not  the  same,  each  time,  which  diminished. 

The  conclusions  drawn  from  the  experiment  were  that  to  avoid  loss 
the  fattening  must  not  be  prolonged,  and  that  after  a  certain  time  the 
sheep  did  not  increase  in  value  proportionate  to  the  cost  of  feeding. 

The  great  improvement  in  this  Rambouillet  Merino  is  concisely  stated 
by  M.  Bernardin,  the  director  of  the  flock : 

The  fold  of  Rainbouillet  can  show  by  record  and  statistics  that  the  managers  have 
produced  a  type  of  sheep  which  they  sought  to  produce  from  the  start;  that  this 
race  of  sheep  has  been  kept  pure  for  a  century,  and  everyone  applauds  at  sight  the 
incomparable  perfection  attained  at  Rambouillet;  that  the  modes  of  feeding,  differ- 
ent regimen,  methods  of  breeding,  improvement  of  selection,  care,  and  good  manage- 
ment of  shepherds,  has  produced  a  sheep  of  early  development  for  consumption, 
rapid  growth  to  maturity,  and  showing  a  gain  by  average  from  120  pounds  for  rams 
and  75  to  80  pounds  for  ewes  in  1800,  to  200  to  250  pounds  for  rams  and  120  to  150] 
pounds  for  ewes  in  1880;  that  the  weight  of  fleece  of  rams  has  increased  from  10 
pounds  in  1800  to  16  to  20  pounds  in  1880,  and  ewes  from  5£  pounds  in  1800  to  10 
pounds  in  1880,  with  length  of  staple  increased  from  2  inches  in  1800  to  3  or  3£  inches 
in  1880;  that  the  fineness  of  liber  and  crimp  of  the  wool  have  reached  the  highest- 
degree  of  perfection,  and  that  for  length,  strength,  and  elasticity  it  has  no  equal;] 
that  a  density  and  bulk  of  fleece  has  been  attained  which  does  not  exist  in  any  other^ 
race  of  sheep;  that  the  wethers  and  lambs  are  noted  for  their  rapid  and  steady 
growth  to  maturity,  their  aptitude  to  fatten,  and  the  excellent  quality  of  mutton, 
and  that  other  Merinos  are  not  of  the  same  value  and  title  as  those  of  Rambouillet, 
either  regarding  the  production  or  the  qualities  of  wool  and  meat.  This  type  of 
sheep  are  the  only  Merinos  in  existence  that  are  noted  for  their  prodigious  size, 
rapid  growth,  great  hardiness,  and  a  dense  fleece  of  great  bulk,  length  of  staple, 
freedom  from  excessive  grease,  and  unsurpassed  fineness,  equally  suited  for  the 
carder  and  comber. 

Touching  the  progressive  weights  of  these  animals  from  birth  to  matu- 
rity there  follow  tables  given  for  the  years  1862,  1863,  1864,  1865,  and 
1866,  showing  weight  at  birth  and  on  the  first  of  each  successive  month: 


EAST    OF    THE    MISSISSIPPI    RIVER. 


275 


Earn  lambs. 


Day  and  year  of  birth  of  lamb. 

Dec.  8, 
1862. 

Nov.  12, 
1863. 

Nov.  23, 
1864. 

Nov.  14, 
1865. 

Nov.  29, 
1866. 

"Wei  flit  of  ewe  after  parturition  

Lbg.  oz. 
123    10 
8    10 

18      4 
33      4 
45    10 
60    10 
71      9 
81    12 
91      9 
99      2 
106     ... 
117      9 
125      6 
134    13 
142     ... 
156     ... 
157    10 
160      3 
161    10 
161     ... 
166      6 

163      9 
155     ... 
156      6 
160      4 
164     ... 
165 

Lbs.  oz. 
121      9 
8      3 

29      2 
46      9 
62     ... 
73    12 
84    13 
95      7 
98     ... 
108    10 
116      7 
125      3 
132      6 
139    13 
150      7 
160     ... 
165    14 
172    13 
174    13 
168    14 
169      9 

175      4 
174      3 
176    12 
180    12 
182      9 
185      6 

Lbs.  oz. 
115      6 
8      3 

24    10 
39    10 
74      3 
69      7 
78      6 
86      9 
93    13 
104      3 
112     ... 
122      3 
130      3 
139    14 
150      4 
157      9 
160      8 
168     ... 
173      5 
161    14 
156      1 

163      4 
165    10 
168     ... 
174     .. 
176      8 
187      8 

Lbg.  oz. 
120      5 
9  .... 

28      5 
44      6 
52      7 
68    13 
82      2 
90    13 
97      9 
103      9 
110      1 
113      7 
122      3 
131     ... 
138      6 
144     ... 
146      5 
149      7 
159      4 
151     ... 
148      3 

149    10 
152      6 
151     ... 
153     ... 
161      9 
168     ... 

Lbs.  oz. 
113      8 
10    13 

24    13 
34    10 
43    13 
54    14 
64      7 
72      6 
82      3 
90      7 
96      3 
101      7 
107      9 
113      9 
120      2 
125      8 
128      9 
135    13 
137      2 
138     .. 
124    10 

122     .. 
123     .. 

125      8 
125      8 
125      8 
125      8 

Weiirht  of  1'itiih  at  birth 

Weiirht  of  lamb  — 
I  -in  1 

jVi,  i                                       

Mir  1 

Apr  i                                             

MTV  I 

Juno  1                                         

Tulv  1 

\  1  1  •  r  1                                              

•MM  it     1 

(  ),.{     \                                                                              

"YOV      I 

Dec  i                                                  

Fel>  1                                                   .... 

Mir  1 

Apr  1 

"Slav  1                               

July  1                                                    

Weight  of  sheep— 

Sept  1 

Oct  1                                        

"Vov  1 

Dec  i                                                      

Jan  1 

Ewe  lambs. 


Day  and  year  of  birth. 

Dec.  8, 
1862. 

NOT.  12, 
1863. 

Nov.  23, 
1864. 

Nov.  14, 
1865. 

Nov.  29, 
1866. 

Lbs.  oz. 
125  12 
8   3 

18   1 
32   8 
42   6 
54   3 
63  ... 
67   3 
76   3 
81   3 
88  13 
94   9 
98   6 
102  13 
108   7 
111   4 
118   7 
117  13 
114   4 

109   2 
112  ... 
109  10 
107   8 
104   5 
107  11 
114  10 
118   3 

Lbs.  oz. 
113  12 
7  14 

25  10 
38  10 
53  10 
58   1 
63   8 
68   3 
73  14 
73   3 
82   3 
86   9 
91  11 
96   4 
102   4 
108   4 
112   3 
114  14 
112  14 

106  10 
105   9 
107   2 
106   9 
108  14 
111   4 
113  12 
114   7 

Lbs.  oz. 
123   2 
8   4 

21  14 
34  ... 
44   3 
56  10 
62   4 
67   2 
71   8 
75   4 
77  ... 
83   8 
89   4 
98   4 
101   4 
106   5 
102  ... 
107   8 
110   1 

112   7 
108  14 
108   4 
108  11 
108  10 
106   3 
112  ... 
113   8 

Lbs.  oz. 
120   9 
9   1 

27  10 
42  42 
49   5 
57  10 
62   2 
73   8 
77   2 
81  14 
83   4 
88   3 
91  12 
99  13 
104  ... 
108  10 
113   8 
119   3 
124   8 

108   8 
108   3 
103   2 
101   8 
102  13 
103  13 
108   8 
111  10 

Lbs.  oz. 
115   9 
9   4 

21   6 
31   6 
35   7 
47   5 
55   9 
60   8 
65   8 
62   7 
77   7 
76   9 
82   4 
38   3 
94   3 
97   .. 
99   14 
100   10 
101   8 

96   12 
96  .... 
89   14 
92   7 
96   3 
94   13 
103  .... 
106  .... 

"Wei  "lit  of  lamb  at  birth           

Weight  of  lamb— 
jan  i                 

Feb  1 

Mar  i                    

Apr  1 

MaV  1                                      

July  1                                            

Aiii?  1 

Sept  1                    

Oct  1 

j^ov  i                     

Dec  1 

jan  i                 

jreD  i                         

•\Iar  i                  

A  p  r  i                       

May  1                 

Weight  of  ewe— 

Jnlv  1 

Allg  1                  

gepf  i                    

Oct  1             

Xov  1                  

Dec  i         

jan  i                

The  length  of  wool  on  the  ram  lambs  when  six  months  old  was  2.10, 
2.09,  2.12,  2.14,  and  2.15  inches,  respectively,  in  1862, 1803,  1804, 1805, 


276  SHEEP   INDUSTRY   OF   THE   UNITED    STATES 

and  1866,  and  in  the  ewe  lambs  when  six  months  old  in  the  same  years 
was  1.14,  1.14,  2.03,  2.04,  and  1.14  inches,  respectively. 

In  following  the  progressive  improvement  of  this  flock,  after  the  time 
that  the  first  American  importation  was  made  from  it,  the  object  has 
been  to  preserve  the  unity  of  its  history  and  for  convenience  of  refer- 
ence in  subsequent  pages. 

In  1839  D.  C.  Collins,  of  Hartford,  Conn.,  was  traveling  in  Europe, 
and  upon  a  visit  to  the  Bambouillet  flock  was  struck  with  the  marked 
superiority  of  the  Merinos  composing  it.  He  determined  to  procure  a 
small  flock  of  breeding  sheep,  with  a  view  of  raising  rams  to  restore 
the  fine-wooled  flocks  of  his  own  and  neighboring  States  to  their 
original  character  for  strength  of  constitution  and  weight  of  fleece, 
together  with  excellence  of  quality.  He  succeeded  in  purchasing,  in 
1840,  2  ranis  and  20  ewes  that  had  passed  the  age  when  they  were 
used  as  breeders  in  the  Eambouillet  flock,  otherwise  they  were  choice 
sheep.  These  he  brought  home  with  him  that  year  and  established 
on  his  farm.  They  had  large,  loose  skins,  full  of  folds,  especially  around 
the  neck  and  below  it,  on  the  shoulders,  and  not  unfrequently  over 
the  whole  body;  the  wool  thickly  covering  the  surface  of  the  forehead, 
cheeks,  and  legs  clear  down  to  the  hoofs,  giving  the  fleece  the  appear- 
ance when  shorn  and  spread  out  of  having  been  taken  from  a  larger 
animal  than  the  sheep.  The  fiber  of  the  wool  was  fine.  The  fleece 
opened  of  a  brilliant  creamy  color  within,  on  a  skin  of  rich  pink,  and 
was  soft,  glossy,  wavy,  and  very  even  over  the  whole  body;  was  exceed- 
ingly close  and  compact  and  had  a  yolk  free  from  gum,  and  easily 
liberated  when  it  came  to  be  washed.  It  became  of  the  purest  white 
when  scoured  by  the  manufacturer.  The  sheep  were  one-tenth  larger 
than  Paular  Merinos  and  were  equally  thrifty. 

At  the  head  of  the  small  flock  was  Grandee.  At  three  years  of  age, 
in  France,  he  sheared  14  pounds  of  wool.  His  fleece,  which  was  suffered 
to  grow  from  1839  to  1841,  weighed  on  shearing  26-^-  pounds,  unwashed 
wool.  One  year's  fleece  in  1842  weighed  12f  pounds.  He  measured  in 
a  direct  line  along  the  body,  from  the  setting  on  of  the  horns  to  the 
end  of  the  rump,  3  feet  8J  inches;  height  over  the  rump  and  shoulders, 
2  feet  5  inches.  His  weight  when  in  fair  condition  was  about  150 
pounds.  The  ewes  were  proportionately  large,  and  were  great  milkers 
and  the  best  of  nurses. 

In  September,  1842,  the  flock  consisted  of  37  ewes  and  13  rams, 
including  lambs.  They  were  then  of  unusual  size  for  Merinos,  but  their 
chief  excellence  was  in  their  immense  fleece  of  fine  wool.  The  average 
fleece  of  each  ewe  in  1842  was  6  pounds  9  ounces,  or  allowing  one-quar- 
ter for  loss  in  clean  washing  4||  pounds.  The  Saxony  sheep  at  that 
time  did  not  exceed  2J  pounds,  and  the  Spanish  Merino  3 J  to  4  pounds. 

This  flock  did  not  long  remain  in  Connecticut.  It  was  sold  to  L.  G. 
Bingham,  of  Williston,  Yt.  Four  of  the  imported  ewes  were  living  in 
1846,  and  no  full-blooded  ewe  had  at  that  time  ever  been  sold  from  the 


EAST   OF   THE   MISSISSIPPI   RIVER.  277 

flock.     Some  of  the  rams  had  been  sold  to  various  sections  of  the  coun- 
try, some  in  Connecticut. 

When  the  Eambouillet  flock  was  brought  into  France,  favored  parties 
had  presented  to  them,  or  were  permitted  to  buy,  some  of  the  sheep. 
One  of  these  was  a  M.  de  Chauevier,  who  placed  a  few  on  his  farm  at 
Croissy,  12  miles  from  Paris.  Of  this  flock  Victor  Gilbert  purchased 
1  ram  and  8  ewes  in  1800,  and  bought  yearly  from  2  to  4  until  1811, 
when  he  bought  5  rams  and  50  ewes,  and  in  1818  about  50  ewes.  In 
1821  he  bought  a  Eambouillet  ram,  and  up  to  1827  5  more  of  them.  In 
May,  1846,  John  A.  Taintor  bought  2  rams  and  7  ewes  of  the  Gilbert 
flock  and  brought  them  to  Connecticut,  and  he  made  yearly  purchases 
from  this  and  other  flocks  at  subsequent  times. 

The  French  Merino  did  not  bec.oine  popular  in  Connecticut,  was  but 
little  extended  and  soon  discarded.  The  best  of  these  importations 
found  purchases  from  Vermont  and  Western  New  York,  thence  to  Ohio 
and  States  further  west.  The  Taintor  importation  was  purchased  by 
A.  L.  Bingham,  Cornwall,  Vt.,  who,  in  1850,  had  the  entire  Taintor 
flock,  and  in  fact  all  the  ewes  of  the  French  blood  in  the  United  States, 
except  27  which  were  owned  by  other  individuals  over  the  country.  He 
had  made  three  crosses  with  the  French  rams  on  his  old  flock  of  Span- 
ish Merinos  with  great  satisfaction,  the  progeny  giving  an  increase  of 
fleece. 

Eighty- three  French  sheep  weighed  10,458  pounds,  an  average  of  12G 
pounds ;  83  French  sheep  fleeces  weighed  1,494  pounds,  an  average  of 
18  pounds,  or  2f  ounces  for  every  pound  of  flesh.  The  smallest  fleece 
from  a  10-months  lamb  weighed  13 J  pounds.  The  heaviest  fleece  from 
a  3-year  old  ewe  weighed  25 J  pounds,  unwashed,  or  14 J  pounds  washed 
wool.  In  comparison  : 

One  hundred  Spanish-American  Merinos  weighed  9,000  pounds,  an 
average  of  90  pounds. 

One  hundred  Spanish- American  Merinos  fleeces  weighed  650  pounds, 
an  average  of  6J  pounds  or  1-^-  ounces  for  every  pound  of  flesh,  or  a 
difference  in  favor  of  the  French  Merino  of  over  1  ounce. 

Notwithstanding  many  very  favorable  showings  Taintor's  importa- 
tion did  not  enthuse  the  American  sheep-breeder  and  wool- grower;  it  is 
now  generally  conceded  that  they  were  not  given  a  fair  trial.  Some 
contend  that  they  were  evidently  overgrown  specimens,  and  not  a  fair 
sample  of  the  French  Merino  in  the  Eambouillet  flock.  As  usual  with 
overgrown  specimens  these  were  flat,  slab-sided.  They  were  unsightly, 
and  the  progeny  was  tender,  hard  to  keep  fat,  and  required  twice  the 
care  of  good,  stocky,  hardy  animals.  It  was  also  charged  that  they 
were  mongrel  sheep,  a  cross  between  the  Merino  and  some  coarse  long- 
wooled  sheep. 

There  came  about  at  nearly  this  date  a  change  in  sheep  husbandry. 
Wool-growing  was  made  secondary  to  mutton-raising  and  the  sheep  on 
the  hills  and  in  the  valley  were  used  to  feed  the  operatives  in  the  neigh- 


278 


SHEEP   INDUSTRY   OF   THE   UNITED   STATES 


boring  mill  and  not  the  spindles  that  they  tended.  The  wool  sheep 
gave  way  to  the  mutton  sheep,  many  of  the  English  breeds  being  intro- 
duced and  crossed  on  the  common  sheep  of  the  country  and  on  the 
Spanish  and  Saxon  grades,  and  so,  by  1850,  the  raising  of  fine  wool  was 
generally  abandoned ;  the  finer  grades  of  sheep  had  gone  out  of  nearly 
every  county,  and  the  Cotswold,  Southdown,  and  Leicester  had  taken 
their  place,  the  former  and  latter  yielding  a  wool  for  the  coarser  grades 
of  cloth,  the  Southdown  a  finer  wool,  and  all  of  them  making  good 
mutton. 

From  1840  to  the  present  day  sheep  have  declined  in  numbers,  and 
the  dogs  are  charged  with  being  the  cause.  In  years  gone  by,  when 
there  was  much  uninclosed  land,  in  many  towns  there  were  large  flocks 
belonging  to  many  owners,  tended  by  a  shepherd;  but  as  lands  became 
inclosed  town  flocks  have  disappeared,  and  small  flocks,  uiiwatched  and 
un tended,  have  become  a  prey  to  dogs.  In  1890  6  per  cent  of  the  entire 
number  in  the  State  became  a  prey  to  the  worthless  dogs.  Nor  could 
this  be  wondered  at,  when  more  premiums  were  paid  by  the  agricultural 
societies  for  dogs  than  for  sheep. 

The  common  sheep,  as  known  in  1820,  have  disappeared,  leaving 
scarcely  a  trace,  and  the  Merinos  and  their  grades  have  diminished  to 
a  small  fraction  in  the  sheep  husbandry  of  the  State.  There  is  a  mix- 
ture of  all  breeds  of  English  sheep.  In  1880  but  50  per  cent  were  of 
improved  English  blood,  in  1891  80  per  cent,  the  Southdowns  and 
Shropshires  leading.  But  there  were  Ootswolds,  Hampshire  Downs, 
Oxford  Downs,  and  Dorsets.  The  Dorsets  have  been  lately  introduced 
and  have  gained  immediate  popularity  by  their  prolific  qualities. 

Sheep  and  ivool  of  Connecticut,  1840  to  1890. 


Year. 

No.  of 
sheep. 

Wool. 

Average 
weight  of 

wool  per 
head. 

1840  

403  462 

Pounds. 
889  870 

Pounds. 
2  25 

1850  

174  181 

497  454 

a.  85 

I860  

119  807 

3'i5  'I85 

2  81 

1870  

83  884 

254  129 

3  03 

1880  

59  431 

230  133 

3  87 

1890  

46  759 

218  831 

4  68 

Connecticut  raises  but  a  small  percentage  of  the  mutton  that  her  peo- 
ple consume.  In  the  city  of  New  Haven,  where,  in  a  certain  period  of 
time,  12,000  sheep  were  disposed  of  by  butchers,  less  than  250  were 
Connecticut  grown.  It  is  so  in  all  the  principal  cities  of  the  State. 
Those  from  Canada  are  preferred  by  the  consumer.  Raising  early  lambs 
is  the  most  profitable  industry.  Western  and  Canada  ewes  are  pur- 
chased in  the  late  summer,  crossed  by  a  Down  ram  and  the  lambs  sold 
when  from  12  to  14  weeks  old  at  $5  to  $8,  the  mother  ewes  following 
soon  after.  There  has  been  no  increase  in  the  number  of  sheep  since 


EAST   OF   THE   MISSISSIPPI   RIVER.  279 

-\ 

1890,  but  there  has  been  an  appreciation  in  value  owing  to  choice 
breeding  and  the  introduction  of  many  full-blooded  English  sheep. 

The  most  recent  accession  to  the  sheep  husbandry  of  the  State  is 
the  Dorset  Horn  sheep.  These  are  the  best  of  the  old  upland  horned 
sheep  of  England,  and  for  a  long  time  have  bred  unmixed  in  the  county 
of  Dorset  and  in  the  adjacent  country.  It  is  somewhat  larger  than  the 
Southdown  and  longer  on  the  legs,  which  are  white,  as  is  the  face.  The 
wool  is  moderately  fine,  somewhat  longer  than  the  Southdown,  and  is 
applied  in  England  to  the  making  of  inferior  cloths.  The  shoulders  are 
low  and  the  loins  broad  and  deep,  the  back  straight,  the  lips  and  nos- 
trils black,  though  with  a  frequent  tendency  to  assume  a  pinkish,  fleshy 
color.  They  have  always  been  a  strong,  hardy  sheep,  good  travelers, 
active  and  docile,  suited  to  the  practice  of  folding  and  capable  of  sub- 
sisting on  scanty  pastures. 

That  character,  however,  which  has  commended  these  sheep  to  the 
English  breeder  is  the  fecundity  of  the  females  and  their  readiness  to 
receive  the  male  at  an  early  season,  and  their  excellence  as  nurses. 
They  frequently  have  twins  and  rear  a  greater  number  of  lambs  than 
any  other  sheep.  They  have  been  known,  like  the  sheep  of  some 
warmer  countries,  to  produce  twice  in  the  year;  this,  however,  is  rare, 
but  it  is  common  for  the  ewes,  especially  when  well  fed,  to  take  the 
ram  and  become  impregnated  while  they  are  nursing  their  young.  They 
will  receive  the  ram  as  early  as  the  months  of  April  or  May,  the  usual 
time  being  the  early  part  of  June,  so  that  the  lambs  shall  be  born  in 
October  and  be  ready  for  use  by  Christmas,  at  which  time  they  are 
considered  a  great  luxury,  and  command  a  high  price.  This  has  given 
rise  to  the  practice  of  rearing  the  lambs  in  houses  until  they  are  ready 
for  market.  This  method  has  long  been  regularly  and  systematically 
pursued  on  a  large  scale,  especially  within  reach  of  London,  where  a 
great  demand  exists  for  this  kind  of  luxury. 

The  original  horned  Dorset  breed  is  practically  extinct  and  the  im- 
proved Dorset  has  taken  its  place.  The  great  improvement  made  in 
the  Dorsets  since  1830  has  increased  the  demand  for  them.  They  pos- 
sess good  quality,  fatten  readily,  and  incur  but  little  risk  in  lambing, 
while  the  lambs  mature  early.  Within  a  few  years  past  they  have 
doubled  in  size,  their  fleeces  are  twice  as  heavy,  and  their  fattening 
propensity  has  been  increased  to  the  extent  that  the  best  Dorset  lambs 
now  arrive  at  maturity  quite  as  early  as  the  Downs.  Losses  in  lamb- 
ing and  barrenness  are  so  rare  that  from  150  to  160  lambs  may  usually 
be  calculated  on  for  every  100  ewes  placed  with  rams,  and  their  fecun- 
dity is  so  great  that  the  possibility  of  getting  from  these  sheep  two 
crops  of  lambs  in  one  year  does  not  exist  merely  as  rare  and  exceptional, 
but  has  often  been  effected.  Statistics  show  that  out  of  3,547  ewes  only 
60  were  lost,  and  they  reared  4,425  lambs,  or  125  per  cent  of  lambs,  with 
a  loss  of  only  1.6  per  cent  of  ewes.  With  moderate  feeding  a  wether  of 
this  breed  comes  out  fat  at  from  thirteen  to  fourteen  months  old,  with 


280  SHEEP   INDUSTRY    OF    THE    UNITED    STATES 

carcass  weight  from  70  to  80  pounds  each.  The  lambs  are  generally  fit 
for  the  butcher  from  ten  to  twelve  weeks  old,  when  they  average  from 
12  to  14  pounds  per  quarter.  The  rams  clip  from  10  to  12  pounds  of 
wool,  the  ewes  from  5  to  6  pounds,  and  the  lambs,  which  are  usually 
shorn,  yield  about  half  as  much  as  the  ewes.  The  wool  of  the  lambs 
is  in  great  demand. 

The  Dorset  Horns  were  first  known  in  the  United  States  in  the  fall  of 
1885,  when  Messrs.  E.  and  A.  Stanford,  of  England,  exhibited  a  small 
flock  at  the  Chicago  fat-stock  show.  The  first  owned  in  the  United 
States  were  purchased  by  William  Daley,  of  Lockport,  N.  Y.,  of  Valancey 
E.  Fuller,  of  Canada,  in  March,  1887,  and  the  first  direct  importation  from 
England  was  of  12  head  by  Adin  Thayer,  of  New  York,  in  June,  1887. 
The  importations  of  1887  did  not  exceed  200  head.  The  first  importation 
into  Connecticut  was  June  1,  1891,  by  George  E.  Jones,  of  Litchfield, 
the  importation  being  108  head  in  number,  from  the  flocks  of  William 
Mayo,  and  again,  September  5,  1891,  of  85  head  from  the  flocks  of  W. 
H.  Groves,  W.  S.  Hull,  and  John  Jarrett.  These  sheep  are  described 
as  straight  and  deep  in  body,  ribs  well  arched,  loins  broad,  and  neck 
well  set  on,  full  in  the  shoulders,  without  coarseness,  the  hind  limbs 
well  let  down  toward  the  shank,  forming  a  good  leg  of  mutton.  The 
general  features  are  pleasing,  head  well  up,  horns  thin  with  a  symmet- 
rical curl,  eye  bright  and  lively j  the  face  rather  long  and  thin,  lip  and 
nose  pink  or  flesh  colored,  the  bone  small,  giving  all  the  appearance  of 
a  useful  and  hardy  breed  of  sheep;  color  pure  white.  The  rams  weigh 
from  200  to  300  pounds;  ewes,  from  150  to  200  pounds.  Mr.  Jones' 
ewes  gave  190  -per  cent  of  lambs. 

RHODE   ISLAND. 

From  the  importation  of  Capt.  Paul  Cuffe  and  Isaac  Cory  into  New- 
port, early  in  September,  1810,  of  74  Merino  rams  and  ewes,  shipped  by 
William  Jar  vis,  at  Lisbon,  came  the  foundation  of  the  flocks  of  David 
Buffum  and  William  I.  Bailey,  and  of  their  neighbor,  George  Irish. 
These  Newport  farmers  had  adjoining  farms,  and  on  that  of  the  first 
the  cargo  of  sheep  was  disposed  of  September  21,  1810.  These  flocks 
were  kept  up  many  years,  were  noted  for  their  great  excellence,  and 
were  freely  drawn  upon  by  many  of  the  noted  breeders  of  Connecticut 
and  Vermont,  among  whom  may  be  mentioned  Edwin  Hammond,  A. 
L.  Bingham,  E.  T.  Robinson,  and  Mr.  Bundy.  About  1835  Joseph  I. 
Bailey,  who  had  succeeded  to  the  flock  of  William  I.  Bailey,  sold  out  to 
parties  in  Vermont,  who  took  the  sheep,  about  150  in  number,  to  Whit- 
ing, where  a  portion  of  them,  passing  through  two  other  hands,  fell 
into  possession  of  German  and  David  Catting,  and  infused  into  Ver- 
mont Merinos  what  is  known  as  the  Cutting  or  Ehode  Island  blood. 
Among  others  who  had  full-blooded  Merino  sheep  as  early  as  1812  may 
be  mentioned  George  P.  Hazard  and  Joseph  Congdon.  The  Rhode 
Island  Merinos  bore  such  a  good  reputation  and  were  so  eagerly  sought 


«*5^r 

^x 


AFTER  CURTIS. 


HORNED  DORSET. 


EAST    OP    THE    MISSISSIPPI    RIVER. 


281 


for  by  breeders  out  of  the  State  that  by  1850  they  had  practically  dis- 
appeared, both  from  the  exhibits  at  the  State  fairs  and  from  the  farms, 
and  the  early  breeders  turned  their  attention  to  Southdowns,  Leicesters, 
and  Cotswolds.  It  was  found  also  that  wool-growing  would  not  pay 
unless  connected  with  raising  mutton  and  lambs  for  the  market.  Pre- 
vious to  1870  sheep  husbandry  for  mutton,  lambs,  and  coarse  wool  was 
pursued  with  great  advantage.  Almost  every  farmer  kept  his  flock, 
large  or  small,  according  to  his  facilities  for  maintaining  them,  which 
fully  repaid  him  for  expenditure  and  care.  But  from  1840  to  1890  the 
flocks  have  greatly  diminished.  In  1840  there  were  90,146  sheep  in  the 
State.  Many  of  these  were  Merinos  and  their  grades,  which  now  began 
to  disappear,  and  in  1850,  or  a  period  of  ten  years,  the  number  of  sheep 
had  fallen  one-half,  to  44,296,  and  to  32,624  in  1860.  The  facilities  for 
keeping  sheep  were  not  less  than  in  former  days,  and  the  value  of  the 
fleece  as  well  as  the  flesh  had  not  diminished.  But  there  was  some 
competition,  sheep  and  lambs  being  brought  from  Kentucky.  But  the 
principal  reason  assigned  for  the  decrease  from  1840  to  1860  was  the 
increase  in  the  number  of  dogs,  there  being  in  1860  one  dog  to  every 
five  sheep. 

The  breaking  out  of  the  civil  war  and  the  demand  for  wool  and  woolen 
clothing  stimulated  sheep  husbandry,  and  from  32,624  in  1860  the  num- 
ber of  sheep  rose  to  40,717  in  1865,  yielding  114,781  pounds  of  wool. 
Some  fine  wool  was  raised  and  a  few  Spanish  Merinos  were  introduced 
into  the  State,  but  in  number  inappreciable,  and  at  the  present  day 
none  exist.  The  rapid  decline  in  the  sheep  and  wool  of  the  State  is 
shown  in  the  following  census  returns : 


Tear. 

No.  of 
sheep. 

Wool. 

Average 
weight  of 
wool  per 
head. 

1840 

90,  146 

Pounds. 
183  830 

Pounds. 
2  04 

1850                                                                                                            

44,296 

120,692 

2.72 

l«r,  i 

32  624 

90,699 

2.76 

23,938 

77,  328 

3.23 



1*80 

17,  211 

65,680 

3.81 

1390                                                                                                                   

20,231 

79,  610 

3.94 

VERMONT. 

It  is  not  positively  known  when  the  first  Merino  sheep  were  in- 
troduced into  Vermont,  but  some  were  taken  there  from  the  Hum- 
phreys importation,  a  few  of  his  full-blood  stock  appearing  in  Ben- 
nington  County,  the  property  of  Mr.  Stoddard,  of  Rupert,  previous  to 
the  Jarvis  importations  of  1810.  Mr.  Stoddard  raised  full-blood  and 
half-blood  sheep  which  he  sold  or  let,  and  which  laid  the  foundation  of 
some  flocks  in  western  Vermont  and  in  Washington  County,  Few  York. 
The  first  Merino  blood  taken  into  Washington  County,  Few  York,  was 
when  Aaron  Cleveland,  of  Salem,  in  that  county,  obtained  a  half-blood 


282        SHEEP  INDUSTRY  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES 

ram  from  the  Stoddard  flock,  and  the  quarter-blood  rams  which  he 
reared  from  this  ram  and  native  ewes  were  the  first  sheep  containing 
any  Merino  blood  produced  in  the  county.  Mr.  Stoddard  hired  half- 
blood  rams  to  Mr.  Cleveland  and  others  for  several  years  at  $10  per 
annum,  or  sold  them  for  $50,  and  hired  the  first  full-blooded  Merino 
ram  that  went  into  Washington  County  to  N.  Wilson,  of  Salem,  in 
1809.  The  price  was  $50  for  the  season. 

As  early  as  1808  or  1809,  Humphreys  had  some  full-blood  Merino 
rams  at  Hartland,  Yt.,  and  as  the  person  who  had  them  in  charge  did 
not  use  them  to  his  satisfaction,  Humphreys  sought  for  some  person 
who  would  take  them,  use  them  well,  and  have  their  use  for  nothing. 
There  appears  to  have  been  two  of  these  rams,  the  largest  one  valued 
at  $1,000  and  the  smaller  one  at  $950,  and  for  reasons  not  now  known 
they  were  called  the  Mies  rams.  These  rams  were  placed  in  the  care 
of  Mark  Eichards  and  his  nephew,  Luther  Richards,  of  Westminster. 
The  Eichards  bred  their  common  ewes  to  these  rams,  and  there  was 
such  a  marked  improvement  in  the  quality  of  the  fleece  that  they  con- 
cluded to  purchase  some  full-blood  ewes,  and  attended  the  auction 
sales  of  Capt.  Nathan  Dorrs,  of  Eoxbury,  Mass.,  and  purchased  several, 
probably  of  the  early  Jarvis  importations.  The  Eichards  at  first  used 
Humphreys  rams  (and  perhaps  some  ewes),  and  then  purchased  both 
rams  and  ewes  of  William  Jarvis.  They  continued  to  breed  the  Me- 
rino sheep  for  several  years.  Eldad  Harlow,  of  Westminster,  informed 
Mr.  Chapman  that  when  a  boy  he  saw  these  Eichards  sheep  and  that 
they  "  looked  black  as  muddy  hogs."  The  Harlows  purchased  some  of 
these  sheep  of  Mr.  Eichards,  and  bred  them  for  a  long  term  of  years, 
but  the  Eichards  flock,  of  a  thousand  or  more,  were  ruined  by  the  in- 
troduction of  Saxony  blood,  like  so  many  more  of  the  fine  flocks  of 
Merino  sheep  of  that  day. 

July  25,  1810,  Elias  Gallup,  of  Woodstock,  advertised  in  the  Wash- 
ingtonian  of  that  town  rams  from  the  Humphreys  flock,  not  full-bloods, 
but  two-eighths  to  six-eighths,  and  from  the  number  of  towns  where  they 
were  to  be  seen  it  would  appear  that  they  were  being  liberally  offered; 
also  that  they  were  quite  widely  disseminated.  The  notice  reads: 

Such  sheep  can  be  had  by  applying  to  the  subscriber  on  Woodstock  Green ;  Samuel 
Burner,  of  this  town;  Judge  Keys,  of  Stockbridge;  Elisha  Hotchkiss,  of  Chelsea; 
Oliver  Lathrop,  of  Sharon;  Freeman  Leavitt,  of  Hartford;  Dr.  Phineas  Parkhurst, 
of  Lebanon,  N.  H.,  and  Samuel  Montague,  of  Bridgewater,  where  samples  of  wool 
and  cloth  made  from  the  said  wool  can  be  seen.  *  *  *  All  who  possess  higher 
blooded  than  the  above  can  show  it  by  certificates  from  the  subscriber,  or  Col.  Hum- 
phreys, who  has  an  accurate  account  of  the  whole  of  said  sheep  in  this  part  of  the 
country. 

The  same  paper,  October  6,  1810,  contained  an  advertisement  of 
Capt.  Pettis  that  "  the  famous  full-blooded  Niles  ram  will  be  kept  for 
use  this  season  on  such  terms  as  shall  be  agreed  upon." 

Col.  Humphreys  had  in  view,  principally,  a  large  supply  of  wool  for 
manufacturing  purposes,  hence  his  pushing  into  Vermont  and  New 


EAST   OF   THE    MISSISSIPPI   RIVER.  283 

Hampshire  not  full-bloods  only,  but  those  of  less  purity.  These  widely 
disseminated  would  more  rapidly  and  more  extensively  bring  on  such 
an  improvement  on  the  common  sheep  of  the  country  as  would  suffice 
to  keep  the  woolen  mills  moving,  and  supply  the  increasing  demand  for 
American  goods. 

In  April,  1811,  the  sheep  that  William  Jarvis  had  reserved  from  his 
different  importations  and  gathered  at  Claremont,  N.  H.,  during  the 
previous  fall  and  winter,  were  moved  across  the  Connecticut  Eiver  and 
settled  upon  the  farm,  he  had  purchased  a  short  time  previous  as  his 
future  home,  and  from  whence  so  many  of  the  flocks  of  eastern  Ver- 
mont and  many  of  those  in  the  western  part  of  the  State  derived  the 
blood  for  their  foundations,  and  procured  other  additions  in  after  years, 
to  recuperate  and  improve  the  quality  of  the  first,  or  to  improve  that 
derived  from  other  sources.  Mr.  Jarvis  had  instructed  the  Paular 
shepherds,  who  came  with  that  flock  to  Lisbon,  to  select  300  sheep, 
which  he  shipped  to  Newburyport.  The  half  of  these  were  Paulars,  a 
fourth  Aguirres,  an  eighth  Escurials,  and  the  other  eighth  Negrettis 
and  Montarcos.  About  another  hundred  were  driven  up  from  Boston, 
remnants  of  some  of  the  shipments  to  that  place  remaining  unsold.  In 
all  the  flock  numbered  about  400.  In  compliance  with  the  invariable 
practice  in  Spain,  Mr.  Jarvis  bred  the  respective  flocks  separately,  or 
what  is  called  in  farmer's  language  in-and-in,  that  custom  of  breeding 
the  bucks  and  ewes  of  the  same  cabana  or  flock  together,  or  in-and-in, 
having  existed  in  Spain  from  time  immemorial,  but  about  1816  or  1817 
he  mixed  the  different  flocks  together,  and  so  bred  his  Merinos  after- 
wards. 

A  communication  to  the  National  Live  Stock  Journal,  April,  1873, 
signed  "  A  Wool  Grower,"  says  that  the  writer  well  knew  the  five  fam- 
ilies imported  by  Mr.  Jarvis,  having  seen  them  on  his  farm  at  Weath- 
ersfield.  The  Escurials,  Montarcos,  and  Aguirres  were  a  smooth  sheep, 
with  but  very  little  fur  or  hair,  as  he  termed  it.  The  Paulars  were  a 
strong,  hardy  sheep,  round-bodied,  with  fur  on  the  ham,  and  also  on 
the  wrinkles  about  their  neck.  The  Kegrettis  were  a  low  sheep,  with 
flabs  under  the  belly  and  flanks,  not  as  fine  on  the  shoulder  as  either 
of  the  others  and  yet  not  so  uneven  as  the  Paulars.  The  Negrettis 
cleaned  more  wool  than  any  of  the  others,  which  was  not  so  crusty  and 
was  of  longer  staple.  They  were  also  better  milkers,  and  as  there  was 
little  difference  between  his  Paular  ewes  and  those  of  "  Wool  Grower," 
the  latter  selected  a  stock  ram  from  the  Negrettis.  At  that  time  Mr. 
Jarvis  had  his  sheep  in  separate  flocks,  though  he  had  crossed  some 
of  the  families  together,  and  finally  with  the  Saxon,  to  improve  his 
wool.  The  first  cross  he  thought  an  improvement,  but  as  late  as  1833 
he  said  he  had  missed  it,  and  that  the  Paular  was  the  best  sheep  that 
ever  stood  on  hoof.  In  1822  Mr.  Jarvis  gave  a  certificate  that  his  pure 
Merinos  had  been  bred  so  as  to  contain  one-half  Paular  blood,  one- 
quarter  Muros  or  Aguirres,  three- sixteenths  Escurial,  and  one-six- 
teenth Segretti  bred  together. 


284        SHEEP  INDUSTRY  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES 

Mr.  Jarvis  made  his  cross  with  the  Saxon  Merino  in  1826.    On  May 

4,  of  that  year,  George  and  Thomas  Searle,  of  Boston,  sold  at  Brighton 
321  Saxony  sheep  and  58  lambs.    Of  these  Mr.  Jarvis  purchased  over 
50,  at  prices  ranging  from  $32.50  to  $137.50  each.  He  crossed  the  Saxon 
rams  with  the  larger  portion  of  his  Spanish  flock.    Fortunately  a  hun- 
dred of  the  best  Merino  ewes  were  selected  and  bred  to  Spanish  Merino 
rams  only,  thus  preserving  the  best  portion  of  his  flock  pure  and  un- 
mixed with  the  Saxon.     Later,  about  1831  or  1832,  Mr.  Jarvis,  finding 
the  Saxon  much  less  profitable  and  hardy  than  the  Spanish  Merino,  se- 
lected outthe  Merino  ewes  that  were  left  of  those  which  had  been  crossed 
with  the  Saxon  and  again  bred  them  to  Merino  rams,  thereafter  breed- 
ing only  to  Merino  rams  and  their  crosses. 

About  the  time  he  began  his  crossing  with  the  Saxon  (1826),  Mr. 
Jarvis  found  in  an  old  trunk  about  twenty  samples  of  wool  which  had 
been  sent  him  from  Spain  in  1810,  and  which  had  been  carefully  se- 
cured in  paper  and  labeled.  He  went  into  his  yard  and  clipped  off 
about  a  dozen  samples  and  compared  the  two,  and  was  satisfied  his 
flock  had  improved  upon  the  original  stock,  and  good  judges  pronounced 
his  to  be  the  best  wool.  His  sheep  then  averaged  3  pounds  14  ounces 
of  wool  well  washed  on  the  sheep's  back. 

It  is  generally  admitted  that  Mr.  Jarvis  improved  the  quality  of  the 
fleece  from  the  original  Spanish  type,  but  evidence  is  wanting  to  prove 
that  he  made  any  material  improvement  in  any  other  direction.  Henry 

5.  Randall  believed  that  Mr.  Jarvis  was  too  willing  to  please  the  manu- 
facturers, and  bred  out  to  too  great  extent  the  folds  and  oil  from  his 
flocks. 

It  is  possible  [says  Albert  Chapman]  that  he  may  have  increased  the  size  of  his 
sheep,  and  thus  preserved  on  his  pure  Merinos  the  average  weight  of  their  fleeces, 
but  if  he  increased  their  size  he  could  not  have  preserved  the  relative  per  centum  of 
wool  to  their  live  weight,  for  he  only  claimed  in  1835  that  the  full-blood  Merino  part 
of  the  flock  did  not  materially  vary  from  the  original  weight.  If  he  improved  the 
form  he  hardly  kept  pace  with  Atwood,  Cock,  and  Rich,  as  the  selections  from  his 
flock  from  1835  to  1844  were  not  equal  to  those  from  the  other  flocks. 

The  practice  of  putting  a  ram  "  with  25  to  35  ewes,"  instead  of  coup- 
ling each  with  a  view  to  individual  improvement  or  to  remedy  individual 
defects,  as  has  been  practiced  by  the  best  breeders  in  later  years,  would 
probably  account  for  the  failure  to  reach  the  maximum  of  possible 
improvement.  But  if  Consul  Jarvis  fell  short  of  the  highest  success  as 
a  practical  breeder  and  improver  of  Merino  sheep  attained  by  some  other 
breeders  of  his  and  later  times,  none  excelled  him  as  a  noble,  public- 
spirited  man,  one  entirely  above  the  petty  claptrap  that  belittles  the 
character  of  any  breeder  that  practices  it.  His  noble  treatment  of  other 
importers  in  his  later  writings,  some  of  whom  had  endeavored  to  defame 
the  stock  he  imported,  shows  him  to  have  been  of  too  noble  a  nature  to 
have  remembered  aught  of  hatred  and  malice,  and  although  the  greatest 
public  service  he  performed  for  the  United  States  was  in  importing  such 
vast  numbers  of  sheep  from  the  best  cabanas  in  Spain,  it  was  not  the 


"CONSUL." 

BRED  BY  WM.  JARVIS,  WEATHERFIELD,  VT.-AN  IMPROVED  SPANISH  MERINO  OF  FORTY  YEARS  AGO. 

FROM  "  REGISTER  OF  THE  VERMONT  MERINO  SHEEP  BREEDERS^  ASSOCIATION,"  VOU   I,  1879. 


EAST   OF   THE   MISSISSIPPI   RIVER.  285 

only  evidence  lie  gave  of  a  noble  public  spirit.  It  remains  only  to  say 
that  the  flock  of  sheep  he  bred  was  soon  scattered  after  his  death.*  Mr. 
Jarvis  died  October  1, 1859,  and  the  flock  was  dispersed  after  the  death 
of  his  son,  Maj.  Charles  Jarvis,  December  1, 1863. 

There  is  no  pedigree  of  any  rams  nor  any  line  of  ancestry  given  pre- 
vious to  1835.  The  pedigree  history  of  the  Jarvis  sheep  begins  with  a 
Jarvis  ram  known  as  Consul,  bred  by  Jarvis  about  1838,  and  sold  by 
him  to  Ward  M.  Lincoln,  Brandon,  Yt.,  and  purchased  of  him  by  W.  E. 
Sanford,  Orwell,  Yt.,  who  sold  him  at  the  New  York  State  Fair  at  Pough- 
keepsie,  1844,  after  breeding  from  him  for  many  years.  His  live  weight 
was  about  160  pounds.  Another  ram  known  as  Stickney's  Consul  was 
bred  by  Mr.  Jarvis  in  1835  and  sold  to  Tyler  Stickney,  Shoreham,  Yt., 
when  a  teg,  soon  after  he  was  weaned.  He  was  used  for  a  number  of 
years  by  Mr.  Stickney  and  his  neighbors,  then  sold  in  1843  to  G.  A. 
Austin  and  John  Looker,  Orwell,  Yt.,  and  by  them  to  J.  Thurman  Eich, 
Eichville,  Yt.  This  ram  weighed  at  maturity  about  130  to  140  pounds, 
and  his  heaviest  fleece  was  9  pounds  2  ounces  washed  wool.  He  was  a 
dark-coated,  fine,  long,  thick- wooled  sheep.  He  was  the  sire  of  Hero 
and  Fortune,  celebrated  sheep  in  their  day.  Another  ram,  Jarvis,  was 
sold  to  W.  E.  Sanford,  and  then,  when  9  years  old,  was  sold  to  Merrill 
Bingham,  Cornwall,  upon  whose  farm  he  died,  after  having  been  used 
as  a  stock  ram  by  Mr.  Bingham  for  two  years. 

As  originally  formed  and  for  a  long  time  maintained,  the  Jarvis  flock 
was  essentially  Paular,  that  family  considerably  predominating  in  num- 
bers, but  Mr.  Jarvis  was  induced  by  his  Mend,  Col.  Shephard,  to 
breed  in  the  contrary  direction  from  the  type  of  the  darker  colored  and 
yolkier  families.  The  appearance  of  his  sheep,  as  Dr.  Henry  S.  Ean- 
dall  saw  them  about  1840,  indicated  that  he  had  obliged  his  friend, 
Col.  Shephard,  and  accommodated  the  manufacturers  by  chiefly  using 
rams  of  his  Escurial  family,  o:  which  bore  a  large  proportion  of  that 
blood.  They  were  lighter  colored  than  the  original  Spanish  sheep  of 
other  families,  and  their  wool  was  finer.  It  was  entirely  free  from  har- 
dened yolk  or  "  gum,"  internally  or  externally,  and  opened  on  a  rosy 
skin  with  a  style  and  brilliancy  which  resembled  the  Saxon.  It  was 
longish,  for  those  times,  on  the  back  and  sides,  but  shorter  on  the 
belly,  and  did  not  cover  the  head  and  legs  anything  like  as  well  as 
those  parts  are  covered  in  the  improved  sheep  of  a  later  day.  It  was  of 
fair  medium  thickness  on  the  best  animals.  The  form  was  perhaps 
rather  more  compact  than  that  of  the  original  Spanish  sheep,  but  alto- 
gether it  bore  a  close  resemblance  to  them.  Dr.  Eandall  thinks  that 
prior  to  1840  Mr.  Jarvis  had  begun  to  breed  back  toward  the  other 
strains  of  blood  in  his  flock.  At  about  that  period  small  and  choice 
lots  of  breeding  ewes  were  occasionally  obtained  from  him  which 
yielded  from  4  pounds  to  4£  pounds  of  washed  wool  per  head.  These 

*  Register  of  the  Vermont  Merino  Sheep  Breeders'  Association,  Vol.  I. 


286        SHEEP  INDUSTRY  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES 

sheep  long  enjoyed  great  celebrity  and  are  now  represented  in  the  ped- 
igrees of  many  excellent  pure-bred  flocks;  but  as  a  distinct  family  they 
have  mostly  been  merged  in  the  Humphrey s-Atwood  Merino  and  the 
Bich-Paulars. 

Probably  no  State  is  better  adapted  to  the  production  of  grass  and 
the  raising  of  fine  stock,  or  can  exhibit  finer  horses,  cattle,  and  sheep 
than  Vermont,  and  of  all  its  counties  Addison  ranks  first  in  grass  and 
live  stock.  For  years  prior  to  1810,  and  some  years  later  wheat  was 
its  staple.  But  wheat  sometimes  failed  and  thought  was  turned  in 
another  direction. 

Several  individuals,  awakened  to  the  wants  and  capabilities  of  the  county  by  pri- 
vations and  embarrassments  experienced  during  the  interruption  of  our  commerce 
with  foreign  countries  before  and  during  the  war  with  Great  Britain,  did,  at  great 
expense,  and  incurring  the  penalty  of  all  innovators,  being  laughed  at  by  their 
neighbors,  introduce  into  the  county  Merino  sheep.  Among  the  foremost  in  this 
beneficent  work  were  Refine  Weeks,  Daniel  Chipmau,  George  Cleveland,  and  Horatio 
Seymour.* 

We  have  no  records  of  the  flocks  introduced  by  these  four  named 
gentlemen,  but  are  further  told  by  the  historian  that  by  failure  of  wheat, 
the  principal  crop,  by  rust  and  the  insects,  the  tendency  towards 
Merino  sheep  was  strengthened,  and  so  rapidly  were  they  introduced 
and  the  flocks  changed  that  as  early  as  1824  in  many  towns  a  consid- 
erable flock  of  common  sheep  could  not  be  found.  After  this,  and  fol- 
lowing the  passage  of  the  tariff  act  of  1828,  a  majority  of  the  farmers 
eagerly  engaged  in  increasing  their  flocks  of  sheep.  The  result  was 
that  Addison  County  had,  in  1840,  in  proportion  either  to  territory  or 
population,  a  greater  number  of  sheep  and  produced  more  wool  than 
any  other  county  in  the  United  States.  The  census  returns  of  1840 
show  nine  States  which  had  more  than  one  sheep  to  each  inhabitant, 
to- wit:  Pennsylvania,  Virginia,  Maine,  Kentucky,  Connecticut,  and 
Ohio,  with  a  portion  more  than  one,  New  York  and  New  Hampshire 
about  2J,  and  Vermont  5f  to  each  inhabitant.  To  the  square  mile  New 
Hampshire  had  65,  New  York  112,  and  Vermont  185.  Addison  County 
had  11  sheep  to  each  inhabitant,  and  373  to  the  square  mile. 

Mr.  Chapman  sees  reason  to  believe  that  some  of  the  sheep  early 
introduced  into  Addison  County  were  procured  from  Mr.  Jarvis  by 
Eichard  Crowningshield  and  imported  into  New  York.  These  were 
driven  from  New  York  and  kept  in  a  pasture  near  Weybridge  for  a  few 
months,  and  finally  sold  to  Horatio  Seymour,  who  bred  them  for  a  num- 
ber of  years  and  distributed  them  somewhat  widely  among  the  farmers 
of  the  vicinity.  It  was  the  impression  these  Seymour  sheep  produced 
upon  the  mind  of  the  late  Edwin  Hammond,  when  a  boy,  that  caused 
him  to  look  for  the  Atwood  sheep,  which  he  said  were  the  first  he  had 
ever  found  that  looked  like  Seymour  sheep — the  peculiarities  spoken  of 
that  gave  them  the  resemblance,  being  mainly  in  the  appearance  of  the 
ends  of  the  wool  or  surface  of  the  fleece. 

*  Swift's  History  of  Addison  County. 


EAST    OF    THE    MISSISSIPPI    RIVER.  287 

Early  in  1811  T.  W.  Perkins,  of  Boston,  purchased  of  Mr.  Jarvis  aNe- 
gretti  ram  and  15  Aguirres  ewes.  These  he  sent  to  Amos  W.  Barnum, 
of  Vergennes,  by  whom  they  were  bred  for  a  number  of  years,  and  were 
scattered  through  the  adjacent  towns  and  counties. 

In  the  fall  of  1811,  probably  in  September,  Thomas  R.  Robinson  r.r  I 
his  nephew,  Jonas  Minturn,  of  New  York,  purchased  from  off  shipboa.  d, 
direct  from  Spain,  3  Merino  ewes  and  1  ram.  The  latter  and  one  of  the 
ewes  were  Paulars;  the  other  ewes  were  one  Escurial  and  one  Aguirres. 
The  Paular  ewe  was  the  largest  of  the  three,  and  the  wool  finer  and 
somewhat  shorter  than  that  of  the  other  two.  The  average  weight  of 
the  fleece  of  the  three  ewes,  washed  on  the  back,  was  5  to  7  pounds. 
These  sheep  and  their  progeny,  together  with  the  various  crosses 
with  Mr.  Robinson's  old  flock  of  natives,  were  kept  long  enough 
to  greatly  improve  Mr.  Robinson's  own  flock  and  those  of  the  surround- 
ing region  until  the  introduction  of  the  Saxony  sheep,  when,  like  most 
other  keepers  of  large  flocks,  he  took  the  same  course  and  put  an  end 
to  hopes  of  success  in  the  line  of  wool -raising.  Many  years  afterwards 
Mr.  Robinson  revived  his  flock  by  introducing  pure  Merino  ewes  from 
Rhode  Island,  from  the  flocks  of  David  Buffum  and  W.  I.  Bailey. 

In  other  parts  of  the  State  there  were  purchasers  of  Merino  sheep. 
Linus  Austin,  of  Wilmington,  had  five  rams  and  four  ewes  imported 
from  Spain  in  April,  1810,  and  brought  into  the  State  in  May.  In  Au- 
gust they  were  offered  for  sale  or  to  let.  September  27, 1814,  Isaac 
Bishop,  of  Grauville,  had  for  sale  20  full-blood  Merino  rams  and  50 
half-bloods,  and  the  same  year  Chief  Justice  Skinner  brought  from 
Watertown,  Conn.,  a  number  of  sheep  said  to  have  been  of  the  Hum- 
phreys importation.  Their  descendents  passed  into  the  hands  of 
J.  S.  Pettibone,  of  Manchester.  Mr.  Pettibone,  in  1822,  added  to  this 
flock  20  full-blooded  Merino  ewes  bred  from  the  flock  of  Jacob  N.  Blakes- 
lee,  of  Connecticut,  and  the  produce  of  the  combined  flocks  laid  the 
foundation  of  the  large  and  superior  flock  that  Mr.  Pettibone  bred  from 
many  years. 

In  1816  Zebulon  Frost  and  Hallet  Thorn  purchased  of  Effingham 
Lawrence  and  Andrew  Cock,  of  Flushing,  Long  Island,  a  flock  of  Merino 
sheep,  and  took  them  to  Shoreham.  It  is  not  known  how  many  were 
in  the  purchase,  nor  is  it  known  of  what  blood  they  were.  Some  of 
them  were  kept  pure,  and  the  blood  transmitted  without  other  than 
Merino  blood  being  crossed  with  it.  About  the  same  time  some  full- 
blooded  Merinos  were  taken  to  Bridport,  which  were  of  good  stock 
and  made  their  impress  upon  the  flocks  of  the  neighborhood. 

Previous  to  1823  the  Livingston  Merino  was  introduced  into  Vermont, 
for  on  June  2,  1823,  Aaron  Sherwood,  of  Bennington,  sheared  from  one 
of  these  18  pounds  14  ounces  washed  wool  of  good  quality,  and  staple 
16  inches  long.  This  sheep  was  described  as  a  full-blooded  Livingston 
Merino  buck,  four  years  old,  and  had  never  been  sheared,  and  with 
fleece  on  weighed  178  pounds. 


288        SHEEP  INDUSTRY  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES 

About  1823  Alfred  Hull,  of  Wallingford,  Vt.,  purchased  a  small  flock 
of  William  Jarvis,  and  in  1842  had  about  500,  which  he  claimed  to  be 
pure  Paulars,  at  least  as  pure  as  any  in  Vermont,  and  had  been  selling 
them  for  some  years  at  $8  to  $10  per  head.  He  bred  the  ram  Don 
Pedro,  which  he  sold  to  William  Lane,  of  Cornwall,  who  in  turn  sold 
him  to  S.  W.  Jewett,  of  Weybridge,  Vt.  This  rani  was  a  large,  finely 
formed  sheep,  would  weigh  140  to  150  pounds,  and  had  a  vigorous  con- 
stitution. He  sheared  about  13  pounds  (imperfectly)  brook-washed  wool, 
as  his  heaviest  fleece.  In  1841  and  1842,  90  ewes  of  this  flock  averaged 
5 J  pounds  of  wool ;  1  ram  thirteen  months  old,  9ff  pounds ;  1  three-year- 
old  ram,  12-J-J,  and  several  ewes  cut  6J  to  6f  pounds.  In  1849  Mr.  Hull 
bought  of  Mr.  Atwood  1  ram  and  13  ewes. 

An  earlier  Jarvis  flock  was  that  founded  by  William  Pomeroy,  of 
Rutland.  In  1811  Mr.  Pomeroy  bought  of  Mr.  Jarvis,  from  on  ship- 
board in  Boston  harbor,  some  Spanish  Merino  ewes  of  the  Negretti 
family.  In  1814  a  Mr.  Eastman  bought  of  Mr.  Pomeroy  his  ewe  lambs, 
which  he  continued  to  breed  in-and-in  with  a  ISTegretti  ram,  except  the 
cross  of  1  ram,  which  he  hired  of  Mr.  Jarvis,  until  1829,  when  they 
were  given  into  the  hands  of  his  two  sons,  by  whom  some  Montarcos 
were  purchased  of  J.  Allen,  of  Massachusetts.  From  that  time  the  two 
families,  Negrettis  and  Montarcos,  were  bred  together.  A  part  of  this 
flock  was  taken  to  Wisconsin  in  1863  or  18G4. 

In  1824  N.  H.  Bottom,  of  Shaftsbury,  purchased  23  full-blooded  Me- 
rino sheep  in  Connecticut,  from  whom  is  Dot  known,  and  in  1827  Fred- 
erick Button,  of  Clarendon,  purchased  63  ewes  of  Erastus  Lyman,  and 
72  of  David  Wadhams,  both  of  Goshen,  Conn.  They  were  represented 
as  having  descended  direct  from  the  flock  of  Col.  Humphreys.  At  the 
same  time  8  Humphreys  rams  were  purchased  of  Mr.  Wadhams,  and 
shortly  after  a  ram  was  purchased  of  William  Jarvis  warranted  full- 
blooded  and  descended  from  the  best  flocks  of  Spain.  In  September, 
1830,  72  more  ewes  were  purchased  of  Humphreys  blood.  Mr.  Chap- 
man says  that  the  purchase  made  by  Mr.  Button  were  Atwood  sheep, 
and  at  the  same  time,  in  1827,  David  P.  Holden,  of  Wallingford,  also 
purchased  some  sheep  of  Mr.  Atwood,  and  that  these  were  the  first 
Atwood  sheep  taken  into  Vermont. 

In  1830  John  Rockwell,  of  West  Cornwall,  Vt.,  began  a  flock  by  the 
purchase  of  a  few  ewes  of  Leonard  Beedle  that  were  descendants  of 
the  flock  established  by  Andrew  Cock  on  Long  Island.  These  sheep 
afterwards  came  into  the  possession  of  his  son,  S.  S.  Rockwell,  who 
bred  the  flock  until  1873,  when  H.  E.  Sanford  became  part  owner.  Mr. 
Rockwell  used  rams  from  the  flocks  of  R.  P.  Hall,  Edwin  Hammond, 
V.  Wright  and  others,  up  to  1868,  since  which  time  rams  bred  within 
the  flock  have  been  used.  In  1860  15  Atwood  ewes,  bred  from  the 
Atwood  and  Hammond  flocks,  were  added,  and  in  1874  5  Atwood  ewes, 
and  in  1876  4  Atwood  and  Robinson  ewes  were  added.  It  is  now  the 
property  of  H.  E.  Sanford,  West  Cornwall,  Vt.,  and  consisted  in  1887 
of  86  rams  and  98  ewes. 


EAST   OF    THE    MISSISSIPPI    RIVER.  289 

In  the  same  year  (1830)  William  E.  Sanford,  who  previous  to  this 
time  had  succeeded  to  his  father's  flock  of  sheep,  purchased  of  Grant  & 
Jennison,  of  Walpole,  IS".  H.,  20  ewes  that  were  bred  by  William  Jarvis 
of  his  pure  Spanish  Merino  importation,  which  Mr.  Sanford  bred  to 
Cock  and  Jarvis  rams.     In  1845  he  bought  a  ram  lamb  of  Edwin 
Hammond,  and  always  after  that  year  used  pure  Atwood  rams.    In 
1840  or  1847  he  bought  of  Stephen  Atwood  3  lamb  rams  and  a  few  ewes 
from  J.  E.  Nettleton's  flock  in  Connecticut,  bred  from  the  flock  of 
Jacob  ]$".  Blakeslee.    In  1849  he  purchased  13  ewes  and  the  ram  Old 
Black  of  Stephen  Atwood  and  his  son  George  Atwood,  thus  laying  the 
foundation  for  the  flock  that  subsequently  became  pure  Atwood.    A 
few  more  ewes,  8  or  10  in  number,  were  bought  of  the  Atwoods  at  other 
times,  and  in  1854  he  purchased  of  W.  E.  Eemele,  of  Middlebury,  Vt., 
36  ewes,  being  all  of  his  ewe  lambs  of  1853  and  1854.    These  were  pure 
I  Atwood  blood.    During  the  same  year  Mr.  Sanford  in  company  with 
;  W.  S.  and  Edwin  Hammond  purchased  27  ewes  of  the  Cutting  flock 
hereafter  to  be  noticed.    A  portion  of  these  ewes  were  Atwood,  but  the 
larger  portion  were  a  part  Atwood  and  a  part  Ehode  Island  blood. 
I  Again  in  the  same  year  Mr.  Sanford  purchased  7  yearling  ewes  and 
tewe  lambs  that  were  bred  by  Mr.  Abel  P.  Wooster,  of  West  Cornwall, 
I  Vt.    They  were  Atwood  and  Hammond  sheep.    After  the  introduction 
of  the  Atwood  sheep  into  the  flock  the  ewes  from  this  blood  were  re- 
tained in  the  flock,  and  those  having  the  Jarvis  blood  were  sold  off,  as 
also  some  French  and  Silesian  sheep  purchased  in  1851.    The  Cutting 
[blood,  or  that  part  of  the  Cutting  purchase  that  were  not  pure  Atwoods, 
were  also  sold  off,  and  the  flock  became  pure  Atwood  and  were  so  bred 
until  1874,  when  it  was  sold  to  L.  J.  Orcutt,  of  Cummington,  Mass.,  and 
i  put  in  charge  of  George  Hammond  of  Middlebury,  Vt.    Its  subsequent 
I  history  will  be  traced  in  the  Hammond  flock. 

Mr.  Sanford  owned  in  company  with  Mr.  Edwin  Hammond  4  or  5 
•  stock  rams,  and  he  had  a  half  interest  in  the  ram  California,  formerly 
used  by  Victor  Wright.  California  was  bred  by  Victor  Wright  in 
1858,  sire  Long  Wool,  and  was  an  Atwood  sheep.  He  was  finally  sold 
to  Messrs.  Hoyt,  in  California,  in  1861.  Many  other  rams  of  great 
Excellence  were  projiuced  from  this  flock,  among  which  Comet  held  a 

rominent  position,  and  probably   made  the  greatest  improvement. 

romet  was  bred  in  1861,  his  sire  being  Wright's  California.    He  weighed 
full  fleece  about  140  pounds  and  was  a  symmetrical  and  well-made, 

ound-carcassed  sheep,  and  stood  upon  straight  legs  of  medium  length. 

[is  fleece  was  dense,  even,  and  covered  him  well.    Length  of  staple 
inches  j  length  of  fiber,  3 J  inches;  oil  slightly  buff;  weight  of  fleece, 

4J  pounds  at  his  third  shearing.    He  was  well  folded  at  under  side  of 

eck,  also  at  tail  and  flank.    He  was  used  extensively  as  a  stock  ram, 

and  was  an  excellent  sire  of  both  ewes  and  rams.    It  is  said  that  the 

income  of  this  ram  at  3  years  old  was  $3,000.    He  was  sold  in  his  old 

age  to  J.  S.  Close,  St.  Clairsville,  Ohio,    Two  rams,  Eureka  and  Kil- 

22990 19 


290        SHEEP  INDUSTRY  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES 

patrick,  sired  by  Comet  and  bred  by  Mr.  Sauford,  deserve  notice]! 
Eureka  was  bred  in  1861,  liis  dam  au  Atwood  ewe.  He  weighed  150, 
pounds  in  full  fleece,  and  was  even  and  well  proportioned.  He  was 
straight-backed,  moderately  round  in  the  rib,  and  deep  in  carcass;  his1 
head  was  broad  and  well-shaped  and  carried  well  up;  nose  short, 
broad  and  well- wrinkled  and  soft  and  velvety  to  the  touch;  his  fleece 
was  dense,  extra  style  and  quality,  highly  crimped  and  well  carried  a| 
all  points;  staple  2J  inches  long;  fiber  3J  inches  long;  oil  white  andjj 
coated  him  well  on  the  outside;  weight  of  fleece  25  pounds.  He  wa$j 
fashionably  folded  for  his  day,  carrying  a  good  neck,  tail  and  flank,  witlt 
some  hip  and  thigh  folds  also.  He  obtained  great  celebrity  as  a  stock; 
ram,  improving  the  flock  of  his  owner,  and  was  extensively  patronized 
by  many  breeders  in  his  neighborhood,  earning  for  his  owner  $S3600. 
Mr.  Sanford  sold  him  as  a  lamb  to  W.  O.  Bascom,  by  whom  h^f 
was  sold  when  a  yearling  to  S.  S.  Rockwell,  West  Cornwall,  Vt.^ 
whose  property  he  died  at  7  years  of  age.  Kilpatrick,  it  is  believedj 
was  the  first  Atwood  ram  that  sheared  a  fleece  of  one  year's  growth! 
that  weighed  over  30  pounds.  He  was  bred  in  1864.  He  weighed  iJ 
full  fleece  160  pounds,  which  at  that  day  was  considered  very  heavy J 
He  was  heavy -boned,  with  great  length  of  carcass  and  was  well  folded! 
at  neck,  tail,  across  the  thigh  and  flank,  and  somewhat  wrinkled  back! 
of  the  shoulder.  His  fleece  was  of  fair  density,  scarcely  medium  in] 
quality,  and  fairly  crimped.  Staple  2  inches  long.  The  weight  of  hisj 
fleece  was  at  the  highest  31  pounds.  The  oil  was  buff  in  color  andj 
abundant.  He  had  great  stamina  and  constitutional  vigor.  His  horn  J 
were  immensely  strong  and  well-nigh  covered  the  top  of  his  skull.  He 
was  sold  to  Jed  Hyde,  of  Sudbury,  Vt.,  and  by  him  to  L.  P.  Clark,  oJ 
Addison,  in  the  same  State,  at  whose  place  he  died  in  1874.  Mr.  Sanl 
ford's  flock  usually  numbered  from  150  to  200,  and  were  all  descendant  J 
of  the  Humphreys  and  Atwood  shuep.  They  had  few  equals  in  size  oi 
carcass,  density  and  weight  of  fleece. 

The  most  noted  successor  of  Stephen  Atwood  as  a  breeder  of  the! 
Atwood  sheep  was  Edwin  Hammond,  of  Middlebury,  Vt.  In  January, 
1844,  W.  S.  and  E.  Hammond,  of  Middlebury,  and  K.  P.  Hall,  of  Corn4 
wall,  purchased  from  Mr.  Atwood  and  his  neighbors  (these  latter  werl 

r  certified  by  the  sellers  as  being  full-blooded  from  Mr.  At  wood's  flock] 
and  by  Mr.  Atwood  as  being  pure  Humphreys)  over  100  ewes  and  rams! 
They  also  bought  of  Mr.  Joseph  I.  Bailey  6  ewes,  which  were  bred  onel 
year  and  the  original  stock  and  the  increase  then  disposed  of.  In  one! 
instance  in  purchasing  of  Mr.  Atwood  the  entire  lot  of  ewe  lambs  ofl 
one  year  was  taken;  in  another  one-third  of  the  old  ewes,  Mr.  Atwood! 
taking  the  first  and  third  and  the  Hammonds  and  Mr.  Hall  the  second^ 

.of  each  two.  From  these  several  purchases  have  come  the  improved'' 
Merino  represented  by  the  Hammond  flock.  They  were  kept  within 

.their  own  blood  and  the  Atwood  blood  thus  kept  intact.     The  cele- 
brated rains  Wooster,  Young  Matchless,  Oh}  Greasy,  Old  Wrinkley,! 


EAST   OF   THE   MISSISSIPPI   EIVER.  291 

Long  Wool,  Sweepstakes,  Gold  Drop,  Green  Mount,  and  others,  attest 
the  worth  of  the  sheep  and  the  skill  of  Edwin  Hammond,  who  made 
the  selections  and  directed  the  breeding  of  the  flock.  Dr.  Randall  says 
of  Edwin  Hammond  that  he  was  the  great  leading  improver  of  the 
Humphreys- Atwood  sheep. 

By  a  perfect  understanding  and  exquisite  management  of  his  materials  this  great 
breeder  has  effected  quite  as  much  of  an  improvement  in  the  American  Merino  as 
Mr.  Bakewell  effected  among  the  long-wooled  sheep  of  England.  He  has  converted 
the  thin,  light-boned,  smallish  and  imperfectly  covered  sheep  into  large,  round,  low, 
strong-boned  sheep  models  of  compactness,  and  not  a  few  of  them  almost  perfect 
models  of  beauty  for  fine-wooled  sheep.  *  *  *  Mr.  Hammond's  sheep  exhibit  no 
hardened  yolk  within  the  wool  and  but  little  externally.  In  nearly  all  of  them  the 
curves  of  the  wool  can  be  traced  to  its  outer  tips.  They  are  dark  colored,  because 
they  have  abundance  of  liquid  circulating  yolk,  and  because  they  (like  all  the  lead- 
ing breeding  flocks  of  Vermont)  are  housed  not  only  in  winter,  but  from  summer 
rain  storms.  The  great  weight  is  made  up  not  by  the  extra  amount  of  yolk,  but  by 
the  extra  length  and  thickness  of  every  part  of  the  fleece.  In  many  instances  it  is 
nearly  as  long  and  thick  on  the  "belly,  legs,  forehead,  cheeks,  etc.,  as  on  the  back 
and  sides.  The  wool  opens  freely  and  with  a  good  luster  and  style.  It  is  of  a  high 
medium  quality  and  remarkably  even.  Mr.  Hammond  is  (1863)  intentionally  breed- 
ing it  back  to  the  buff  tinge  of  the  original  Spanish  wool.  He  has  not  specially  cul- 
tivated folds  in  the  skin.  *  *  *  In  every  respect  this  eminent  breeder  has  directed 
his  whole  attention  to  solid  value,  and  has  never  sacrificed  a  particle  of  it  to  attain 
either  points  of  no  value  or  of  less  value.  He  has  bred  exclusively  from  Mr.  Atwood's 
stock,  sire  and  dam,  and  since  the  rams  originally  purchased  of  Mr.  Atwood  by  him- 
self and  associates  has  only  used  rams  of  his  own  flock. 

The  Hammond  flock  was  established  and  owned  in  common  by  Wil- 
liam S.  and  Edwin  Hammond  until  the  death  of  the  former,  May  8, 
1858,  when  his  interest  descended  to  his  son,  Henry  W.  Hammond; 
and  in  1859  there  was  a  division  of  the  flock  between  the  uncle  and  the 
nephew,  but  the  stock  rams  of  both  flocks  were  always  used  in  each. 
In  1864  George,  son  of  Edwin  Hammond,  became  a  partner  with  his 
father  in  the  flock.  On  the  death  of  Edwin  Hammond,  December  31, 
1870,  the  flock  descended  to  his  son  George,  and  was  bred  by  him  until 
1874,  when  it  was  sold  to  L.  J.  Orcutt,  Cummington,  Mass.,  under  the 
following  circumstances:  George  Hammond  was  a  large  owner  in  an 
extensive  paper-mill  which  was  built  in  1871,  and  destroyed  by  fire  in 
i  the  spring  of  1872,  with  a  heavy  loss.  It  was  rebuilt  the  same  summer 
on  a  much  larger  and  more  expensive  plan.  The  heavy  losses  by  fire, 
the  depression  in  business  and  the  great  financial  crisis  that  followed 
in  the  fall  of  1873  carried  the  company  and  Mr.  Hammond  with  them. 
Being  anxious  to  retain  his  noted  flock  of  sheep,  he  induced  his  Mend, 
31  r.  Orcutt,  who  had  no  sheep,  to  purchase  them  from  him  and  hold 
them  until  such  reasonable  time  as  he  could  take  them  back,  Mr.  Ham- 
mond holding  and  reserving  the  right  to  repurchase  at  any  time  and 
to  be  the  breeder  and  manager  of  them  so  long  as  they  remained  in 
Mr.  Orcuttfs  hands.  In  the  same  year  the  noted  flock  of  W.  E.  Sanford 
was  purchased  by  Mr.  Orcutt  for  Mr.  Hammond,  and  taken  to  his  farm 
in  Middlebury,  where  they  have  ever  remained.  In  1875  the  Henry 

I 


292  SHEEP   INDUSTRY    OF    THE    UNITED    STATES 

W.  Haminoiid  flock  (42  in  number)  was  also  purchased  and  taken  to  j 
Mr.  Hammond's  place.  These  purchases  consolidated  the  original1 
flocks  of  W.  S.  and  E.  Hammond  and  W.  E.  Sanford  into  one  flock 
under  one  management  in  1875.  In  1876  the  Henry  W.  Hammond 
flock,  with  their  increase,  and  a  fair  average  of  the  G.  Hammond  flock 
(enough  to  make  the  number  up  to  about  100)  were  sold  to  J.  M.  Kirk- ; 
patrick,  Utica,  Ohio.  In  1877  the  W.  E.  Sanford  flock,  with  the  old 
Hammond  flock  were  put  in  the  possession  of  George  Hammond  and \ 
are  still  owned  by  him  at  Middlebury,  Vt.  In  1887  the  flock  numbered 
112  rams  and  195  ewes.  The  portion  of  the  flock  sold  to  J.  M.  Kirk-j 
patrick,  Ohio,  has  been  bred  to  pure  Hammond  rams  down  to  thel 
present  day,  no  other  strain  of  blood  having  been  introduced.  It  was 
owned  in  1886  by  James  H.  Kirkpatrick,  and  contained  22  rams  and 
66  ewes. 

Some  of  the  Hammond  rams  may  be  noted.  Wooster,  bred  in  1849, 
whose  sire  was  At  wood's  Old  Black,  was  of  100  pounds  live  weight; 
his  first  fleece  weighed  12 J  pounds;  his  second,  19J  pounds.  Young 
Matchless  was  sired  by  Woosfcer,  bred  in  1850,,  and  had  a  live  weight 
of  about  140  to  150  pounds ;  his  heaviest  fleece  was  23  pounds.  Old 
Greasy  was  also  sired  by  Wooster.  and  bred  in  1850.  His  live  weight 
was  about  105  to  110  pounds,  and  his  heaviest  fleece  22  pounds.  Old 
Wrinkley  was  sired  by  Old  Greasy;  his  weight  was  125  to  130  pounds, 
and  his  best  fleece  23  pounds.  Long  Wool  also  was  sired  by  Old  Greasy 
and  bred  in  1853 ;  his  live  weight  was  about  120  to  125  pounds,  and  he 
sheared  over  20  pounds  of  long  wool  of  fine  style,  well  filled  with  white 
oil.  The  Lawrence  ram,  sired  by  Old  Wrinkley,  and  bred  in  1856,  was 
one  of  the  best  bred  by  Mr.  Hammond.  His  live  weight  was  about  120 
to  130  pounds,  and  his  heaviest  fleece  24  pounds.  Little  Wrinkley, 
sired  by  Old  Wrinkley,  and  bred  in  1855,  sometimes  called  the  Fine  ram, 
weighed  about  100  to  110  and  sheared  about  19J  pounds  of  w^ool.  He 
was  the  sire  of  Sweepstakes,  already  described  elsewhere.  America, 
sired  by  Sweepstakes,  and  bred  in  1859,  weighed  about  140  pounds  in  full 
fleece,  and  was  a  square,  well  molded  sheep,  with  short,  strong  neck, 
and  stood  upon  straight,  good-boned  legs  of  medium  length.  His 
fleece  was  of  extra  style  and  quality,  and  covered  him  well  on  legs  and 
underside,  but  not,  according  to  modern  fashion,  upon  the  head.  Length 
of  staple  about  2J  inches;  oil  slightly  buff  and  flowed  well  to  the  tip 
of  the  wool,  which  gave  him  a  very  dark  external  coat.  He  passed 
through  the  hands  of  N.  A.  Saxton,  Waltham,  Vt.;  C.  B.  Cook,  of 
Charlotte,  and  Prosper  Elitharp,  in  all  of  whose  flocks  he  was  used  as 
a  stock  ram  until  he  died.  California  was  also  sired  by  Sweepstakes, 
and  bred  in  1860,  and  was  subsequently  sold  to  Flint,  Bixley  &  Co.,  of 
California,  for  $1,000.  The  Thousand  Dollar  ram,  bred  by  Mr.  Ham- 
mond in  1860,  was  sold  to  A.  F.  Wilcox,  Fayetteville,  1ST.  Y.;  his  fleece 
weighed  25|  pounds.  Gold  Drop,  sired  by  California,  and  bred  in  1861, 
weighed  in  full  fleece  140  pounds,  His  side  view  was  symmetrical  and 


EAST   OF   THE   MISSISSIPPI   RIVER.  293 

shapely,  with  scarcely  an  elevation  on  top  of  the  shoulder.  His  ribs 
wore  tolerably  well  sprung.  His  legs  were  of  medium  length  and  well 
placed.  He  carried  a  fleece  of  most  excellent  quality,  even  throughout, 
with  a  very  dark  top  at  the  end  of  the  wool.  It  was  dense  at  all 
points.  His  heaviest  fleece  was  25  pounds,  and  it  covered  him  well  all 
around,  especially  on  head,  legs,  and  belly.  He  had  a  fair  neck,  tail, 
and  flank.  He  died  in  18G5,  the  property  of  his  breeder,  and  it  was 
stated  that  on  several  occasions  Mr.  Hammond  had  refused  offers  for 
him  running  into  the  thousands.  Silver  Mine,  sired  by  Sweepstakes, 
was  used  by  Mr.  Hammond,  and  then  sent  to  Wisconsin,  where  he  made 
a  season,  and  then  returned.  Green  Mountain  was  bred  in  1864  and  in 
general  appearance  resembled  his  sire,  Gold  Drop.  He  weighed  in  full 
fleece  140  pounds,  and  was  a  well  formed  sheep,  with  a  fine,  shapely 
head,  broad,  well  wrinkled  nose,  and  beautiful,  finely  turned  horns. 
He  had  a  good  fleece,  of  excellent  quality,  even  throughout,  and  highly 
crimped;  he  was  well  covered  on  head,  legs,  and  belly,  and  did  more  to 
fix  these  qualities  in  the  flock  than  any  ram  previously  used.  The 
weight  of  his  fleece  was  23  J  pounds.  The  staple  was  3  inches  long;  the 
fiber  4J  inches  long;  the  oil  white  and  well  circulated  through  the 
fleece.  He  was  a  smooth  sheep,  with  fair  neck,  tail,  and  flank.  There 
were,  besides  these,  many  others  who  made  great  improvements  in  the 
flocks  into  which  they  were  introduced,  not  only  in  Vermont,  but  in  all 
the  wool-growing  States  and  Territories  of  the  Union  from  Maine  to 
California. 

Another  branch  of  the  Atwood  flock  was  that  of  E.  P.  Hall,  of  Corn- 
wall, Yt..  This  flock  was  founded  in  1844  by  the  purchase  of  rams  and 
ewes  of  Stephen  Atwood  and  others,  in  company  with  W.  S.  and  Edwin 
Hammond,  as  elsewhere  narrated.  In  1845  W.  E.  Eemele  became  a 
partner  in  the  ownership  of  the  flock,  and  the  partnership  continued 
until  1849,  when  the  flock  was  divided.  In  1862  John  Towle  became  a 
partner  with  Mr.  Hall  in  the  ownership  of  the  flock ;  four  years  later 
Mr.  Towle  sold  his  interest  to  E.  S.  Stowell  and  Henry  Manchester.  In 
18G9  the  flock  was  sold  to  John  Towle.  While  Mr.  Hall  owned  the  flock 
he  sold  the  ewes  to  found  many  flocks  of  full-blood  Atwood  sheep,  and 
bred  and  sold  a  large  number  of  excellent  stock  rams.  Mr.  Towle  has 
since  bred  the  flock  without  the  introduction  of  other  ewes,  and  it  was 
still  in  existence  in  1887. 

William  E.  Eemele,  who  was  associated  with  Mr.  Hall  from  1845  to 
1849,  and  dissolved  partnership  in  the  latter  year,  bred  his  portion  of 
the  flock  in  the  Atwood  blood  until  1875,  when  he  introduced  the  Eob- 
inson  blood  for  three  successive  seasons;  but  the  produce  was  all  sold 
out  of  the  flock.  In  1886  it  numbered  40  rams  and  52  ewes. 

Edwin  S.  Stowell  founded  his  Atwood  flock  by  the  purchase  of  ewes 
from  W.  S.  &  E.  Hammond  in  1853,  1854,  and  1855;  of  10  purchased  in 
1858,  bred  by  W.  E.  Eemele,  and  6  in  1860,  of  George  Hammond,  and 
using  the  stock  rams  of  the  Hammonds  until  1861,  when  those  bred 


294        SHEEP  INDUSTRY  OF'  THE  UNITED  STATES 

within  the  flock  were  used  and  these  present  a  grand  array.  The  first 
was  Stowell's  Sweepstakes,  sire  by  Peerless,  and  bred  in  I860,  after- 
ward sold  to  Carey,  Beyer  and  Twitchell,  Wyandotte  County,  Ohio. 
Dew  Drop  was  sired  by  Sweepstakes,  was  bred  in  1862,  and  sold  in  1869 
to  John  Sheldon,  Livingston  Connty,  N.  Y.  Golden  Fleece  was  also 
sired  by  Sweepstakes  and  bred  in  1862.  He  was  used  very  extensively 
as  a  stock  ram  by  his  breeder  and  others,  and  made  one  season  at 
Naples  and  Honeoye,  western  New  York.  He  died  in  1874  after  earn- 
ing over  $20,000  for  his  owner.  Golden  Fleece  weighed  in  full  fleece 
from  140  to  150  pounds,  and  was  a  very  showy  and  attractive  ram,  and 
justly  acquired  great  celebrity  throughout  the  country.  He  was  even 
and  well  balanced  in  form  and  general  contour,  and  possessed  in  a 
marked  degree  what  would  be  termed  quality  in  every  part;  back 
straight  and  broad  throughout;  ribs  well  arched;  shoulders  heavy  and 
deep,  which  was  also  true  of  his  whole  carcass.  He  had  a  good  heavy 
neck,  tail,  and  flank,  and  was  well  folded  at  hip  and  thigh,  with  some 
folds  back  of  shoulder  also.  His  flfiece  was  dense,  high  quality,  even, 
and  well  crimped,  opened  in  flakes,  and  showed  a  style  and  brilliancy 
almost  unrivaled.  He  established  in  the  flock  what  is  known  as  the 
Stowell  fleece.  At  four  years  of  age  he  produced  26J  pounds  of  wool, 
at  five  years  26J  pounds.  King  Solomon,  sired  by  Golden  Fleece  and 
bred  in  1865,  was  sold  to  go  to  California.  Eed  Leg,  by  the  same  sire, 
went  to  California  in  1870,  and  many  of  later  date  went  to  other  parts 
of  the  United  States.  In  1880  the  flock,  which  comprised  23  rams  and 
100  ewes,  passed  into  the  possession  of  Messrs.  Dean  &  Jennings,  West 
Cornwall,  Yt. 

Another  early  Yermont  Atwood  flock  is  that  of  C.  B.  Cook,  Char- 
lotte, Chittenden  County.  In  October,  1841,  David  Cook  and  his  son, 
Charles  B.  Cook,  bought  of  Stephen  Atwood  a  rain  and  23  ewes,  and 
in  January,  1845,  they  made  a  further  purchase  of  6  ewes  and  Mr. 
Atwood's  best  3  ram  lambs,  and  of  Chauncey  Atwood  5  ewe  lambs.  In 
1847,  in  company  with  Prosper  Elitharp,  of  Bridport,  Mr.  C.  B.  Cook 
purchased  a  few  ewes  of  Mr.  Stephen  Atwood  and  11  ewe  lambs  of 
Chauncey  Atwood.  Mr.  Cook  used  Hammond  rains  and  those  bred 
within  his  own  flock  until  1859,  when  he  purchased  of  N.  A.  Saxton 
a  half  interest  in  America  the  other  half  coming  to  Prosper  Elitharp 
two  years  later.  The  flock  numbered  10  rams  and  7  ewes  in  1886. 

Prosper  Elitharp,  named  above  as  purchasing  Atwood  sheep,  com- 
menced breeding  pure-blood  Merinos  in  1835  and  laid  the  founda- 
tion of  his  flock  by  the  purchase  of  ewes  of  James  Baker  and  D.  Smith, 
of  Bridport.  A  portion  of  them  were  bred  by  Leonard  Beedle.  A  few 
had  crosses  of  Jarvis  blood,  but  most  of  them  were  pure  from  the  Andrew 
Cock  stock.  A  few  ewes  were  also  purchased  from  the  flock  of  L.  C. 
Eemele  and  1  from  the  Eich  flock.  These  ewes  were  a  cross  of  a  Jarvis 
ram  on  ewes  of  the  Cock  blood.  In  1844  the  foundation  of  the  Atwood 
portion  of  the  flock  was  laid  by  the  purchase  of  a  half  interest  in  the 


I 


EAST   OF   THE   MISSISSIPPI   RIVER.  295 

ram  At  wood,  bred  by  Stephen  Atwood  in  1842,  and  elsewhere  described. 
At  the  same  time  that  he  purchased  the  ram  he  also  bought  2  ewes  of 
Mr.  C.  B.  Cook  that  were  descended  from  ewes  Mr.  Cook  had  purchased 
of  Mr.  Atwood.  Soon  after  more  ewes  were  purchased  of  Mr.  Cook, 
and  in  1846  3  ewes  were  purchased  of  W.  S.  &  E.  Hammond  that  came 
from  the  flock  of  Stephen  Atwood.  In  1847  Mr.  Elitharp  and  Mr.  Cook 
made  a  purchase  of  ewes  of  Stephen  Atwood  and  his  son  Chauucey, 
and  upon  his  part  of  this  purchase  Mr.  Elitharp  used  his  ram  Atwood 
until  he  died  in  1850.  In  1863  the  portion  of  this  flock  that  combined 
the  blood  of  the  Cock,  Jarvis,  and  Humphreys  flocks  was  sold.  In 
1873  Mr.  Elitharp  finally  disposed  of  all  his  flock,  selling  the  last  10 
that  he  had  reserved  to  Otis  P.  Lee,  of  Middlebury,  V t,  and  additions 
to  Atwood  blood  have  been  made  to  it  and  the  flock  preserved  to  the 
present  day.  Mr.  Elitharp  was  considered  one  of  the  very  best  judges 
[of  sheep  of  his  time,  a  breeder  of  excellent  judgment,  and  succeeded 
Jin  making  great  improvements  in  his  flock.  Ewes  of  his  breeding  were 
Jin  good  demand  and  seldom  disappointed  the  expectations  of  their 
purchasers.  He  also  produced  some  rams  of  note. 

Elitharp  was  bred  by  him  in  1845 ;  his  sire  was  Atwood  and  his  dam 
was  sired  by  Black  Hawk;  second  dam  bred  by  William  Jarvis,  being 
thus  of  Atwood,  Jarvis,  and  Cock  blood.  This  ram  was  sold  to  Eras- 
|tus  E.  Eobinson.  and  used  by  him  as  a  stock  ram  and  was  the  sire  of 
the  famous  old  Robinson  ram.  From  the  Atwood  blood  of  the  flock  he 
bred  the  Elitharp  and  Burwell  ram,  sired  by  Eureka,  and  bred  in  1868. 
This  ram  was  sold  in  1871  to  H.  C.  Burwell  and  by  him  in  1872  to  Peet 
&  Severance,  and  by  them  taken  to  California.  This  ram  weighed  in 
foil  fleece  160  pounds,  and  was  well  proportioned  and  very  symmetri. 
cal  in  outline  and  finish.  He  was  a  straight  level-topped  sheep,  run- 
ning out  high  and  broad  at  rump  and  tail,  his  back  and  loin  also  good 
and  strong.  He  was  well  arched  in  rib  and  had  good  depth  of  carcass^ 
neck  short  and  long  head,  and  nose  well-shaped  and  attractive.  He 
was  well  wrinkled  at  neck,  hip,  tail,  flank,  and  at  point  of  shoulder. 
He  was  very  dark  colored  at  tip  of  wool,  and  carried  a  very  dense, 
attractive,  even,  and  highly  crimpled  fleece  of  wool,  which  opened  in 
flakes.  He  was  well  covered  all  around;  especially  good  at  head  and 
legs.  The  weight  of  his  fleece  was  27  pounds;  the  staple  was  2 \ inches 
long.  Green  Mountain,  sired  by  Golden  Fleece  and  bred  in  1864,  was 
jsold  by  Mr.  Elitharp  to  H.  Hemmenway,  Whitewater,  Wis. 

Another  Atwood  flock  was  that  of  N.  A.  Saxton,  Waltham,  Vt.  The 
foundation  of  this  flock  was  commenced  about  1847  by  a  small  purchase 
bf  ewes  from  W.  S.  and  E.  Hammond.  Mr.  Saxton  bred  these  and 
their  produce  to  Hammond  rams  and  those  of  W.  E.  Sanford,  as  well 
as  those  bred  in  his  own  flock,  until  1872,  when  he  used  the  stock  rams 
of  O.  C.  Bacon.  Mr.  Saxton  died  in  1874  and  the  flock  was  widely  dis- 
persed. Two  of  his  good  stock  rams  may  be  mentioned— the  Saxton 


296        SHEEP  INDUSTRY  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES 

ram,  bred  in  1852  and  sired  by  Wooster,  and  Prince,  sired  by  America 
and  sold  to  A.  Barringer,  of  Illinois. 

Victor  Wright  in  1847  began  an  Atwood  flock  by  the  purchase  from 
L.  C.  Eemele  of  one  ewe  that  Mr.  Eemele  had  purchased  of  E.  P.  Hall. 
This  ewe  was  bred  by  Stephen  Atwood  and  purchased  of  him  by 
Messrs.  Hammond  and  Hall.  In  after  years  many  ewes  were  purchased ; 
of  the  Hammonds  and  added  to  the  flock.  Nearly  all  the  stock  rams 
of  the  Hammonds  were  used  and  also  those  bred  in  the  flock,  among 
which  have  been  many  of  great  excellence.  Mr.  Wright  died  in  1867, 
after  which  his  widow  owned  the  flock  for  more  than  twenty  years, 
when  it  passed  into  the  hands  of  the  present  owner,  A.  B.  Wright, 
Middlebury,  Yt.  Among  the  rams  bred  by  Mr.  Y.  Wright  may  be 
mentioned  Wright's  California,  sired  by  Hammond's  Long  Wool,  and 
sold  in  1861  to  Messrs.  Hoyt,  of  California;  Old  Greasy,  sired  by  Cali- 
fornia, and  sold  to  E.  Perrine,  western  Pennsylvania  ;  Black  Top,  sired 
by  Hammond's  Gold  Drop;  Long  Wool,  sired  by  Wright's  Old  Greasy; 
Don  Pedro,  sired  by  Long  Wool,  and  Wrinkley,  also  sired  by  Ham- 
mond's Gold  Drop,  and  bred  in  1863,  all  of  the  Atwood  blood. 

There  were  many  other  Atwood  sheep  taken  from  Connecticut  at  an 
early  day.  Among  the  purchasers  of  them  may  be  mentioned  W.  C. 
Wright,  S.  L.  Bissell,  and  S.  W.  Jewett  in  1844,  and  soon  after  Joseph 
Marsh,  C.  W.  Brownell,  and  William  Gage,  each  of  whom  bred  pure 
Atwood  sheep  for  many  years.  That  of  Judge  Joseph  Marsh  was  bred 
pure  to  about  the  time  of  his  death  in  1877.  In  1846  Philo  Jewett,  of 
Weybridge,  bought  8  or  10  Atwood  ewes  of  the  Atwoods,  and  soon 
after  this  A.  A.  Farns worth,  of  New  Haven,  bought  all  the  yearling 
ewes  that  Mr.  Atwood  raised  in  one  year.  In  1863  E.  N.  Bissell,  of 
Shorehani,  purchased  5  ewes  and  a  ram  of  Stephen  Atwood,  3  ewes  of 
Chauncey  Atwood,  29  ewes  and  1  ram  of  George  Atwood,  and  6  Atwood 
ewes  of  Jerry  Smith.  These,  with  those  heretofore  mentioned,  are  all 
the  Atwood  sheep  that  Mr.  Chapman  in  1877  had  been  able  to  trace  in 
Vermont.  The  purchases  made  from  these  various  flocks  and  their 
subsequent  dispersion  over  the  State  and  the  United  States  can  not  be 
followed  at  this  time. 

It  will  be  remembered  that  of  the  early  shipments  of  William  Jarvis 
were  24  Escurials  to  Eichard  Crowningshield,  of  New  York.  They 
arrived  June  18, 1810.  Two  of  these  were  purchased  by  Andrew  Cock, 
of  Flushing,  L.  L,  at  $1,100  per  head.  They  were  ewes.  Mr.  Cock 
then  made  another  purchase  of  the  Paular  breed,  at  from  $50  to  $100 
per  head,  and  continued  to  add  to  his  flock  by  purchases  of  the  different 
importations  until  he  ran  his  flock  up  to  about  80,  always  selecting 
them  with  great  care.  He  never  purchased  any  but  the  best,  was  very 
attentive  as  a  breeder,  saw  well  to  his  business,  and  formed  an  unri- 
valed flock  of  sheep.  In  1823  Jehiel  Beedle,  Elijah  Wright,  and  Charles 
Eich,  of  Shoreham,  through  Leonard  Beedle,  purchased  this  flock,  con- 
sisting of  about  100.  On  the  arrival  of  the  flock  in  Vermont  it  was 


EAST    OF    THE  ^MISSISSIPPI    RIVER.  297 

divided  by  the  owners,  Mr.  Beedle  receiving  one-half,  Charles  Eich  a 
fourth,  and  Mr.  Wright  a  fourth.  A  few  of  the  Beedle  flock  have 
descended  to  this  day,  unmixed  with  other  than  Merino  blood.  It  is 
not  known  that  the  Wright  flock  has  been  bred  pure,  but  from  that 
portion  of  the  Cock  flock  turned  over  to  Charles  Eich  much  of  the 
pure  Spanish  blood  of  the  present  flocks  has  descended.  Charles  Eich 
died  in  1824  and  his  flock  descended  to  his  two  sons,  Charles  and  J. 
Thurman  Eich.  Of  these  two  sons  Mr.  Chapman  says : 

The  rich  pecuniary  recompense,  and  the  meed  of  fame  these  men  and  their  heirs 
have  since  received,  is  but  a  portion  of  what  they  deserve  as  a  reward  for  the  judg- 
ment and  firmness  exhibited  by  resisting  the  popular  mania  for  Saxony  fineness  and 
blood.  When  Jarvis,  Atwood,  Blakeslee  and  almost  all  gave  way,  John  Thurman 
and  Charles  Rich  stood  firm.  It  is  true  that  the  first  three  named,  with  a  few  others, 
discovered  their  error  in  time  to  retrace  their  steps,  and  save  to  us  much  of  the  good 
old  blood;  but  their  j udgments  were  fascinated  and  bewildered  by  the  mania  for 
fine  wool  that  swept  over  the  land  between  1824  and  1836,  vitiating  the  blood  and 
constitutions  of  nearly  all  the  flocks  of  fine-wooled  sheep,  depleting  the  pockets  and 
destroying  the  hopes  of  their  owners. 

The  Charles  Eich  branch  of  this  flock  was  bred  pure  and  unmixed 
with  other  blood  until  1836,  when  Charles  Eich  sold  to  Erastus  E.  Eob- 
inson  100  of  his  ewes,  and  to  Tyler  Stickney  the  few  selected  lambs 
that  were  reserved  when  the  sale  to  Eobinson  was  made,  thus  laying 
the  foundation  of  two  most  justly  celebrated  flocks. 

Erastus  E.  Eobinson  continued  to  breed  the  Eich  sheep  in  the  same 
line  or  Cock  family  until  1845,  when  he  introduced  a  strain  of  Atwood 
blood  by  the  use  of  the  Elitharp  ram  Atwood  to  20  ewes,  and  by  the 
purchase  of  the  ram  Elitharp  a  year  later.  An  addition  of  30  ewes  was 
made  to  the  flock  in  1848  by  a  purchase  of  Mr.  Prosper  Elitharp.  These 
ewes  ware  mainly  if  not  all  bred  by  Mr.  Elitharp  and  combined  the  blood 
of  the  Cock,  Humphreys,  and  Jarvis  flocks.  The  ram  that  was  used 
more  than  any  other,  and  the  one  that  made  the  greatest  improvement 
in  the  flock,  was  bred  by  Mr.  Eobinson.  He  is  known  as  the  old  Eobin- 
son ram,  descended  from  Atwood  ram  Elitharp  and  a  Eich  ewe  and  was 
sold  to  Tyler  Stickney  in  1853.  He  became  celebrated  as  a  stock  ram, 
living  to  the  age  of  13  or  14  years.  He  weighed  about  100  pounds,  and 
sheared  about  14  pounds.  His  horns  were  heavy  and  of  the  Paular 
pattern. 

Soon  after  the  introduction  of  the  French  Merinos  into  Vermont  in 
1842  Mr.  Eobinson  procured  a  ram  of  this  blood,  which  he  used  to  a 
third  of  his  ewes  one  year.  These  ewes  were  selected  so  as  to  represent 
a  fair  average  of  the  flock.  The  result  of  this  cross  was  a  large  increase 
of  the  size  of  the  carcass,  but  a  decided  decrease  in  the  average  weight 
of  fleece,  thus  very  largely  decreasing  the  average  of  wool  to  live 
weight,  and  very  materially  increasing  the  cost  of  the  wool,  while  the 
quality  was  not  so  good  as  that  grown  on  the  other  portion  of  the 
flock.  This  cross,  proving  so  unsatisfactory,  was  soon  weeded  out  and 
sold  from  the  flock.  At  the  death  of  Mr.  Erastus  E.  Eobiuson  in  1854 


298        SHEEP  INDUSTRY  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES 

the  flock  was  divided,  a  portion  falling  to  the  share  of  his  widow,  Mrs. 
Sallie  D.  Robinson,  and  a  portion  to  his  sou,  Darwin  E.  Robinson,  and 
these  were  bred  as  they  previously  had  been  and  contained  a  prepon- 
derance of  Paular  blood,  and  made  the  foundation  of  several  superior 
flocks.  E.  R.  Robinson  was  an  excellent  judge  of  sheep,  a  very  judi- 
cious breeder,  and  made  great  improvements  in  the  flock  which  he 
established  and  bred  with  so  much  credit  and  profit.  Sheep  of  his 
breeding  were  in  demand,  and  no  better  certificate  could  be  given  to 
prove  a  sheep  meritorious  and  pure-blooded  than  one  that  certified  it 
was  a  pure-bred  Robinson  sheep.* 

Tyler  Stickney,  to  whom  Charles  Rich  sold  12  ewe  lambs  in  1836, 
founded  his  flock  in  1834,  previous  to  which  he  had  been  in  copartner- 
ship with  Mr.  Rich  in  breeding  sheep,  and  when  they  divided,  one  ewe, 
that  afterwards  became  celebrated  as  the  dam  of  Hero  and  Fortune, 
fell  to  the  share  of  Mr.  Stickney.  This,  with  the  12  ewes  purchased  in 
1836,  formed  the  basis  of  his  flock,  which  has  been  kept  together  and 
the  breeding  directed  by  one  person,  for  over  forty  years;  and  the  flock 
has  a  longer  continuous  existence  than  any,  save  one.  The  same  year 
that  Mr.  Stickney  purchased  the  12  ewes  of  Mr.  Rich  he  selected  from 
the  flock  of  William  Jarvis  a  ram  lamb,  which  Mr.  Jarvis  stated  to  be 
the  first  selection  he  had  ever  permitted  from  his  rams  of  any  year 
before  selecting  for  his  own  use;  this  ram  Consul  was  used  for  eight 
years,  and  after  this  rams  of  Atwood,  Hammond,  Rich,  and  Robinson 
blood,  great  care  being  taken  to  use  none  but  pure  Spanish  Merinos. 
The  improvement  of  the  flock  is  shown  in  the  facts  that  whereas  Con- 
sul, bred  in  1835,  sheared  about  14  pounds  unwashed  wool  at  his 
best,  Fremont,  in  1868,  sheared  24J  pounds,  the  latter  the  heaviest 
shearing  ram  of  his  day,  and  for  years  not  equaled  in  weight  of  fleece, 
also  from  an  ewe  shearing  only  8  or  9  pounds  unwashed  wool  to  one 
shearing  20  pounds  in  1878.  The  Stickney  is  one  of  the  leading  and 
generally  recognized  best  lines  of  Merino  blood.  Tyler  Stickney  died 
in  January,  1882,  and  the  flock  he  bred  from  1834  to  the  day  of  his  death 
is  still  in  existence. 

Hero,  a  noted  ram,  was  bred  by  Tyler  Stickney  in  1840.  His  sire  was 
Consul,  a  Jarvis  ram,  and  his  dam  a  pure  Cock  ewe,  bred  by  Charles 
Rich.  He  was  sold  when  2  or  3  years  old  to  A.  L.  Bingham,  Cornwall, 
Vt.  His  heaviest  fleece  weighed  13  pounds.  Fortune,  also  bred  by 
Mr.  Stickney,  had  the  same  sire  and  dam  as  Hero.  He  was  sold  to  L. 
C.  Remele,  by  Mr.  Remele  to  Jonathan  Wilson,  and  by  him  to  S.  W. 
Jewett,  in  whose  hands  he  attained  great  celebrity.  He  weighed  about 
160  pounds  in  full  fleece,  and  gave  at  his  third  shearing  13  pounds  4 
ounces  of  wool,  imperfectly  washed  in  the  brook.  General  Fremont  was 
bred  in  1865,  and  was  one  of  the  most  remarkable  and  heaviest  sheai  ing- 
rams  of  his  day,  but  was  not  as  widely  known  as  his  merit  deserved,  on 

*  Register  of  the  Vermont  Merino  Sheep  Breeders'  Association,  Vol.  I. 


HAINES,   DEL. 


SPANISH  "PAULAR"  MERINO  RAM  "FORTUNE/' 

FROM  "  NATIONAL  RECORD  OF  AMERICAN  MERINO  SHEEP  REGISTER,"  VOL.   II, 


"GEN.  FREMONT." 

FROM  "  REGISTER  OF  VERMONT  MERINO  SHEEP  ASSOCIATION,"  VOL.    I,   1879. 


EAST   OF    THE    MISSISSIPPI    RIVER.  299 

account  of  the  great  depression  of  the  sheep  industry  in  his  time.  He 
weighed  in  full  fleece  165  pounds;  was  symmetrical  in  outline,  and  well 
proportioned.  His  fleece  was  very  dense  and  covered  him  well  at  all 
points.  It  was  about  medium  in  quality,  fairly  crimped,  and  heavily 
charged  throughout  with  a  buff  oil.  Staple  about  2J  inches  long.  He 
had  a  finely  shaped  and  well-covered  head,  and  heavy  and  closely  turned 
horns.  His  first  fleece  was  17  pounds;  the  third,  his  heaviest,  was  34  J 
j)oii nds.  Mne  fleeces  weighed  243  pounds,  or  an  average  of  27  pounds 
each.  He  was  sold  at  2  years  of  age  to  J.  L.  Parker,  Whiting,  Yt.,  who 
took  him  to  Samuel  Griswold's  place,  Corfu,  N.  Y.,  where  he  left  some 
excellent  heavy  shearing  stock.  He  was  repurchased  by  Mr.  Stickney, 
and  died  in  1875. 

Of  the  flocks  of  Charles  Eich,  Erastus  B.  Robinson,  and  Tyler  Stick- 
ney, Mr.  Albert  Chapman  says : 

It  will  readily  be  seen  that  they  came  finally  to  possess  the  same  three  bloods,  the 
Atwood,  Jarvis,  and  Cock.  Although  the  proportions  might  differ  somewhat,  in  the 
main  and  substantially  they  were  the  same.  The  individual  tastes  of  each  may  have 
somewhat  varied  their  practice  as  breeders,  and  consequently  may  have  affected  the 
characteristics  of  the  individual  sheep  that  were  bred  in  their  flocks,  but  when  we 
call  a  sheep's  blood  Rich,  Stickney,  and  Robinson,  we  mean  one  bred  from  their  flocks, 
'and  combining  the  bloods  of  the  Atwood,  Cock,  and  Jarvis  flocks. 

John  T.  Kich,  son  of  Charles  Eich,  came  into  possession  of  one-half 
his  father's  flock  in  1836,  the  flock  founded  in  1823.  He  sold  none  of 
his  ewes  until  1838,  at  which  date  he  sold  two,  one  to  L.  C.  Eemele  and 
one  to  Judge  Wright,  and  gave  each  of  them  one.  He  continued  to 
breed  in  the  Cock  or  Paular  line  by  rams  bred  within  the  flock  until 
1841,  when  he  introduced  a  ram  bred  by  William  Jarvis,  and  selected 
from  his  flock.  At  this  date  his  flock  consisted  of  about  150  breeding 
ewes,  with  a  due  proportion  of  young  shoep.  Mr.  Eich  also  bred  a 
Jarvis  ram  to  some  of  his  ewes  in  1842,  and  soon  after  the  Atwood 
blood  was  introduced  by  using  Elitharp's  ram  Atwood  to  a  few  ewes  in 
1*45,  and  by  other  rams  subsequently.  In  1844  Mr.  Eich  sold  110  ewes 
to  Joseph  Sheldon,  of  Fairhaven,  Yt.  At  the  death  of  Mr.  Eich,  Octo- 
ber 12,  1846,  the  flock  was  inherited  by  his  two  sons,  John  T.  and  Vir- 
tulan  Eich.  The  rams  that  were  the  get  of  the  Jarvis  ram  were  not 
used  in  the  flock,  and  a  part  of  the  ewe  lambs  also  were  sold  out  and 
the  flock  continued  to  be  bred  in  the  Cock  or  Paular  line,  the  rule  with 
.John  T.  Eich  being  to  breed  back,  using  rams  that  showed  pedi- 
I  gree  through  the  sires  direct  to  the  Cock  flock.  By  a  careful  investi- 
gation it  was  ascertained  that  in  1874  the  blood  of  the  flock  was  about 
live-sixths  Paular;  the  two-thirds  of  the  remaining  one-sixth  Hum- 
phreys; and  the  remainder  Jarvis  blood,  other  than  Paular.  John  T. 
Eich  died  September  27, 1876,  and  the  flock  became  the  property  of 
;  Virtulan  Eich,  the  present  owner. 

Dr.  Henry  S.  Eandall,  who  visited  this  flock,  says: 

These  sheep  in  1840  were  heavy,  short-legged,  broad  animals,  full  in  the  quarters, 
strong-boned,  with  thick,  short  necks  and  thick  coarse  heads.     The  ewes  had  deep 


300       SHEEP  INDUSTRY  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES 

and  sometimes  plaited  dewlaps  and  folds  of  moderate  size  about  the  neck.  The  ranis 
had  larger  ones.  They  were  darker  externally  than  the  Jarvis  sheep,  but  not  so 
much  so  as  the  Atwood  sheep,  indicating  that  their  wool  contained  more  yolk  than 
the  former  and  less  than  the  latter.  The  wool  was  longer  than  that  of  either  of  the 
other  families,  very  thick,  and  covered  them  better  on  the  belly,  legs,  and  head. 
But  it  was  inferior  in  fineness,  evenness,  and  style.  It  was  quite  coarse  on  the  thigh, 
and  hairs  were  occasionally  seen  on  the  neck  folds.  The  lambs  were  often  covered 
with  hair  when  yeaned,  and  their  legs  and  ears  were  marked  by  patches  of  tan  color 
which  subsequently  disappeared  except  on  the  ears,  where  it  continued  to  show 
faintly.  They  were  better  nurses  and  hardier  than  either  of  the  other  families.  I 
have  remarked  in  a  former  publication  that  they  were  precisely  the  negligent  farm- 
er's sheep.  They  encountered  short  keep,  careless  treatment  of  all  kinds,  exposure 
to  autumal  storms  and  winter  gales,  with  a  degree  of  impunity  which  was  unexam- 
pled. Their  lambs  came  big,  bony,  and  strong,  and  did  not  suffer  much  if  they  were 
dropped  in  a  snow  bank.  In  1842  and  1843  this  flock  was  bred  to  a  Jarvis  ram — 
peculiarly  dark,  thick,  and  heavy  fleeced,  and  compact  in  form  for  one  of  his  family — 
the  object  of  Mr.  Eich  being  to  avoid  breeding  in-and-in  and  to  improve  the  quality 
of  his  wool.  For  the  same  object  and  to  increase  the  yolkiness  of  the  wool,  a  dip  or 
two  of  the  Atwood  blood  has  been  since  taken ;  but  it  has  always  been  made  a  point 
to  breed  back  after  taking  these  crosses,  so  as  essentially  to  preserve  the  blood  and 
distinctive  characteristics  of  the  original  family.  The  Messrs.  Rich  have  succeeded 
in  all  these  objects,  and  have  kept  up  well  with  the  rapid  current  of  modern  improve- 
ment. Their  sheep  are  not  as  large,  nor  do  they  yield  so  much  wool  per  head  as  the 
improved  Infantados,  but  they  possess  symmetrical  forms  which  are  remarkable  for 
compactness.  The  body  is  shortish,  and  very  thick,  with  their  ancient  good  fore 
and  hind  quarters;  and  their  heads,  though  thick  and  short,  have  lost  their  coarse- 
ness. Their  fleeces  are  even  and  good.  But  that  merit  which  gives  them  their  great 
popularity  in  Vermont  and  elsewhere  is  their  adaptation  to  thin,  scant  herbage,  and 
to  their  qualities  as  working  flocks.  They  demand  no  extra  care  or  keep  to  develop 
their  qualities,  are  always  lively  and  alert;  and  though  gentle  and  perfectly  free 
from  restlessness  of  temperament,  they  are  ready  to  rove  far  and  near  to  obtain  their 
food.  And  for  all  they  consume  they  make  the  most  ample  returns.  While  they 
will  pay  for  care  they  will  thrive  with  but  little  care.  In  a  word,  they  remain,  par 
excellence,  the  negligent  farmer's  sheep.* 

The  Eicli  flock  of  sheep,  founded  in  1823,  is  the  oldest  flock  of  pure- 
bred Merinos  now  existing  in  the  United  States,  without  change  ex- 
cept by  regular  family  descent.  It  has  been  kept  on  the  same  farm, 
and  owned  in  the  same  family,  for  sixty-eight  years.  From  it  have  been 
sent  sheep  to  all  portions  of  the  United  States,  and  to  other  parts  of  the 
world. 

A  branch  of  this  flock,  taken  to  Michigan,  remains  to  be  noted.  In 
1848  John  W.  Eich  purchased  three  rams  and  a  few  ewes  from  the  flocks 
of  J.  T.  &  V.  Eich,  Tyler  Stickney,  and  D.  &  GL  Cutting,  and  took  them 
to  Lapeer,  Mich.  These  purchases  were  made  partly  on  account  of 
Hon.  Charles  Eich,  formerly  the  owner  of  the  part  of  the  Eich  flock  sold 
E.  E.  Eobinson  and  Tyler  Stickney.  The  sheep  subsequently  became 
the  common  property  of  Charles  and  John  W.  Eich,  and  were  bred  en- 
tirely within  the  flock  taken  to  Michigan  until  1851,  when  a  ram  was 
purchased  of  J.  T.  &  V.  Eich  and  used  a  number  of  years.  In  1853  an 
addition  was  made  to  the  flock  of  10  ewes  from  the  flock  of  Tyler  Stick- 

*The  Practical  Shepherd.     Henry  S.  Randall,  1863. 


EAST    OF    THE  MISSISSIPPI   RIVER.  301 

ney,  and  in  1859  another  addition  was  made  of  the  flock  of  Thomas 
Slay  ton,  who  had  a  pure  Stickney  flock.  After  the  purchase  of  the 
Slayton  flock,  rams  bred  within  the  joint  flocks  were  used  until  1863, 
when  John  W.  Eich  purchased  two  rams,  one  of  T.  Stickney,  the  other 
of  David  Cutting.  These  rams  were  used  a  number  of  years,  or  until 
they  died,  when  rams  sired  by  them  were  used.  John  W.  Eich  died  in 
1872,  but  previous  to  his  death  he  purchased  the  interest  of  Charles 
Eich,  except  10  ewes,  a  division  of  the  best  20.  With  the  exception  of 
these  10  ewes  the  flock,  in  1872,  came  into  the  possession  of  the  present 
owner,  John  T.  Eich,  of  Elba,  Mich. 

A  ram  raised  by  John  T.  &  V.  Eich,  which  made  a  great  improve- 
ment in  the  flock,  was  Mountaineer,  bred  in  1865,  who  weighed  in  full 
fleece  150  pounds,  and  was  a  strong-boned,  well-formed,  round-carcassed 
sheep.  He  had  a  well-shaped  head,  nose  short  and  broad,  and  well 
wrinkled.  He  was  well  wooled  to  the  hoof  all  around.  He  had  a  dense 
fleece  throughout,  and  his  head  and  belly  were  well  covered.  He  had 
a  mellow,  pink  skin. 

About  the  year  1835  Eben  E.  Murray,  Augustus  Munger,  and  a  man 
named  Bundy,  purchased  a  flock  of  about  150  Merino  sheep  of  breeders 
living  at  Newport,  E.  I.,  mainly,  if  not  all,  from  the  flock  of  Joseph  I. 
Bailey,  and  took  them  to  Whiting,  Yt.,  where  a  portion  of  them  went 
into  the  hands  of  S.  T.  Baker,  from  his  into  those  of  James  M.  Orms- 
bee,  and  from  his  to  David  and  German  Cutting,  where  and  when  the 
foundation  of  the  Cutting  flock  was  laid.  The  evidence  seems  con- 
clusive that  these  sheep  were  pure  descendants  from  the  importation 
of  Capt.  Paul  Cuffe  into  Newport,  September,  1810,  and  known  to  have 
been  purchased  of  William  Jarvis  at  Lisbon.  The  Cuttings  made  their 
purchase  of  James  M.  Ormsbee — about  80  ewes — in  1841.  Two  rams  of 
the  same  blood,  of  the  first  purchase  of  ewes,  were  purchased  with  them 
and  were  used  at  first,  but  in  1846  Atwood  blood  was  introduced  and  for 
several  years  subsequently  nearly  or  quite  all  the  rams  used  in  the  flock 
were  of  this  blood.  The  Atwood  blood  was  also  introduced  by  way  of 
ewes  purchased,  until  finally  the  flock  became  by  this,  and  more  by  the 
rams  used,  largely  composed  of  this  blood,  but  no  special  efforts  are 
known  to  have  been  made  to  keep  this  blood  pure  or  distinct  from  the 
other.  Cutting  blood,  then,  stands  for  a  combination  of  the  Atwood 
and  Ehode  Island  flocks.* 

Soon  after  this  flock  was  commenced  it  was  divided  by  the  brothers 
David  and  German  Cutting,  but  the  blood  and  breeding  of  the  two 
flocks  were  substantially  the  same.  After  the  decease  of  David  Cut- 
ting his  flock  came  into  the  possession  of  his  nephews,  G.  A.  Cutting  and 
H.  M.  Perry,  and  the  other  part  of  the  flock  belonging  to  German  Cut- 
ting, since  his  death  has  descended  to  his  heirs.  Both  flocks  are  still 
kept  up. 

The  Eich  branch  of  the  Cock  sheep,  crossed  to  a  ram  bred  by  Wil- 

*  Register  of  tne  Vermont  Merino  Sheep  Breeders'  Association,  Vol.  J. 


302  SHEEP   INDUSTRY    OF    THE    UNITED    STATES 

liam  Jarvis,  and  still  later  with  the  blood  of  the  Atwood  flock,  the  Cut-  \ 
ting  blood  descended  from  the  importations  of  Paul  Cuffe  and  Eichard .' 
Crowningshield,  and  some  admixture  of  the  Blakeslee  blood  constitute 
what  is  known  as  the  American  Paular.  The  most  successful  breeders 
of  these  sheep  have  aimed  to  secure  type  and  quality  in  their  flocks,  and 
have  placed  this  above  any  special  line  of  descent  from  importation,  or 
from  any  one  of  the  earlier  flocks.  In  pursuing  their  course  of  breeding 
they  have  made  use  of  the  best  specimens  of  the  breed,  and  as  a  rule 
have  avoided  too  close  in-and-in  breeding,  and  have  achieved  results 
unattained  elsewhere  when  measured  by  weight  and  quality  of  carcass 
or  of  fleece,  either  gross  or  scoured.  The  aim  has  been  to  pro- 
duce a  well-formed  and  symmetrical  animal,  of  constitutional  vigor, 
carrying  a  dense,  oily  fleece  of  good  quality  throughout.  Folds  or 
wrinkles  have  been  cultivated  in  a  marked  degree,  and  an  amount  of 

011  secured  in  the  fleece  that  many  have  thought  to  be  extravagant  in 
the  extreme;  yet  sheep  of  this  class  have  made  great  improvement  on 
the  wool-growing  flocks,  the  wrinkles  contributing  toward  density  of 
fleece  and  covering,  and  the  oil  proving  interchangeable  with  wool 
product.*     A  good  specimen  of  the  American  Paular  is  Prince  Bis- 
marck, the  property  of  John  P.  Eay,  Hemlock  Lake,  N".  Y.    In  full 
fleece  he  weighed  200  pounds,  and  yielded  a  fleece  of  one  year's  growth 
of  35  pounds  9J  ounces. 

The  sheep  purchased  by  Zebulon  Frost,  in  1816,  of  Andrew  Cock 
and  Effingham  Lawrence,  descended  to  his  son  Abraham  Frost,  from 
whom,  in  1832,  William  Walker  purchased  10  ewes  to  commence  a  flock. 
Soon  after  this  Mr.  Walker  purchased  of  J.  Thurman  Eich  12  or  15 
ewes  of  the  Cock  blood,  and  rams  in  the  flock  were  used  until  it  was 
managed  by  H.  W.  Walker,  and  it  is  believed  that  up  to  1845  it  was 
kept  entirely  pure  from  admixture  with  other  blood.  Since  the  latter 
date  Atwood,  Hammond,  and  Stickney  blood  have  been  introduced. 
The  flock  is  still  in  existence. 

In  1835  Merrill  Bingham,  of  Cornwall,  Vt.,  purchased  in  the  vicinity 
of  Lanesboro,  Mass.,  110  Merino  ewes,  descendants  from  Col.  Hum- 
phreys' flock ;  40  of  them  were  12  or  15  years  old,  the  lambs  of  imported 
ewes.  This  was  the  foundation  of  a  flock,  which,  in  1845,  numbered 
over  600  large,  well- shaped,  pure  Merino  sheep.  In  June,  1844,  in 
company  with  A.  L.  Bingham,  he  purchased  of  the  Shakers  at  Enfield, 
N.  H.,  103  sheep,  which,  when  sheared,  turned  off  such  very  heavy 
fleeces  of  fine,  clean  wool,  and  gave  such  promise  of  being  profitable 
to  breed,  that  in  September  following  another  visit  was  made  to  Enfield 
and  the  remainder  of  the  flock  purchased,  consisting  of  58  ewes  and 

12  rams.    The  Enfield  flock  were  descendants  of  Livingston  sheep,  or 
rather  Gaudaloupes  imported  by  Mr.  Livingston.    In  1845  this  flock  of 
Mr.  Bingham  averaged  5  pounds  3  ounces  of  wool  from  587  fleeces. 

In  1838  A.  L.  Bingham,  of  Cornwall,  bought  of  Messrs.  Buck  & 

*  John  P.  Ray,  secretary  of  New. York  Merino  Sheep  Breeders'  Association. 


EAST    OF    THE    MISSISSIPPI    RIVER.  603 

Atwater,  of  Connecticut,  20  ewes,  which  he  added  to  a  small  number 
that  he  had  already  purchased  of  German  Cutting.  In  1841  he  pur- 
chased of  Jacob  K.  Blakeslee  16  ewes,  and  added  them  to  his  flock, 
with  8  that  he  had  purchased  of  Chauncey  Atwood,  and  27  that  he  had 
purchased  of  Joseph  J.  Bailey,  of  Newport,  E.  I.  In  1842  Mr.  Bingham 
purchased  42  ewes  and  2  rams  of  Mr.  Bailey,  for  which  he  paid  $661, 
and  in  1843  he  purchased  the  remainder  of  Mr.  Bailey's  flock,  51  sheep. 
This  stock  is  said  to  have  been  imported  by  Capt.  Paul  Cuffe  and  J.  D, 
Wolf.  They  were  bought  -by  Mr.  Bailey's  father  at  the  wharf  and  taken 
direct  to  his  farm,  where  they  were  bred  pure,  always  breeding  from 
rams  raised  in  the  flock.  Mr.  Bingham's  nock  was  described  in  1845 
as  being  very  uniform,  remarkable  for  size,  low  on  the  leg,  heavy  boned, 
wide  chested,  large  and  thick  necked,  considerably  ruffled;  heavy 
fleeced  and  dark  colored  on  the  outside;  the  wool  firm,  thick,  and  long 
in  the  staple.  On  May  23,  1866,  45  yearling  ewes  and  1  two-year- 
old  Atwood  ram  were  sheared  and  yielded  503  pounds  of  wool,  or  an 
average  of  11  pounds  3  ounces  to  the  ewes,  while  the  weight  of 
carcass  averaged  a  fraction  less  than  56  pounds.  The  ram's  fleece  was 
25  pounds  2  ounces,  his  weight  when  shorn  114  pounds  10  ounces. 

Parts  of  the  flocks  of  Merrill  and  A.  L.  Bingham  became  the  property 
of  Rev.  L.  C.  Bingham,  Williston,  Yt.,  his  flock  in  1845  numbering 
200  full-blooded  sheep.  They  were  nearly  equally  divided  between 
Guadaloupes  and  Paulars,  so  called.  Thirty-three  of  them  were,  with 
their  lambs,  purchased  of  Joseph  I.  Bailey,  and  were  considered  by  Mr. 
Bingham  as  pure  Paulars,  if  there  were  any  such  in  the  country.  The 
Guadaloupes  came  from  Enfield  and  Lebanon,  K.  H.  A  part  of  his 
heaviest  wooled  sheep  came  from  Merrill  Bingham's  flock,  a  part  from 
W.  C.  Wright's  and  A.  L.  Bingham's. 

One  hundred  and  eighty-seven  sheep  of  this  flock  in  1845  averaged 
5  pounds  1  ounce  of  wool  each,  washed  in  a  swiftly  running  stream. 

3  ewes  sheared  each 7  pounds  and  upwards. 

12  ewes  sheared  each 6    to  7  pounds. 

46  ewes  sheared  each 5    to  6  pounds. 

88  ewes  sheared  each 4    to  5  pounds. 

33  ewes  sheared  each 3£  to  4  pounds. 

His  stock  rams  sheared  as  follows : 

1  yearling  Paular 10  pounds    8  ounces. 

1  yearling  Paular 8  pounds  10  ounces. 

1  yearling  Guadaloupe 7  pounds    4  ounces. 

1  2-year  old  Guadaloupe 8  pounds    8  ounces. 

1  2-year  old  Paular 8  pounds    8  ounces. 

In  1846  Mr.  Bingham  purchased  a  number  of  Jacob  N.  Blakeslee's 
flock,  and  about  the  same  time  the  Collins  flock  of  Rambouillet  sheep 
and  the  first  ram  of  the  John  A.  Taintor  French  importation. 

M.  W.  C.  Wright  commenced  a  flock  by  the  purchase  of  W.  E.  San- 
ford  of  10  ewes,  warranted  by  Mr.  Sauford  to  be  pure  Jarvis,  the  blood 


304  StiEEP   INDUSTRY    OF    THE    UNITED    STATES 

of  which  he  purchased  of  Messrs.  Grant  &  Jennison,  Walpole,  1ST.  H., 
who  certified  to  Mr.  Sanford  that  the  sheep  were  pure  descendants 
of  the  Jarvis  importations,  and  about  the  same  time  Mr.  Wright 
purchased  1  ewe  from  Mr.  Jarvis,  and  four  or  five  years  after  13  ewes 
of  J.  T.  &  V.  Eich.  Other  blood  has  since  been  introduced,  and 
the  flock  is  still  in  existence,  the  property  of  D.  J.  Wright,  Shore- 
ham,  Yt.  One  of  the  noted  stock  rams  of  the  day  was  bred  by  Mr. 
M.  W.  C.  Wright,  about  1846.  His  sire  was  Fortune,  bred  by  Tyler 
Stickney  in  1844,  and  his  dam  an  excellent  ewe,  bred  by  William  Jar- 
vis.  The  ram  was  Black  Hawk,  and  weighed  about  100  to  110  pounds. 
Dr.  Eandall,  writing  in  1802,  speaks  of  this  flock  as  uniting  the  three 
most  distinguished  families  of  American  Merinos — the  Jarvis  Paulars, 
the  mixed  Leonese,  and  the  Atwood  Infantados.  The  rams  from  this 
flock  were  scattered  widely  through  New  York,  and  they  and  their 
descendants  gave  much  satisfaction  to  purchasers  wishing  to  breed  for 
a  high  quality  of  wool.- 

A  noted  flock  was  that  of  George  Campbell,  of  Westminster,  Yt., 
founded  in  1839,  by  a  purchase  of  20  ewes  of  Humphreys  blood,  and  20 
of  Mark  Crawford,  of  Jarvis  and  Humphreys  blood.  In  the  same  year 
a  pure  Jarvis  ram  was  purchased  of  Daniel  Mason,  and  in  1842  another 
was  purchased  of  William  Jarvis.  These  rams  and  some  bred  from 
them  were  used  until  1847,  in  which  year  5  ewes  of  Atwood  and  Jarvis 
blood  were  purchased  of  Nathan  Gushing,  and  a  ram  lamb  of  Ebenezer 
Bridge,  of  Atwood  and  Jarvis  blood.  This  ram  was  used  until  his  death, 
in  1861,  when  Young  Wooster,  a  ram  of  Cutting  or  Ehode  Island  blood, 
was  introduced  into  the  flock,  and  in  1862  8  Atwood  ewes  and  15  of  the 
Atwood,  Eich,  and  Jarvis  blood  were  added  to  the  flock.  In  1840  the 
average  yield  of  wool  per  head  of  his  flock  did  not  exceed  3J  pounds. 
Each  successive  year  gave  a  larger  yield ;  the  clip  of  1850  Avas  4|  pounds 
per  head,  and  that  for  1851  was  a  fraction  over  5  pounds  of  well- washed 
wool,  aside  from  a  quarter  of  a  pound  of  laggings.  During  the  whole 
time  there  was  a  gradual  increase  in  fineness.  In  breeding,  Mr.  Camp- 
bell sought  to  establish  a  flock  which  would  produce  the  largest  growth 
of  wool  for  the  amount  of  hay  consumed.  Quantity  and  quality  of 
wool,  with  a  hardy  constitution,  were  the  leading  objects  he  kept  in 
view.  The  means  employed  to  effect  this  were:  First,  the  selection  of 
such  rams  as  possessed  these  characteristics  in  a  high  degree  5  second, 
discarding  every  ewe  that  produced  either  a  light  fleece  or  one  not  of  a 
good  grade  of  fineness ;  and  third,  feeding  in  such  a  manner  as  to 
develop  and  maintain  in  the  animal  a  high  degree  of  vigor.  By  these 
means  he  affected  a  gradual  and  highly  satisfactory  improvement  in  his 
flock. 

From  Sweepstakes  and  his  own  stock  Mr.  Campbell  bred  the  cele- 
brated 12  sheep  which  took  the  three  prizes  at  the  International  Exhi- 
bition at  Hamburg  in  1863,  and  established  the  fame  of  the  Yermont 
Merino  in  Europe.  The  number  of  sheep  entered  for  premium  was 


EAST    OF    THE    MISSISSIPPI    RIVER.  305 

1,771.  Nine  hundred  and  thirteen  were  of  the  Merino  class  and  were 
from  every  part  of  Europe — France,  Italy,  Austria,  Kussia,  and  Ger- 
many being  represented.  The  only  sheep  exhibited  from  America  were 
those  of  Mr.  Campbell,  and  he  took  three  premiums — two  first  and  one 
second.  One  first  premium  was  taken  for  length  of  staple,  another  for 
weight  of  fleece.  The  longest  staple  from  these  sheep  measured  3£ 
inches,  others  3J,  3J,  and  3  inches;  the  shortest  was  2f  inches.  These 
prize  sheep  were  subsequently  sold  to  Count  Shen  Thors,  of  Silesia,  for 
$5,000,  strong  confirmation  of  the  fact  that  America  was  producing 
Merinos  more  valuable  than  any  in  Europe. 

Some  of  Mr.  Campbell's  sheep  were  sold  to  go  to  Dunedin,  in  the 
southern  part  of  New  Zealand,  and  in  1884  their  descendants  retained 
many  of  their  characteristics,  good  size,  larger  than  the  flock  from 
which  they  descended,  with  fleeces  of  fair  density  and  great  length  of 
staple. 

•  The  first  French  Merinos  taken  into  Yermont  were  the  flock  of  D.  C. 
Collins,  of  Connecticut,  purchased  by  L.  G.  Bingham,  of  Williston,  prior 
to  April,  1846.  In  the  fall  of  1846  one  ram  of  the  Taintor  importation 
was  added  to  the  flock,  and  in  1847  1  more  ram  and  8  ewes. 

Between  1847  and  1853  A.  L.  Bingham  purchased  of  John  A.  Taintor 
161  French  Merinos,  for  which  he  paid  $37,500.  In  1853  Mr.  Bingham 
had  a  public  shearing  of  some  of  his  French  sheep  at  Sudbury,  Vt. 
Eighty  ewes  were  shorn,  15  of  them  having  been  imported  that  year. 
The  heaviest  fleece  was  33J  pounds,  the  lightest  11  pounds.  The  car- 
casses of  the  80,  after  shearing,  weighed  8,240J  pounds,  an  average  of 
103  pounds.  The  total  weight  of  the  wool  was  1,344J  pounds,  unwashed, 
an  average  of  16|  pounds  per  ewe.  The  shrinkage  in  washing  was  56 
per  cent.  A  2-year-old  ram  weighing  216  pounds  sheared  30J  pounds 
of  wool.  In  1856  another  shearing  showed  the  following: 

Thirty-eight  French  Merino  ewes;  average  weight  of  body,  76  J  pounds; 
fleece,  17f  pounds. 

Nine  French  Merino  rams;  average  weight  of  body,  94  J  pounds; 
fleece,  19J  pounds. 

Fifteen  half  French  and  Spanish  ewes;  average  weight  of  body,  56 
pounds;  fleece,  13J  pounds. 

All  of  these  were  shearlings. 

In  1851  George  Campbell  purchased  some  French  Merinos  from  the 
flock  of  Mr.  Cugnot,  principally,  and  after  their  arrival  they  were 
sheared,  with  this  result : 

Average  live  weight  of  ewes,  103  pounds;  average  weight  of  fleece, 
12J  pounds,  unwashed. 

The  proportion  of  wool  to  live  weight  was  1  to  8-j20.  Lambs  5  months 
old,  although  they  suffered  much  from  the  voyage,  gave  an  average  of 
3J  pounds.  The  ram  Matchless,  when  5  years  old,  weighed  280 
pounds,  and  gave  a  25-pound  fleece.  Mr.  Campbell  made  other  impor- 
tations, and  of  some  Silesians  also,  but  all  previous  importations  were 
22990 20 


306        SHEEP  INDUSTRY  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES 

eclipsed  by  those  of  S.  W.  Jewett,  who  imported  from  France  a  large 
number  of  Merinos  at  a  cost  of  over  $50,000.  They  sheared  all  the  way 
from  12  to  26  pounds  of  wool.  They  did  not  find  ready  sale  in  the  East 
arid  were  taken  to  California,  where  they  were  better  appreciated  and 
better  adapted  to  the  climate.  In  1883  a  Western  paper  contained 
the  following:  "Large  numbers  of  sheep  were  recently  driven  from 
California  and  across  the  Rocky  Mountains  to  Texas,  because  sheep 
bred  in  California  are  usually  of  a  larger  size,  which  it  is  said  they  have 
obtained  from  the  amenity  of  its  climate  and  from  a  cross  of  French 
sheep  derived  from  those  imported  into  Vermont  some  thirty-five  years 
ago." 

In  1853  some  of  Mr.  Jewett's  sheep  were  sent  to  Alabama  and  Mis- 
souri, and  in  1857  some  went  from  the  Campbell  flock  (also  10  Spanish 
Merinos  and  2  Silesians)  to  Buenos  Ayres. 

Several  Vermont  breeders  made  experiments  with  the  French  Merinos 
by  crossing  the  rams  on  Spanish  ewes,  but  the  result  was  not  satisfac- 
tory. The  increase  in  the  size  of  carcass  was  great,  but  the  average 
weight  of  the  fleece  decreased.  It  was  thought,  too,  that  they  were  less 
hardy  than  the  Spanish  Merino.  They  were  soon  condemned  as  unfitted 
to  Vermont  sheep  husbandry,  and  generally  disappeared.  It  was  con- 
tended by  those  who  were  their  advocates  that  they  were  not  given  a 
fair  trial;  that  had  they  been  treated  as  they  should  have  been  the 
result  would  have  been  different.  Attention  was  called  to  the  fact  that 
these  sheep,  previous  to  their  importation  into  the  country,  received 
liberal  feeding,  and  had  been  under  the  watchful  care  of  the  shepherd 
and  his  dog,  and  were,  consequently,  less  qualified  than  our  naturalized 
breeds  to  seek  their  subsistence  over  a  wide  range  of  short  pasturage. 

In  May,  1851,  George  Campbell  made  an  importation  of  some  Silesian 
Merinos,  and  in  June  following  William  B.  Sanford  returned  from 
Europe  with  25  Silesians,  mostly  1  year  old,  of  good  forms,  uniform 
in  appearance,  and  remarkably  covered  with  wool  on  all  parts  of 
the  body.  The  wool  was  oily,  but  not  gummy.  The  average  of  the 
flock  of  600  from  which  they  were  selected  in  wool  was  4  pounds,  well 
washed.  These  sheep  were  purely  descended  from  the  Infantaclo  and 
Negretti  families  of  Spain,  from  a  selection  taken  thence  to  Silesia  in 
1811  and  bred  with  great  purity  and  care.  The  Silesian  was  but  little 
extended  in  Vermont,  and  made  no  impression  on  the  character  of  the 
sheep  or  the  system  of  husbandry. 

From  the  known  facts  here  presented  and  from  the  presence  of  other 
full-blooded  and  mixed  flocks  in  various  parts  of  the  State,  but  of  which 
no  reliable  data  are  attainable,  it  is  certain  that  Vermont  took  a  generous 
advantage  of  all  the  importations  and  of  the  best  flocks  to  supply  her- 
self with  Merino  sheep,  and  laid  solidly  the  foundation  of  that  industry 
for  which  she  is  justly  noted.  There  was  a  gradual  and  careful  dis- 
semination of  the  best  blood,  and  of  the  798,800  sheep  owned  in  the 
State  in  1830  a  good  proportion  were  fiue-wooled.  In  1836  the  State 


EAST   OF   THE   MISSISSIPPI   RIVER. 


307 


had  1,099,011  sheep,  yielding  3,571,786  pounds  of  wool.  The  great  im- 
provement made  by  her  breeders  is  well  known  and  has  been  partially 
stated  in  the  preceding  pages.  Consul  Jarvis  said  that  his  flock  from 
1811  to  1826  averaged  4  pounds  washed  wool,  his  best  stock  ranis  shear- 
ing 6J  pounds,  or  equivalent  to  9J  pounds  unwashed  fleece.  This  may 
be  taken  as  a  starting  point.  In  1844  Mr.  Jarvis  stated  that  he  had 
bucks  in  high  condition  that  sheared  as  high  as  7J  pounds  each,  or  11J 
pounds  of  unwashed  fleece.  In  1846  an  Atwood  ram  sheared  a  15- 
pound  fleece,  which,  when  thoroughly  cleansed,  gave  6  pounds  of  scoured 
wool,  and  shortly  after  Mr.  Atwood  gave  the  average  weight  of 
fleeces  in  his  flock  as  5  pounds  for  his  ewes,  lambs  the  same,  wethers  6 
pounds,  and  ranis  7  to  9  pounds.  The  heaviest  ewe's  fleece  was  6  pounds 
6  ounces  and  the  heaviest  ram's  fleece  12  pounds  4  ounces — all  washed 
as  clean  as  possible  in  the  river,  and  sheared  in  six  or  eight  days  alter. 
In  1854,  at  a  sheep-shearing  in  Addison  County,  8  rams  and  2  year- 
ling ewes,  whose  aggregate  weight  was  999  pounds,  gave  109  pounds  14 
ounces  unwashed  wool,  or  a  trifle  short  of  11  pounds  each.  The  live 
weight  of  the  sheep  and  weights  of  the  unwashed  fleece  were: 


Carcass. 

Fleece. 

Spanish  ram                   

Pounds. 
71 

Lbg.  oz. 
1      8 

115 

13      9 

Do 

99 

10    15 

Do 

127 

14    12 

Do 

135 

11    11 

Do 

91 

9      4* 

Do... 

129 

13      2 

Do 

125 

15    11 

Yearliiior  Spanish  e^ve  

50 

5      9i 

57 

7    11 

These  figures  show  a  considerable  advance  on  the  weights  as  given 
in  1846.  The  improvement  held  good  in  the  ordinary  wool-growing 
flocks  of  the  State.  In  Rutland  County  good  flocks  sheared  5  pounds 
per  head,  washed  on  the  sheep 5  in  Washington  County,  4  to  4J  pounds; 
in  Orange  County,  2£  to  6  pounds,  according  to  condition  5  flocks  of 
100,  which  it  was  estimated  consumed  18  tons  of  hay,  giving  600  pounds 
of  wool  and  raising  85  to  90  lambs.  At  Springfield,  Vt.,  flocks  of  300 
to  400  gave  3J  to  4  pounds  annually  per  head,  and  J.  W.  Colburn,  in 
June,  1851,  clipped  500  fleeces  averaging  a  trifle  over  4  pounds  each, 
after  a  thorough  cold-water  wash  on  the  sheep's  back. 

In  1866  Mr.  A.  L.  Binghain  sheared  from  45  ewes  503  pounds  of  wool, 
or  an  average  of  11  pounds  3  ounces  each,  unwashed ;  and  1  two-year-old 
ram  gave  25  pounds  2  ounces.  In  the  same  year  Rollin  J.  Jones,  of 
West  Cornwall,  Vt.,  sheared  45  ewes  of  508  pounds  10  ounces,  or  an 
average  per  fleece  of  11  pounds  5  ounces.  The  gross  weight  of  the 
ewes  after  being  shorn  was  2,515  pounds  3  ounces,  or  an  average  weight 
per  head  of  55f  pounds. 

On  May  1, 1867,  about  1,000  of  the  sheep-breeders  of  Rutland  County 
were  present  at  the  first  annual  shearing  of  their  association  at  Rut- 


308        SHEEP  INDUSTRY  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES 

land.  The  animal  which  produced  the  greatest  weight  of  fleece  in  pro- 
portion to  weight  of  carcass  belonged  to  Mr.  A.  E.  Smith,  of  Clarendon — 
live  weight,  63 J  pounds ;  fleece,  14 J-  pounds.  Next  came  Matchless — 
live  weight,  76  pounds  ;  fleece,  15f  pounds.  On  the  same  day  there 
was  a  shearing  at  Shelburne,  at  which  prizes  were  awarded  for  the  best 
fleeces,  and  16  sheep  were  sheared  whose  average  weight  of  fleece  was 
13  pounds  8  ounces.  The  lightest^  fleece  of  the  16  weighed  7  pounds  14 
ounces,  from  an  animal  which  weighed  58  pounds,  while  the  largest 
fleece  weighed  20  pounds  10  ounces,  from  an  animal  whose  weight  was 
120  pounds  3  ounces.  One  weighing  91  pounds  yielded  a  fleece  of  15 
pounds  12  ounces,  and  another  a  fleece  of  10  pounds  15  ounces  from  a 
carcass  which  weighed  only  56  pounds.  Still  another  carcass,  weighing 
only  63  pounds,  yielded  16  pounds  12  ounces  of  wool.  O.  0.  Burton,  of 
Windham,  sheared  a  fleece  of  thirteen  mouths'  growth  that  weighed  25 
pounds  2  ounces  from  a  ram  four  years  old  that  weighed  133  pounds 
after  being  shorn.  V.  M.  Hubbard,  Rochester,  sheared  his  ram  Borneo 
of  21 J  pounds  of  wool,  the  growth  of  one  year  lacking  seven  days,  and 
0.  N.  Hayward,  of  Bridport,  sold  to  L.  J.  Wright  5  ewe  tegs  which 
sheared  76J  pounds  of  wool,  the  heaviest  fleece  weighing  17J  pounds. 
Charles  Washburne,  of  Beading,  sheared  23J  pounds  of  wool  from  a 
two-year-old  buck  which  had  only  ordinary  keeping,  and  D.  T.  Clough, 
of  Thetford,  sheared  from  a  two-year-old  buck  21  pounds  of  wool;  the 
buck  after  shearing  weighed  93  pounds.  W.  B.  Denio,  of  East  Rupert, 
from  a  ewe  22J  months  old,  sheared  a  fleece  the  growth  of  11J  months 
which  weighed  18  pounds,  and  she  had  a  lamb  by  her  side.  Her  first 
fleece  was  12  J  pounds.  At  Springfield  there  were  sheared  3  rams  and 
3  ewes  with  these  results : 

One  two-year- old  ram;  weight,  116  pounds;  fleece,  17  pounds  8  ounces; 
cleaned,  7  pounds  8  ounces. 

One  two-year-old  ram;  weight,  120 J  pounds;  fleece,  18  pounds  8 
ounces ;  cleaned,  6  pounds  12  ounces. 

One  four-year-old  ram;  weight,  123  pounds;  fleece,  20  pounds  8 
ounces;  cleaned,  6  pounds. 

The  3  ewes  washed  fleeces  of  5  pounds  14  ounces,  5J  pounds,  and  4 
pounds  11  ounces.  The  average  shrinkage  of  the  ram  fleeces  was  67.76 
per  cent,  and  of  the  ewe  fleeces  51.32. 

An  advance  over  any  previous  record  was  made  in  1868,  when  StowelPs 
ram  Bed  Leg,  at  two  years  old,  sheared  a  fleece  of  28  pounds  from  a 
live  weight  of  110  pounds,  a  percentage  of  fleece  to  live  weight  of  25.4 
per  cent.  This  fleece  when  thoroughly  scoured  weighed  8  pounds  1J 
ounces,  of  which  3  pounds  15  ounces  was  'No.  1  wool. 

Passing  over  an  extended  period  from  1868  to  1882,  we  have  a 
record,  compiled  for  the  Vermont  Register,  by  which  it  appears  that  36 
rams,  three  years  old  or  over,  sheared  1,120  pounds,  an  average  per 
head  of  31  pounds  1  ounce,  and  an  average  per  cent  to  carcass  on  these 
given  of  25.2.  The  heaviest  fleece  weighed  37  pounds  8  ounces,  from  a 
ram  bred  by  A.  E.  Perkins,  of  Pomfret,  and  owned  by  Brown  &  Hilton, 


EAST    OF    THE    MISSISSIPPI    RIVER. 


309 


Anson,  Me.  The  live  weight  of  the  animal  was  132  pounds,  and  the 
fleece  was  28.4  per  cent  of  the  live  weight.  The  ram  yielding  the  fleece 
holding  the  highest  per  cent  to  the  live  weight  was  of  Vermont  blood 
and  owned  by  S.  Jewett,  Independence,  Mo.  He  weighed  100  pounds 
and  gave  a  fleece  of  36  pounds  4  ounces,  or  36.2  per  cent  of  the  live 
weight.  Of  the  36  rams  of  this  class  19  sheared  30  pounds  and  over. 

Twenty-eight  rams,  two  years  old,  sheared  867  pounds,  an  average 
per  head  of  28  pounds  14  ounces,  and  an  average  per  cent  of  fleece  to 
carcass  on  those  given  of  25  per  cent.  The  heaviest  fleece  was  39 
pounds  from  a  ram  bred  by  J.  J.  Crane,  of  Bridport,Yt.,  and  owned  by  S. 
G.  Crites,  New  Philadelphia,  Ohio.  The  highest  per  cent  of  fleece  to 
live  weight  was  reached  by  a  ram  weighing  81  pounds  8  ounces,  who 
gave  26  pounds  of  wool,  or  31.9  per  cent. 

Twenty  yearling  rams  sheared  410  pounds  5  ounces,  an  average  of  20 
pounds  8  ounces,  and  an  average  per  cent  of  fleece  to  carcass  on  those 
given  of  22.5.  The  greatest  weight  of  fleece  was  26.4  from  a  ram  of 
Vermont  blood,  bred  and  owned  in  Missouri. 

Fifty-four  ewes,  two  years  old  and  over,  sheared  1,064  pounds  9  ounces, 
an  average  of  19  pounds  11  ounces,  and  an  average  per  cent  of  fleece 
to  carcass  of  26.  The  greatest  fleece  weighed  25  pounds,  shorn  from 
an  ewe  of  Atwood  blood,  owned  in  Missouri. 

The  Vermont  Eegister  for  1887  shows  a  continued  improvement. 
Notwithstanding  the  severe*  and  discouraging  depression  for  wool- 
growers  and  sheep  breeders,  well  calculated  to  check  improvement  and 
stimulation,  Vermont  breeders  generally  kept  up  their  flocks  and  aimed 
at  a  higher  standard.  The  weights  of  1882  were  excelled.  Of  52  rams 
three  years  old  and  over,  bred  in  Vermont,  shearing  30  pounds  or  more, 
4  exceeded  the  highest  weight  of  1882,  1  reaching  39  pounds;  35  of  the 
best  sheared  1,221  pounds  13  ounces,  averaging  34  pounds  14  ounces, 
or  3  pounds  13  ounces  more  on  the  average  than  those  shorn  in  1882. 
In  the  class  of  rams  two  years  old,  29  bred  in  Vermont  sheared  837 
pounds  12  ounces,  averaging  28  pounds  10  ounces,  or  2  pounds  6  ounces 
more  than  the  average  of  the  best  29  of  1882.  In  1882  forty-six  ewes, 
bred  in  Vermont,  averaged  19  pounds  6  ounces.  A  like  number  in  1887 
sheared  980  pounds  8  ounces,  averaging  21  pounds  5  ounces,  or  a  gain 
of  only  1  ounce  less  than  2  pounds  each. 

The  shearing  of  4  ewes  and  3  rams  of  the  flock  of  F.  &  L.  E.  Moore, 
Addison  County,  Vt.,  in  1884,  in  addition  to  weight  of  carcass  and  fleece, 
gives  length  of  fiber  and  staple : 


Sex. 

Age. 

Carcass. 

Fleece. 

Length  of 
fiber. 

Length  of 
staple. 

Ewe 

Teart. 
2 

Found*. 
78.12 

Pounds. 
19.12 

Inches. 

Inches. 
2| 

Ewe 

2 

69  12 

16  6 

of 

a 

Ewe 

1 

57.8 

15.  14 

3i 

22 

Ewe  

1 

57 

17.2 

41 

23 

Ram.                                                                   .   ... 

3 

132.8 

29.7 

N 

22 

Ram 

2 

105  4 

28.1 

3* 

21 

Ram  

1 

81 

20.3 

3* 

'4 

310 


SHEEP  INDUSTRY  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES 


The  Vermont  Begister  for  1892  gives  17  rams,  three  years  old  aud 
over,  whose  fleeces  exceeded  30  pounds  each.  These,  as  will  appear 
from  the  accompanying  table,  were  not  all  Vermont-bred  sheep,  but  de- 
scended from  Vermont  stock. 


Breeder. 

Age. 

Live 
weight. 

Fleece. 

Growth. 

II  C  Burwcll  £  Son   Bridport,  Vt  

Years. 
3 

Pounds. 
315 

Lbs.  ozs. 
37    3 

Days. 

358 

Do 

182 

39 

365 

E  N.  Bissell,  East  Shoreham,  Vt  

3 

171 

31 

364 

I)  B  Galusha  Williamstown  Mass 

3 

98 

32    9 

360 

S  B  James,  Hoosick,  N.  T    

4 

180 

41    8 

T  F  &  C  P  McConnell  Eipon  Wis 

6 

209 

33 

369 

C.  P.  Morrison  &  Son  Addison,  Vt  

3 

115 

31 

384 

V  Kich  Richville  Vt 

6 

161 

35 

364 

E.  E.  Stickney,  East  Shoreham  Vt                   

3 

135 

31 

365 

J  T  Stickney  Shoreham  Vt 

4 

138 

30  10 

365 

Do  

3 

172 

32 

353 

G.  H.  Smith,  Addison,  Vt  

3 

144 

31  13 

375 

L.  E.  Shattuck,  Stanherry,  Mo 

4 

202 

38    8 

365 

Uriah  Wood,  Brandon,  W  is  

3 

181 

30 

369 

Do  

3 

160 

30    8 

369 

~F.  C.  Wood,  Saline,  Mich  

3 

130 

32 

364 

Do 

3 

170 

30 

364 

Among  the  fleeces  from  rams  two  years  old  was  one  shorn  at  the  annual 
shearing  of  the  Vermont  Sheep  Shearing  Association,  from  a  ram  bred 
by  Byron  Smith,  of  Addison,  Vt.,  that  sheared  44  pounds  3  ounces,  this 
being  7  pounds  14  ounces  heavier  than  any  recorded  in  the  Vermont 
Eegister,  and,  as  far  as  authentically  reported,  the  heaviest  fleece  taken 
from  a  ram  two  years  old.  Among  the  ewe  fleeces  recorded  was  one  from 
an  ewe  bred  by  H.  G.  Burwen  &  Son,  of  Bridport,  Vt.,  now  owned  by 
E.  D.  King,  of  Burlington,  Kans.,  that  sheared  32  pounds  8  ounces, 
being  4  pounds  4  ounces  heavier  than  any  ewe's  fleece  heretofore  re- 
corded, and  the  heaviest  ewe's  fleece  yet  reported. 

The  improvement  in  the  per  cent  of  wool  to  live  weight  since  the 
introduction  of  the  Merino  into  Vermont  is  wonderful.  In  1812  the 
best  rams  produced  but  about  6  per  cent;  down  to  1844  it  had  increased 
to  15  per  cent,  and  in  18G5  to  21  per  cent.  From  this  date  the  increase 
was  rapid  to  22,  24,  30,  and  even  36  per  cent.  There  were  forwarded 
from  Vermont  to  the  Paris  Exposition  in  1878  67  fleeces  selected  for 
fine  style  and  quality  of  wool,  as  well  as  weight  of  fleece.  The  per 
cent  of  wool  to  live  weight  for  the  whole  number  was  22;  of  the  best 
30,  25.2;  of  the  best  6,  30.1;  of  the  best  1,  36.6.  Twenty-one  of  the 
67  were  rams,  46  were  ewes.  At  a  public  sheep -shearing  at  Middle- 
bury  in  April,  1882,  11  stock  rams  averaged  23  per  cent;  14  two-year 
old  rams,  23.4;  10  one-year  old  rams,  20.3;  7  two-year  old  ewes,  25.6; 
12  one-year  old  ewes,  26.3.  The  whole  54  averaged  23.3.  The  gain  is 
not  as  good  in  whole  flocks,  but  the  proportion  of  wool  has  been  nearly 
or  quite  trebled. 

At  the  annual  State  shearing  of  Vermont  for  1885  there  was  a  slight 
retrogression,  which  is  thus  alluded  to  by  Mr.  Albert  Chapman:  "It 
will  be  remarked  that  there  is  a  falling  off  in  the  weights  attained  by 
rams  and  ewes  one  year  old,  a  very  good  indication  that  our  breeders 


EAST   OP   THE   MISSISSIPPI   RIVER. 


311 


are  becoming  convinced  that  the  forcing  system  to  attain  large  size 
and  heavy  fleeces  the  first  year  is  neither  desirable  nor  profitable,  and 
the  gains  in  the  mature  sheep  show  that  slower  development  tends  to 
much  better  and  larger  improvements  in  the  end." 

A  table  of  averages  by  classes  for  1882  and  1885,  showing  the  gains 
or  improvements  in  three  years  in  all  the  classes  except  yearling  rams, 
is  here  given : 


Weight, 
1882. 

Weights, 
1885. 

Gains. 

Earns  3  years  old  and  over: 
14  all  averaged  

Lbg.  oz. 
27      6 

Bams  3  years  old  and  over  : 
22,  all  averaged 

Lbs.  oz. 
30      g 

Lbt.  oz. 
3      3 

14  best  averaged 

27      6 

32    14 

50 

Heaviest  

35     10 

Heaviest  . 

38    13 

3      3 

f 

13,  shearing  30  pounds  or  over, 
averaged 

33      3 

10 

3,  shearing  30  pounds  or  over, 

32      9 

3  best,  averaged  

37    14 

5      5 

1 

1  beat  best  previous  Vermont 
record  

2 

Kara  s  2  years  old  : 

23    12 

Rams  2  years  old  : 
28  all  averaged 

26    11 

2    15 

16  best  averaged 

23    12 

16  best,  averaged 

28    15 

5      3 

Heaviest  

29      3 

Heaviest  

36      3 

7 

1  sheared  28  pounds  or  over  .  .  . 

29      3 

10,  shearing  28  pounds  or  over, 
averaged 

29    14 

u 

Rams  1  year  old  : 
15,  all  averaged.  .  . 

17      7 

Rams  1  year  old  : 
17,  all  averaged.  .  . 

17 

Loss. 

7 

ISbest 

17      7 

17      6 

1 

Heaviest  

24      6 

Heaviest 

20      6 

4 

4,  shearing  20  pounds  or  over, 
averaged 

22      5 

2,  shearing  20  pounds  or  over, 
averaged 

20      5 

2 

Ewes  2  years  old  and  over: 
14,  all  averaged 

17      4 

Ewes,  2  years  old  and  over  : 
84  all  averaged 

18      1 

Gains. 
S13 

14  beat,  averaged  

17      4 

14  best,  averaged  

21      5 

4      i 

Heaviest 

21      5 

Heaviest        " 

23      8 

2      3 

12,  shearing  20  pounds  or  over, 

21      9 

g 

2,  shearing  20  pounds  or  over 

2  best,  averaged  .  . 

22    12 

2 

averaged 

20    12  ] 

50  best  averaged 

19      4 

Ewes  1  year  old  : 
15,  all  averaged  

13      5 

7  beat  best  previous  Vermont 
record. 
Ewes  1  year  old  : 
16,  all  averaged  

13    10 

5 

15  best  averaged 

13      5 

15  best,  averaged  . 

13    11 

6 

Heaviest  

15      8 

Heaviest  

15      8 

Mr.  Chapman,  who  presents  this  table  in  the  third  volume  of  the 
Kegister  of  the  Vermont  Merino  Sheep  Breeders'  Association,  remarks 
that  the  falling  off  in  weight  of  fleece  and  highest  average  should  not 
be  attributed  to  any  lack  of  real  excellence  in  the  young  rams  shorn  in 
1885,  nor  should  it  be  judged  from  this  result  that  those  shorn  would 
not  ultimately  shear  as  heavy  or  even  heavier  fleeces  than  those  shorn 
the  first  year,  but  the  cause  must  be  found  in  the  fact  that  too  many 
valuable  young  rams  have  been  lost,  or  improvement  stopped  in  them 
individually  by  excessive  forcing  for  a  heavy  fleece  at  1  year  old;  a 
practice,  however,  which  is  now  less  fashionable  among  our  breeders 
than  it  was  a  few  years  ago. 

But  heavy  fleeces  do  not  always  indicate  a  large  product  of  wool  such 
as  is  used  at  the  card,  the  percentage  of  cleansed  wool  being  sometimes 
ridiculously  small  and  the  shrinkage  very  great.  The  results  of  cleans- 
ing some  Vermont  and  Michigan  wools  are  shown  in  the  following  table, 
prepared  for  the  Vermont  Eegister.  They  were  cleansed  between  1882 
and  1887,  and  the  numbers  attached  to  the  sires  refer  to  the  number  as 
given  to  the  stock  rams  in  that  Eegister: 


312 


SHEEP    INDUSTRY    OF    THE    UNITED    STATES 


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EAST    OF    THE  MISSISSIPPI    RIVER.  313 

These  results  are  considered  as  very  gratifying  to  Vermont  breeders, 
as  showing  a  large  per  cent  of  clean  wool  and  a  correspondingly  small 
shrinkage  from  the  unwashed  fleeces  in  most  of  them.  Some  of  them  are 
remarkable  in  that  respect,  notably  those  of  C.  P.  Crane,  Bridport, 
Albert  Chapman,  of  Middlebury,  and  G.  H.  Smith,  of  Addison,  cleans- 
ing respectively  44.79,  43.42,  and  42.7  per  cent;  All  were  ewes. 

All  the  fleeces  were  cleansed  by  manufacturers  and  were  as  thoroughly 
done  as  they  practice  with  the  wool  they  usually  manufacture  into 
cloth  fit  for  their  cards.  The  great  advantage  of  this  wool  after  being 
cleansed,  in  consequence  of  its  superior  strength  of  staple  and  elasticity 
in  comparison  with  the  weaker  staple  of  Australian  wool,  that  shrinks 
so  much  more  in  the  processes  of  manufacturing  after  the  wool  has 
passed  through  the  cleansing  process,  was  manifest  in  these  fleeces  and 
is  becoming  better  appreciated  by  the  manufacturers.* 

Along  with  the  improvement  in  the  fleece  has  followed  an  increase  in 
the  size  of  the  sheep,  an  increase  of  15  to  25  per  cent,  and  with  it  an  im- 
provement in  their  build,  appearance,  and  beauty,  accompanied  with 
greater  vigor  of  constitution.  When  the  Spanish  Merinos  were  first. 
taken  into  the  State,  rams  weighed  from  100  to  110  pounds  and  ewes 
from  70  to  75  pounds.  These  weights  have  been  increased  on  an  aver- 
age slightly  exceeding  20  per  cent,  in  some  cases  30  and  40  per  cent. 
It  has  been  found  that  the  small  sheep,  with  equal  length  and  thickness 
of  fleece,  on  account  of  greater  proportionate  surface,  will  produce  the 
largest  per  cent  of  wool,  and  the  tendency  a  few  years  ago  was  to 
sacrifice  size  to  per  cent  of  fleece.  It  was  found  that  some  small  sheep 
were  yielding  a  larger  per  cent  of  wool  than  their  size  and  constitution 
would  warrant  their  sustaining.  Consequently  breeders  began  to 
gradually  increase  their  size,  a  feat  which  it  was  believed  could  be  ac- 
compli shed  without  sacrificing  any  of  thegood  qualities  already  attained. 
It  is  not  believed  that  Vermont  will  ever  be  able  to  produce  large 
Merinos.  The  conditions  are  unfaAwable  to  this.  It  is  found,  how- 
ever, that  when  Vermont  Merinos,  after  reaching  mature  age,  are  taken 
to  any  section  of  the  United  States  outside  of  New  England  they  will 
increase  in  size.  This  is  claimed  by  sheep-breeders  in  all  States  South 
and  West  and  admitted  by  Vermont  breeders.  While  Vermont  can 
produce  a  stocky,  thick-set  carcass,  the  South  and  West  produce  more 
length  of  body  and  legs,  a  more  rangy  and  larger  sheep.  The  same 
causes  may  produce  the  difference  that  is  observed  in  the  build  of  men 
raised  in  different  sections  of  the  country.  Finally,  as  to  size,  the  Ver- 
mont breeders  prefer  a  medium-sized  sheep,  with  a  round,  deep  body, 
short,  thick  neck,  broad,  straight  back,  square  buttock,  straight  from 
tail  to  the  hoof,  length  from  nose  to  tail  3  to  3  feet  8  inches,  height  to 
top  of  shoulder  five-eighths  of  length,  depth  of  body  from  two  and  one- 
half  to  four  times  the  length  of  leg.  The  soil  and  climate  favor  the 
production  of  this  build  of  Merino.t 

*  Register  of  the  Vermont  Merino  Sheep  Breeders'  Association,  Vol.  in. 
t  Henry  Lane,  in  Vermont  Agricultural  Report,  1881-'82. 


314        SHEEP  INDUSTRY  OP  THE  UNITED  STATES 

There  lias  been  and  is  yet  mucli  criticism  directed  against  the  Ver- 
mont Merino,  or  rather  against  the  system  of  breeding,  on  account  of 
the  oil  in  the  fleece  and  the  folds  or  wrinkles  in  the  skin.  Vermont 
breeders  are  ready  to  answer  such  criticism  by  asserting  their  belief 
that  a  profitable  fleece  can  not  be  raised  without  a  large  amount  of  oil, 
and  that  folds  are  indications  of  heavy  fleeces.  The  per  cent  of  oil, 
however,  is  no  greater  than  it  was  years  ago,  and  no  breeder  has  ever 
been  able  to  produce  a  heavy  cleansed  fleece  without  it.  It  promotes 
the  growth  of  wool,  and  those  who  have  tried  to  dispense  with  or 
materially  reduce  it  have  met  with  a  serious  loss  of  wool  and  a  deteri- 
oration of  strength,  fineness,  and  evenness  of  fleece.  A  deficiency  of 
oil  causes  the  staple  to  be  dry,  harsh,  and  weak,  and  the  tendency  will 
be  to  gradually  become  thin  and  coarse.  Breeders  who  have  attempted 
to  breed  smooth  sheep  with  wool  free  from  oil  have  not  only  failed  in 
weight  of  fleece,  but  have  also  failed  in  quantity  and  quality  of  cleansed 
wool.  Wool  owes  much  of  its  softness  and  brilliancy  to  the  presence 
of  a  sufficiency  of  oil. 

Albert  Chapman,  the  secretary  of  the  Vermont  Association,  contrib- 
uted to  the  National  Live  Stock  Journal  a  defense  of  the  oil  in  the 
-fleece,  asserting  that,  while  it  is  not  desirable  to  run  a  flock  too 
much  to  oil  at  the  expense  of  the  amount  of  cleansed  wool,  but  given  the 
large  amount  of  cleansed  wool  already  attained,  it  is  very  important 
that  stock  rams  should  be  quite  oily,  even  though  their  extra  heavy 
fleeces  should  not  represent  a  corresponding  amount  of  scoured  wool. 
It  is  a  well-recognized  fact  with  those  breeders  who  have  attracted  the 
widest  notice  by  the  improvement  accomplished  in  their  flocks,  that 
rams  with  dry,  bulky  fleeces  are  rarely  good,  even  stock- getters,  though 
their  fleeces  may  shrink  but  little  in  the  scouring  tub;  that  those 
with  a  larger  amount  of  oil  will,  as  a  rule,  give  us  more  even,  excellent 
stock  than  those  of  the  other  class.  This  oil  is  characteristic  of  the 
breed  of  Merino  sheep,  and  is  of  great  value  to  preserve  the  health 
and  strength  of  fiber  while  the  fleece  is  growing.  Though  it  may 
cause  a  greater  loss  in  the  scouring  tub,  when  properly  cleansed  the 
wool  is  stronger  and  more  valuable  than  the  product  from  drier  and 
lighter  fleeces.  A  very  important  fact,  which  should  not  be  lost  sight 
of  when  considering  this  subject,  is  that  the  larger  number  of  flocks, 
especially  where  the  largest  flocks  of  sheep  are  kept,  are  very  deficient 
in  the  proper  and  desirable  amount  of  oil  to  best  preserve  the  health 
and  strength  of  fiber,  and  if  a  few  flocks  possess  an  amount  in  excess 
of  the  most  desirable  quantity,  stock  from  them  is  needed  and  should 
be  in  demand  to  impart  a  portion  of  that  excess  to  those  that  are  de- 
ficient. 

Mr.  Chapman  closes  his  defense  of  the  oil  in  these  words : 

If  those  who  fear  we  are  breeding  too  much  grease  in  the  fleeces  of  our  full-blood 
Merinos  will  take  the  trouble  to  investigate  the  effects  of  the  cross  of  these  very  oily 
rams  upon  the  flocks  of  dry -fleeced  sheep  in  all  parts  of  our  country,  especially  on 


EAST    OF    THE    MISSISSIPPI   RIVER.  315 

those  of  Texas,  Colorado.  Kansas,  and  New  Mexico,  they  will  find  the  great  improve- 
ments there  effected  in  all  of  the  qualities  which  make  the  fleeces  valuable  to  the 
manufacturer,  will  be  quite  sufficient  to  convince  them  that  we  have  no  reasonable 
grounds  to  fear  we  are  breeding  too  much  oil  in  the  fleeces  of  our  pure-bred  flocks  of 
Merino  sheep,  in  which  the  stock  rams  to  improve  those  of  the  larger  wool-growing 
flocks  must  be  produced. 

As  to  tlie  wrinkles  or  folds,  their  development  over  the  whole  car- 
cass is  encouraged,  as  they  are  indicative  of  heavy  fleeces.  But  some 
breeders  carry  them  to  excess.  It  is  a  fact  that  the  heavy  fleeces  are 
the  product  of  wrinkly  sheep.  But  within  the  last  year  there  has  been 
a  change.  The  folds  are  thicker,  but  not  quite  as  large,  with  less  coarse 
wool  on  them,  the  coarse  hair  on  the  wrinkles  and  thighs  in  the  best 
bred  flocks  having  measurably  disappeared.  The  prevailing  fashion  is 
to  have  from  "  three  to  five  heavy  folds  on  the  neck,  not  large  on  the 
upper  side,  but  large  on  the  under  side ;  two  or  three  short  folds  on  and 
immediately  back  of  each  elbow  or  arm;  fine,  thick  wrinkles  running 
down  the  sides,  but  not  extending  over  the  back.  Wrinkles  across  the 
hips,  some  times  from  the  tail  in  the  direction  of  the  stifle,  and  some 
times  at  right  angles  with  them,  fold  also  around  the  tail  to  give  it  a 
wide  appearance,  and  also  folds  across  the  thigh  with  a  deep  flank. 
These  folds,  except  on  the  neck,  unless  too  large,  do  not  show  when  a 
year's  growtli  of  wool  is  on  the  sheep.  These  folds  are  what  please  the 
eye  of  a  breeder  of  taste."  The  gentleman  from  whom  we  quote — an 
accomplished  breeder — asserted  his  firm  belief  that  "  any  breeder  who 
attempts  to  breed  from  a  ram  without  wrinkles  and  a  certain  amount  of 
oil  will  fail  to  realize  any  improvement  in  the  wool-producing  capacity 
of  his  flock." 

The  pedigree  committee  of  the  Vermont  Merino  Sheep-Breeders' 
Association  in  the  first  volume  of  the  Eegister,  say : 

If  we  admit  that  our  best  flocks  of  Merinos  have  oil  and  wrinkles  in  excess  of  the 
wants  of  the  practical  wool  grower  for  his  wool-bearing  sheep  as  a  class,  we  con- 
tend that  we  are  not  breeding  altogether  with  a  view  of  wool-growing  in  Vermont, 
but  our  most  profitable  product  is  blood  that  will  produce  improvements  in  the 
wool-bearing  capacities  of  flocks  in  localities  where  it  is  hard  to  keep  them  up  to 
the  most  profitable  standard.  Hence  it  is  for  our  best  interest,  as  it  is  for  theirs, 
that  we  shall  be  able  to  furnish  them  with  sheep  having  these  qualities  in  a  very 
tinarked  degree,  and  greatly  in  excess  of  what  may,  perhaps,  be  their  ideal. 

The  same  committee  in  the  third  volume  of  the  Vermont  Register 
(1887)  held  the  same  view  and  reported: 

In  regard  to  the  amount  of  oil  and  of  folds  or  wrinkles  that  breeders  are  so  gen- 
erally advised  to  discard,  the  committee  believe  that  the  natural  amount  ef  these 
peculiar  to  the  Merino  breed  of  sheep  can  not  be  dispensed  with  without  a  tendency 
to  a  thinner,  lighter  fleece,  with  a  staple  of  less  strength  and  health,  and  ultimately 
less  profitable  to  both  the  producer  and  manufacturer. 

It  is  the  general  testimony  of  Vermont  breeders  that  the  increased 
weight  of  the  Merino  fleeces  is  due  largely  to  the  increased  thickness 
of  the  fleece,  or  in  other  words,  to  the  greater  number  of  fibers  on  the 
same  surface  of  pelt.  There  are  no  records  of  the  actual  thickness  of 


316 


SHEEP  INDUSTRY  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES 


the  average  Merino  fleece  of  fifty  years  ago  by  which  that  improve- 
ment can  be  measured,  but  it  is  evident  in  a  marked  degree.  From 
measurements  made  with  great  care  and  unchallenged  accuracy  in  1878, 
it  was  ascertained  that  1  square  inch  of  surface  of  a  pelt  of  a  nice 
fleeced  Merino  ram  contained  230,000  fibers.  The  pelt  was  at  least  one 
yard  square,  consequently  contained  300,000,000  fibers,  a  number  almost 
too  vast  to  comprehend,  but  supposing  each  fiber  to  measure  2£  inches 
in  length  and  placed  end  to  end,  they  would  extend  about  12,000  miles, 
or  nearly  half  way  round  the  globe.  And  this  thickness  is  capable  of 
still  greater  development,  for  the  open  spaces  bear  a  large  proportion 
to  the  space  occupied;  comparable,  as  has  been  stated,  to  the  open 
space  in  thick- timbered  woodland  to  that  upon  which  the  trees  stand. 
These  close,  thick  fleeces  are  not  only  profitable,  but  are  necessary  in 
cold  climates  such  as  Vermont  and  our  northern  tier  of  States. 

Dr.  Cutting's  investigation  also  disclosed  the  fact  that  in  fineness 
and  evenness  of  wool  the  improvement  was  nearly  equal  to  that  made 
in  other  directions.  English  measurements  showed  that  the  size  of 
Merino  fibers  was  one  seven-hundredth  of  an  inch,  and  super-electa 
Saxon  wool  (which  is  the  finest  in  the  fleece)  was  one  eight  hundred 
and  fortieth  of  an  inch.  Dr.  Cutting's  measurements  are  those  as  given 
in  the  Vermont  Eegister,  volume  1 : 


No. 

Variety  of  sheep. 

Age  of 
sheep. 

Weight 
of  fleece. 

Live 
weight. 

Size  of 
staple  in 
millime- 
ters. 

Size  of 
staple 
in  frac- 
tions of 
an  inch. 

1 

BAMS. 

Banker 

3 

Lbs.  oz. 
31    0 

Pounds. 

108 

0215 

2 

Patrick  Henry    . 

5 

37    0 

147 

0235 

TTW 

3 

Stub 

4 

35    0 

121 

0°55 

4 

Stock  ram  

3 

33    0 

128 

027 

9*3 

5 

do  

2 

027 

B3H 

6 

do  

F 

Ol>75 

7 

do.... 

7 

21     8 

91 

024 

dh 

8 

do.... 

5 

32    8 

132 

1)985 

9 

do  

2 

0°4 

c 

10 

Ham  teg  .  . 

I 

018 

TUT 

Average  rams  

_JL_ 

Highest  or  finest  

Lowest,  or  coarsest  

"JT 

11 

EWES. 

Breeding  ewe    . 

g 

19    3 

0»5 

1 

12 

do  

12 

9  11 

Ol'i5 

13 

do  ... 

10 

12    0 

80 

024 

14 

do.... 

15 

do  .. 

g 

021 

TBSJV 

16 

do  ... 

10 

13  12 

0205 

17 

do  

13 

10    0 

0°(ir> 

1335 

18 

do  ... 

12  12 

09 

()f>IK 

ffb 

19 

do  .... 

19        Q 

IU05 

20 

do  ... 

2 

20    0 

094. 

T205 

?1 

do  

IfiSB 

2?, 

Ewe  teg  .  . 

j 

02 

T2(TI 

23 

do*  

1 

0145 

T585 

24 

do  

1 

0225 

YOHff 

Average  Merino  ewes  . 

1 

Finest  

Coarsest  

958 

Average  of  both  rams  and  ewes  



, 

_  1  _ 

—  — 

EAST   OF   THE   MISSISSIPPI   RIVER.  317 

Subsequently  Mr.  Chapman  procured  samples  of  the  finest  Silesian 
wool,  one  from  a  ram  and  one  from  a  ewe.  These,  with  samples 
from  a  Merino  ram  and  ewe,  were  placed  in  the  hands  of  Prof.  William 
McMiirtrie,  of  the  U.  S.  Department  of  Agriculture,  who  after  careful 
measurement  reported  the  results  in  fractions  of  an  inch: 


Silesian  ram,  average  of  120  measurements 
Improved  Merino  ram,  average  of  120  measurements 
Silesian  ewe,  average  of  120  measurements 
Improved  Merino  ewe,  average  of  120  measurements 


Each  lock  of  the  four  had  twenty-five  crimps  to  the  inch.  As  the 
Silesian  sheep  are  generally  considered  as  among  the  very  finest  in  point 
of  wool  the  close  rivalry  speaks  volumes  for  the  Vermont  Merino. 

There  has  also  been  an  improvement  in  the  evenness  and  strength  of 
the  fiber.  It  was  not  many  years  ago  that  the  outer  end  of  the  wool 
fiber  was  coarser  than  the  rest  of  the  fleece.  Now  this  defect  is  bred 
out  and  the  fiber  has  a  uniform  thickness  throughout,  and  there  is  also 
a  greater  uniformity  of  fleece  from  all  parts  of  the  body  even  to  the  wool 
on  the  folds  or  wrinkles. 

The  length  of  staple  of  the  sheep  shown  by  George  Campbell  at 
Hamburg  in  1803,  was  from  3J  to  2f  inches.  The  average  length  of 
staple  of  the  Vermont  fleeces  taken  to  the  Paris  Exposition  in  1878  was 
3J  inches.  Some  of  them  measured  4J  inches.  At  a  sheep-shearing  at 
Middlebury,  Vt.,in  1882,  oof  the  sheep  shorn  measured  in  length  3  inches; 
17,  3J  inches;  10,  3J  inches;  9,  3|  inches;  2,  4  inches;  1,  4J  inches; 
2,  4J  inches,  and  2,  4J  inches.  The  48  averaged  a  little  over  3J  inches. 
The  average  increase  in  length  of  staple  during  half  a  century  of  im- 
provement is  estimated  at  not  less  than  35  per  cent. 

Length  of  staple,  however,  is  not  compatible  with  weight  and  thick- 
ness of  fleece,  and  it  has  been  found  that  few  of  the  rams  or  ewes  yield- 
ing the  heaviest  fleeces  have  a  staple  of  more  than  average  length.  The 
ram  that  has  furnished  the  very  heaviest  fleece  published  is  reported 
as  growing  the  shortest  staple  of  any  of  the  heavy  shearing  rams 
recorded.  The  Vermont  breeders  do  not  encourage  length  of  staple, 
believing  that  increased  length  is  obtained  at  the  expense  of  weight 
of  fleece  by  a  diminution  of  its  thickness,  and  while  not  recommending 
breeding  for  a  shorter  staple  they  express  an  opinion  that  great  weight 
of  fleece  can  not  be  attained  by  breeding  for  excessive  length  of  staple, 
and  that  breeding  from  rams  of  medium  length  and  great  density  will 
increase  the  weight  of  fleece  much  faster  than  breeding  from  rams  of 
longer  staple  but  thinner  wool. 

There  was,  at  first,  a  breeding  toward  diversity  in  the  flocks,  but  the 
tendency  now  is  to  uniformity,  most  breeders  differing  but  little  as  to  the 
most  desirable  type  and  points  of  excellence.  All  breed  heavy  fleeces, 
uniform  and  of  fine  quality,  and  a  vigorous  constitution. 

There  is  that  about  the  soil  and  climate  of  Vermont  that  seems  pecul- 
iarly favorable  to  the  growth  and  rearing  of  Merino  sheep,  or,  as  happily 


318        SHEEP  INDUSTRY  OP  THE  UNITED  STATES 

expressed  on  one  occasion  by  the  late  Dr.  George  B.  Loring,  "  her  hill 
are  the  natural  seed-bed  of  the  Merino."    But  certain  sections  are  mon 
favorable  than  others  for  their  perfect  growth,  and  Addison  County 
the  leading  Merino  sheep  county  in  the  State,  with  her  more  thai 
twenty  towns,  has  but  6  or  8  peculiarly  adapted  to  their  perfect  de 
velopment;  and  it  is  remarked  that  it  is  sometimes  the  case  that  th 
locality  that  has  all  the  conditions  for  the  production  of  a  superior  breed? 
may  all  be  taken  in  with  the  naked  eye  from  the  top  of  some  central 
hill. 

There  is  a  subtle  influence  of  climate  and  soil  on  wool  which  it  is  im- 
portant to  know,  and  which  can  not  be  disregarded  by  those  who 
desire  to  make  a  success  of  wool-growing.  It  has  been  observed  that 
if  a  flock  of  New  England  Merinos  be  divided  into  four  and  one  part 
placed  east  of  the  Connecticut  Eiver,  at  Walpole,  1ST.  H.,  another  on  the 
west  side  of  the  river,  in  Vermont,  another  on  the  western  border  of 
Vermont,  and  the  fourth  on  the  eastern  border  of  New  Hampshire, 
within  three  or  four  years  there  will  be  such  a  difference  in  the  quality 
of  the  wool  that  an  expert  on  being  informed  that  the  four  kinds  of 
wool  were  from  these  different  points  would  be  able  to  locate  it,  and 
tell  which  grew  in  each  place. 

The  introduction  of  the  Merino  into  Vermont  was  for  the  purpose  of 
wool-growing  and  the  improvement  of  the  common  sheep.  Now 
the  breeding  of  the  sheep  is  the  principal  pursuit,  wool-growing  being 
an  accompaniment.  In  1815  there  were  many  full-blood  flocks,  and  others 
of  high  grade,  and  their  wool  was  generally  worked  up  in  the  woolen 
factories  recently  established.  By  1820  some  had  disappeared,  but 
many  still  remained,  some  of  them  full-blood,  which  in  1825  or  1826 
were  crossed  with  the  Saxon  Merino.  When  the  Saxons  were  intro- 
duced they  were  generally  crossed  with  the  Spanish  Merino  and  their 
grades,  and  some  pure-blood  Saxon  flocks  were  started.  A  few  years7 
experience  demonstrated  the  fact  that  they  were  not  adapted  to  the 
rigorous  climate  and  system  of  sheep  husbandry  of  the  State;  they 
were  discarded  and  a  return  was  made  to  the  Spanish  Merino.  But 
meanwhile  they  had  inflicted  a  grievous  injury  by  ruining  nearly  all  the 
old  flocks.  Very  few  had  escaped  the  cross  and  these  were  mostly  small 
ones.  Consequently  many  persons  sold  out  their  fine  sheep  and  grades, 
abandoned  wool  growing  altogether,  and  turned  their  attention  to  breed- 
ing mutton  sheep.  A  few,  however,  having  faith  in  the  Spanish 
Merino,  sought  out  such  as  had  escaped  the  general  contamination, 
purchased  a  few,  and  began  anew  the  formation  of  pure-blood  flocks. 
One  of  the  first  of  these  was  William  E.  Sanford,  who  journeyed  into 
New  Hampshire  and  bought  of  Grant  and  Jennison  20  pure-blood 
old  ewes,  bred  by  William  Jarvis  from  his  Spanish  stock.  This  was  in 
1830,  before  the  inferiority  of  the  Saxon  had  been  generally  discovered. 
Mr.  Jarvis  also  had  been  led  away  by  the  Saxon  mania  and  crossed  a 
portion  of  his  flock  with  them.  Fortunately  he  had  not  crossed  all  of 


EAST    OF    THE   MISSISSIPPI    RIVER.  319 

them  and  was  enabled  to  furnish  pure-bloods  for  many  buyers,  among 
whom  were  Prosper  Elitharp,  L.  C.  Eemele,  Myron  W.  C.  Wright,  Al- 
fred Hull,  Jesse  Hiues,  and  others,  these  purchases  being  made  between 
1830  and  1840.  These  men  pursued  the  even  tenor  of  their  way,  im- 
proved the  sheep  with  such  light  as  they  had  before  them,  amid  the 
discouragement  of  low  prices  for  wool  and  a  want  of  appreciation  among 
•  wool-growers  for  the  class  of  sheep  they  were  breeding. 

Prior  to  1836  the  Spanish  Merinos  were  known  by  that  name,  or  as 
"old-fashioned  Merinos"  to  distinguish  them  from  the  Saxons.  On 
January  8, 1836,  a  correspondent  of  the  Cultivator  suggested  the  name 
American  Merino.  At  this  time  the  change  in  the  sheep  had  been  so 
great  that  an  animal  bearing  all  the  characters  of  the  original  was  not 
to  be  found.  This  correspondent  said : 

For  years  I  Lave  been  a  sheep-breeder,  and  the  term  " old-fashioned  Merinos"  con- 
veys to  me  a  distinctive  perception  of  an  animal  and  a  particular  family  of  animals 
which  existed  in  this  country  soon  after  their  general  introduction  from  Spain.  They 
are  now  rarely  to  he  found.  If  another  name  is  more  desirable,  let  them  be  called 
the  American  Merino,  for  in  truth  they  were  first  bred  in  this  country  by  crossing 
the  different  flocks  which  were  imported  from  Spain.  I  will  instance  a  flock  within 
my  knowledge.  The  person  who  commenced  the  flock  was  interested  in  the  original 
importation,  and  therefore  had  an  opportunity  to  select  individuals  in  reference  to  a 
particular  object.  He  did  so,  having  in  view  a  farmer's  sheep  that  should  give  quan- 
tity with  as  fair  quality  as  could  be  obtained.  The  little  choice' bore  the  marks  and 
brands  of  five  different  Spanish  flocks.  They  were  crossed  as  was  judged  best;  but 
their  lambs  were  by  no  means  uniform  in  their  appearance  or  value,  but  in  a  course 
of  years,  with  the  original  object  steadily  in  view,  there  came  a  race  of  sheep  having 
the  general  appearance  of  the  Paular,  the  fineness  of  the  Escurial,  and  the  close- 
wooled  qualities  of  the  other  flocks.  They  had  also  the  large  size  of  the  Nigretti. 
The  sheep  from  this  little  beginning  were  scattered  far  and  near,  with  a  high  reputa- 
tion. In  1826  the  clip  of  that  and  the  previous  year  was  sold  at  50  cents;  with  that 
exception  it  never  sold  so  low.  The  same  course  was  followed  by  others,  and  these 
flocks  are  of  the  "old  Merinos,"  and  I  like  it,  for  it  reminds  me  of  the  times  when 
our  sheep  gave  4  and  4£  pounds  of  wool,  whereas  now  they  only  give  us  2  to  2^ 
pounds. 

In  1 837  the  number  of  sheep  in  Vermont  was  1,166,234,  giving  2,915,385 
pounds  of  wool.  Assuming  that  her  300,000  people  used  9  pounds  each, 
this  was  a  surplus  over  the  wants  of  her  population  of  215,885  pounds. 
Having  no  manufactures  at  home  the  greater  part  of  the  wool  was  sold 
out  of  the  State,  and  her  woolen  goods  were  bought  in  New  York, 
Connecticut,  and  Massachusetts.  In  1840  the  number  of  sheep  had 
increased  to  1,681,819,  yielding  3,699,235  pounds  of  wool.  The  Saxon 
Merino  declined  some  from  1830  to  1840,  though  there  were  many  flocks 
still  kept  up,  and  it  was  with  great  reluctance  that  their  defects  were 
acknowledged.  In  1840  the  Saxony  averaged  2£  pounds  of  wool,  the 
Spanish  Merino  3J,  and  the  common  sheep  3  pounds.  From  1830  to 
1840  Merino  wool  sold  from  35  to  60  cents;  average  price,  52  cents. 

About  the  time  the  Saxon  Merinos  were  most  rapidly  passing  out  of 
the  sheep  husbandry  of  the  State,  1840  to  1850,  the  French  Merinos 
were  introduced,  and,  at  first,  received  with  some  favor.  Their  large 


320        SHEEP  INDUSTRY  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES 

frames  and  corrugated  skins,  with  their  gross  but  uneven  fleeces, 
appealed  to  the  eye,  but  they  were  found  to  be  inferior  to  the  Spanish 
Merino,  now  rapidly  regaining  the  favor  it  had  lost  for  many  years. 
The  Atwood  blood  was  liberally  brought  into  the  State  from  Connecticut, 
and  the  improvement  begun  which  has  been  carried  to  such  unparal- 
leled success.  But  toward  1850  there  was  a  great  depression  in  the 
woolen  manufacture.  Wool  fell  to  25  cents,  and  many  were  discour- 
aged and  went  out  of  the  business  altogether,  selling  their  high  grade 
Merinos  at  from  75  cents  to  $1.50.  Thousands  of  them  were  bought 
up  at  these  prices  and  driven  to  Virginia,  where  they  were  disposed  of 
to  considerable  advantage  to  the  dealer.  Full-blooded  Merino  ewes 
were  sold  in  various  parts  of  Yermont  at  from  $6  to  $10,  and  lambs 
were  offered  at  $1.50.  The  decrease  in  the  number  of  sheep  from  1840 
to  1850  was  extraordinary.  It  fell  from  1,681,819  in  the  former  year 
to  1,014,122  in  the  latter,  a  loss  in  two  years  of  667,697  sheep  and 
298,518  pounds  of  wool.  By  1850  the  Saxony  had  practically  disap- 
peared, and  the  French  Merino  was  at  its  height.  Wool-growing  was 
not  generally  profitable,  and  there  was  a  general  reduction  in  flocks. 
It  cost  $1.25  to  $1.50  to  keep  a  sheep  a  year,  and  the  general  average 
did  not  exceed -3  pounds  in  ordinary  wool- growing  flocks,  which  at  40 
cents  would  amount  to  $1.20,  or  less  than  the  cost  of  growing.  But  in 
flocks  which  sheared  5  to  6  pounds  of  well- washed  wool  there  was  a 
living  profit  which  measurably  sustained  the  industry. 

About  1850  there  was  a  slight  increase  in  the  demand  for  wool  and 
prices  began  to  advance.  The  French  Merinos  were  being  still  further 
introduced  and  as  rapidly  discarded,  and  the  Spanish  Merino  steadily 
gaining  ground,  both  in  profit  and  the  appreciation  of  the  people.  But 
the  total  number  of  sheep  was  gradually  diminishing.  The  low  and 
fluctuating  price  of  wool  contributed  to  this  result.  Under  the  impres- 
sion that  the  great  West  would  depress  the  price  so  low  that  competi- 
tion would  be  impossible,  many  of  the  farmers  disposed  of  their  flocks. 
But,  on  the  other  hand,  the  quantity  of  wool  increased  and  its  quality 
improved.  It  was  evident  that  the  Spanish  Merino  had  attained  a 
higher  degree  of  perfection  in  the  State  than  in  any  other  State.  Soil, 
climate,  and  skill  in  breeding  had  all  contributed  toward  giving  it  a  wide 
reputation  for  superior  sheep.  The  long  cold  weather  incident  to  the 
State  gave  an  advantage  over  competition  in  a  milder  climate,  and  it 
was  assumed  that  the  natural  law  in  the  animal  economy  that  the  cov- 
ering of  an  animal  would  adapt  itself  to  the  temperature  of  the  region 
where  it  lived  would  undoubtedly  hold  true  as  to  sheep  bred  in  Yer- 
mont. The  thick  heavy- wool ed  Merino  of  that  State,  bred  in  more 
southern  latitudes,  generally  diminished  its  now  unnecessary  coverings, 
and  the  offspring,  after  a  few  generations,  exhibited  those  desirable 
points  in  a  less  marked  degree.  Hence  the  Yermont  breeder  relied 
upon  a  market  for  his  surplus  stock  for  breeding  purposes,  and  in  that 
direction  pursued  his  business. 


EAST    OF    THE    MISSISSIPPI    RIVER.  321 

Sheep  declined  in  number  from  1,014,122  in  1850  to  752,201  in  1860, 
and  wool  declined  from  3,400,717  pounds  in  the  former  year  to  3,118,950 
pounds  in  the  latter.  The  average  per  head  in  1850  was  3.35  pounds ; 
in  I860  it  was  4.14  pounds,  or  a  very  marked  increase  of  24  per  cent. 
The  price  of  wool  advanced  from  1850  to  1860  to  an  average  of  42J 
cents,  the  extremes  being  30  and  55  cents. 

The  war  of  the  rebellion  stimulated  the  demand  for  wool  and  in- 
creased the  value  of  breeding  flocks,  and  many  full-blooded  Merinos 
were  sold  to  cross  on  the  common  or  scrub  sheep  of  the  Western  States 
and  Territories.  In  1862  and  1863  Merino  rams  sold  for  all  prices  from 
$100  up  to  $2,000,  and  the  profits  of  the  breeders  were  bountiful. 
Wool  also  increased  in  price,  both  fine  and  coarse,  and  sheep  hus- 
bandry was  in  a  prosperous  condition.  But  this  unprecedented  pros- 
perity could  not  always  last.  The  war  of  the  rebellion  ceased,  and  the 
immense  stock  of  woolens  held  by  the  Government  thrown  upon  the 
market  depressed  wool  to  a  ruinous  figure,  caused  the  suspension  of 
many  woolen  mills,  and  drove  many  Merino  wool-growers  into  other 
branches  of  husbandry.  Two  counties  that  in  1860  kept  the  largest 
number  of  sheep  of  any  in  the  State,  during  this  depression  in  the  price 
of  sheep  and  wool  in  1868  changed  to  a  large  extent  their  sheep  farm- 
ing to  cattle  and  dairying,  and  there  were  similar  changes  in  other 
parts  of  the  State.  There  was  a  great  increase  in  the  number  of  sheep 
from  1860  to  1865,  but  from  1866  to  1870  the  decrease  was  so  great  that 
in  the  latter  year  the  number  indicated  a  loss  during  the  ten  years 
from  1860  to  1870,  of  more  than  170,000. 

On  the  revival  of  manufactures  after  1870,  and  under  the  great  ex- 
tension of  wool-growing  in  the  Territories  and  on  the  plains  of  the  West 
and  Southwest,  there  was  a  demand  for  pure-bred  Merinos,  and  large 
numbers  were  shipped.  In  1874  many  were  shipped  to  Washington 
Territory ;  in  1876  large  numbers  were  sent  to  Texas,  Maine,  and  else- 
where. From  Middlebury,  Addison  county,  there  were  shipped  in  1877 
29  carloads;  in  1879  41  carloads  of  rams  to  the  Southwest.  In  1880 
60  carloads,  and  in  1881  71  carloads,  each  containing  from  100  to  150 
head,  were  sent.  To  be  exact,  from  1877  to  1881  there  were  shipped 
from  this  one  station  6,777  pure  Merinos,  purchased  for  the  improve- 
ment of  sheep  in  other  sections  of  the  country,  and  the  demand  was  in 
excess  of  the  production.  These  sheep  were  exclusive  of  a  large  num- 
ber shipped  in  small  lots  ordered  by  express.  Of  the  6,777  there  were 
sent  to  Ohio  2,284,  to  Texas  1,728,  to  Michigan  1,230,  to  Kansas  668,  to 
Pennsylvania  303,  to  Missouri  268,  to  Maine  106,  to  Colorado  134,  and 
56  to  Illinois. 

The  superiority  of  Vermont  sheep  was  acknowledged  at  the  Centen- 
nial Fair  of  1876,  when  of  the  13  first-class  awards  and  15  second-class, 
9  of  the  former  and  4  of  the  latter  were  received  by  Vermont  breeders. 
These  were  received  in  common  with  the  breeders  of  Merino  sheep 
from  other  States.  Besides  these,  there  were  4  other  special  competi- 
22990 21 


322        SHEEP  INDUSTRY  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES 

tive  prizes  or  awards  where  the  prizes  were  given  for  the  best  only.1 
The  sweepstakes  prize  of  awards  for  the  "  best  American  Merino  ram 
of  any  age"  was  given  to  H.  C.  Burwell,  Bridport,  Vt.,  for  his  ram  Bis-j 
marck.  Bismarck  weighed  in  fall  fleece  170  pounds,  and  was  one  od 
the  most  perfect  types  of  an  American  Merino  ever  seen.  In  form  and! 
general  contour  he  was  of  the  short-horn  pattern.  Back  straight] 
throughout  and  very  broad,  while  at  the  same  time  he  had  great  depth! 
of  carcass.  He  possessed  a  wonderful  constitution  and  stamped  hid 
own  impress  in  a  marked  degree,  and  was  a  very  successful  sire  of  bothj 
rams  and  ewes.  His  head  was  short,  broad,  and  well  carried  up;  nosi 
short,  of  good  breadth,  well  wrinkled,  and  very  soft  and  silky  to  tliel 
touch.  Fleece  very  dense,  even,  of  most  excellent  style  and  quality  J 
highly  crimped,  opened  in  flakes  free  without  cross  fiber  and  covered' 
him  to  perfection  at  all  points,  notably  so  on  head  and  legs.  Staple,! 
24  inches  long;  fiber,  3|  inches  long.  His  oil  was  slightly  buff  in  color, 
circulated  freely  throughout  the  fleece,  and  coated  him  extremely  well: 
on  the  surface.  His  neck  was  one  of  the  heaviest  ever  carried  by  aj 
Merino  ram  and  was  proportionately  folded  at  hip,  tail,  flank,  and  at! 
point  of  shoulder.  He  also  had  some  heavy  side  folds  which  ran  well 
under  and  across  the  belly.  His  heaviest  fleece  was  32 J  pounds;  sixth 
fleece  31J  pounds. 

There  was  a  prize  of  $100  offered  by  the  Pennsylvania  State  Agri- 
cultural Society  for  the  best  flock  of  Merino  sheep,  to  consist  of  one* 
rani  and  four  ewes,  bred  and  exhibited  by  one  breeder.  This  prize  wasj 
taken  by  Joseph  T.  Stickney,  of  Shoreham,  Vt.  Centennial,  which 
stood  at  the  head  of  the  flock,  was  a  strong,  vigorous,  well-made  ram,j 
attractive  and  showy  in  general  appearance,  and  weighed  in  full  fleece 
165  pounds.  His  folds  were  well  placed  to  suit  modern  fashion,  being 
massed  at  neck,  tail,  hip,  thigh,  and  flank,  with  a  due  proportion  on 
the  under  side.  His  fleece  was  dense  and  well  carried  all  around.  It 
was  even,  of  good  quality  and  well  crimped,  and  opened  in  flakes.  Oil 
buff,  heavy,  and  well  distributed;  length  of  staple,  2J  inches;  length  of 
fiber,  3 J  inches ;  weight  of  fleece,  35  pounds. 

The  revision  of  the  tariff  in  1883  checked  the  Merino  sheep  industry 
in  Vermont,  and  sales  in  1884  of  well-bred  Merinos  were  limited.  Many 
of  the  small  flocks  of  the  State  were  kept  intact,  but  without  increase, 
while  others  were  wiped  out  entirely.  Common  flocks  suffered  much 
reduction,  due  to  the  low  price  of  wool  and  the  bad  outlook  for  the 
future.  In  1885  there  was  a  small  increase  in  business  and  a  better 
feeling  among  breeders.  There  were  some  compensating  features  inj 
the  depression  of  the  wool  industry  beginning  in  1883  and  extending 
to  1887  and  1888.  Flocks  were  judiciously  cleared  of  inferior  sheep, 
and  the  quality  of  those  retained  greatly  improved  by  more  care.  Foij 
three  and  four  years  past  many  of  the  best  sheep  of  Vermont  have  been 
exported  to  Australia  and  other  foreign  parts  and  sold  at  good  prices. 
The  Vermont  rams  crossed  on  the  Australian  ewes  give  an  increase  in 


HAINE8,    DEL. 


BISMARCK. 

FROM    "  REGISTER  OF  VERMONT  MERINO  SHEEP   BREEDERS'  ASSOCIATION,"  VOL.   I,   1879. 


[VEB3IT7; 
£4, 


-••-:-•        -.-••-> 


HAINES,  DEL.  CENTENNIAL. 

FROM  "  REGISTER  OF  THE  VERMONT  MERINO  SHEEP  BREEDERS^  ASSOCIATION,"  VOL.   II,  1888. 


EAST    OF    THE -MISSISSIPPI    RIVER.  323 

the  weight  and  density  of  the  fleece,  especially  over  the  back  and  hips, 
which  helps  to  keep  out  the  storms  and  rays  of  the  sun  from  penetrat- 
ing the  fleece.  In  1887  and  1888  many  ranis  were  shipped  to  the  Argen- 
tine Bepublic  and  to  the  Cape  of  Good  Hope. 

Within  late  years  there  has  been  a  tendency  among  Vermont  wool- 
growers  and  among  some  breeders  to  grow  toward  the  Delaine  type  of 
sheep,  to  get  a  mutton  and  wool  combination.  This  movement  is  not 
countenanced,  however,  by  the  Vermont  Association,  who  predict  that 
those  who  cross  out  to  secure  that  type  of  sheep  will  not  find  in  increased 
size  a  profitable  substitute  for  liberal  keeping.  There  is  also  a  reviving 
interest  in  the  French  Merino  sheep,  and  there  are  a  few  breeders  of 
them. 

The  best  breeders  of  Vermont  have  continued  their  efforts  to  improve  their  Merino 
flocks  in  all  desirable  points,  and  have  not  been  induced  to  give  up  the  great  im- 
provements they  have  heretofore  attained  in  the  destiny  and  value  of  their  fleeces 
for  the  popular  cry  for  smooth  sheep  bearing  long,  thin,  light  fleeces.  They  still 
claim  the  blood  of  their  flocks  will  be  in  demand  to  close  up  the  ranks  and  call  to- 
gether the  flocks  scattered  by  breeding  exclusively  to  rams  without  folds  with  long 
fleeces.  Neither  have  they  sacrificed  the  size  and  constitutions  of  their  sheep  by 
breeding  for  small  sheep  with  too  large  percentage  of  wool  and  too  many  wrinkles, 
although  many  breeders  may  have  erred  in  this  direction.  Their  aim  has  been  to 
increase  the  size,  constitution,  and  length  of  staple  of  the  Merinos  of  Vermont  as 
fast  as  it  can  be  accomplished  without  sacrificing  the  substantial  and  rare  qualities 
heretofore  attained  and  universally  acknowledged  as  characteristic  of  the  breed  as 
produced  by  the  best  breeders  of  Vermont;  not  to  undertake  this  in  such  haste  as  to 
create  a  large,  long-legged,  gaunt,  imperfect-shaped  sheep,  neither  profitable  to 
grow  wool  or  produce  mutton.  They  are  not  satisfied  with  rams  or  ewes  that  yield 
less  than  10  per  cent  of  wool  to  gross  carcass,  nor  do  they  believe  that  such  sheep 
are  more  hardy  or  as  profitable  as  Merinos  that  have  good  average  size,  hardy  con- 
stitution, and  capable  of  producing  15  to  20 — and  in  many  cases  larger — percent- 
ages of  wool,  and  that  will  produce  wethers  weighing,  in  marketable  condition, 
100  pounds  or  over,  that  sell  in  our  chief  markets  at  as  high  prices  as  any.  This 
the  breeders  of  Vermont  Merinos  believe  they  are  capable  of  doing.* 

The  extent  of  the  Vermont  Merino  industry  of  breeding  and  handling 
pure-bred  sheep  for  fifteen  years  past  may  be  judged  from  the  fact  that  in 
that  time  the  Vermont  Merino  Sheep-Breeders7  Association  have  regis- 
tered over  250,000  sheep,  probably  not  less  than  300,000,  or  an  average  of 
over  17,000  yearly.  Some  of  these  were  in  other  States,  but  over  seven- 
tenths  were  from  Vermont  alone.  All  were  Vermont  Merino  sheep. 

The  future  of  the  industry  can  not  be  predicted,  but  it  seems  prom- 
ising to  those  who  give  close  attention  to  breeding  and  are  liberal 
keepers.  The  Australian  and  other  foreign  appreciation  of  them  seems 
to  be  on  the  increase,  and  there  is  a  home  demand  for  good  sheep  at 
higher  prices  than  for  some  years  past. 

There  is  a  lesson  to  be  learned  in  the  experience  of  a  Vermont  breeder 
of  a  pedigreed  Merino  sheep.  The  foundation  is  a  good  ewe  of  sound 
constitution  and  a  ram  with  the  same  requisites  and  undoubted  purity 
of  blood.  Taken  a  ewe  in  good  condition  and  with  lamb,  she  is  fed  all 


Register  of  the  Vermont  Merino  Sheep  Breeders'  Association,  Vol.  iv,  1892. 


324        SHEEP  INDUSTRY  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES 

the  hay  she  will  eat  three  times  a  day.  Clover  hay  is  preferred. 
Should  the  hay  be  coarse  they  are  not  required  to  eat  all,  but  permitted 
to  select  the  dainty  bits.  The  hay  should  be  cut  early,  and,  if  clover, 
after  one- third  of  the  blossoms  have  turned  brown.  Timothy  should 
be  cut  before  it  has  passed  into  full  bloom.  Early  cut  and  well-cared 
hay  is  of  prime  necessity.  To  the  hay  is  usually  added  one  gill  of  oats, 
or  peas  and  oats,  and  a  like  quantity  of  bran,  mixed,  to  each  sheep  per 
day,  after  they  come  to  the  barn  and  are  fed  hay  in  the  fall  and  early 
winter.  During  the  whole  period  of  her  pregnancy  the  ewe  is  kept  in 
a  thrifty  condition,  unless  she  is  too  fleshy,  which  is  more  likely  to  be 
the  case  with  young  ewes  than  with  old  ones.  They  are  permitted  to 
gain  very  slowly  until  their  lambs  are  dropped.  When  necessary  to  get 
them  in  good  condition  grain  is  given  to  put  them  in  better  flesh  before 
lambing  time.  This  is  done  very  carefully  and  gradually,  and  the  best 
breeders  see  that  this  improvement  begins  early  in  the  period  when  the 
lamb  is  being  carried. 

When  the  lambs  are  dropped  the  ewes  are  fed  liberally  until  they  go 
to  pasture.  This  is  necessary  to  give  the  lambs  a  good  start,  so  essen- 
tial to  them  in  reaching  the  largest  size  and  most  perfect  development, 
for  if  they  do  not  have  plenty  of  milk  nothing  can  properly  replace  it. 
It  is  preferred  to  have  the  ewes  all  drop  their  lambs,  part  with  their 
fleeces  and  the  lambs  docked,  before  the  ewes  are  permitted  to  pasture; 
therefore  April  is  considered  the  best  month  in  which  the  lambs  should 
be  dropped.  A  month  earlier  would  be  much  more  expensive,  as  the 
ewes  would  require  higher  feed  that  month  to  prevent  a  decrease  in 
the  milk.  Experience  shows  that  lambs  dropped  in  April  usually  are 
larger  at  one  year  than  those  dropped  earlier,  and  that  a  ewe  turned  on 
grass  within  a  few  weeks  after  dropping  the  lamb  is  more  likely  to  in- 
crease her  yield  of  milk  than  one  which  has  been  giving  milk  for  a  much 
longer  period. 

From  five  to  ten  days  before  the  first  lambs  of  the  flock  are  dropped 
there  is  added  to  the  feed  of  all  the  ewes  a  small  allowance  of  oil  cake 
and  a  gradual  increase  of  other  feed.  Until  six  to  ten  days  after  the 
first  lamb  of  the  flock  is  dropped  the  ewes  are  given  one  to  two  pints  each 
day  of  a  mixture  of  three  parts  oats,  three  of  bran,  and  one  of  oil  meal, 
fed  twice  daily  and  continued  for  fifteen  to  twenty  days,  at  which  time 
nearly  all  the  ewes  have  lambed,  the  ewes  being  turned  out  daily,  weather 
permitting,  to  pasture  gradually  and  the  feeding  diminished  in  proportion 
as  the  pasture  is  increased.  While  this  gradual  reduction  of  feed  is  tak- 
ing place  with  the  ewes,  the  lambs  are  being  prepared  to  be  turned  out 
by  labeling  and  docking  them.  They  are  usually  docked  when  about 
ten  days  old.  A  dry  clear  day  should  be  selected,  not  too  cold  nor 
damp  and  cloudy,  for  the  weather  has  a  great  effect  upon  the  amount  of 
blood  lost,  and  this  matter  needs  close  attention.  Some  breeders  cas- 
trate the  young  rams  at  the  same  time  that  they  are  docked,  but  this 
practice  is  less  followed  now  than  formerly,  and  they  are  usually  cas- 


EAST    OF    THE    MISSISSIPPI    RIVER.  325 

trated  if  at  all  about  a  week  after  docking.  After  docking  and  castrat- 
ing the  lambs  and  shearing  the  ewes  they  are  permitted  to  run  on  pas- 
ture. If  the  ewes  are  provided  with  good  warm  barns  and  sheds  they 
are  usually  sheared  before  the  lambs  are  dropped.  That  veteran  breeder 
and  careful  observer,  Albert  Chapman,  says : 

The  advantages  of  early  shearing  are  that  the  fleece  starts  more  readily,  and  will 
attain  a  growth  that  will  be  sufficient  to  protect  the  sheep  from  the  hot  sun  in  the 
summer,  and  the  cold  storms  of  fall  and  early  winter.  The  new  fleece  starts  out  and 
grows  very  rapidly  on  sheep  shorn  very  early,  continuing  to  grow  well  all  summer ; 
while  if  not  shorn  until  late  the  fleece  appears  to  start  very  slowly,  and  makes  little 
progress  until  fall.  While  with  a  heavy  fleece  on  after  warm  weather  comes  in  the 
spring  there  is  a  very  little  growth,  therefore,  but  little  gain  in  the  amount  of  wool, 
although  there  may  be  more  in  amount  of  oil  at  the  expense  of  the  strength  and 
vitality  of  the  sheep. 

The  ewes  and  lambs  require  but  little  attention  after  being  turned 
out  on  grass,  but  are  usually  housed  every  night  of  rain  and  permitted 
to  lie  out  only  when  the  nights  are  pleasant.  Three  quarts  of  salt  are 
given  weekly  to  about  100  sheep.  When  the  lambs  are  four  months  old 
they  are  weaned  and  taught  to  eat  a  mixture  of  oats,  bran,  and  oil- 
meal.  This  regimen  is  continued  even  after  they  are  again  turned  into 
the  pasture,  particularly  should  the  grass  be  scant  and  parched.  Lambs 
and  yearlings  are  fed  more  liberally  than  are  the  breeding  ewes  the 
first  winter,  to  keep  them  growing  well,  but  they  are  not  forced  into 
too  early  maturity  or  extraordinary  size  the  first  year. 

The  heaviest-fleeced  flocks  are  sheltered  in  summer  as  well  as  winter 
from  rain,  and  particularly  from  frost  or  hail,  and  thus  all  their  natural 
yolk  is  retained.  Even  in  the  best  of  summer  weather  many  of  the 
flocks  are  not  permitted  to  lie  out  should  showers  threaten.  Eain  and 
even  dew  to  some  degree  wash  and  rinse  out  the  oil.  The  object  is  to 
preserve  that  dark  coating  which  is  so  much  sought  for  and  prized,  and 
because  it  adds  to  the  fleece. 

The  age  at  which  the  ewes  are  put  to  breed  varies  according  to  the 
ideas  of  the  breeder.  Some  commence  when  the  ewe  is  two  years  old, 
others  when  she  is  three.  The  Merino  ewe  can  produce  when  she  is 
about  one-half  the  period  of  her  growth.  As  grown  by  most  breeders, 
she  will,  if  not  put  to  breeding,  nearly  or  quite  reach  her  growth  when 
three  years  old.  This,  however,  is  not  always  the  case.  The  reasons 
in  favor  of  breeding  ewes  at  two  years  of  age  are,  first,  a  crop  of  lambs 
one  year  earlier  than  if  full  maturity  was  waited  for,  and,  second,  a 
more  certain  and  continuous  breeder.  The  fact  has  been  well  estab- 
lished to  the  satisfaction  of  most  Merino  breeders  that  an  ewe  put  to 
breeding  when  two  years  old  will  make  a  more  certain  continuous 
breeder  than  if  kept  one  year  longer.  There  is  analogy  found  in  the 
human  race  in  this  respect,  early  marriages  producing  a  more  natural 
and  healthy  reproduction,  with  a  stronger  and  better  physical  develop- 
ment both  in  the  mother  and  child  than  in  cases  where  the  marriage  has 
been  delayed  until  a  much  later  period  of  life.  A  ewe  that  has  a  lamb 


326        SHEEP  INDUSTRY  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES 

at  two  years  of  age,  and  again  at  three,  will  not  complete  its  growth  as 
soon  as  the  ewe  that  is  left  without  lambing  until  three  years  old,  but 
in  the  end  the  former  will  have  the  best  physical  development,  a  longer 
life,  a  larger  number  of  lambs  to  show  for  it,  and  a  consequent  larger 
profit  to  its  owner. 

The  utmost  care  is  exercised  in  the  choice  of  a  ram.  Above  all,  like 
the  ewe,  he  ought  to  have  a  strong,  vigorous  constitution,  with  such 
peculiar  or  characteristic  points  as  the  breeder  wishes  to  reproduce  in 
his  offspring.  Pedigree  is  absolutely  required,  for  this  means,  in  the 
progeny,  that  uniformity  of  type  not  otherwise  to  be  expected,  the 
greater  number  of  ancestors  possessing  special  points  of  excellence 
being  a  strong  guaranty  that  these  points  will  be  reproduced  and  con- 
tinued. And  this  fixity  of  type  is  what  gives  value  to  the  long  bred  or 
thoroughbred  Merino.  Their  breeding  in  line  for  so  many  years  makes 
their  family  blood  so  strong  that  it  perpetuates  whatever  characteris- 
tic there  is  in  it.  But  in  addition  to  the  pedigree  the  ram  must  have 
individual  merit,  for  it  would  be  a  great  want  of  judgment  to  breed 
from  an  inferior  animal  merely  because  it  had  a  good  pedigree. 

The  offspring  of  a  good  ram  and  a  good  flock  of  ewes  will  vary  in 
many  particulars ;  some  will  show  an  improvement  in  one  particular 
and  some  in  another.  Every  variation  that  is  an  improvement  is  taken 
advantage  of  by  the  skillful  breeder  and  sought  to  be  perpetuated  and 
made  permanent,  not  only  in  a  few  individuals,  but  in  the  entire  flock. 
Herein  lies  the  progress  that  has  been  made  in  the  Vermont  Merino. 
When  a  gain  was  made  of  a  few  pounds,  or  even  a  few  ounces  in  the 
fleece  one  year,  that  gain  was  sought  to  be  made  permanent  and  in- 
creased in  the  descendants,  and  the  success  has  been  so  marked  that 
the  Vermont  breeder  looks  to  the  not  distant  day  when  a  50-pound 
fleece  may  be  shown. 

In  selecting  for  breeding  great  care  is  exercised  not  only  as  regards 
the  pedigree  and  constitution  of  the  sheep,  but  as  to  its  form,  its  fleece, 
and  other  points.  Variation  itself  in  selection,  and  those  sheep  which 
have  increased  in  merit  over  their  ancestors,  are  chosen  to  perpetuate 
and  continue  the  flock  while  those  that  are  inferior  are  discarded.  If 
the  breeder  desires  to  breed  a  wrinkly  sheep  he  will  select  with  that 
view  the  most  wrinkly  sheep ;  if  with  a  view  to  length  of  staple,  those 
that  show  that  improvement,  and  if  for  size  and  form  of  the  animal  he 
will  select  the  heaviest  of  the  flock,  acting  on  the  principle  that  like 
begets  like.  And  it  sometimes  happens  that  while  carrying  these  selec- 
tions to  an  undue  extreme  other  valuable  points  are  overlooked  and 
sacrificed.  The  conservative  plan  is  to  weed  out  the  poor  sheep  and 
keep  all  the  best. 

In  former  years,  when  the  full-blood  and  thoroughbred  Merinos  were 
few  in  number,  it  was  necessary  to  use  rams  on  their  own  progeny,  and 
very  close  in-and-in  breeding  was  the  rule.  But  at  the  present  day, 
when  there  are  so  many  flocks  and  so  many  different  families  and  strains 


EAST    OF    THE    MISSISSIPPI    RIVER.  327 

to  breed  from  and  to  select  from,  the  necessity  for  close  breeding  no 
longer  exists.  If  long  continued,  close  in-breeding  has  a  tendency  to 
induce  weak  constitution  and  sterility.  Some  of  the  Vermont  flocks 
have  been  bred  very  closely  in  order  to  fix  or  continue  extraordinary 
excellence,  and  have  preserved  the  strength,  constitution,  and  repro- 
ducing powers  of  the  best  known  flocks  of  the  State  in  those  respects. 

With  great  attention  to  all  essential  points,  great  skill  in  handling 
and  an  abiding  faith  in  the  type  he  is  raising,  the  Vermont  breeder  has 
produced  a  sheep  differing  widely  from  its  imported  ancestors  of  eighty 
years  ago.  He  has  produced  a  sheep  of  uniform  type  and  quality  that 
can  be  maintained  for  an  indefinite  time  and  improved.  Nature  has  given 
man  a  helping  hand  in  this  improvement.  She  has  given  him  the  pure 
invigorating  mountain  air  and  soil  and  grasses  which  have  impressed  cer- 
tain characteristics  and  qualities  of  the  sheep  breed  there,  which  are  lost 
when  the  sheep  are  taken  elsewhere.  In  most  wool-growing  sections  of 
the  West  and  South  the  tendency  is  to  grow  coarser,  thinner,  and  lighter 
fleeces,  due  in  great  measure  to  the  grasses  upon  which  the  sheep  feed. 
This  tendency  calls  for  a  renewal  of  blood,  producing  heavier  fleeced 
animals,  and  Vermont  fills  the  demand.  And  yet  that  demand  is 
limited  and  more  and  more  circumscribed  to  Addison  County.  Sheep- 
raisers  appreciate  this  fact  and  another  fact,  that  the  West  competes 
with  them  in  breeding  the  Merino,  even  for  the  Australian  market,  and 
the  disposition  to  breed  the  Merino  more  for  mutton  increases.  They 
believe  success  is  open  to  them  in  this  line  if  they  select  breeding  sheep 
from  the  less  wrinkly  animals,  taking  especial  pains  that  they  are  long 
of  staple,  broad  on  the  shoulders  and  back,  and  take  on  fat  readily. 
But  they  do  not  advocate  a  cross  with  other  or  coarse  breeds.  They  be- 
lieve in  the  Merino  with  its  tine  wool  of  a  longer  staple,  and  that  the 
mutton  type  of  the  Merino  is  the  demand  of  the  day.  This  type  is 
as  pure  in  blood  and  possesses  all  the  valuable  characteristics  of  the 
true  Merino. 

The  mutton  modification,  however,  is  not  generally  popular  with  the 
old  breeders  of  Vermont.  But  some  of  them,  recognizing  the  demands 
of  the  day,  will  give  their  opinion  as  to  how  to  breed  a  mutton  Merino 
sheep.  This  can  be  accomplished,  say  they,  by  selecting  well  formed 
ewes  that  weigh  80  to  100  pounds  per  head,  according  to  flesh,  and 
rams  of  good  form  that  weigh  from  140  to  180  pounds,  in  good  flesh, 
and  that  shear  from  20  to  30  pounds  per  head.  The  sheep  and  lambs 
require  good,  liberal  keeping  the  year  round. 

By  following  these  directions,  wethers  can  be  produced  that  will  weigh,  when 
two  years  old,  in  good  flesh,  from  100  to  120  pounds,  and  from  10  to  15  pounds  more 
at  three  years  old.  They  will  also  produce  a  fleece  far  more  valuable  than  that  of 
any  of  the  coarse-wooled  breeds  of  sheep.  This  class  of  sheep  is  hardy,  and  does 
not  consume  as  much  food  as  the  same  number  of  coarse-wooled  sheep.  They  will 
bring  top  prices  by  the  pound  in  the  Eastern  markets,  and  stand  shipment  better 
than  the  long-wooled  breeds,  as  they  are  more  docile  and  more  easily  managed. 


328        SHEEP  INDUSTRY  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES 

Two  hundred-pound  Spanish  Merino  rams  are  not  very  plentiful,  but 
the  writer  just  quoted,  Mr.  C.  R.  Jones,  says  that  he  has  owned  hun- 
dreds of  them  that  weighed  from  140  to  180  pounds  per  head,  and  that 
sheared  from  20  to  30  pounds  per  head. 

While  the  peculiar  sheep  husbandry  of  Vermont  is  that  of  breeding 
fine-wooled  Merinos,  sheep  for  mutton  play  an  important  part  in  her 
economy,  though  not  to  the  extent  that  they  should.  Some  choice 
mutton  sheep  and  early  lambs  are  raised,  and  the  business  is  remuner- 
ative. There  are  some  parts  of  Vermont  where  the  Merino  can  not  be 
profitably  raised,  but  where  the  mutton  sheep  can,  and  here  are  kept 
the  Southdown,  the  Ootswold,  the  Hainpshiredown,  the  Shropshire- 
down,  and  their  grades.  The  Southdown  was  once  a  very  popular 
cross,  and  then  came  the  Leicester  and  the  Cotswold.  In  1869  the 
Ootswold  cross  on  the  common  sheep  was  very  successful  and  popular, 
and  Ootswold  rams  were  crossed  on  common  Merino  ewes.  As  early 
as  1870  one  of  the  most  profitable  products  of  some  of  the  farms  was 
early  lambs.  For  a  season  of  five  or  six  weeks  the  demand  was  lively 
and  the  farmer  could  sell  to  the  butcher  all  he  could  raise.  Good 
lambs  sold  for  $4.50  to  $5  per  head  at  four  months  old,  at  which  age 
they  were  the  most  profitable.  The  low  price  of  wool  in  recent  years 
has  given  an  impetus  to  the  mutton  side  of  sheep-raising,  and  the 
English  blood  has  increased  in  the  State  until  now  it  is  represented  in 
more  than  one-half  of  the  sheep.  The  Southdown  cross  is  predomi- 
nant, but  there  are  many  Hampshires  and  Shropshires,  and  their  num- 
bers are  increasing.  The  first  cross  between  a  Southdown  ram  and  a 
Merino  ewe  makes  a  good  mutton  lamb,  but  they  are  not  good  to  breed 
from. 

The  profit  of  sheep  raising  is  given  in  the  case  of  a  farmer's  expe- 
rience in  1890  with  100  ewes,  weighing  each  100  pounds,  shearing  6 
pounds  of  washed,  or  8  pounds  of  unwashed  wool  per  head.  The  esti- 
mated value  of  the  ewes  was  $4  each.  They  consumed  20  tons  of  hay 
and  100  bushels  of  oats.  Supposing  them  to  rear  90  lambs  the  flock 
required  75  acres  of  pasturage. 

Receipts. 

600  pounds  washed  woo],  35  cents  per  pound $210. 00 

90  lambs,  $3. 50  per  head  at  Aveaning  time 315. 00 

Total 525.00 

Expenses. 

20  tons  of  hay,  $8  per  ton $160.  00 

100  bushels  of  oats,  40  cents 40. 00 

75  acres  of  pasturage,  $1. 25 93. 75 

Interest  on  value  of  flock 24. 00 


Total 317.75 


EAST    OF    THE    MISSISSIPPI    RIVER. 


329 


This  shows  a  net  receipt  for  the  flock  of  $207.25,  an  average  per  sheep 
of  82.07.  By  feeding  more  grain  the  yield  of  wool  could  have  been  in- 
creased to  7  pounds  each,  and  by  having  the  lambs  dropped  in  January, 
and  by  an  additional  outlay  of  grain  and  labor,  they  would  sell  in  New 
York,  by  May  1,  at  $10  to  $12  per  head. 

The  profits  are  not  confined  to  spring  lambs.  A  case  is  cited  where 
a  farmer  had  a  flock  of  75  wethers,  three  years  old,  for  which  he  had 
several  times  refused  an  offer  of  four  cents  a  pound,  live  weight.  These 
sheep  averaged  115  pounds.  Their  wool  yielded  an  annual  income  of 
$2  per  head  for  three  years.  Had  they  been  sold  in  December,  1889, 
the  owner  would  have  had,  as  gross  receipts,  $10.60  per  head.  Deduct 
$7.60  for  cost  of  keeping,  a  liberal  estimate,  and  there  still  remains  a 
balance  of  $3  on  the  right  side,  beside  the  great  advantage  of  market- 
ing all  the  hay  and  grain  on  the  farm,  and  the  possession  of  an  excel- 
lent manure  to  increase  its  fertility. 

Sheep  and  wool  in  Vermont,  1840  to  1890. 


Tear. 

No.  of 
sheep. 

Wool. 

Average 
weight 
of  wool, 
per  head. 

1840               

1,  681,  819 

Pounds. 
3,  690,  235 

Pounds. 
2.20 

1850 

1  014  122 

3  400  717 

3  35 

I860                                                                                            

752,  201 

3,  118,  950 

4.14 

1870  

580,  347 

3,  102,  137 

5.34 

1880 

439,  870 

2,  551,  113 

5.80 

1890  

362,  112 

2,  208,  896 

6.10 

From  January  1,  1890,  to  January  1, 1892,  there  has  been  a  decline 
in  the  number  of  sheep  of  about  4,000,  for  which  full  compensation  has 
been  made  by  the  improvement  noted  in  the  quality. 


NEW  HAMPSHIRE. 


The  valley  of  the  Connecticut  Eiver  and  its  inclosing  hills  and  moun- 
tains pastured  many  fine  sheep,  and  of  these  New  Hampshire  had  its 
share.  The  Merino  had  there  an  early  introduction,  and  near  the  Ver- 
mont line  William  Jarvis  gathered  and  wintered  his  flock  in  1810-'ll. 
But  earlier  than  this  Dr.  Parkhurst,  of  Lebanon,  had  Humphreys  sheep, 
presumably  half  or  three-quarter  bloods.  William  Jarvis  sold  some  of 
his  sheep  to  parties  in  the  State,  and  among  the  early  breeders  was  his 
namesake,  Leonard  Jarvis,  of  Claremont,  who  had  a  noted  flock  which 
he  kept  for  many  years  and  which  numbered  from  1,000  to  2,500  head. 
He  commenced  growing  fine  wool  with  a  considerable  number  of  the 
Paular,  Escurial,  Negretti,  Aguirres,  and  Montarcos.  Each  variety 
was  kept  by  itself,  but  after  a  few  years  the  Negretti,  Aguirres,  and 
Montarcos  were  discarded  in  favor  of  the  Paular  and  Escurial.  These 
two  flocks,  then  considered  as  the  best  stock  in  Spain,  were  kept 
entirely  separate,  pure,  and  unmixed  from  1810  for  thirty  years.  At 


330        SHEEP  INDUSTRY  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES 

the  same  time  by  crossing  the  two  flocks  a  third  was  produced  combin- 
ing the  properties  of  both  flocks,  but  occasionally  showing  the  char- 
acteristics of  one  of  them.  The  origin  of  this  flock  was  the  William 
Jarvis  importations  of  1810,  and  it  held  its  own  until  the  interest  of 
the  Spanish  Merino  revived  and  eclipsed  the  Saxon,  by  which,  for  a 
time,  it  seemed  doomed.  Mr.  Jarvis  sold  many  rams  and  ewes  from  his 
flock  or  flocks  which  went  to  the  improvement  of  the  stock  in  New 
Hampshire  and  eastern  Vermont.  In  1813  he  sold  an  Escurial  ram  and 
10  young  ewes  of  the  Paular  and  Negretti  breed  and  many  rams  of 
the  Paular  breed.  The  following  is  a  description  of  his  flock  or  flocks 
in  1833: 

(1)  Saxon  mixed  with  Merino;  fleeces  extremely  soft  and  fine,  averaging  about  2£ 
pounds,  staple  generally  very  short;  they  are  not  so  hardy  as  the  full-blooded  Me- 
rino, and  consequently  increase  more  slowly. 

(2)  Unmixed  Merino  of  the  Escurial  or  Eoyal  Spanish  stock.     These  are  very  little 
inferior  in  fineness  to  the  Saxon;  staple  somewhat  longer  and  more  elastic,  fleeces 
rather  heavier;  these  are  more  hardy  and  productive  than  the  Saxon  Merino. 

(3)  Unmixed  Merino  of  the  Paular  stock.     These  have  still  heavier  fleeces;  not  so 
fine  or  soft  as  the  Escurial;  they  are  compact  in  form,  constitutionally  most  hardy 
of  the  Merinos  and  by  far  the  most  prolific. 

(4)  Full-blooded  Merino  stock,  the  result  of  previous  intercourse  of  Escurial  and 
Paular  bucks  and  ewes,  and  consequently  uniting  their  qualities  of  form  and  fleece, 
but  occasionally  exhibiting  the  peculiar  characteristics  of  the  Paular  and  Escurial 
only. 

Ebenezer  Brown  was  also  the  proprietor  of  some  rams  of  the  William 
Jarvis  importations  of  1810,  and  in  1811  advertised  half-blood  lambs. 

Messrs.  Grant  and  Jennison,  of  Walpole,  bred  from  the  Jarvis  sheep 
until  1830,  when  they  disposed  of  their  flock  to  W.  E.  Sanford,  of  Ver- 
mont, and  began  the  foundation  of  a  Saxon  flock,  which  they  main- 
tained for  many  years  in  great  purity.  The  sale  to  Sanford  was  the 
means  of  starting  afresh  the  cultivation  of  the  pure-bred  Spanish  Me- 
rino in  Vermont,  most  of  the  flocks  having  been  crossed  with  the  Saxon. 

In  1810  or  1811,  either  by  direct  importation  or  purchase  at  Boston, 
E.  E.  Livingston  secured  some  Guadaloupe  sheep.  Some  of  these  he 
sold  to  Elisha  Ticknor,  of  Boston,  who  bargained  with  the  Shakers  at 
Enfield  to  keep  them  five  years.  Mr.  Williams,-  of  Hanover,  near  En- 
field,  was  employed  by  Mr.  Ticknor  to  superintend  his  aifairs  in  that 
section  and  see  that  these  sheep  were  kept  pure.  These  sheep  were 
handsomely  formed,  of  large  size,  hardy,  and  possessing  great  strength, 
yielding  heavy  fleeces  of  fine  clean  wool.  The  flock  eventually  fell  into 
the  hands  of  the  Shakers,  who  maintained  it  pure,  and  from  the  wool 
manufactured  fine  cloths  for  many  years.  From  time  to  time  sales 
were  made  of  rams  and  ewes  to  parties  in  Vermont  and  New  Hamp- 
shire, but  the  flock  was  kept  whole  until  1844.  In  June  of  that  year 
Merrill  and  A.  L.  Bingham  purchased  103  and  took  them  to  Vermont. 
Satisfied  from  the  yield  of  wool  that  they  would  prove  a  profitable 
sheep,  in  September  following  the  Binghams  went  to  Enfield  and 


EAST    OF    THE    MISSISSIPPI    RIVER.  331 

bought  the  remainder  of  the  flock — 12  rams  and  58  ewes.  The  Shakers 
at  Lebanon  had  fine  flocks  which  they  maintained  for  many  years, 
and  by  which  they  made  much  reputation  and  profit  from  the  purity 
of  the  blood  and  the  fineness  of  the  wool.  A  Guadaloupe  flock  was 
bred  pure  by  J.  X.  Sawyer,  of  Salisbury,  as  late  as  1848,  when  25  rams 
and  100  ewes  were  sold  from  it  to  H.  K.  Fritz,  of  Jackson,  Mich.  In 
1854  Mr.  Sawyer  crossed  his  flock  with  the  French  Merino,  and  the 
average  yield  of  wool  was  increased  to  5  pounds  each. 

By  1835  the  raising  of  wool  was  fast  becoming  the  business  of  Xew 
Hampshire  landowners,  to  which  their  productive  meadows  and  fine 
pasturage  on  the  hillsides  contributed.  Mr.  Jennison,  of  Walpole,  had 
370  sheep.  Fifty-four  of  these  were  pure  Saxony  ewes,  the  others 
mixed  Saxony  and  Spanish.  Of  the  54  Saxony  ewes,  4  were  barren; 
from  the  remaining  he  raised  48  lambs.  The  average  yield  of  his  Saxony 
sheep  was  2T3W  pounds  of  wool  and  his  lambs  brought  him  $15,  for  which 
the  demand  exceeded  his  supply.  A  Mr.  Hodskin,  of  Walpole,  had  800 
sheep.  From  200  Saxon  ewes  he  raised  183  lambs;  his  experience  was 
200  lambs  from  225  sheep.  The  wool  of  the  Saxons  averaged  2T7^  pounds 
per  sheep.  He  gave  them  salt  twice  a  week  and  100  sheep  required  10 
tons  of  hay  to  carry  them  through  the  winter.  In  1835,  Luther  E. 
Stevens,  of  Claremont,  sheared  1,130  pounds  of  wool  from  301  sheep, 
mostly  Spanish  Merinos.  One  fleece  from  a  three-year-old  Spanish 
Merino  ram,  when  washed  and  tagged  ready  for  market,  weighed  9 
pounds  12  ounces,  the  heaviest  fleece  then  known  in  the  country. 

An  experiment  showing  the  hardiness  of  the  Merino  cross  on  the 
common  sheep  of  Xew  Hampshire  is  of  interest.  A  farmer  wintered  a 
a  flock  of  75  by  browsing  and  a  gill  of  corn  a  day  to  each.  Snow  was 
on  the  ground  most  of  the  time;  they  were  not  in  the  barn  all  winter 
and  came  out  well  in  the  spring.  Their  good  condition  was  attributed 
to  plenty  of  exercise  in  the  fresh  air  and  the  green  food  they  secured 
by  browsing  in  the  fields  and  woods. 

The  fluctuations  in  the  price  of  wool,  the  depredations  of  dogs  and 
other  causes  were  unfavorable  to  the  maintenance  of  pure  bloods  and 
fiue-wooled  flocks,  and. by  1850  there  were  very  few  pure  in  the  State, 
most  of  the  sheep  being  crosses  of  the  Spanish  and  Saxon  Merinos 
with  the  common  sheep  and  yielding  2J  to  3  pounds  of  wool.  The  in- 
dustry revived  from  1851  and  more  wool  was  grown  and  more  attention 
paid  to  sheep.  By  1854  there  was  a  medley  of  all  kinds  and  all  grades. 
There  were  goodly  numbers  of  Saxons  and  Spanish  Merinos  and  their 
grades  in  the  hills  and  on  the  rough  lands,  but  where  pasturage  was 
good  the  native,  the  Irish,  the  Southdown,  Leicester,  and  Cots  wold 
were  found  more  profitable,  and  wherever  it  could  be  done  the  raising 
of  mutton  was  substituted  for  the  growing  of  wool. 

In  1840  the  Merino  fleeces  of  New  Hampshire  averaged  2  pounds  6 
ounces;  in  1849,  3  pounds;  in  1856,  4  pounds;  and  ill  1862,  4  pounds  11 
ounces. 


332        SHEEP  INDUSTRY  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES 

In  1861  almost  the  entire  sheep  of  the  State  were  of  the  Merino 
grades,  the  raising  of  mutton  sheep  being  confined  to  good  pasturage 
laud,  of  which  there  was  but  little,  and  the  growing  of  wool  revived. 
Many  Atwood  rams  were  purchased  in  Vermont  and  driven  into  the 
State,  and  the  yield  of  wool  rapidly  increased. 

There  were  some  portions  of  the  State  where,  despite  fluctuations  in 
price,  wool  growing  was  always  a  profitable  branch  of  farming.  Those 
who  persevered  made  money,  realizing  much  greater  profits  from  sheep 
husbandry  than  they  could  have  done  from  any  other  kind  of  farming, 
and  by  careful  selection  of  rams  and  breeding  ewes  the  weight  of  fleece 
was  doubled,  the  animal  increased  in  size,  and  the  wool  improved  in 
quality.  These  cases  were  exceptional,  and  in  1866  wool  growing 
rapidly  declined,  the  number  of  sheep  falling  from  310,534  in  1860  to 
248,760  in  1870.  In  1865  the  number  was  estimated  at  677,571.  In 
1871  a  large  number  of  the  best  flocks  in  the  State  had  become  extinct, 
and  in  1880  the  sheep  of  all  kinds  had  fallen  to  211,825,  yielding  1,060,589 
pounds  of  wool,  an  average  of  5  pounds  per  head. 

Near  the  Yermont  line  the  Yermont  style  of  breeding  is  carried  on, 
but  in  the  Merrimack  valley,  with  the  drier  plains  and  rocky  ridges  on 
either  side,  a  different  course  is  pursued.  Here  during  the  period  from 
1861  to  1866  were  bred  such  flocks  as  are  now  found  in  Merrimack 
County,  sheep  of  fair  size,  good  form,  and  without  wrinkles,  such  a  sheep 
as  Mr.  Abram  Melvin,  of  Weare,  bred  through  a  lifetime  without  any  per- 
ceptible admixture  of  the  wrinkly  Yermont  Merinos.  At  the  present 
time  several  breeders  in  Merrimack  County  are  making  efforts  to  pre- 
serve this  type  of  sheep,  as  those  who  continue  to  breed  Merinos  here 
are  aiming  for  a  Delaine  Merino  with  mutton  qualities.  There  has  been 
Delaine  blood  lately  introduced  to  the  adjoining  town  of  Warner  from 
both  Pennsylvania  and  Maine.  H.  F.  Pearson,  of  Webster,  has  made 
a  successful  cross  on  the  Melvin  sheep  by  the  use  of  a  Dickinson  Merino 
ram  purchased  of  H.  G.  McDowell,  Canton,  Ohio.* 

The  Melvin  flock  here  mentioned  was  bred  for  more  than  sixty-five 
years,  and  was  founded  on  Jarvis  sheep.  They  were  derived  from  the 
first  importations  bred  a  few  years  near  Boston  by  a  Captain  Perry,  and 
from  this  flock  Phineas  C.  Butterfield  procured  sheep,  took  them  into 
New  Hampshire,  and  established  a  flock  there ;  and  from  him  Abram 
Melvin  procured  the  foundation  of  his  flock.  When  Mr.  Melvin  found 
a  sheep  to  suit  him  he  bought  it,  no  matter  what  the  price,  and  put  it 
in  the  flock,  rejecting  every  shearing  season  all  that  were  for  any  cause 
unsatisfactory.  His  sheep  were  of  dark  color,  long,  fine  wool,  heavy 
shearers,  free  from  wrinkles,  and  of  good  size. 

*  New  Hampshire  Agriculture,  1887. 


EAST   OF   THE   MISSISSIPPI   RIVER. 
Sheep  and  wool  in  Few  Hampshire,  1840  to  1890. 


333 


Yeirr. 

No.  of 
sheep. 

"Wool. 

Average 
weight 
of  wool 
per  head. 

J840                                 

617  390 

Pound*. 
260  517 

Pounds. 

2  04 

- 

384*  756 

108  476 

2  $8 

JSti  '                                                                 

310  534 

160  222 

3  73 

|87d 

248  760 

'  129*  442 

4  54 

211  825 

'  060*  589 

5  00 



i.-u> 

19^  $94 

124  163 

5  83 

Of  the  192,824  sheep,  as  estimated  in  the  State  in  1890,  20  per  cent 
are  the  common  or  native  sheep  and  crosses  on  them,  and  20  per  cent 
31 01  inos  of  various  grades.  Sixty  per  cent  are  sheep  of  English  blood,  and 
this  stock  is  rapidly  increasing  at  the  expense  of  the  common  and  Me- 
rino grades.  The  common  sheep  is  being  improved,  the  Merino  grades 
are  disappearing.  But  few  full-blood  Merinos  remain  in  the  State, 
these  are  of  great  excellence  and  are  well  and  carefully  bred.  The 
flocks  of  heavy  sheep  kept  in  northern  New  Hampshire — and  the  same 
may  be  said  of  those  in  northern  Vermont — usually  are  not  pure  bred, 
but  have  a  mixture  of  Leicester  and  Cheviot  blood,  and  are  oftener 
kept  in  flocks  of  from  12  to  20  than  in  excess  of  these  numbers.  The 
returns  for  January,  1892,  show  a  decrease  of  over  4,000  since  1890,  and 
an  improvement  in  condition  and  quality. 

MAINE. 

There  were  but  few  Merino  sheep  imported  directly  into  Maine  ports, 
and  of  these  mention  has  been  made  elsewhere.  Little  was  done  in 
regard  to  raising  sheep  in  the  State,  except  a  few  of  the  common  breeds, 
kept  by  some  farmers  for  mutton  and  to  supply  wool  for  the  household 
manufacture,  until  the  war  of  1812.  As  early  as  1813  a  few  farmers  in 
Winthrop,  among  whom  were  S.  and  E.  Wood,  Mr.Pullon,  and  Dr.  Snell, 
met  to  discuss  the  question  of  the  introduction  of  the  Merino,  and  after 
deciding  that  the  climate  might  suit  and  that  the  venture  would  be 
profitable  concluded  to  try  the  experiment,  and  made  a  purchase  of  40 
lambs  of  William  Jarvis  at  $12.50  per  head.  The  next  purchase  was 
made  in  1814  of  40  more  lambs  of  Mr.  Jarvis,  at  $25  per  head,  and 
a  -  ain  in  1815  the  same  number,  at  $50  per  head.  The  cold  but  dry  and 
bracing,  air  of  the  winter  was  found  very  congenial  to  the  Merinos,  and 
they  did  well.  No  more  purchases  were  made  by  the  Winthrop  men, 
but  between  1812  and  1815  the  sheep  were  extensively  introduced  by 
others. 

The  reverses  of  1815  having  put  an  end  to  the  profits  on  wool,  many 
who  had  formed  flocks  and  others  who  were  commencing  to  do  so  sold 
them  to  the  butchers  and  relinquished  the  business.  A  few,  however, 
knowing  the  intrinsic  value  of  the  animal,  persisted  in  breeding  them, 
and  many  fine  flocks  were  subsequently  found  in  the  State.  Governor 


334        SHEEP  INDUSTRY  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES 

Kent  had  a  flock,  of  whichit  was  said  in  1828  that  he  "  sheared  successfully 
from  the  same  flock  of  Merinos.  The  wool  improved  progressively,  that 
of  the  last  year  comparing  favorably  with  Saxon.  He  selected  each 
year  after  shearing  the  best  formed  and  finest  wooled  rams  and  pre- 
served them  to  run  with  the  flock."  Notwithstanding  a  majority  of  the 
people  were  more  directly  engaged  in  shipping  and  industries  connected 
therewith,  and  that  manufactures  demanding  wool  received  but  little 
encouragement  from  the  leading  men,  there  were  many  sheep  of  the 
Merino  blood  in  the  State  in  1830.  At  that  time  there  were  native 
breeds,  over  6  months  old,  275,452;  Merino  or  mixed  breeds,  over  6 
months  old,  91,524,  or  a  total  of  466,976  sheep,  producing  an  estimated 
clip  of  1,400,000  pounds  of  wool.  This  was  thought  by  some  to  be  too 
low  a  figure,  that  the  Merino  and  mixed  breed  were  in  larger  pro- 
portion to  the  whole  number,  and  that  the  clip  exceeded  1,500,000 
pounds.  The  cost  of  keeping  sheep  at  that  time  was  $1.25  per  head 
yearly. 

The  open  and  rainy  winters  of  1829-'30-'31  were  very  disastrous  to 
the  Merinos,  and  many  of  the  best  flocks  in  the  State  suffered  so  badly 
that  the  farmers  gave  them  up.  Some  were  disposed  of  to  the  butchers, 
while  others  were  allowed  to  run  with  the  common  sheep  and  dete- 
riorate. 

The  first  Merinos  in  Maine  were  Paulars,  though  some  others  were 
occasionally  found.  They  were  much  better  than  many  found  in  1845. 
The  deterioration  from  1812  to  1845  was  caused  by  want  of  attention  in 
breeding  and  the  unfortunate  cross  with  the  Saxons  from  1826  to  1840. 
Many  farmers,  however,  steadily  kept  to  the  Spanish  Merino.  The 
average  fleece  in  1845  was  3  pounds,  but  some  flocks  came  up  to  4 
pounds ;  these,  however,  were  not  very  plenty. 

Maine  did  not  escape  the  Saxony  infatuation.  These  sheep  were  first 
introduced  into  the  State  by  Judge  W.  A.  Hayes,  of  York  county,  and 
they  were  generally  crossed  upon  the  Spanish  Merino.  By  this  mix- 
ture the  fleece  became  finer  but  it  diminished  in  weight  and  the  cross 
became  less  hardy.  On  account  of  this  enfeeblement  many  farmers 
began  to  raise  other  breeds  which  were  more  hardy  and  better  fitted 
for  the  production  of  mutton  and  coarser  wool,  and  took  advantage 
of  the  English  breeds  then  coming  into  the  State.  In  1828  the  Leices- 
ters  were  brought  into  the  State  by  Dr.  E.  Holmes,  from  the  flock  of 
Stephen  Williams,  of  Northboro,  Mass.;  the  first  Southdowns  by 
Charles  Vaughan  in  1834,  and  the  first  Cotswolds  by  Dr.  Holmes  in 
1844,  from  the  flock  of  Corning  &  Sotham,  Albany,  N.  Y.  In 
1842  many  gentlemen  of  Kennebec  County  introduced  Vermont 
Merinos  from  the  flock  of  S.  W.  Jewett,  and  crossed  them  with  their 
own  grade  Merino  and  common  flocks,  followed  shortly  after  by  the 
French  Merino  and  the  Silesian,  and  this  county  long  retained  some 
excellent  fine  wooled  sheep,  although  fluctuations  in  prices  were  not 
encouraging  to  the  growth  of  wool.  A  cross  between  the  Southdown 


EAST    OF    THE  MISSISSIPPI   RIVER.  335 


and  the  Merino,  about  1842,  produced  a  useful  and  serviceable  sheep, 
better  adapted  to  the  farmer  who  sheared  and  wove  his  own  fleece,  than 
the  pure  Merino,  and  it  became  very  popular.  Washington  County  at 
one  time  had  some  fine  flocks  mixed  Spanish  and  Saxon  Merino,  but  by 
1850  wool-growing  for  profit  was  practically  abandoned.  The  farmers 
kept  about  as  many  sheep  as  sufficed  the  family  wants,  and  those  of  a 
mixed  kind,  giving  a  3-pound  fleece.  Waldo  County  went  through 
the  same  experience  and  where,  formerly,  large  numbers  of  Spanish 
Merinos  and  Saxonies  were  kept,  by  1850  coarser  wooled  sheep  had 
supplanted  them.  Somerset  County  was  formerly  the  greatest  fine-wool 
growing  county  in  the  State.  W.  E.  Flint  began  a  Spanish  Merino 
flock  in  1820,  and  after  an  experience  of  more  than  thirty  years  was 
convinced  that  the  Merino  would  grow  more  wool  from  the  same  weight 
of  carcass,  would  eat  a  greater  variety  of  food,  and  would  produce  wool 
as  cheap  per  pound  as  any  of  the  coarser  breeds.  They  required  more 
attention  through  the  five  months  of  winter  than  the  coarser  native, 
but  the  compensation  for  the  extra  care  was  more  than  obtained  by 
the  less  amount  of  food  consumed  by  them  in  producing  the  same 
quantity  of  wool.  The  flocks  of  the  county,  young  and  old  together, 
averaged  3J  pounds  of  wool  per  head,  and  instances  of  shearing  8  or  10 
pounds  from  a  sheep  were  not  uncommon.  A  ton  of  hay  would  winter 
sheep  enough  for  a  clip  of  17  pounds.  Wool-growing  was  considered 
profitable  when  the  wool  could  be  sold  at  33  to  35  cents,  but  the 
fluctuations  in  price  rendered  the  business  a  precarious  one  and  de- 
terred many  from  pursuing  it,  who  preferred  the  less  hazardous  and  less 
expensive  system  of  raising  coarse  wool  and  mutton  and  lambs  for 
market.  And  this  was  better  adapted  to  a  careless  system  of  hus- 
bandry which,  unfortunately,  was  too  common  everywhere.  When  fine 
wool  ceased  to  pay  many  farmers  bred  their  Merino  ewes  to  long- 
pooled  rams,  principally  Leicester,  and  from  crosses  of  these  on  the 
common  sheep  some  good  mutton  sheep  were  produced.  A  flock  of 
considerable  note  and  profit  was  built  up  in  this  manner.  From  a  half- 
blood  Leicester  and  Merino  ewe  and  a  polled  half-blood  ram,  of  moder- 
ate size  and  neat  form,  a  breeder  produced  a  ram  which  was  then  used 
on  his  whole  flock.  This  brought  the  produce  to  one-eighth  Leicester 
and  seven-eighths  Merino.  On  this  basis  the  sheep  were  bred  for  several 
years  and  a  great  uniformity  was  attained,  and  they  were  a  pretty  and 
useful  sheep  in  reference  to  the  kind  of  wool  wanted,  with  considerable 
more  fattening  tendency  than  the  pure  Merinos.  Crosses  of  this  kind 
both  with  the  Saxony  and  Spanish  Merino,  and  also  crosses  of  the 
Merinos  on  the  native  sheep,  produced  a  middling- sized  sheep  and  a 
good  grade  wool. 

Aroostook  County  had  no  pure  breeds,  but  considerable  attention 
was  paid  to  raising  sheep  both  for  wool  and  mutton.  The  wool  was 
used  largely  in  domestic  manufacture,  the  surplus  commanding  good 
prices  in  the  manufacturing  towns,  while  fat  sheep  and  lambs  from 


336        SHEEP  INDUSTRY  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES 

this  county  were  popular  among  mutton  eating  people.  An  essential 
service  was  rendered  this  county  and  Penobscot  by  the  importation 
made  into  the  British  province  of  New  Brunswick  of  the  pure  Leicester 
sheep.  Charles  Perly,  of  Woodstock,  made  these  importations  and  the 
sheep  became  known  as  the  Perly  breed.  They  were  large,  coarse- 
wooled  sheep  and  were  well  adapted  to  the  country,  though  there  was 
an  objection  to  the  full-bloods,  as  their  wool  grew  8  to  10  inches  long, 
and,  parting  on  the  back,  exposed  the  animal  to  storms.  Some  rams 
clipped  17  pounds.  The  various  grades  of  this  sheep  were  driven  by 
hundreds  yearly  into  Aroostook  and  Penobscot,  and  thence  into  other 
parts  of  the  State,  and  when  crossed  with  the  common  sheep  and 
Merino  grades  were  considered  very  valuable  for  hardiness,  large 
quantity  of  mutton,  and  heavy  fleece.  They  were  the  favorite  mutton 
sheep  for  the  Bangor  market. 

Sheep  increased  in  Maine  from  466,976  in  1830  to  649,274  in  1840,  and 
decreased  to  451,577  in  1850.  In  1860  the  number  was  452,472,  or  an 
increase  of  but  895  in  ten  years.  The  average  yield  per  head  of  wool 
was  2.25  pounds  in  1840,  3  pounds  in  1850,  and  3.30  pounds  in  1860. 

Notwithstanding  the  great  decline  in  fine- wool  growing  in  the  Eastern 
States,  from  1835  to  1860,  Maiue  preserved  some  of  her  fine  flocks  and 
at  a  shearing  in  1867  made  this  showing  as  to  weight  of  fleece  and  length 
of  staple :  Nine  full-blood  Merino  rams,  three  grade  Merino  rams,  and 
three  full-blood  Merino  ewes  were  weighed  and  shorn.  The  average 
live  weight  of  the  nine  rams  was  126|  pounds,  the  heaviest  being  149 
pounds,  the  lightest  99  pounds.  The  average  weight  of  the  fleece  was 
15|  pounds,  the  heaviest  being  20  pounds  8  ounces,  the  lightest  10 
pounds  10  ounces.  The  staple  ran  from  2J  to  3  inches,  the  average 
being  2.71  inches.  Three  grade  Merino  rams,  whose  average  weights 
were  108  pounds,  gave  an  average  of  13J  pounds  of  wool  each,  of  2.66- 
inch  staple.  Three  full-blood  Merino  ewes,  averaging  68  pounds  each, 
the  lowest  51  and  the  highest  82J,  gave  an  average  each  of  8  pounds  14 
ounces  of  wool  2J  inches  long.  The  average  age  of  the  rams  was  three 
years  and  a  half,  that  of  the  ewes  two  years  and  two  months. 

The  war  of  the  rebellion  caused  a  great  increase  in  sheep-raising  from 
1862  to  1865,  the  Spanish  Merino  taking  the  lead.  Many  Merino  rams 
were  purchased  in  Vermont  and  crossed  on  the  many  mixed  breeds  of 
the  State,  the  Saxon  and  Spanish  Merino  grades,  the  Leicester,  the 
Southdown,  the  Cotswold,  and  the  old  native,  and  in  3864  there  were 
more  sheep  than  at  any  other  period  since  1840,  the  number  exceed- 
ing one  million.  The  decline  from  1865  to  1870  was  from  1,041,724 
to  434,666,  or  a  loss,  607,058  in  five  years.  But  the  improvement  from 
1840  to  1870  had  been  so  great  that  the  434,666  sheep  of  1870  pro- 
duced more  than  300,000  pounds  of  wool  in  excess  of  the  amount 
produced  by  649,264  sheep  in  1840.  In  1840  it  took  40  sheep  to  pro- 
duce 100  pounds  of  wool ;  in  1870  25  sheep  would  produce  the  same 
amount.  There  was  a  revival  in  the  industry  from  1870  to  1880,  and 


I:\ST  OF  Tin:  M'SSISSIPPI  RIVER,  337 

some  improvement  was  made,  particularly  in  the  Merino  flocks,  and 
the  secretary  of  the  Maine  board  of  agriculture  reported,  in  1875, 
tli at  there  were  several  good  flocks  in  Somerset  County,  and  of  fifteen 
of  these,  where  the  average  number  of  sheep  in  the  flock  was  147,  the 
average  weight  of  the  fleece  was  6.16  pounds  for  all  ages  and  both  sexes 
of  Spanish  Merino  and  high  grades.  The  census  of  1880  returned 
116,910  sheep  in  this  county,  nearly  double  the  number  of  any  other 
county  in  the  State  and  a  little  more  than  one-fifth  of  the  whole  num- 
ber in  the  State.  These  sheep  were  almost  wholly  Merinos  and  their 
grades,  but  there  were  thoroughbreds  of  improved  English  sheep  also. 
There  were  also  full-blooded  Southdowns,  Oxfordshires,  Hampshires, 
Cotswolds,  and  Shropshires  in  the  State  in  large  numbers,  and  cross- 
breds  were  consequently  widely  introduced.  These  made  excellent 
mutton,  and  of  the  626,608  sheep  sold  in  the  Boston  market  in  1882, 
Maine  supplied  36,656. 

A  great  impetus  was  given  to  the  raising  of  sheep  in  Aroostook  for 
the  Bangor  and  Boston  markets  by  the  erection  of  immense  slaughter- 
ing establishments  at  Houlton  in  1883.  Previous  to  this  time  a  large 
business  had  been  done  by  persons  in  buying  up  sheep  and  lambs  and 
shipping  them  to  Boston  •  but  the  fame  of  Aroostook  mutton  in  that 
market,  and  the  shrinkage  that  ensued  from  shipping  alive,  caused 
Messrs.  Swift  &  Maxfield  to  take  possession  of  that  market,  as  they  had 
done  of  the  beef  market  of  Chicago.  They  filled  ice-houses  in  1882->83, 
erected  a  slaughterhouse  of  large  capacity  in  the  summer  of  1883,  and 
purchased  fifteen  refrigerator  cars  built  expressly  for  the  business.  The 
fall  of  1883  this  business  was  put  in  operation,  and  600  sheep  and  lambs 
were  daily  dressed  for  the  Boston  market.  After  being  kept  thirty-six 
hours  in  ice  closets  they  are  forwarded  by  refrigerator  cars  to  their 
destination.  Over  30,000  sheep  and  lambs  were  thus  consumed  in  the 
fall  of  1883,  and  later  in  the  season  fat  wethers  were  slaughtered  for 
the  export  trade.* 

The  Maine  coast  has  many  islands,  most  of  them  well  adapted  to  the 
grazing  or  keeping  of  sheep  throughout  the  year,  with  no  shelter  but 
such  as  is  afforded  by  the  low  evergreens  growing  upon  the  islands, 
and  without  feeding  them  during  the  winter  from  stored  forage.  There 
arc  many  instances  of  successful  sheep  farming  on  these  islands,  two 
of  which  can  be  noted.  In  1874  Mr.  Gilbert  Longfellow,  of  Machias, 
furnished  the  publishers  of  the  Bulletin  of  the  National  Association  of 
Wool  Manufacturers  a  leaf  from  his  experience.  Mr.  Longfellow  owned 
an  island  of  1,400  acres,  situated  in  Englishman's  Bay,  south  of  the 
town  of  Jonesboro.  This  island  has  upon  it  several  hundred  acres 
of  the  very  best  tillage  land  and  about  200  acres  of  grass  pasture. 
Half  of  the  island  was  heavily  wooded  with  spruce,  fir,  birch,  maple, 
•  ete.  It  opens  on  the  east  to  the  full  ocean,  which  rolled  in  upon  it 

*  The  Climate,  Soil,  Physical  Resources,  ^nd  AgricijltijraJ.  Capabilities  of 
Samuel  L.  Boardman. 

22990 22 


338  SHEEP    INDUSTRY    OF   THE    UNITED    STATES 

thousands  of  cords  of  seaweed.    The  seasons  are  much  milder  than  on 
the  mainland.     Upon  this  island  Mr.  Longfellow  had  a  flock  of  about 
275  sheep,  Avhich  he  had  purchased  in  1869  of  a  former  occupant. 
They  were  of  a  mixed  class  and  showed  traces  of  the  Merino  and  South- 
down, with  some  of  the  coarse,  long-wooled  breeds.    These  sheep  ran 
on  the  island  summer  and  winter,  being  divided  into  flocks  of  about 
25  to  30  each,  and  kept  in  an  inclosure  where  they  could  get  to  the 
shore  for  seaweeds  and  into  the  woods  for  shelter.    Their  living  in  j 
winter  was  chiefly  on  some  varieties  of  seaweed,  principally  on  whatj 
is  known  as  "dulse."    In  the  spring,  when  the  tides  run  out  very  low,  j 
they  were  in  the  habit  of  going  out  on  the  rocks  and  ledges  as  far  as 
they  could  get,  to  feed  on  the  lichens  and  dainty  bits  of  sea  growth,  j 
They  ate  also  the  branches  of  nearly  all  the  trees  that  grew  on  the 
island.     Other  details,  and  the  mode  of  winter  keeping,  are  given  in 
Mr.  Longfellow's  words : 

They  are  nearly  as  wild  as  deer.  My  sheep  now  commence  lambing  in  March  and  get 
through  by  the  1st  of  May.  I  find  these  early  lambs  are  hardier  than  late  ones.  They 
will  stand  a  snowstorm  better  than  a  cold  rain,  and  by  coming  early  the  lambs  are 
better  able  to  stand  the  winter,  and  the  ewes  wean  the  lambs  time  enough  to  get 
recruited  before  cold  weather.  Few  sheep  are  lost  by  disease.  As  I  go  about  the 
island,  I  find  nearly  all  the  bushes  with  the  ends  of  the  branches  bitten  off.  They 
like  fir  better,  than  spruce;  are  very  fond  of  mountain  ash,  eating  branches  as  large 
as  your  finger;  and  also  bark  elder  is  a  favorite  food,  and  raspberry;  also  the  moss 
from  old  stumps  and  logs.  I  had  a  flock  in  my  field  this  winter.  The  snow  came . 
deep  in  March,  and  I  used  to  carry  out  hay  to  them,  about  50  pounds  daily  to  about 
50  sheep.  After  a  while  they  would  come  up  near  the  barn  for  it.  Sometimes  sheep 
from  the  other  parts  of  the  island  would  come  up  where  they  were  eating,  but  would 
take  only  a  few  mouthfuls,  and  then  leave  it.  I  have  several  times  taken  tegs  to 
the  barn  that  were  poor  and  weak,  but  they  almost  always  die.  It  seems  to  be  hard 
for  them  to  get  through  the  first  winter;  after  that  they  are  all  right.  The  wethers 
keep  fat  all  winter.  The  mutton  of  these  island  sheep  is  very  superior.  It  has 
none  of  the  mutton  taste,  so  many  dislike,  but  resembles  venison. 

When  Mr.  Longfellow  bought  his  flock  it  was  "  everything  mixed."! 
He  tried  to  improve  it  by  buying  the  largest  rams  he  could  find;  he 
had  one  or  two  grade  Cotswolds,  and  one  long- wool  sheep  that  he: 
thought  was  a  Leicester.    He  had  an  idea  that  the  Lincolns  were  the  i 
proper  sheep  for  the  island,  but  did  not  know  but  the  Cheviot  would 
be  better.     His  success  with  "barn-raised  rams"  or  those  raised  oiij 
the  mainland,  was  not  assuring.     The  first  one  he  turned  out,  and  the 
next  February  took  up  barely  alive;  the  second  year  he  weathered  it 
till  about  March.     Others  did  about  the  same.    But  sheep  born  on  the 
island,  if  they  survived  the  winter,  seemed  to  be  all  right,  which  led 
him  to  the  conclusion  that  an  island  or  seashore  life  changes  the  nature 
of  the  animal. 

A  more  recent  contribution  to  the  knowledge  of  sea-island  sheep 
farming  is  found  in  the  experience  of  Mr.  John  P.  Wentworth,  of  East 
Knox.    It  is  given  by  Mr.  Boardman  in  his  report  on  the  resources  of ; 
Maine,  heretofore  noticed.     Mr.  Wentworth  purchased  in  July,  1882, 


EAST    OF    THE    MISSISSIPPI    RIVER.  339 

an  island  known  as  Dyer's  Island,  which  comprises  some  900  acres, 
and  is  a  part  of  the  town  of  Harrington,  Washington  County,  and  is 
located  one  and  a  quarter  miles  from  the  steamboat  wharf  in  Millbridge. 
A  large  portion  of  this  island  is  covered  with  a  forest  of  mixed  growth 
of  birch  and  fir.  When  the  purchase  of  this  island  was  made  Mr. 
Wentworth  also  purchased  all  the  sheep,  some  200  in  number,  raised 
on  the  island  5  indeed,  sheep  had  been  kept  on  this  island  for  a  period 
of  fifteen  years  without  any  artificial  food  or  protection,  grazing  in 
the  fine  pasture  in  summer  and  in  winter  subsisting  on  the  kelp 
and  sea-moss,  found  in  great  abundance  on  the  shores,  which  is  very 
nutritious  and  of  which  the  sheep  are  very  fond.  In  April,  previous 
to  purchasing  the  island  in  June,  Mr.  Wentworth  made  a  careful 
inspection  of  the  sheep  upon  it  and  found  them  in  much  better  con- 
dition than  his  own  flock  at  home,  which  had  been  cared  for  and  fed 
with  early-cut  hay,  and  the  wethers  were  then  good  mutton.  On  visit- 
ing the  island  in  January  the  sheep  were  found  in  good  condition. 

There  are  many  islands  on  the  Maine  coast  that  have  sheep ;  some  of 
them  carry  sheep  that  their  owners  never  see,  except  to  catch  and 
shear.  They  do  not  increase  as  rapidly  as  they  do  on  the  mainland  on 
a  well-regulated  farm,  but  generally  they  are  free  from  the  worry  of 
dogs.  Upon  this  point  Mr.  Boardman  says:  "The  advantages  of  this 
system  of  sheep  husbandry  is  apparent  in  the  absence  of  loss  and  in- 
jury from  dogs,  which,  in  the  older  counties  of  the  State,  is  one  of  the 
great  hindrances  to  profitable  sheep  husbandry."  And  again : 

Another  consideration  is  in  the  fine  quality  of  the  mutton,  which,  devoid  of  the 
strong  flavor  sometimes  present  in  mutton,  always  commands  a  high  price  in  market 
when  its  fine  character  is  known.  With  the  hundreds  of  islands  on  the  Maine  coast 
favorably  situated  for  this  business,  sea-island  sheep  farming  is  likely  to  assume 
great  importance  in  the  future  agricultural  economy  of  Maine. 

The  greater  part  of  the  area  of  Maine  is  still  covered  by  the  virgin 
forest,  and  yet  there  is  already  needed,  on  the  cleared  parts,  the  reno- 
vating virtue  of  the  sheep.  The  areas  of  the  sea-coast  counties  are 
natural  sheep  ranges,  and  mutton  sheep  thrive  well  there.  Yet  but  few 
are  raised  and  the  fertility  of  the  land  is  decreasing.  This  has  long- 
been  noted,  and  there  are  those  who  believe  that  the  mutton  sheep  is 
to  be  the  agricultural  savior  of  Maine.  As  early  as  1875  Samuel  Was- 
son,  of  East  Surry,,  contributed  a  paper  to  the  State  board  of  agricul- 
ture, in  which  he  said : 

The  characteristic  features  of  its  surface  form,  the  quality  of  its  soils,  the  kinds  of 
vegetation,  its  pure  waters  and  bracing  air,  are  each  a  special  witness  to  testify  that 
our  future  farming  prosperity  is  dependent  upon  the  development  of  a  mutton-grow- 
ing industry.  Between  sheep  and  soils  there  is  a  reciprocating  action ;  the  soils  feed 
the  sheep,  and  the  sheep  enrich  the  soils.  In  the  palmy  days  of  our  agriculture 
every  farmer  had  his  flock  of  sheep.  Thirty  years  ago  there  were,  on  an  average, 
17  sheep  to  each  farmer;  thirty  years  later,  less  than  7.  In  1840  there  were  half  as 
-,  many  sheep  as  improved  acres ;  in  1870,  one-fourth  as  many,  or  but  1  sheep  to  every 
eight  acres ;  whereas,  in  England,  there  are  aa  many  sheep  as  acres.  The  same  pro- 


340        SHEEP  INDUSTRY  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES 

portions  would  give  to  Maine  2,700,000  sheep,  or  to  each  of  her  60,000  farmers  nearly 
40  more  than  they  now  have. 

Giving  the  census  statistics  the  credit  of  making  one  error  offset  another,  and  they 
show,  since  1840,  the  decrease  in  the  product  of  wheat  to  be  in  exact  proportion  with 
the  diminution  in  sheep,  showing  that  there  is  an  intimate  relation  between  the 
growing  of  wheat  and  the  keeping  of  sheep. 

Sheep  husbandry  then  was  a  necessity  to  Maine,  whether  it  was  to 
raise  wool  or  mutton.  For  many  years  the  available  fertile  elements  of 
the  farms  had  gone  to  market  without  an  equivalent  fertilizing  return. 
Every  pound  of  mutton  or  wool,  every  bushel  of  beans  or  potatoes, 
every  load  of  hay  or  straw,  had  taken  away  a  certain  quantity  of  the 
phosphates,  potash,  and  nitrogen  of  the  soils,  without  an  adequate 
return  to  supply  the  depletion,  until  the  active  element  of  the  soil 
became  so  reduced  in  quantity  that  satisfactory  crops  were  not  grown, 
or,  as  commonly  expressed,  the  farm  was  "run  out  or  worn  out." 

As  in  other  States  so  in  Maine,  sheep  husbandry  meant  wool  growing, 
but  wool  growing  was  profitless,  and  the  time  had  come  to  change  from 
that  to  mutton  raising,  the  time  to  resort  to  the  growing  of  mutton  as 
one  of  the  staple  productions  of  the  State.  It  is  hard  to  step  aside 
from  beaten  paths  and  adopt  new  ways,  but  the  pecuniary  advantage 
of  the  mutton  sheep  was  urged.  They  became  a  medium  whereby  the 
potatoes,  barley,  turnips,  hay,  and  coarser  products  could  be  worked 
up  into  a  high-priced  marketable  article,  with  little  risk  of  prices  de- 
clining below  a  paying  standard. 

There  were,  however,  few  farmers  and  fewer  sheep  owners  in  Maine 
who  understood  practically  the  difference  between  breeds  to  be  kept  for 
wool  and  breeds  to  be  killed  for  mutton,  or  that  while  "wool  growing 
may  be  successful  in  the  midst  of  primitive,  almost  barbaric,  practices 
in  culture,  mutton  production  involves  arts  of  husbandry  the  most  ad- 
vanced and  a  knowledge  of  animal  physiology  the  most  enlightened." 
Which  of  the  mutton  breeds  were  the  best  adapted  to  the  climate,  the 
botany,  and  the  system  of  Maine  agriculture  was  not  known,  for  their 
comparative  merits  had  not  been  thoroughly  tested  by  skilled  observa- 
tion. Each  breed  had  local  characteristics  and  habits,  and  no  one 
breed  was  adapted  to  a  wide  range  of  country.  Among  the  advan- 
tages pointed  out  for  mutton  raising  on  the  sea-coast  was  the  magazine 
of  wealth  in  the  illimitable  quantities  of  inedible  fishes  there  abound- 
ing, in  the  residuum  of  the  oil  establishments,  and  the  cured  chum  of 
the  porgy  and  herring  factories.  This  skilled  transmutation  from  fish 
to  flesh  would  make  the  entire  State  a  paradise  for  mutton  sheep. 

The  use  of  fish  and  fish- scrap  as  an  article  of  food  for  the  sheep 
.attracted  the  attention  of  the  Maine  board  of  agriculture  as  early  as 
1864,  when  that  board  in  turn  laid  the  matter  before  the  farmers  of 
the  State  generally.  For  many  years  it  had  been  the  custom  of  the 
.coast  breeders  to  feed  their  sheep  on  fish  caught  in  the  nets  that  were 
not  marketable,  and  they  seemed  to  thrive  upon  them.  Upon  the  great 
increase  of  the  fish-oil  industry  the  utilization  of  the  pomace  or  refuse 


EAST    OF    THE  MISSISSIPPI   RIVER.  341 

began  to  be  considered,  and  it  was  asserted  that  it  was  an  excellent 
article  of  food  for  sheep,  swine,  and  poultry.  In  a  communication  to 
the  board  of  agriculture,  Mr.  William  D.  Dana,  of  Perry,  said : 

Fish  pomace,  or  the  residuum  of  herring,  after  the  oil  is  pressed  out.  is  greedily 
«  at.-n  by  sheep,  swine,  and  fowl,  and  probably  porgy  chum  would  be  eaten  as  well. 
Smoked  alewives  and  frost-fish  also  furnish  a  food  palatable  to  cattle.  Sheep  thrive 
well,  get  fat,  and  yield  heavier  fleeces  when  fed  on  this  pomace  than  when  fed  on 
anything  else  produced  in  this  section  of  the  State.  Careful  and  observing  fanners 
who  have  fed  it  assert  that  it  is  of  equal  value  with  good  hay,  tou  per  ton,  and  that 
its  value  for  manure  is  in  no  degree  diminished  by  passing  it  through  the  living 
mill  and  thus  reducing  it  to  a  much  more  convenient  state  for  applying.  If  it  could 
be  sufficiently  dried,  without  other  substances  to  prevent  putrefaction,  it  would  form 
a  valuable  article  of  cattle  food  in  regions  from  which  it  is  now  excluded  by  the 
expense  of  transportation  and  its  own  odoriferous  nature. 

It  was  thought  that  if  sheep  would  eat  the  scrap  readily  much  poor 
hay  or  straw  could  be  used  to  good  advantage,  thus  allowing  the  farmer 
to  consume  all  his  first-quality  hay  in  keeping  other  stock.  It  was  also 
thought  that  the  meat  would  not  taste  of  the  flavor  imparted  by  this 
food,  provided  other  food  was  substituted  for  a  reasonable  and  proper 
length  of  time  before  slaughtering. 

There  were  many  discussions  on  the  subject  at  the  meetings  of  the 
Maine  board  of  agriculture  and  articles  in  the  agricultural  papers, 
and  many  experiments  were  made  with  varying  degrees  of  satisfaction. 
One  of  the  most  successful  was  that  of  Mr.  M.  L.  Wilder,  of  Pembroke, 
who  gave  the  result  in  a  paper  communicated  to  the  board  of  agricul- 
ture in  1869: 

I  keep  about  100  sheep  and  have  fed  fish  offal  to  them  for  the  last  ten  years.  The 
offal  is  made  from  herring  caught  in  weirs,  salted  the  same  as  for  smoking,  cooked, 
and  the  oil  pressed  out,  leaving  a  pomace,  for  which  the  sheep  are  more  eager  than 
for  grain.  For  the  last  three  winters  I  have  kept  my  sheep  on  thrashed  straw,  with 
one-half  pound  per  day  to  each  sheep  of  dried  fish  pomace,  or  1  pound  of  green  (as  it 
shrinks  one-half  in  drying),  and  they  came  out  in  the  spring  in  much  better  condi- 
tion than  when  fed  on  good  English  hay,  with  corn.  I  consider  the  dry  pomace  worth 
as  much  as  corn,  pound  for  pound.  When  I  have  had  enough  to  give  them  one-half 
pound  per  day,  I  have  found  that  the  weight  of  the  fleeces  was  increased  one-quarter, 
and  not  only  that,  but  also  the  carcass  in  a  like  proportion,  the  weight  of  the  fleeces 
per  head  averaging  from  5  to  7  pounds. 

The  conclusion  to  which  Mr.  Wilder  came  was  that  fish  offal  was  not 
only  cheaper  but  much  superior  to  any  other  kind  of  food  he  had  ever 
used.  Similar  statements  were  made  by  others. 

In  1875  the  Maine  Agricultural  College  made  an  experiment  to  test 
the  value  of  this  offal  as  compared  with  corn,  pound  for  pound.  The 
experiment  began  January  18,  and  ten  lambs  dropped  the  previous 
spring  were  selected.  The  trial  ran  over  a  period  of  sixteen  weeks. 
AMi en  the  feeding  commenced  the  pen  of  five  sheep,  to  be  fed  on  corn, 
weighed  313  pounds,  and  the  pen  of  five,  to  be  fed  on  pomace,  Aveighed 
316J  pounds.  At  the  end  of  the  trial  the  corn-fed  pen  weighed  361 
pounds,  a  gain  of  48  pounds ;  the  pomace-fed  pen  weighed  364  pounds, 


342 


SHEEP    INDUSTRY    OF    THE    UNITED    STATES 


a  gain  of  47J  pounds.  The  result  of  the  experiment  seemed  to  indicate 
that  fish  pomace  was  of  about  the  same  value  as  corn,  pound  for  pound. 
The  sheep  came  out  in  the  spring  looking  well,  but  the  increase  was 
very  light 

The  change  from  wool-growing  to  mutton-raising  in  Maine  was  slow 
and  gradual,  but  by  1883  40  per  cent  of  the  sheep  contained  English 
blood,  the  other  60  per  cent  being  common  sheep  and  the  Merino  and 
its  grades.  At  the  Maine  State  Fair  of  1888  several  fine  Merinos  were 
exhibited  of  all  grades  from  full-blood  to  the  lowest  grade.  One  four- 
year-old  ram  was  shown  which  weighed  170  pounds  and  gave  a  26^- 
pound  fleece.  But  the  Merinos  were  almost  eclipsed  by  the  grand 
show  of  improved  English  breeds  that  were  rapidly  supplanting  them. 
There  were  Oxford  Downs  and  Hampshire  Downs,  Southdown s  weigh- 
ing 225  pounds,  Shropshire  Downs  weighing  200  pounds,  Cotswolds 
running  up  to  244  pounds,  Leicesters  and  Dorsets  and  fat  sheep  with- 
out number. 

In  1890  50  per  cent  of  the  sheep  of  the  State  were  of  English  blood, 
25  per  cent  were  Merinos  and  their  grades,  and  25  per  cent  unimproved 
natives.  Thirty  per  cent  of  the  wool  clip  was  graded  above  medium, 
35  per  cent  as  medium,  and  35  per  cent  below  medium.  The  tendency 
was  still  toward  mutton-raising  and  the  fine-wool  industry  was  declin- 
ing. 

The  following  table  presents  the  number  of  sheep,  pounds  of  wool 
clipped,  and  average  quantity  of  wool  per  head  for  each  sheep  for  the 
period  from  1840  to  1890: 


Year. 

No.  of 
sheep. 

Wool. 

Average 
weight  of 
wool  pur 
head. 

1840 

649  264 

Pounds. 
I  465,551 

Pounds. 
2  25 

1850    

451,  577 

]  ,  364,  034 

3.  00 

1860  

452,  472 

1,495,060 

3.30 

1870  

434,  666 

1,774,168 

4.00 

1880 

565  918 

2  776  407 

4  90 

1890    

542  248 

2,  982,  364 

5.50 

The  returns  of  the  Department  of  Agriculture  for  January  1892,  show 
an  increase  of  over  27,000  sheep  since  January,  1890,  and  while  there 
has  been  a  decrease  in  the  Merinos  there  has  been  a  very  decided  in- 
crease of  the  English  mutton  breeds. 

The  steady  decline  of  sheep  husbandry  in  the  New  England  States 
for  the  last  fifty  years  is  told  by  the  figures  of  the  census.  In  1840  the 
six  States  had  3,820,307  sheep;  in  1890  they  had  but  1,220,704,  or  less 
than  one-third  the  number  of  1840.  The  decline  by  States  is  shown  in 
the  following  table: 


BAST    OF   TIIR    \ilssi-sii>H    UTVEU. 

.\itnilirr  of 


343 


States. 

1840. 

1850. 

1860. 

1870. 

1880. 

1890. 

Maine 

649  264 

451  577 

45°  472 

434  666 

New  Hampshire 

617  390 

384  756 

310  534 

l>48  760 

mooc 

1  681  819 

1  014  122 

759  201 

580  347 

Massachusetts 

378  266 

188  651 

114  8°9 

78  560 

67  979 

Rhwle  Island  

90,  146 

44,296 

32  938 

23  933 

17*  211 

20  231 

Connecticut                       

403,  462 

174  181 

117  107 

83  884 

59*  431 

Total  Xew  England  States.. 

3,  820,  307 

2,  257,  583 

1,  779,  767 

1,  450,  155 

1,  362,  234 

1,  220,  704 

In  1840  over  70  per  cent  of  the  nearly  4,000,000  sheep  were  Spanish  and 
Saxony  Merinos  and  their  grades,  nearly  30  per  cent  were  unimproved 
natives,  and  the  improved  English  breeds  constituted  less  than  1  per 
cent.  In  1890  26  per  cent  were  of  Merinos  and  their  grades,  12  per 
cent  were  unimproved,  and  the  English  mutton  breeds  constituted  62 
per  cent.  The  change  from  the  Merino  to  the  English  blood  still  con- 
tinues and  the  unimproved  sheep  are  disappearing. 

The  progress  of  improvement  in  the  fleece  has  been  steady  and  mar- 
velous. In  1840  the  average  weight  of  wool  per  head  was  2.21  pounds; 
in  1890  it  was  5.63  pounds,  an  increase  in  fifty  years  of  155  per  cent. 
As  much  wool  was  grown  on  1,220,704  sheep  in  1890  as  was  grown  on 
3,126,995  sheep  in  1840.  The  amount  of  wool  for  the  census  year  from 
1840  to  1890  follows  in  this  table: 

Production  of  wool. 


States. 

1840. 

1850. 

1860. 

1870. 

1880. 

1890. 

M;iine        

Pounds. 
1  465  551 

Pounds. 
1  364  034 

Pounds. 
1  495  060 

Potmds. 
1  774  168 

Pounds. 
2  776  407 

Poundg. 
9  932  364 

Xew  Hampshire 

1  260  517 

1  108  476 

1  160  222 

1  129  442 

1  060  589 

1  124  163 

Vermont 

3'  699*  235 

3*  400*  717 

3*  1  18*  950 

3  10°  137 

2  551  113 

9  208  896 

941  906 

585  136 

377  967 

306  659 

299  089 

276  787 

Rhode  Island 

183  830 

129  692 

90  699 

77  328 

65  680 

79  610 

Connecticut  

889,870 

497,  454 

335,  8% 

254,129 

230  133 

218  831 

Total  New  England  States.  .  . 

8,  440,  909 

7,  085,  509 

6,  578,  094 

6,  643,  863 

6,  983,  Oil 

6,  890,  651 

A  great  part  of  Maine  and  the  northern  portions  of  New  Hampshire, 
Vermont,  and  New  York,  and  the  southern  shore  of  Lake  Erie,  derived 
their  earliest  mutton  sheep  from  Canada,  and  that  Dominion  has  contin- 
ued to  supply  improved  English  breeds  to  the  present  day. 

The  first  sheep  were  taken  into  Canada  by  the  French  in  1665,  and 
subsequent  importations  were  made  from  France.  The  descendants  of 
these  French  sheep  are  still  to  be  seen  in  the  province  of  Quebec,  a 
small  but  hardy  race.  The  greater  part  of  them  show  signs  of  the 
Merino  blood  that  was  infused  in  Quebec  flocks  from  1816  to  1830,  when 
many  of  the  best  Merinos  in  Vermont  and  northern  New  York  and  even 
Massachusetts  were  bought  at  a  very  low  price  and  taken  across  the 
border.  Until  the  overthrow  of  the  French  power  in  Canada  the  French 
families  of  sheep  prevailed  and  even  maintained  their  growth  until  the 


344        SHEEP  INDUSTRY  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES 

beginning  of  the  present  century,  when  a  few  English  sheep  were  intro- 
duced, among  the  first  being  a  small  flock  of  New  Leicester  sheep 
brought  from  England  by  a  Eev.  Mr.  Toofy,  about  1799  or  1800.  When 
the  Merinos  were  introduced  into  the  United  States  they  soon  found 
their  way  from  Vermont  and  New  York  into  Canada  and  became  very 
popular.  Many  flocks  were  crossed  with  them  and  new  flocks  were 
started,  and  for  some  years  fine-wool  growing  prospered.  In  the  country 
contiguous  to  the  American  boundary  nearly  all  the  flocks  existing  in 
1840  were  of  Merinos  and  their  grades,  originally  introduced  from  the 
Atlantic  States.  The  woolen  manufacture  was  then  confined  princi- 
pally to  coarse  homemade  cloths  and  flannels,  then  suitable  to  the 
needs  of  a  new  country.  But  in  the  other  and  by  far  larger  part  of  the 
Dominion  the  sheep  were  a  sort  of  mongrel  type,  partaking  much  of  the 
characteristics  of  the  Cheviot — a  rough  hardy  race,  of  medium  size,  the 
rams  generally  having  horns  of  a  most  unwieldy  form.  There  were 
many  black  sheep  among  them,  and  these  were  prized  above  others  by 
the  farmers'  wives,  for  their  wool  could  be  spun  into  yarn  for  making 
the  coarse  homemade  stockings  and  clothing  without  the  trouble  of 
dyeing. 

About  1844  some  of  the  most  progressive  farmers  began  importing 
Southdowns.  As  a  pure  breed  they  did  not  prove  successful ;  partly 
owing  to  their  want  of  hardiness  for  that  climate,  but  particularly  to  the 
fact  that  all  or  nearly  all  the  stock  imported  came  from  the  same  flock  or 
strain  of  blood  and  but  little  or  no  fresh  blood  was  subsequently  intro- 
duced. Consequently  they  were  lacking  in  stamina  and  constitution 
for  being  so  closely  bred.  But  when  the  Southdown  rams  were  crossed 
upon  the  native  or  common  sheep  and  the  Merino  ewes  there  were 
great  improvements,  so  great  that  after  a  few  crosses  the  flocks  became 
more  than  doubled  in  size  of  carcass  and  weight  of  fleece,  with  a  fine 
wool.  Many  laid  the  foundation  of  new  flocks  and  improvement  in  old 
flocks  by  buying  and  using  such  Southdown  rams  as  were  exposed  for 
sale  by  those  who  bred  them.  Some  of  the  early  American  South- 
downs  came  from  this  Canadian  importation  and  the  animals  descended 
from  it. 

About  1846  some  gentlemen  farmers  in  Wellington  imported  ewes 
and  rams  of  the  Leicester  breed.  They  were  smaller  than  the  Leicesters 
of  the  present  day,  and  of  compact,  handsome  form,  with  but  little 
offal,  and  with  good  fleeces  of  a  fine  quality.  The  ewes  were  remark- 
ably prolific  and  their  lambs  grew  rapidly,  and  at  four  months'  old 
gave  a  dressed  weight  of  50  pounds  to  the  carcass.  These  sheep  were 
quick  feeders,  matured  early,  and  gave  a  fine,  well-flavored  meat,  upon 
a  carcass  which,  dressed  at  12  to  18  months'  old,  averaged  100  to  120 
pounds.  So  great  was  the  improvement  made  by  the  Leicesters  on 
the  common  sheep  and  on  the  flocks  of  short- wooled  sheep  that  they 
were  taken  into  general  favor,  and  the  improvement  began  by  the 
Southdown  was  carried  still  farther  by  the  new  rival.  From  time  to 


EAST   OF   THE  ^MISSISSIPPI   RIVER.  345 

time  many  of  the  formers  made  fresh  importations  from  the  best 
Hocks  of  England.  These  coming  from  breeders  at  different  points, 
whose  stock,  though  pure,  were  not  closely  related,  as  was  the  case 
with  the  Southdowns,  showed  less  the  evils  of  too  close  breeding  and 
exhibited  a  greater  degree  of  hardihood  which  commended  itself  to 
the  farmers  of  a  vigorous  climate.  The  Leicester  blood  thus  became 
generally  disseminated  through  the  flocks  of  the  better  class  of  farmers, 
those  who  adhered  to  the  pure  blood  keeping  up  their  flocks  either  by 
fresh  importations  or  by  exchanging  rams  with  those  who  had  a  differ- 
ent strain  of  the  same  breed  from  their  own.  There  was,  however,  one 
objection  to  the  pure-bred  Leicester,  and  that  was  that  the  fleece  was  too 
open  and  thus  let  in  the  rain,  and  that  it  was  inclined  to  be  coarse  and 
too  brittle  for  combing  wool.  But  this  fault  was  not  so  apparent  in  the 
sheep  bred  from  a  cross  of  Leicester  ram  upon  the  then  existing  flocks 
of  native  or  grade  Merino  blood.  So  powerfully  did  the  Leicester  blood 
work  upon  these  that  the  sheep  of  the  third  cross  were  nearly  equal  to 
the  Leicesters  as  mutton  sheep,  with  the  advantage  of  carrying  better 
fleeces.  As  English  breeders  improved  on  the  Bakewell  type  by 
increasing  the  size  of  the  sheep  and  bettering  its  fleece,  the  Canadian 
breeders  followed  by  importing  larger  and  heavier  rams,  until  in  a  few 
years  the  short-legged,  compact,  fine-boned,  but  coarse-wooled  Bake- 
well  Leicesters  were  not  to  be  found.  What  the  breed  gained  in  size, 
fleece,  and  hardiness  it  lost  somewhat  in  earliness  of  maturity,  quick- 
ness of  feeding,  and,  to  some  extent,  in  quality  of  meat.  From  1846  to 
1862  the  Leicesters  and  the  Southdowns  held  sway  and  carried  off  all 
the  prizes  at  the  fairs,  then  in  their  infancy  in  Canada. 

Many  American  flocks  on  the  northern  boundary  were  recruited  from 
the  Ontario  flocks.  Shortly  after  the  introduction  of  the  Leicesters 
into  Ontario  they  were  imported  into  New  Brunswick,  and  from  thence 
into  Maine,  where  they  were  crossed  on  Merino  grades  and  on  the  com- 
mon sheep  of  the  country. 

The  Cotswolds  were  introduced  into  Canada  about  1856,  and  began 
to  attract  the  attention  of  the  farmer  by  their  great  size  and  heavy 
fleeces  of  long  wool.  They  became  immensely  popular,  and  "  the  for- 
merly handsome  flocks  of  Leicesters  were  turned  into  nondescripts  by 
the  injudicious  introduction  of  Cotswold  rams  to  cross  upon  them." 
The  popularity  of  the  Cotswolds  continued  for  many  years,  and  monopo- 
lized the  attention  of  sheep -breeders  at  the  fairs.  The  Border  Leices- 
ters also  were  popular,  and  many  of  them  had  been  introduced.  These 
and  the  Cotswolds  gave  large  carcasses  of  mutton  of  a  coarse  quality 
with  a  tallowy  flavor,  often  going  as  high  as  200  to  250  pounds  the 
dressed  carcass. 

From  their  first  introduction  into  Canada  there  was  a  demand  for  the 
Cotswolds  from  the  United  States,  and  many  were  sold  at  good  prices. 
The  demand  was  largely  increased  by  the  American  tariff  law  of  1867, 
when  there  was  remarkable  change  in  the  value  of  combing  wools. 


346  SHEEP    INDUSTRY    OF    THE    CJNITED    STATES 

They  increased  in  price,  while  fine  wools  ruled  scarcely  higher  than  in 
war  times.  A  class  of  manufactures  had  come  to  be  fashionable  that 
required  these  combing  wools,  and  the  supply  from  Canada  was,  in  a 
measure,  cut  off  by  the  operation  of  the  new  tariff,  which  enlarged  the 
home  demand,  kept  prices  up,  and  the  wool  chiefly  at  home.  The  small 
amount  of  combing  wool  in  the  country  was  not  equal  to  the  demand, 
and  consequently  there  were  large  importations  from  Canada  of  Cots- 
wold  and  Leicester  sheep,  principally  the  former,  which  were  taken 
into  all  the  States  from  Maine  on  the  east  to  Wisconsin  on  the  west 
and  as  far  south  as  Tennessee.  The  introduction  of  the  Cotswold  was 
encouraged  by  the  woolen  manufacturers  and  by  many  of  the  agricul- 
tural papers.  The  breeding  of  Cotswold  stock  by  Canadian  breeders 
for  the  farms  of  the  United  States  became  a  profitable  industry.  As 
the  Cotswolds  and  other  English  breeds  increased  in  Canada  the  Merino 
declined.  A  Canadian  correspondent  of  the  Cultivator  furnishes  a 
glimpse  of  Canadian  sheep  husbandry  in  1871 : 

At  the  present  day  (1871)  it  is  rare  to  meet  with  a  Hock  of  Merinos  in  Ontario;  but 
among  the  poorer  classes  of  farmers  a  sort  of  conglomerated  breed  has  sprung  up, 
the  result  of  crossing  the  cheap-bought  rejected  culled  rams  of  the  Leicester  breed- 
ers upon  the  remains  of  the  old  Merino  flocks,  sold  cheap  or  given  away,  by  the  better- 
class  farmers,  to  make  room  for  the  mutton  breeds.  These  sheep,  kept  by  the  pres- 
ent owners  as  near  to  the  starving  point  in  winter  as  will  keep  life  in  them,  are  as 
yet  far  too  common,  and,  being  generally  turned  out  in  summer  to  wander  about  the 
country  roads  in  search  of  grass,  are  apt  to  give  a  stranger  traveling  over  the  country 
a  bad  opinion  of  our  sheep  husbandry.  The  sheep  have  all  the  bad  points  of  the 
Merino,  with  but  little  compensating  qualities  derived  from  the  Leicester,  and  being, 
after  the  first  cross,  generally  bred  in-and-in,  and  the  best  sold  to  the  butchers,  make 
about  as  worthless  a  class  of  sheep  as  one  can  see  anywhere,  giving  inferior  fleeces 
of  2|  to  5  pounds  on  carcasses  of  60  to  100  pounds,  the  weight  depending  upon  the 
amount  of  Leicester  blood.  They  are  found  all  over  the  province,  but  are  most 
numerous  in  the  Niagara  peninsula  and  the  older  settlements  bordering  Lake  Erie 
and  Ontario.  In  Lower  Canada,  near  Quebec,  the  French  halritans,  kept  in  igno- 
rance and  poverty  under  the  peculiar  feudal  laws,  resist  all  attempts  at  improve- 
ment as  innovations  upon  their  customs,  and  keep  to  a  small,  but  hardy,  race  of 
sheep  of  the  Merino  class,  probably  originally  derived  from  Brittany  and  Provence. 
In  that  portion  of  Quebec  bordering  on  Vermont  and  northern  New  York  known  as 
the  eastern  townships,  and  settled  by  an  English-speaking  population,  the  mutton 
breeds  have  been  introduced  and  are  fast  superseding  the  Merinos.  More  recently 
the  fashion  has  set  towards  the  Cotswolds,  and  though,  as  yet,  there  are  but  very  few 
flocks  of  that  breed  kept  in  their  purity,  their  great  size  and  heavy  fleeces  of  fine- 
combing  wool  is  an  inducement  to  many  farmers  who  are  not  particular  about  purity 
of  blood  to  use  Cotswold  rams  in  their  established  flocks,  in  order  to  obtain  an  in- 
crease in  size  in  the  carcass  without  injury  to  the  quality  of  their  wool.  The  most 
recent  importations  of  the  Leicesters  have  been  Border  Leicesters,  a  large-framed, 
broad-backed,  stout-limbed  race,  carrying  heavy  fleeces  of  combing  wool  on  car- 
casses of  great  weight  which  when  they  reach  the  butchers'  hands  appear  likely  to 
prove  more  showy  than  eatable.  With  the  advent  of  the  mutton  breeds  of  sheep 
not  only  has  sheep-breeding  in  our  mixed  system  of  husbandry  been  profitable,  and 
our  markets  well  supplied  with  first-class  butchers'  meat,  at  reasonable  prices,  but 
the  demand  for  our  wools  has  increased  to  an  extent  never  anticipated,  and  the  price 
goes  relatively  higher  as  the  yield  of  fleece  per  head  grows  larger. 


EAST    OF    THE    MISSISSIPPI    RIVER  34? 

Prior  to  1870,  the  Lincolnshire*,  the  Shropshire  Downs,  the  Hamp- 
shire Downs,  and  the  Oxford  Downs  had  been  imported  to  a  limited 
extent,  as  had  also  the  Cheviots;  but  none  of  these  appeared  to  find 
favor  with  the  Canadian  farmers,  and  but  few  pure  flocks  were  kept; 
but  when  the  demand  for  mutton  in  Great  Britain  and  the  United 
States  was  greatly  increased,  and  the  lovers  of  good  mutton  rejected  the 
great  coarse  sheep  that  carried  all  their  fat  on  the  outside  and  about  the 
kidneys,  in  favor  of  a  moderate-sized  sheep,  that  had  the  fat  well  inter- 
mixed with  the  lean  all  through,  the  Southdowns,  and  the  crosses  from 
it  upon  the  native  sheep,  rose  in  favor  among  the  farmers,  and  the  Cots- 
wolds  and  Border  Leicesters  lost  their  attraction.  Where  farmers  for- 
merly bred  mainly  for  heavy  fleeces  of  coarse  wool,  suitable  enough 
for  the  making  of  the  coarse  clothing  and  blankets  then  fashionable, 
they  began  about  1880  to  cross  for  mutton,  using  the  Southdown,  the 
Shropshire,  and  Oxford  Down.  Since  that  time  many  flocks  of  the 
best  English  breeds  have  been  maintained  at  a  very  high  standard, 
and  have  been  freely  used  by  the  breeders  of  the  United  States  in  the 
improvement  of  theiiXflocks.  All  breeds  are  grown,  and  the  views  of 
the  breeders  are  far  apart  as  to  the  most  profitable  one. 

There  is  such  a  close  inter-relationship  between  the  sheep  husbandry 
of  Canada  and  that  of  our  northern  tier  of  States,  that  a  communica- 
tion of  Prof.  Thomas  Shaw,  of  the  Ontario  Agricultural  College,  on  the 
sheep  husbandry  of  Ontario,  has  much  interest.  Ontario  is  the  only 
province  of  the  Dominion  of  Canada  which  has  gathered  official  statis- 
tics for  several  years  past  in  reference  to  live  stock,  consequently  it  is 
impossible  to  give  exact  figures  bearing  upon  the  sheep  industry  that 
will  apply  to  the  whole  Dominion.  Ontario  is,  by  far,  however,  the 
most  important  of  the  sheep-producing  provinces.  To  so  great  an  ex- 
tent is  this  the  case  that  it  is  moi  e  than  probable  that  Ontario  pro- 
duces more  sheep  than  all  the  other  provinces  combined. 

Prof.  Shaw,  under  date  of  February  8,  1892,  in  a  letter  to  the  writer, 
says : 

This  province  has  the  following  pure  breeds :  Leicester,  Lincoln,  Cotswold,  Oxford, 
Hampshire,  Shropshire,  South  Down,  Suffolk,  Dorest  Horn  and  Merino.  The  Leices- 
ters far  outnumber  any  of  the  other  breeds,  but  the  dark-faced  breeds  are  gaining 
ground  rapidly.  Of  these  the  Shropshires  are  the  most  numerous  at  tbe  present 
time.  The  dark-faced  rams  stand  high  in  favor  for  the  production  of  lambs  for  mut- 
ton. The  offspring  are  compact  in  form,  weigh  well,  produce  a  class  of  wool  such  as 
is  wanted  at  the  present  time,  and  the  mutton  obtained  from  them  is  well  intermin- 
gled with  fat  and  lean. 

The  number  of  sheep  kept  on  the  occupied  lands  of  Ontario  at  the  present  time  is 
less  than  8  head  to  every  100  acres;  there  is  but  little  doubt  that  this  number  could 
be  nearly  doubled  without  any  additional  cost  for  food  in  the  summer  season,  as  from 
12  to  16  head  of  sheep  on  a  farm  of  the  size  indicated  would  only  act  the  part  of  scav- 
engers by  destroying  vast  numbers  of  weeds,  and  consuming  herbage  in  by-places 
which  would  otherwise  go  to  waste. 

It  was  formerly  the  custom  in  this  province  to  sell  the  lambs  to  the  local  butchers 
in  the  various  summer  months,  or  to  put  them  upon  the  export  market  in  November 


348  SHEEP   INDUSTRY    OF    THE    UNITED    STATES. 

and  December.  Many  are  now  beginning  to  feed  tliem  on  into  the  winter  months, 
when  much  better  prices  can  be  obtained  for  them. 

The  growth  of  rape  to  provide  pasture  for  lambs  in  this  country  is  rapidly  on  the 
increase.  Our  experiment  station  has  given  this  mattef  much  attention  during  the 
past  three  years,  as  also  the  fattening  of  lambs  in  winter.  In  1890  we  pastured 
37  head  of  lambs  and  17  head  of  steers  upon  about  50  acres  of  rape,  for  two 
months.  In  1891  we  pastured  660  lambs  upon  40  acres  of  rape  for  two  and  one-half 
months.  One  acre  will  feed  from  12  to  15  lambs  for  fully  two  months,  and  in  that 
time  they  should  gain  from  16  to  24  pounds  in  weight.  In  the  winter  season  we  feed 
the  lambs  upon  a  ration  of  clover  hay,  turnips,  mangels  or  corn  ensilage,  and  grain 
unground,  as  oats  and  peas.  The  grains  per  month  run  from  8  to  11  pounds  per  head. 

Feeding  lambs  in  the  winter  season  is  likely  to  become  a  very  profitable  industry 
in  this  country.  When  preparing  them  for  shipment  to  Great  Britain  we  have  them 
shorn  in  the  early  part  of  October.  They  are  then  in  the  best  form  for  shipping  in 
the  early  spring  to  meet  all  the  variations  of  weather.  In  1889  we  purchased  lambs, 
October  4,  at  $3.76  per  head,  and  sold  them  the  following  March  at  $7.71  per  head. 
In  1890  we  put  20  lambs  under  experiment,  which  were  bought  in  October  at  an 
average  of  $3.76,  and  refused  the  following  March  an  offer  equal  to  $11.64  per  head. 
The  offer  was  refused  because  the  lambs  were  being  prepared  for  the  English  market. 
In  the  autumn  of  1891  lambs  were  brought  to  this  station  from  Prince  Edward  Island, 
a  distance  of  1,100  miles.  They  were  laid  down  here  at  an  average  cost  of  a  little 
more  than  $3  per  head.  A  car  load  of  these  lambs  are  sold  to  go  to  Halifax  in  March 
(1892),  within  about  100  miles  of  where  they  were  purchased,  and  after  all  expenses  are 
paid  we  feel  quite  sure  in  reckoning  on  a  fair  profit  on  the  lambs.  Had  we  sold  our 
lambs  last  November  or  December  we  would  have  lost  money  upon  them,  but  by 
carrying  them  on  into  the  winter  months  we  are  making  a  good  profit.  There  is  room 
for  great  enlargement  of  the  sheep  industry  in  Canada.  The  maritime  provinces  in 
the  east  have  much  land  that  might  be  turned  to  excellent  account  in  pasturing 
sheep  in  the  summer  season,  and  the  provinces  of  the  Canadian  northwest  are  capa- 
ble of  sustaining  sheep  by  the  million  where  now  they  are  found  only  in  very  limited 
numbers. 

The  Canadians  follow  the  English  system  of  sheep  husbandry  and 
find  their  profit  in  it  in  the  advance  price  received  for  their  mutton  in 
the  markets  of  the  principal  northern  cities,  where  the  demand  for  it 
is  steady.  Butchers  in  Boston  and  New  York  make  a  specialty  of  it. 
Boston  consumes  annually  from  70,000  to  80,000  Canada  sheep,  and  about 
3,000  are  daily  shipped  from  Canada  to  all  parts  of  the  American 
Union. 


CHAPTER  Y. 

INTRODUCTION  OF  THE  FINE-WOOLED  SHEEP  INTO  THE  MIDDLE  AND 
THE  ATLANTIC  SEABOARD  STATES,  AND  THE  SUBSEQUENT  PROG- 
RESS OF  SHEEP  HUSBANDRY. 

NEW  YORK. 

The  first  Merino  sheep  introduced  into  New  York  was  by  Delessert 
and  Dupont  in  1801,  as  has  been  fully  noted.  The  first  full-blooded 
flock  was  founded  by  Chancellor  Livingston  in  1802,  and  has  also  been 
very  freely  treated  in  preceding  pages.  From  the  Livingston  flock 
some  full-blood  flocks  and  many  half-blood  and  mixed  flocks  were 
established  prior  to  the  importation  of  1810-'ll.  Livingston  added  to 
his  flock  the  choicest  sheep  of  these  importations,  and  was  an  enthu- 
siastic bidder  at  the  sales,  although  he  believed  that  his  own  sheep, 
both  in  beauty  of  form  and  quality  of  fleece,  were  decidedly  superior  to 
the  new  importations.  He  added  6  Guadaloupes  to  his  flock — a  longer- 
legged  and  longer-bodied  sheep  than  the  Paulars,  heavier  than  the 
Infantados,  and  equal  to  them  in  the  fineness  of  their  fleeces.  These 
were,  according  to  Livingston,  in  point  of  form,  beauty,  size,  and  fleece, 
the  finest  of  the  imported  sheep,  though  still  far  inferior  to  the  Eam- 
bouillets.  He  purchased  14  Paulars,  which  he  describes  as  very  close- 
wooled,  very  compact  in  their  make,  and  too  short  for  beauty.  He 
bought  also  2  Negretti,  larger  than  the  Paulars,  but  not  so  fine-wooled. 
He  added  also  Montarcos  and  Aguirres,  and  March  22, 1811,  was  in  daily 
expectation  of  6  Escurials,  none  of  which  he  thought  had  yet  been  im- 
ported. He  was  forming  a  complete  flock  for  the  purpose  of  studying 
the  advantages  and  defects  of  each  family,  and,  by  proper  admixture 
with  his  rams,  improve  them  all.  Death  overtook  him  in  the  midst  of 
his  many  labors,  and  the  guiding  spirit  necessary  to  the  development 
of  his  plans  was  wanting. 

Of  the  many  importations  of  1810-'ll  it  is  difficult  to  find  traces  after 
the  arrival  and  sale  of  the  sheep.  As  they  were  disposed  of  mostly  to 
men  of  large  possessions,  who  made  wool-growing  and  not  sheep-breed- 
ing their  business,  pedigrees  were  not  thought  of,  and  purity  of  blood 
absolutely  disregarded.  What  was  wanted  was  a  large  production  of 
wool,  and  other  matters  were  entirely  secondary.  The  best  sheep  were 
crossed  without  regard  to  the  cabaiias  whence  derived,  and  the  best 
rams  were  generally  used  on  the  common  sheep  to  bring  them  up  to  satis- 
factory wool-growers,  The  consequence  was  large  flocks  of  mixed  sheep 

349 


350        SHEEP  INDUSTRY  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES 

half  to  fifteen-sixteenths  blood,  and  comparatively  few  full  "bloods. 
And  it  happened  also  that  when  manufacturers  failed  in  1815-'20  whole 
flocks  went  by  the  board,  and  history  has  no  note  of  them.  The  history 
of  some,  however,  has  been  partially  preserved. 

Among  the  early  arrivals  at  New  York,  in  1810,  was  the  ship  Traveller, 
with  24  Escurial  sheep,  consigned  to  Eichard  Crowningshield.,  These 
sheep  were  sold  at  high  prices  to  various  parties,  mostly  on  Long  Island, 
and  were  in  part  the  foundation  of  many  superior  flocks.  Among  the 
purchasers  was  Andrew  Cock,  of  Flushing,  and  from  two  ewes,  for 
which  he  paid  $1,100  each,  and  some  superior  Paulars,  purchased  sub- 
sequently, came  the  celebrated  flock  and  strain  bearing  his  name,  and 
which  has  been  noted  when  treating  of  the  Vermont  flocks.  In  1844, 
when  the  Merinos  took  a  new  lease  on  popularity  and  blood  began  to 
be  more  regarded,  Dr.  Henry  S.  Eandall  received  from  Effingham  Law- 
rence a  letter  detailing  the  origin  of  this  flock,  which  was  published  in 
the  Cultivator  of  that  year. 

Yours  is  duly  received,  in  which  you  refer  to  a  conversation  we  had  on  the  subject 
of  Merino  sheep,  and  particularly  of  the  quality  and  purity  of  the  flock  of  Andrew 
Cock,  who  was  my  neighbor.  We  were  intimate  and  commenced  laying  the  founda- 
tion of  our  Merino  flocks  about  the  same  time.  I  was  present  when  he  purchased 
most  of  his  sheep,  which  was  in  1811.  He  first  purchased  2  ewes  at  $1,100  per  head. 
They  were  very  fine,  and  of  the  Escurial  flock  imported  by  Richard  Crowningshield. 
His  next  purchase  was  30  of  thePaular  breed,  at  from  $50  to  $100  per  head.  He  con- 
tinued to  purchase  of  the  different  importations  until  he  ran  them  up  to  about  80, 
always  selecting  them  with  great  care.  This  was  the  foundation  of  A.  Cock's  flock ; 
nor  did  he  ever  purchase  any  but  pure-blooded  to  my  knowledge  or  belief.  Andrew 
Cock  was  an  attentive  breeder,  saw  well  to  his  business,  and  was  of  unimpeachable 
character.  His  certificate  of  the  kind  and  purity  of  blood  I  should  implicitly  rely  on. 
I  recollect  of  his  selling  sheep  to  Leonard  Beedle,  of  Vermont. 

Long  Island  was  early  noted  for  its  fine  flocks  of  sheep,  and  Judge 
Lawrence,  Andrew  Cock,  Timothy  Mallet,  and  Silas  Titus  had  Merino 
flocks  of  high  repute,  from  which  they  furnished  pure-blood  rams  and 
ewes  for  many  years  to  various  parts  of  New  England  and  the  Middle 
States,  particularly  to  northern  New  York,  many  of  the  superior  flocks 
of  Washington  County  tracing  thence  their  origin.  The  Long  Island 
sheep  were  noted  for  fineness  and  quantity  of  wool,  and  in  1822  there 
was  sheared  from  one  sheep  11  pounds  of  well-washed  wool.  In  1843 
the  Merino  sheep  had  nearly  disappeared  from  the  island  5  it  had  given 
way  to  crosses  of  the  Leicester  and  Southdown  as  mutton  became  more 
an  object  than  wool. 

Washington  County,  K  Y.,  was  long  famed  for  its  sheep  husbandry, 
and  early  introduced  the  Merino.  The  first  Merino  blood  coming  into 
the  county  appears  to  have  been  from  the  Stoddard  flock,  of  Vermont, 
a  half-blood  brought  by  Aaron  Cleaveland,  and  in  1809  a  full-blooded 
buck  of  the  same  flock  was  hired  from  Mr.  Stoddard  for  $50  by  K  Wil- 
son, of  Salem,  for  which  he  received  the  bounty  of  $50,  offered  by  the 
State  to  the  person  who  should  introduce  the  first  Merino  buck  into 


EAST   OP   THE  "MISSISSIPPI   RIVER.  351 


each  county  —  a  measure  also  recommended  by  the  governor  of  X 
Hampshire  at  the  next  session  of  its  legislature.  In  1810  the  county 
premium  for  domestic  cloth  was  given  to  that  made  from  the  wool  of 
Mr.  Cleaveland's  quarter-bred  lambs. 

About  this  time  also  a  Mr.  Merritt,  of  Troy,  who  owned  a  large  tract 
of  land  in  the  county,  placed  upon  it  a  considerable  flock  which  was  de- 
rived from  the  Humphreys  stock.  This  flock  was  managed  after  the 
Spanish  mode.  Two  shepherds  who  had  been  educated  to  the  business, 
accompanied  with  their  dogs,  were  in  constant  attendance  upon  the 
flock,  and  many  persons  from  the  surrounding  country  were  attracted 
by  the  novelty  of  their  dress  and  employment  to  pay  them  a  visit.  This 
flock  was  soon  disposed  of,  and  many  of  them  went  to  the  formation  of 
the  Wilkinson  flock,  which,  for  so  many  years,  sustained  such  a  high 
reputation. 

Thus  from  the  Humphreys  importation  a  portion  of  the  Merino  blood 
went  into  \Yashington  County  at  an  early  day.  At  first,  however, 
efforts  were  confined  only  to  the  rearing  of  grade  sheep.  Animals  of 
pure  blood  were  too  scarce  in  the  county  and  commanded  too  high  a 
price  to  be  within  the  reach  of  ordinary  farmers  }  but  an  avenue  was 
soon  opened  to  the  procurement  of  full-blood  Merinos* 

Robert  Prince,  who  had  purchased  some  of  the  Jarvis  importation, 
had  a  son  engaged  in  business  at  Salem,  and  through  this  son  Alexan- 
der McNish  was  induced  to  engage  in  the  business  of  raising  fine- 
wooled  sheep.  A  contract  was  made  between  Robert  Prince  and  Mr. 
McNish,  which,  as  it  contains  the  element  of  what  was  then  regarded* 
as  the  most  essential  point  in  the  management  of  the  Merinos  and  what 
was  deemed  equitable  terms  for  letting  them,  is  here  stated  on  the 
authority  of  Asa  Fitch,  and  substantially  in  his  language.*  Mr.  Prince 
agreed  to  furnish  a  ram  and  two  ewes,  warranted  to  be  full-blooded 
Merino,  and  Mr.  McMsh  was  to  furnish  one  hundred  common  ewes,  and 
be  at  the  expense  of  keeping  and  managing  the  flock  for  the  period  of 
seven  years.  The  ram  was  not  to  be  turned  in  with  the  ewes  before 
the  1st  of  November,  and  the  lambs  were  to  be  weaned  or  separated 
from  the  ewes  on  the  1st  of  September.  On  the  1st  day  of  June,  annu- 
ally, half  of  the  wool  was  to  be  given  to  Mr.  Prince.  At  the  end  of  the 
first  year  the  hundred  common  ewes  were  to  be  sold  and  half  the  pro- 
ceeds thereof  paid  to  Mr.  Prince,  and  the  breeding  continued  with  the 
full-blood  ram  and  the  half-blood  ewes.  The  buck  lambs  were  to  be 
annually  divided  on  the  1st  of  September,  and  each  party  was  there- 
after to  take  charge  of  his  own  half  of  these.  If  either  of  the  three 
full-bloods  died  or  became  imbecile,  another  was  to  be  furnished  by 
Mr.  Prince  to  supply  its  place.  At  the  end  of  the  seven  years  the  flock 
that  was  then  existing  was  to  be  equally  divided. 

For  the  three  imported  sheep  by  which  Mr.  Prince  was  to  fulfill  his 


*  Survey  of  Washington  County,  in  Transactions  of  New  York  Agricultural  Society, 
1849. 


352        SHEEP  INDUSTRY  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES 

part  of  the  contract  lie  had  paid  $1,800;  but,  to  be  secure  against  any 
casualties,  a  pair  of  sheep,  in  addition  to  these,  was  furnished  by  him. 
Two  rams  and  3  ewes,  therefore,  were  turned  over  to  Mr.  McNish  and 
placed  on  his  farm  near  Salem,  October  11, 1810. 

The  community  here,  like  communities  elsewhere,  was  at  the  time 
much  divided  in  opinion  regarding  Merino  sheep,  many  believing  them 
entirely  unsuitable  to  the  climate  and  that  they  would  prove  a  curse 
to  the  country,  and  one  of  Mr.  McMsh's  neighbors,  a  hardheaded 
Scotchman,  when  these  sheep  first  arrived  gave  distinct  notice  that  if 
the  rams  broke  in  among  his  flock  he  should  without  ceremony  shoot 
them  down,  and  hold  him  responsible,  in  addition,  for  whatever  dam- 
ages he  sustained  by  their  presence  among  his  common  sheep.  Fortu- 
nately, however,  the  Merinos  had  nothing  of  that  roving  disposition  so 
common  to  the  native  sheep  of  the  country,  and  therefore  never  gave 
the  Scotch  neighbor  any  molestation.  And  before  long  it  was  surmised 
that  the  Scotchman's  sentiments  had  undergone  some  change,  for  it 
was  noticed  that  on  one  or  more  occasion  he  was  very  particular  to 
pasture  his  own  flock  in  the  field  adjoining  that  in  which  the  Spanish 
rams  were  pastured,  and  he  was  not  at  all  particular,  careless  in  fact, 
in  keeping  up  his  part  of  the  line  fence. 

The  experience  of  Mr.  McMsh  with  these  sheep  represents  the 
experience  of  many  who  began  at  this  time  the  foundation  of  Merino 
flocks.  His  sole  experience  in  this  branch  of  husbandry  was  confined 
to  the  hardy  common  sheep  of  the  country,  and  he  was  consequently 
'greatly  disappointed  with  the  luck  that  attended  his  operations  with 
the  Merinos.  The  weather  through  the  first  spring  was  particularly 
disastrous;  the  month  of  April  being  cold  and  stormy,  and  although  the 
flock  was  well  provided  with  sheds  and  had  every  other  practicable  care 
bestowed  upon  it,  it  availed  but  little,  and  nearly  all  the  lambs  perished. 
They  exhibited  no  vigor,  the  climate  seemed  too  chilly,  and  life  was  a 
burden  to  them.  On  coining  to  foot  up  accounts  of  the  first  year's 
operations  under  his  contract  Mr.  McKish  found  that  instead  of  at  least 
100  common  lambs  that  he  might  have  reared  from  the  same  ewes  with 
far  less  care  and  expense,  he  could  only  claim  ownership  to  about  16 
half-bloods,  to  obtain  which  he  was  giving  Mr.  Prince  50  common  ewes 
and  their  crop  of  wool.  In  view  of  this  result  he  was  much  dis- 
couraged. . 

With  extraordinary  care  each  of  the  imported  ewes  succeeded  in  rais- 
ing a  lamb.  The  first  of  these  was  yeaned  at  a  time  the  half-bloods  in 
the  fold  were  perishing  by  scores,  and  as  this  was  the  first  Merino  lamb 
produced  in  the  country,  its  history,  as  far  as  known,  possesses  some 
interest.  It  was  a  ram,  and  to  shield  it  from  the  rigors  of  the  climate 
and  to  place  it  in  an  atmosphere  to  the  full "  as  temperate  and  genial  as 
that  of  the  vine-clad  plains  of  Estremadura,"  Mr.  McNish  fitted  up  a 
place  in  the  corner  of  a  cellar  kitchen,  the  apartment  which  was  the 
main  abode  of  the  household,  and  here  the  lamb  was  kept  so  long  a^ 


EAST    OF    THE    MISSISSIPPI    RIVER.  353 

the  cold  weather  lasted.  The  following  summer,  while  pastured  with 
the  flock  at  some  distance  from  the  house,  it  was  often  observed  and 
admired,  and  some  unknown  admirer  took  it  away,  leaving  an  ordinary 
lamb  in  its  place. 

Of  the  two  other  full-blood  lambs  one  was  also  a  ram,  but  in  appear- 
ance  so  inferior  to  the  first  that  it  was  regarded  with  but  little  esteem, 
and  was  sold  that  autumn  of  1811  for  $80  to  John  McLean  and  his  son- 
in-law,  David  Campbell,  the  latter  of  whom  now  commenced  that  experi- 
ence in  sheep  husbandry  that  resulted  in  the  foundation  of  the  Camp- 
bell flock,  one  of  the  most  celebrated  flocks  in  the  country  forty  years 
thereafter. 

Bad  as  was  the  luck  with  the  half-blood  lambs  and  the  full-blood  rams, 
that  with  the  imported  ewes  and  lambs  was  worse.  The  lamb  of  one  of  the 
ewes,  the  second  season,  expired  without  any  apparent  cause  a  short  time 
after  it  was  yeaned,  and  two  of  th  e  old  sheep  soon  followed  it.  The  proba- 
ble  cause  was  overfeeding.  When  the  Merinos  arrived  at  Salem  they 
were  all  in  wretched  condition  as  to  flesh.  They  were  of  course  regarded 
with  too  much  favor  to  be  allowed  to  remain  in  this  miserably  poor  con- 
dition, and  were  immediately  put  on  good  pasture,  and,  during  the  win- 
ter, in  addition  to  all  they  needed,  corn  was  fed  them,  about  a  pint 
being  given  to  the  three  ewes  twice  a  day.  Thus  their  keeping  was  lib- 
eral but  not  extravagant,  and  they  were  only  in  fair  condition  when 
turned  out  to  pasture  the  spring  after  their  arrival.  But  they  now  took 
011  fat  surprisingly,  and  twelve  months  afterwards,  when  put  to  grass 
the  second  summer,  they  became  so  excessively  corpulent  that  they  were 
utterly  unable  to  carry  themselves  about  any  longer,  and  two  of  the  fat- 
test of  them  quietly  laid  down  and  died.  A  post  mortem  examination 
showed  a  layer  of  clear  fat  upon  the  ribs  full  2  inches  thick  on  the  out- 
side, and  a  half  inch  on  the  inside.  For  a  time  all  the  sheep,  young  and 
old,  were  so  fat  that  it  was  feared  the  whole  would  perish. 

Upon  the  death  of  the  two  ewes,  another  ram  and  ewe  which  had  cost 
him  6900,  were  furnished  by  Mr.  Prince.  As  there  was  quite  a  contrast 
between  the  two  of  these  rams  from  which  the  flock  was  mostly  reared, 
and  from  which  so  much  of  the  Merino  blood  for  the  next  fifty  to  sev- 
enty years  in  the  country  was  derived,  we  quote  entire  Mr.  Fiteh's 
description  of  them : 


354        SHEEP  INDUSTRY  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES 


.. 


fleece  which  weighed  over  10  pounds.  The  fleece,  moreover,  was  unusually  ev 
throughout,  being  fine  upon  the  flanks.  His  legs  were  wooly  down  to  the  very  hoofs, 
but  that  enormous  dew-lap  or  ruffle  which  belongs  to  the  Paular  sheep  of  the  present] 
day  was  wanting,  there  being  merely  a  slight  naked  wrinkle  in  the  skin  along  the 
throat,  scarcely  amounting  to  a  fold. 

Mr.  Fitch  believed  from  what  was  remembered  of  the  first  2  rams 
by  those  who  saw  them,  that  of  the  most  esteemed,  and  which  is 
described  first,  was  a  pure  Montarco  and  the  other  an  Aguirres.  The 
last  ram  that  was  received,  it  is  well  remembered,  was  stated  in  the 
contract  to  have  belonged  to  the  Prince  of  Peace,  and  it  showed  all; 
the  marks  of  a  Paular  of  the  choicest  kind. 

Bad  luck  still  pursued  Mr.  McNish.  In  the  fourth  year  one  of  the 
imported  bucks  was  killed.  Peace  came  in  1815,  and  wool  fell  to  one-third 
its  former  price,  and  the  value  of  sheep  depreciated  accordingly.  Ha 
sought  to  secure  an  annulment  of  the  contract  and  succeeded.  The 
number  remaining  to  him  was  not  over  two  dozen,  and  for  nearly  ten> 
years  the  flock  made  no  further  increase.  Three  causes  are  assigned 
for  the  bad  fortune  that  attended  his  efforts — the  tender  constitution  of] 
the  sheep,  inadequate  shelter,  and  having  the  lambs  too  early  in  the; 
season. 

The  flock  was  taken  by  a  son  of  Mr.  McMsh,  and  in  1836  there  were 
added  to  it  2  ranis  obtained  from  William  Jarvis  and  a  few  ewes  from 
Alexander  Livingston's  flock,  and  in  1850  it  numbered  127,  old  and 
young,  83  being  adult  ewes.  The  fleeces  of  the  animals  then  averaged 
2  pounds  9  ounces,  from  which  they  had  not  varied  for  fifteen  years 
From  this  flock  some  full -blooded  rams  and  half-blood  ewes  were  dis- 
seminated throughout  that  section  of  the  country.  Among  the  persons 
thus  obtaining  the  sheep  and  forming  a  noted  flock  was  Alexander  Liv 
ingston,  of  Greenwich. 

Mr.  Livingston  commenced  growing  fine  wool  in  1811  by  hiring  one 
of  the  imported  rams  of  Mr.  McNish's  flock  for  the  season,  paying 
therefor  $50,  and  being  restricted  to  the  use  of  50  ewes,  from  which 
he  raised  20  lambs,  whose  fleeces  averaged  3V  pounds.  The  2  other 
MeMsh  rams  were  successively  hired  for  $5  each.  After  this  full- 
blooded  rams  were  obtained  from  Isaac  Bishop  and  others,  until  thd 
flock  was  of  so  high  a  grade  that  good  judges  to  whom  samples  of  the^ 
wool  were  shown  pronounced  it  pure  Merino.  In  1820  he  bought  somei 
14  or  15  ewe  lambs  of  the  Escurial  flocks  on  Long  Island,  and  in  1822 
40  more  ewe  lambs,  nearly  all  of  them  coming  from  the  flock  of  Andrew 
Cock.  These  were  all  the  ewes  he  ever  bought,  save  1  Saxon  ewe  ofl 
Henry  D.  Grove. 

The  next  pure  Merino  blood  taken  into  Washington  County,  aftea 
that  of  Mr.  McNish  and  Mr.  Prince,  was  by  Isaac  Bishop,  and  was  also) 
Long  Island  blood.  Mr.  Bishop  was  a  member  of  the  Society  of  Friends,' 
and  through  that  connection  became  early  acquainted  with  the  quality 
of  the  Long  Island  sheep  owned  by  Andrew  Cock,  Effingkam  Lawrence, 


EAST    OF    THE    MISSISSIPPI    RIVER. 


355 


and  others.  He  soon  became  known  as  a  successful  grower  of  fine  wool, 
and  was  a  large  dealer  in  that  of  his  neighbors. 

Soon  after  the  peace  of  1815  small  flocks  of  grade  sheep,  particularly 
rams,  were  annually  made  up  by  speculators  from  among  the  Long 
Island  flocks,  and  were  sold  through  Washington  County,  and  thus  a 
tinge  of  the  Merino  blood  became  infused  into  all  the  sheep.  The 
McXish  and  Bishop  flocks,  however,  appear  to  have  been  the  only  ones 
containing  full-blood  animals,  excepting  stock  rams,  until  about  1820 
and  1822.  The  high  character  of  the  Long  Island  flocks  became  gen- 
erally known  through  the  country  at  that  period,  and  also  the  fact  that 
pure-blood  sheep  could  be  obtained  from  them  at  lower  prices  than  they 
had  formerly  given  for  grade  rams.  Pure-blooded  and  choice  animals, 
moreover,  attracted  more  attention  and  were  more  sought  after  then 
than  they  had  ever  formerly  been,  in  consequence  of  the  emulation  that 
was  incited  by  cattle  shows  and  premiums  offered  for  superior  stock. 

Many  enterprising  farmers  were  thus  induced  to  visit  and  make  pur- 
chases from  the  Long  Island  flocks,  $5  and  $6  being  the  price  generally 
paid  in  autumn.  From  the  flocks  of  Effingham  Lawrence,  Andrew 
Cock,  Timothy  Mallet,  and  Silas  Titus,  the  purchases  were  generally 
made.  And  it  was  about  1820  to  1824  from  the  most  renowned  flocks 
in  the  country  the  Escurial  blood  became  largely  introduced  into  Wash- 
ington County,  and  directly  from  this  have  many  of  her  noted  flocks 
descended. 

Soon  after  the  Long  Island,  or  so-called  Escurial,  blood  had  been 
well  established  in  Washington  County,  public  attention  was  turned 
to  the  Saxony  Merino,  and  the  owners  of  the  best  flocks  became  anxious 
to  obtain  at  least  a  cross  with  this  blood.  In  1827  they  were  enabled 
to  do  this  through  the  arrival  of  a  large  number  of  Saxons  belong- 
ing to  Henry  D.  Grove,  which  soon  made  the  blood  quite  common. 
Most  of  the  flocks  were  crossed^  but  the  fleeces  were  very  light,  arising 
in  great  measure  from  the  fact  that  the  first  of  these  Saxony  sheep  were 
from  a  poor  lot  sold  at  Brighton,  Mass.  The  next  importation  into  the 
country  was  of  better  sheep,  some  of  the  rams  being  the  heaviest  wooled 
of  any  Saxon  stock  brought  into  the  country.  Grove  rated  his  Saxons 
as  giving  2J  pounds  of  wool,  well  washed  on  the  sheep's  back.  The 
mixed  Saxony  and  Spanish  Merino  gave  a  heavier  fleece,  and  the  weight 
of  a  flock  of  this  kind  for  seven  consecutive  years  is  preserved. 


Year. 

Nambor 
sheared. 

Product. 

Average 
weight 
of  wool 
per  head. 

18*>9 

105 

Pounds. 
313 

Lb».  Ozs. 
3 

1830       .         .                                                 

92 

294 

3        2J 

1831 

114 

425 

3      11| 

1832  

125 

396 

3        2* 

1833 

103 

348 

3        6 

1834  

130 

462 

3        8 

1835 

166 

521 

3        2i 

356        SHEEP  INDUSTRY  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES 

These  were  fed  under  cover,  and  averaged  from  2  ounces  to  a  pound 
more  than  when  fed  in  winter  out  of  doors.  This  cross  was  popular 
with  the  wool- growers  until  1841  to  1843 ;  many  were  reared  and  a  large 
amount  of  wool  was  annually  produced.  But  from  1842  to  1845  a 
change  took  place,  and  flocks  of  2,000  to  3,000,  of  which  there  were 
many  in  the  county,  were  changed  back  to  the  old  Spanish  Merino  by 
the  introduction  of  rams  from  Connecticut  and  Vermont,  and  the  weight 
of  fleece  increased  to  6,  7,  and  8  pounds,  while  the  mixed  Saxon  and 
Spanish  remained  at  3  to  3J,  an  occasional  pure  bred  Saxon  touching 
the  former  figure. 

The  purest  and  best  Saxony  flock  in  the  State  was  that  formed  by 
Henry  P.  Grove,  which,  upon  his  death,  was  sold  at  auction  in  the  fall 
of  1844,  and  realized  an  average  of  $7  per  head.  The  Ohio  portion  of 
the  flock,  kept  in  Medina  County,  was  sold  about  the  same  time  and 
averaged  $9  per  head. 

Saratoga  County  adjoins  Washington,  and  like  it  early  introduced 
the  Merino,  some  of  the  farmers  procuring  their  stock  direct  from  Col. 
Humphreys  and  Chancellor  Livingston.  Silas  Adams,  of  Milton, 
bought  a  pair  of  Col.  Humphreys  at  a  very  early  date,  and  bred  a 
pure  flock  as  late  as  1836.  The  Saxons  crossed  nearly  all  the  flocks, 
and  in  1841  there  were  large  numbers  of  sheep  of  the  mixed  Merinos. 

In  1810  Elam  Tilden,  of  New  Lebanon,  Columbia  County,  purchased 
a  full-blooded  ewe,  and  shortly  after  some  ewes  and  a  ram  of  other  im- 
portations, from  which  stock  sprang  quite  an  extensive  flock  of  full- 
blooded  Merinos,  which,  in  1825  or  1826,  were  crossed  with  the  Saxons. 

In  1811  Spanish  Merinos  were  taken  into  St.  Lawrence  County  by 
David  Ogden,  who  had  purchased  9  ewes  and  1  ram  in  October,  1810, 
for  $1,515,  to  which  were  added  January  14,  1811,  9  ewes  and  a  ram  at 
a  cost  of  $512  and  1  black  ram  at  $150,  and  some  other  sheep  at  lower 
prices. 

The  prices  given  and  received  for  Merino  sheep  in  October,  1813,  in 
the  New  York  City  market,  were:  Escurial  rams,  $300  to  $315,  very 
fine  wool;  Paular  rams,  $50  to  $100,  very  best  quality,-  Paular  rams, 
$23  to  $44,  inferior  and  old;  ram  lambs,  $55,  6  months  old;  half- 
blood  ewes,  $14  to  $18,  fine  wool;  half-blood  ewes,  $12  to  $15,  in- 
ferior; full-blooded  ewes,  $100  to  $123, fine  wool;  full-blooded  rams  and 
ewes  free  from  jarr  or  dog's  hair,  and  whose  pedigree  could  well  be 
authenticated,  uniformly  commanded  good  prices  and  found  ready  sale. 

A  public  sale  on  November  13, 1813,  of  Merino  sheep  from  the  Mount 
Merino  flock  of  Mr.  Wells,  of  Westchester  County,  and  from  the  flock 
of  Judge  Canfield,  of  Sharon,  Conn.,  realized  as  follows: 

Each. 

68  full-blooded  Merino  ewes $127.98 

31  full-blooded  Merino  ewe  lambs 69.  50 

16  full-blooded  Merino  ram  lambs 31. 50 

39  three-fourths  blood  ewes 26. 28 

74  one-half  blood-ewes 10. 50 


EAST    OF    THE    MISSISSIPPI    KIVER.  357 

Although  the  Merinos  were  now  very  numerous  in  the  United  States, 
and  particularly  in  the  vicinity  of  New  York  City,  these  figures  show 
that  they  still  ruled  high,  indicating  the  great  profits  accruing  on  them, 
and  the  consequent  desire  to  possess  them.  This  desire  was  not  con- 
fined to  full-bloods,  and  to  supply  the  demand  for  a  cheaper  animal  with 
fine  wool  the  market  was  reasonably  full  of  one-fourth,  half,  three- 
fourths,  seven-eighths,  fifteen- sixteenths,  and  thirty-one-thirty-seconds 
blooded  sheep,  which  brought  fair  prices  and  went  on  to  farms  where 
it  was  proposed  to  substitute  t^eni  for  common  sheep.  A  common 
method  was  for  a  few  neighboring  farmers  to  buy  each  four  or  five  of 
these  sheep,  and  between  them  a  full-blooded  ram,  and  thus  gradually 
convert  their  flocks.  The  purchase  of  a  half-blood  or  a  three-fourths 
blood  shortened  the  time  by  a  year  or  two  at  not  much  additional  cost. 
This  was  a  method  sometimes  adopted  to  grow  rapidly  the  raw  material 
for  the  support  of  a  woolen  factory,  it  being  found  more  desirable  to 
hasten  the  product  by  buying  half-bloods  than  to  wait  an  additional 
year  by  starting  on  the  common  sheep,  for  the  full-bood  Merinos  were 
not  sufficiently  numerous  to  supply  the  large  demand  of  the  manufac- 
turer. Where  wealth  was  at  command  extensive  and  expensive  arrange- 
ments were  made,  as  may  be  seen  by  this  extract  from  the  New  York 
Gazette,  May  9,  1814: 

We  understand  that  Governor  Tompkins  has  purchased  a  large  tract  of  land  on 
Staten  Island,  which  he  contemplates  inclosing  for  an  immense  sheep-fold  for  the  pur- 
pose of  improving  the  breed  of  Merino  sheep.  The  land  is  high,  intersected  with 
pleasant  valleys.  The  line  commences  in  the  rear  of  the  quarantine  ground  and  takes 
in  all  the  mountains  seen  from  New  York  City.  It  will  cost  $100,000  to  build  a  stone 
wall  around  it. 

If  Governor  Tompkins  seriously  contemplated  what  the  paper  credits 
him  with,  it  is  certain  that  he  never  carried  his  thought  into  execution. 

The  Merinos  on  the  Hudson  were  of  a  superior  quality,  and  the 
recorded  weight  of  many  fleeces  show  a  high  average.  In  June,  1813, 
14  animals  sheared  110  pounds  of  wool;  8  gave  60  pounds  12  ounces, 
one  ram  yielding  13  pounds.  In  June,  1819,  Col.  John  Storm,  of  Fish- 
kill,  sheared  a  full-blooded  Merino  ewe  whose  fleece  weighed  18£  pounds. 
The  ewe  was  4  years  old  and  had  never  before  been  shorn.  The  wool 
was  of  fine  staple  and  from  16  to  18  inches  in  length. 

While  New  York  as  a  State  is  particularly  well  adapted  to  sheep 
breeding,  the  central  portion  and  the  western  are  peculiarly  circum- 
stanced in  that  respect,  possessing  fertile  soil  producing  the  various 
kinds  of  grasses  and  forage  plants.  The  Merinos  soon  found  their  way 
westward  from  the  Hudson  Kiver  counties.  In  1807  N.  Goodsell,  after- 
wards the  editor  of  the  Genesee  Farmer,  procured  a  pair  of  Merinos 
from  Col.  Humphreys  and  drove  them  into  Oneida  County.  With  the 
exception  of  the  Dupont  ram  and  the  Livingston  flock  they  were  the 
first  introduced  into  the  State.  The  Merinos  wrere  also  taken  into 
Oneida  County  in  1818  by  the  Mount  Merino  Association,  organized  by 


358  SHEEP    INDUSTRY    OF    THE    UNITED    STATES 

Dr.  Seth  Capron,  who  was  associated  with  Thomas  K.  Gold,  Newton 
Maun,  Thaddens  B.  Wakeman,  Col.  Jenkins,  and  others.  These  gen- 
tlemen had  a  capital  stock  of  $40,000  invested  with  the  object  of  im- 
porting and  breeding  the  Spanish  Merino  sheep  for  supplying  the 
woolen  mills  which  were  being  constructed  at  that  time  in  that  section 
of  the  State.  Besides  sheep  purchased  of  Livingston  and  some  from 
Humphreys,  others  were  purchased  from  the  several  importations  made 
into  Connecticut  and  Ehode  Island  in  1810-711.  Upwards  of  1,000 
choice  native  ewes  were  secured  and  the  thoroughbred  rams  crossed 
upon  them.  The  sheep  were  bred  and  cared  for  upon  farms  belonging 
to  Dr.  Capron  in  Deerfield,  Oneida  County,  directly  across  the  Mohawk 
River  from  Oriskany,  and  after  the  most  approved  methods.  They 
were  separated  into  flocks  of  100  each.  Good  winter  shelter  was  pro- 
vided for  them  and  every  convenience  for  feeding,  while  the  arrange- 
ments for  care  of  ewes  and  young  lambs  in  the  spring  were  complete. 
In  summer  the  pastures  were  subdivided  to  allow  frequent  changes, 
which  was  considered  to  be  very  important  for  the  health  of  the  stock. 
The  spring  washing  of  the  sheep  before  shearing  took  place  in  the 
Mohawk  Eiver,  and  at  the  shearing  every  regard  was  had  to  exactness 
of  detail.  The  fleeces  were  graded  according  to  fin  en  ess ;  the  qualities 
being  graded  at  full-blood,  seven-eighths,  three-fourths,  and  half. 
It  was  then  rolled,  tagged,  and  sent  to  the  factory  to  be  manufactured 
into  broadcloths,  cassimeres,  and  satinets.  The  value  of  the  wool  was 
from  9  to  10  shillings  per  pound.  Satinets  brought  from  $3.50  to  $7, 
and  broadcloths  from  $10  to  $15  per  yard.  These  prices,  of  course, 
made  the  Mount  Merino  Association  and  factory  paying  institutions, 
and  particularly  so  during  the  continuance  of  the  embargo  and  war  of 
1812.  Biit  the  establishment  of  peace  and  the  opening  of  our  ports  to 
the  introduction  of  foreign  woolens  soon  so  materially  reduced  the  de- 
mand for  domestic  productions  that  the  wool  produced  by  the  associa- 
tion could  find  no  market.  As  a  natural  result  the  manufactory  dis- 
continued its  operations,  and  the  sad  sequel  was  the  killing  of  some 
2,000  costly  sheep  for  their  pelts,  their  fleeces  not  paying  the  cost  of 
keeping.* 

Gen.  John  C.  Ellis  introduced  some  of  the  early  Merinos  into  Onon- 
daga  County,  and  their  blood  remained  in  that  county  as  late  as  1800. 
Tompkins  County  received  them  at  an  early  day,  and  in  1825  extensive 
flocks  were  to  be  found  in  every  township,  but  the  Saxonies,  soon  after 
introduced,  completely  annihilated  them  in  the  course  of  a  few  years. 
In  1809  or  1810  Merino  sheep  were  introduced  into  Niagara  County,  and 
at  Lewiston,  8  miles  below  the  great  falls,  there  was  in  1811  a  domestic 
manufacture  of  their  wool  on  a  small  scale. 

In  1811  Nicholas  Williams,  captain  of  a  merchant  vessel,  on  his  re- 
turn from  Spain,  brought  with  him  six  tall  Negrettis,  which  he  took  to 

*  Register  of  the  New  York  State  American  Merino  Sheep  Breeders'  Association, 
Vol.  1,  1883. 


F.\ST    OF   THE    MISSISSIPPI    RIVER.  359 

•a  County,  where  he  settled  at  Lodi.  In  1815  or  1816  he  removed 
1 « »  what  is  now  the  adjoining  county  of  Schuyler,  and  Robert  Herty 
purchased  from  him  a  ram  whose  fleece  weighed  14  pounds.  Several 
colonies  sprang  from  this  Negretti  flock  and  the  blood  was  generally  dis- 
seminated throughout  Seneca  and  Tompkins  counties.  In  1811  Col. 
Troup,  agent  of  the  parties  connected  with  the  Holland  purchase,  sent 
four  Merino  rams  for  the  use  of  the  settlement  at  Geneva,  Seneca  Lake. 

James  Wadsworth  took  a  Livingston  ram,  for  which  he  paid  $1,000, 
to  Ontario  County  as  early  as  1808,  and  General  Wadsworth  founded  a 
flock  in  Genesee  County,  from  which  L.  A.  Morell  commenced  his  flock 
of  500  sheep,  the  half  from  the  Wadsworth  flock  and  half  from  the  best 
common  sheep  he  could  procure. 

Humphrey  Howland,  of  Aurora,  Cayuga  County,  laid  the  foundation 
of  a  Spanish  Merino  flock  in.  1824  or  1825,  that  up  to  1850  averaged 
2,000  in  number.  The  soil  of  his  farm  was  a  rich,  calcareous  loam,  pro- 
ducing good  crops  of  wheat,  corn,  and  grass.  The  statement  made  by 
him  in  1850  regarding  his  flock  is  of  interest.  For  eight  years,  or  up 
to  1832,  he  bred  the  Spanish  Merino  pure,  then  he  crossed  with  the 
Saxon.  The  cost  per  pound  for  growing  fine  Saxon  wool  was  about  28 
cents,  and  the  average  weight  of  the  fleece  was  2 J  pounds.  The  cost 
of  growing  Spanish  Merino  wool  was  22  cents  per  pound,  and  the  aver- 
age of  the  fleece  4  pounds.  The  Saxon  wool  sold  at  38  cents,  and  the 
Spanish  Merino  wool  at  31  cents.  It  was  not  any  more,  if  as  much,  ex- 
pense to  raise  Spanish  Merino  wool  per  pound  as  to  raise  common 
coarse  wool.  The  Saxon  Merino  wool  was  much  the  finest,  but  the 
animal  did  not  have  the  constitution  of  the  Spanish  Merino.  The  weth- 
ers of  the  latter  were  worth  50  per  cent  more  than  the  Saxon,  and  were 
nearly  equal  to  Southdown  for  mutton.  His  flock  was  then  fine 
Saxon,  but  he  was  crossing  them  with  the  Spanish  Merino,  such  as  he 
first  kept.  One  ton  of  hay  produced  28  pounds  of  Saxon  wool,  or  36 
pounds  of  Spanish  Merino  wool,  and  one  ton  was  sufficient  for  11  Saxons 
or  9  Spanish  Merinos  during  seventeen  weeks  of  winter  foddering. 
The  Spanish  Merinos  would  eat  coarser  provender  than  the  Saxons, 
and  were  rather  more  profitable  than  the  latter,  and  40  per  cent  more 
profitable  than  such  sheep  as  were  common  in  the  State  previous  to 
the  introduction  of  Merinos.  The  proportion  of  lambs  annually  reared, 
to  the  number  of  ewes,  was,  of  Saxon  Merino,  40  per  cent,  of  Spanish 
Merino  60  per  cent,  if  they  had  lambs  at  2  years  of  age. 

On  the  slight  revival  in  wool-growing  between  1820  and  1830  some 
fine  flocks  were  formed,  some  of  which  have  been  perpetuated  to  the 
present  day.  About  1822  John  Johnston,  of  Geneva,  purchased  about 
500  Merinos  from  Hon.  E.  S.  Rose,  then  a  noted  breeder  of  Seneca 
County.  In  1823  a  Mr.  Hoppin,  of  Madison  County,  brought  from 
Berkshire  County,  Mass.,  4  full-blooded  Merino  rams,  and  the  next  year 
5  rams  from  Hinsdale,  Mass.,  and  12  from  the  fine  flocks  of  Pittsfield. 
In  1824  Josiah  Short,  of  Hemlock  Lake,  Livingston  County,  began  a 


360        SHEEP  INDUSTRY  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES 

flock  by  the  purchase  of  a  ram  lamb  and  10  ewes  of  Horace  Gilbert,  of 
Bichniond,  brought  from  Rhode  Island  the  preceding  year.  The  flock 
descended  to  J.  0.  Short,  and  still  exists,  and  has  a  most  excellent 
record  for  fine  wool  and  heavy  fleeces.  In  1825  Edward  Swan,  Honeoye, 
Ontario  County,  had  presented  him  a  pair  of  pure-bred  Merinos,  a  ram 
and  ewe,  from  a  choice  Long  Island  flock.  They  were  bred  in-and-in 
for  fifteen  years,  when  a  Rich  ram  was  used  in  the  flock,  and  after  this 
other  rams  from  noted  flocks.  In  1825  E.  Kirby,  of  Brownville,  Jeffer- 
son county,  formed  a  flock  by  the  purchase  of  500  high-grade  Merinos 
and  by  subsequent  additions,  which  he  endeavored  to  improve  by  the 
infusion  of  Saxon  blood.  He  soon  repented  this  experiment,  and  pur- 
chased ranis  of  D.  C.  Collins  and  Jacob  N.  Blakeslee,  and  began  in 
1842  to  breed  back  to  the  Spanish  Merino.  Reed  Burritt  began  a  flock 
of  Jarvis  Merinos,  crossed  with  the  Saxons,  in  1825  and  1826,  and  soon 
found  he  had  a  flock  of  tender  sheep  and  light  shearers.  Twenty-five 
per  cent  of  lambs  were  lost.  In  1835  he  removed  to  western  New  York, 
abandoned  the  Saxonies,  and  built  up  a  new  Merino  flock,  purchasing 
Spanish  Merinos  of  Stephen  Atwood,  Connecticut,  and  W.  R.  Sanford, 
Vermont.  Subsequently  he  purchased  rams  and  ewes  of  S.  W.  Jewett 
and  John  T.  Rich  and  built  up  a  flock  second  to  none  in  the  State,  and 
from  which  many  have  drawn  their  best  blood,  and  some  of  the  Wis- 
consin flocks  owe  their  excellence  to  a  few  taken  there  in  1846,  1850, 
and  1853.  Another  flock,  formed  before  1830,  was  that  of  Mr.  Walker, 
De  Ruyter,  Madison  County,  which  was  a  Jarvis  flock.  Matthias 
Hutchinson,  of  Kings  Ferry,  was  an  early  purchaser  from  Mr.  Walker, 
and  formed  a  flock  of  300  to  500  Merinos,  good  sized  and  strong  con- 
stitutioned.  From  the  Hutchinson  flock  Mr.  S.  N.  Franklin  in  1835  pur- 
chased 25  ewes  and  bred  to  Vermont  rams.  In  1883  this  flock  numbered 
5  rams  and  68  ewes.  A  branch  of  this  flock  is  that  of  Spencer  D.  Short, 
of  Honeoye,  who  purchased  from  stock  raised  by  Mr.  Franklin.  Henry 
S.  Randall  procured  a  pure  flock  of  Humphreys  sheep  in  his  boyhood 
days,  and  bred  them  pure  and  distinct  from  sheep  of  other  importa- 
tions for  several  years.  Later  in  life  he  drew  rams  from  Vermont  and 
elsewhere,  and  mixed  different  strains  of  American  Merino  blood. 
There  were  many  others  who,  from  1820  to  1840,  formed  flocks,  prin- 
cipally by  purchases  in  Vermont,  but  the  information  concerning  them 
is  meager  and  unsatisfactory,  and  they  have  ceased  to  exist,  leaving 
no  history. 

The  New  York  Merino  Register  states  that  few,  if  any,  flocks  appear- 
ing in  it  were  established  earlier  than  1860.  This  Register  for  1883, 
however,  directs  special  attention  to  the  great  care  bestowed  upon 
their  flocks  by  many  of  the  New  York  breeders  that  enabled  them  to 
trace  the  individual  pedigree  of  each  sheep  through  several  generations 
to  the  various  purchases  which  form  the  foundation  of  flocks.  Most  of 
the  New  York  flocks  trace  their  ancestry  to  Vermont  and  Connecticut, 
and  New  York  now  claims  a  considerable  share  in  the  honors  accruing 


EAST    OF    THE  MISSISSIPPI   RIVER.  361 

to  breeders  for  the  great  triumph  in  slieep-br ceding  during  the  last 
thirty  years.  They  have  kept  abreast  the  march  of  improvement  where 
they  have  not  led,  and  challenge  inspection  of  their  flocks  to  prove  their 
assertion  that  for  fine  wool  growing  they  stand  second  to  no  stud  flocks 
of  the  country.  They  also  call  attention  to  the  fact  that  when,  a  few 
years  since,  the  Japanese  Government  sought  to  improve  its  live  stock, 
the  selection  of  Merinos  was  made  from  New  York,  principally  from 
the  flock  of  J.  J.  Brainard. 

Before  the  introduction  of  the  Merino  sheep  by  Chancellor  Living- 
ston and  the  effort  he  made  to  desseminate  them,  very  fittle  attention 
had  been  paid  in  New  York  to  sheep  of  any  kind.  But  the  introduc- 
tion of  this  improved  sheep  was  the  turning  point  in  the  sheep  hus- 
bandry of  the  State,  and  we  may  add,  of  the  nation.  At  first  they  were 
held  so  high  and  wool  was  so  low  that  it  was  difficult  to  incite  interest 
in  them,  but  when  wool  rose  in  price  and  the  numerous  importations  of 
1810  and  1811  brought  the  sheep  down  from  $1,000  and  even  $1,500  to 
$10,  many  farmers  sought  them  and  were  enabled  to  get  them,  either  in 
full  or  on  shares.  Large  flocks  were  sent  into  the  interior  on  specula- 
tion by  the  importers,  and  they  became  generally  diffused  over  the 
State.  But  when  prices  fell  so  low,  notwithstanding  that  fine  wool 
always  maintained  its  value  equal  to,  if  not  better  than,  any  other  agri- 
cultural production,  the  speculative  holders  and  dealers  of  the  Merinos 
lost  interest  in  them;  consequently,  many  large  flocks  were  broken  up 
and  destroyed.  Some  of  the  animals  fell  into  the  hands  of  small  hold- 
ers, some  were  allowed  to  cross  on  common  sheep,  while  others  went 
to  the  butchers  or  to  the  hogs.  Such,  in  brief,  was  the  history  of  the 
Merino  sheep  in  New  York,  as  well  as  other  States,  which,  in  1809  and 
early  in  1810,  were  valued  from  $800  to  $1,500  each,  and  which  were 
freely  sold  for  $1  each  in  1815.  Notwithstanding  the  great  losses  suf- 
fered by  some,  mostly  speculators,  fortunately,  the  introduction  of  the 
Merino  sheep  into  New  York  was  of  vast  importance  and  bestowed 
upon  her  substantial  and  inestimable  benefits.  Over  and  above  the 
intrinsic  value  was  the  attention  it  drew  from  the  farmers  to  sheep 
husbandry,  which  is  undeniably  the  foundation  of  all  good  farming. 

It  can  not,  however,  be  maintained  that  prior  to  the  advent  of  the 
Mei  ino  sheep  we  had  any  system  of  sheep  husbandry,  nor  did  we  have 
much  to  speak  of  until  many  years  later.  In  New  York,  especially, 
which  raised  in  1820  about  one-fourth  of  the  sheep  of  the  United  States, 
this  branch  of  rural  economy,  perhaps  of  more  importance  than  any 
other  to  the  State,  was  sadly  neglected.  With  a  few  rare  exceptions, 
near  the  large  cities  or  where  the  farmers  still  clung  to  a  few  Merino 
sheep,  the  farmer  had  from  twenty  to  fifty  mongrel  animals  living  at 
large  upon  the  hundred  acres  of  his  farm,  breeding  promiscuously  from 
their  own  wretched  progeny  and  yielding  a  scanty  return  of  perhaps 
i*  pounds  of  indifferent  wool  per  annum  a  head ;  whilst  to  put  all  chance 
of  improvement  at  the  greatest  possible  distance  the  best  lambs  were 


362        SHEEP  INDUSTRY  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES 

drawn  from  tlie  Hock  to  raise  a  little  money,  and  tlie  ewes  which  got 
fat  earliest  in  the  fall,  and  which  were  the  ones  that  ought  to  have 
been  kept  for  breeding,  were  turned  off  to  the  drover  as  though  any- 
thing that  was  alive  would  do  to  keep  over  to  replenish  the  stock.* 

It  was  thought  susceptible  of  demonstration  that  at  least  $5,000,000 
were  annually  lost  to  the  State  by  persevering  in  a  breed  of  sheep  which 
had  nothing  to  recommend  it.  With  very  few  exceptions  this  was  the 
case  in  the  other  States,  for  they  had  none  of  the  improved  pure  breeds 
anywhere,  although  as  shown  in  a  preceding  chapter  some  were  known 
in  New  Jersey  and  Pennsylvania  as  late  as  1810  to  1815,  and  in  1820 
Delaware,  Pennsylvania,  and  New  Jersey  had  a  limited  number  of  the 
mixed  Leicester,  and  K.  K.  Meade  was  raising  good  sheep  in  Virginia. 
But  in  general,  a  farmer  possessed  of  100  acres  would  own — for  it  could 
be  scarce  called  keeping — from  20  to  50  mongrel  sheep,  with  the  wool  off 
half  their  backs;  but  they  would  yield  him  as  much  wool  as  was  wanted 
for  domestic  uses,  and  they  gave  but  little  trouble,  going  into  the  neigh- 
bor's field  at  pleasure  during  the  summer,  and  running  in  the  barn- 
yard with  the  rest  of  the  stock  during  the  winter.  As  these  sheep 
lived  on  next  to  nothing  they  were  owned  as  a  mere  convenience,  sup- 
posed to  cost  little  or  nothing  to  maintain,  and  were  placed  at  the  very 
tail  end  of  the  economy  of  the  farm. 

The  collapse  of  the  woolen  manufacture  from  1815  to  1820  still  further 
mixed  the  breeds  of  sheep.  Wool  being  then  of  no  consideration, 
flocks  were  not  kept  distinct,  and  every  existing  mixed  breed  was 
crossed  and  recrossed  in  every  conceivable  manner  and  with  every  con- 
ceivable result,  to  the  great  degeneration  of  all,  for  while  the  Merino 
cross  improved  the  wool  of  the  progeny  it  injured  the  mutton,  if  such 
a  thing  were  possible,  with  the  most  of  them.  It  was  charged  that  the 
Merino  injured  the  common  sheep.  But  the  Merino  soon  disappeared 
from  most  farms,  either  by  being  slaughtered  outright,  sold  for  a  song, 
or  gradually  converted  into  a  long-wooled  sheep.  In  the  vicinity  of 
large  cities  the  latter  course  was  occasionally  pursued,  and  an  instance 
is  cited. 

One  of  the  early  and  successful  breeders  of  the  Merino  was  G.  W. 
Feather stonhaugh,  of  New  York.  He  pursued  the  business  with  great 
zeal  until  1818,  when,  after  taking  into  consideration  everything  con- 
nected with  their  profits  and  those  which  they  might  yield  ten  years 
hence,  he  came  to  the  conclusion  which  he  had  been  anticipating  some 
time,  and  parted  with  every  Merino  ram  that  he  owned.  The  reasons, 
however,  which  caused  this  determination  were  principally  applicable 
to  those  who,  being  favorably  situated  as  to  the  best  markets  in  the 
State,  looked  to  carcass  as  a  great  source  of  the  profit  to  be  derived 
from  sheep  husbandry.  The  Merinos  then  having  fallen  in  price  to  a 
level  with  the  common  sheep  of  the  country,  there  was  an  end  to  every 
expectation  of  that  branch  of  profit  which  had  induced  most  purchasers 

'Memoirs  of  the  Board  of  Agriculture  of  New  York,  1821. 


EAST    OF    THE    MISSISSIPPI    RIVER.  3()3 

to  go  into  this  hm-d,  viz,  the  disposing  of  surplus  stock  at  from  *1() 
to  *i'0  a  head.  And,  if  that  expectation  had  not  been  entertained  at 
first,  he  apprehended  these  sheep  would  have  made  very  little  progress 
in  the  country.  The  only  ad  vantage  the  Merino  then  possessed  over 
the  common  sheep  of  the  country  was  the  higher  price  of  the  wool 
which  its  superior  fineness  always  insured  it. 

Upon  reviewing  the  facts  which  had  transpired  connected  with  his 
Merino  flocks  up  to  1818,  and  which  had  been  carefully  observed,  he 
became  satisfied  that  after  washing  the  wool  well  on  their  backs,  remov- 
ing everything  like  dirt  from  the  fleeces  and  sending  it  perfectly  dry  to 
market,  all  of  which  precautions  were  found  necessary  to  secure  respect- 
able purchasers,  the  average  weight  of  the  fleece  did  not  exceed  2£ 
pounds  of  wool,  which,  sold  at  70  cents  (a  high  average  price),  would 
make  the  wool  of  each  sheep  amount  to  $1.75  a  head  per  annum.  A 
well-regulated  flock  of  sheep  increases  so  fast  that  it  is  necessary  to 
keep  it  down,  by  thinning  off  annually  to  that  number  which  the  farm 
has  the  steady  ability  to  keep  in  good  order  >  which  is  usually  done  by 
selling  on  foot  in  the  fall,  or  by  butchering  and  sending  the  carcass  to 
market.  The  last  resource  is  an  indifferent  one  for  a  large  farmer. 
The  Merino  being  a  small  animal,  not  exceeding,  in  1818,  8  pounds 
to  the  quarter,  when  grass-fed  in  November  did  not  look  well  along- 
side of  other  mutton ;  besides,  there  was  a  great  prejudice  against  it, 
and  nothing  could  be  more  troublesome  than  disposing  of  a  large 
quantity  of  these  sheep,  in  this  mode,  at  a  time  of  year  when  days  are 
short  and  bad  weather  common.  The  other  method  was  the  most 
prompt  and  least  disadvantageous.  It  being  to  the  farmer's  interest  to 
keep  young  stock  on  hand,  that  which  was  matured  was  disposed  of. 
A  sheep  which  had  given  six  fleeces  was  a  proper  subject  to  turn  off, 
and  it  was  considered  that  a  flock  of  store  Merino  sheep  at  that  age 
were  well  sold  at  $1.50  per  head.  Beyond  that  age  the  productiveness 
of  these  sheep  when  kept  in  quantities  was  past,  for  they  failed  very 
rapidly  and  their  fleeces  declined  greatly  in  value.  It  was  assumed 
then  that  the  productive  part  of  the  life  of  the  Merino  was  compre- 
hended within  the  first  six  years  and  six  months,  and  if  then  sold, 
according  to  the  foregoing  statement,  six  fleeces,  at  $1.75  each,  and  the 
sale  of  the  animal  at  $1.50,  would  give  $12  for  the  intrinsic  value  dur- 
ing its  whole  life. 

From  this  sum  must  be  deducted  the  charge  of  maintaining  the  ani- 
mal during  that  period  of  more  than  six  years.  The  winters  in  New 
York  average  about  one  hundred  and  thirty-five  days  of  foddering,  and 
actual  experiment  showed  that  seven  healthy  sheep  during  that  time 
would  eat  a  ton  of  hay,  then  valued  at  $7,  leaving  each  sheep  charged 
with  $1  ahead  for  wintering,  independent  of  all  the  incidental  expenses 
of  attendance,  fencing,  expense  of  seeding  down  the  land  and  other 
known  incidentals,  which  would  always  bring  an  additional  charge  of 
50  cents  a  head  against  them.  Deduct  then  these  two  charges  of  $1.50 


364        SHEEP  INDUSTRY  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES 

armually  for  six  years  and  $3  would  be  left  as  the  net  profit  upon  each 
sheep  for  a  period  of  six  years,  or  50  cents  a  year  net  profit.  It  can  not 
be  doubted  that  the  experience  of  every  breeder  at  that  time,  similarly 
situated,  was  of  the  same  character.  From  which  it  would  appear  that 
a  flock  of  1,000  Merino  sheep  gave  a  return  of  only  $500  per  annum  to  the 
owner,  net  profit,  which  was  a  very  inconsiderable  sum,  in  view  of 
the  rent,  risk,  and  anxious  personal  attention.  These  conclusions  were 
familiar  to  our  authority  long  before  he  had  the  courage  to  determine 
upon  encountering  the  forbidden  task  of  remodeling  a  large  flock  of 
sheep,  and  of  changing  a  breed  to  which  he  was  partial  from  the  fine- 
ness of  its  wool,  and  from  the  remembrance  of  the  great  value  it  bore 
when  he  first  engaged  in  it.  No  one  but  an  extensive  practical  farmer 
can  form  an  idea  of  the  labor,  care,  and  strict  attention  attending  such 
an  operation,  particularly  where  the  new  breed  itself  was  yet  to  be 
created.  It  was  obvious,  however,  that  the  great  defect  in  the  Merino 
sheep,  as  concerned  those  near  New  York  City  or  other  large  markets, 
was  in  the  want  of  carcass.  The  object  then  was  to  raise  a  breed  of 
sheep  with  a  sufficient  weight  of  carcass  to  insure  the  best  prices  in  the 
large  markets,  and  to  have  the  wool  of  a  sufficient  degree  of  fineness  to 
insure  a  prompt  sale.  Attention  was  turned,  therefore,  to  the  New 
Leicester  sheep,  remarkable  for  its  weight  of  carcass  and  fleece,  and  to 
the  Southdowns,  a  breed  celebrated  for  a  fine  carcass  with  a  moderate 
fleece  of  fine  wool.  But  all  attempts  to  procure  these  sheep  from 
England  failed,  from  the  rigor  of  the  laws  which  prevented  their  ex- 
portation. Eecourse  was  then  had  to  another  breed  which,  by  a  happy 
accident,  had  been  introduced  into  the  State  of  New  York.  They  were 
mixed  Leicester  and  Teeswater,  were  only  three  in  number  on  their  ar- 
rival, but  they  fell  into  the  hands  of  persons  who  knew  their  value,  and 
had  been  judiciously  and  successfully  increased  in  number.  These 
sheep  at  a  ripe  age,  rising  three  years,  weighed  from  25  to  30  pounds  a 
quarter.  The  mutton  was  extremely  fat,  and  by  high  feeding  could  be 
carried  to  40  and  50  pounds.  The  fleece  was  rather  coarse,  but  clipped 
7  to  12  pounds  when  in  condition,  and  was  sometimes  carried  so  high 
in  Great  Britain  that  entire  flocks  averaged  12  pounds  per  head.  When 
breeders  turned  their  attention  to  increasing  the  fleece  the  amount  car- 
ried by  these  sheep  was  almost  incredible. 

But  these  mixed  Liecester  and  Teeswater  sheep  were  so  few  in  num- 
ber and  held  so  high  that  it  was  impracticable  to  adopt  them ;  it  would 
have  been  an  endless  task  to  await  the  time  required  to  form  a  large 
flock,  and  besides  the  wool  was  very  coarse  and  not  fitted  for  any  sort 
of  manufactures  then  prevailing.  And  the  most  experienced  butchers 
admitted  that  the  high  prices  given  for  some  of  these  sheep  was  prin- 
cipally on  account  of  the  novelty  of  the  breed,  and  to  encourage  the 
holders;  but  that  mutton  of  25  pounds  a  quarter  was  riot  likely  to  pre- 
vail in  our  markets,  being  too  gross  for  genteel  tables,  and  would  prob- 
ably never  become  a  staple  commodity  among  the  laboring  classes,  who 


EAST    OF    THR  MISSISSIPPI   RIVER.  365 

were  accustomed  to  pork,  while  in  Great  Britain  those  classes  fed 
entirely  upon  fat  mutton.  The  butchers  almost  all  agreed  that  mutton 
from  15  to  20  pounds  a  quarter  would  be  more  profitable  to  the  grower 
as  well  as  the  retailer.  . 

Satisfied  with  this  reasoning,  Mr.  Featherstonhaugh  determined  at 
once  to  procure  some  of  the  finest  rams  of  the  mixed  Leicester  and  Tees- 
water  breed  and  couple  them  with  his  Merino  ewes.  In  this  manner  he 
hoped  to  raise  the  carcass  of  his  flock  from  8  pounds  to  18  pounds  a 
quarter,  and  still  have  a  quality  of  wool  on  hand  sufficiently  fine  to  com- 
mand a  ready  sale — a  sort  of  half-Leicester,  half- Merino  wool.  Accord- 
ingly, in  the  fall  of  1819,  he  selected  200  very  fine  Merino  ewes  and  had 
them  tupped  by  some  heavy  English  rams  with  moderate  fleeces.  The 
ewes  lambed  in  March,  and  from  the  first  the  lambs  were  very  much 
like  their  sires.  The  lambs  increased  in  size  the  next  summer  far 
beyond  the  Merino  lambs  which  had  been  dropped  at  the  same  time.  In 
October  most  of  them  were  even  heavier  than  their  mothers,  having  car- 
casses from  30  to  40  pounds.  The  next  shearing  time  they  averaged  4 
pounds  of  wool  a  head,  and  among  many  of  the  best  of  them  5  pounds, 
clean  washed  on  the  back.  The  wool  was  equal  to  what  was  called 
average  half-blood  Merino  wool,  some  much  finer.  It  was  all  sold  im- 
mediately for  50  cents  a  pound.  This  experiment  was  so  satisfactory 
that  the  whole  of  the  Merino  rams  were  discarded  and  the  breeding  was 
done  entirely  from  the  best  English  rams  obtainable.  The  ewe  lambs 
dropped  from  this  cross  in  1820  had  attained  a  fine  growth  in  the  fall  of 
1821,  and  in  the  spring  of  1822  produced  a  crop  of  lambs  three-fourths 
blood  which,  in  November,  1822,  were  equally  admirable  for  their  size 
and  even  fineness  of  their  fleece.  The  experience  already  gained  led  to 
the  belief  that  a  breed  could  be  established  that  would  be  invaluable, 
yielding  at  three  years  of  age  16  to  20  pounds  to  the  quarter,  and  6  or 
7  pounds  of  wool  of  a  long  staple  and  equal  in  fineness  to  the  ordinary 
half-blood  Merino. 

But  not  many  farmers  had  the  intelligence  and  means  to  convert  a 
flock,  and  but  few  had  the  patience.  Most  farmers  want  their  sheep 
made  to  hand  with  as  little  trouble  to  themselves  as  possible.  Besides, 
but  few  sheep  could  be  obtained  from  which  to  breed.  The  possession 
of  breeding  stocks  became  a  necessity.  There  was  an  earnest  demand 
for  long-wooled  sheep  in  New  York  and  throughout  the  Middle  States 
and  Virginia.  As  early  as  1810  the  Alexandria  (Ya.)  Gazette  criticised 
the  mania  for  Merino  sheep  as  likely  to  lead  to  the  neglect  of  the  com-  • 
mon  or  long-wooled  sheep,  which  were  needed  for  mutton  and  to  fur- 
nish wool  for  the  coarser  manufactures,  blankets  and  worsted,  and  at 
this  time  and  subsequent  thereto  attention  was  called  to  the  necessity 
of  improving  our  common  sheep,  so  called,  both  by  careful  selection  and 
breeding  and  the  importation,  when  practicable,  of  new  blood 5  and 
that  while  our  wool  had  been  greatly  improved  by  the  Merino  and 
crosses  of  it  what  was  wanted  was  the  Lincolnshire  and  Leicester  for 


366  SHEEP    INDUSTRY    OF    THE    UNITED    STATES 

blankets.  In  New  England  it  was  the  same — the  manufacturers  wanted 
good  combing  wool,  and  it  was  very  hard  to  find.  One  reason  there  was 
why  the  Merino  breed  had  so  monopolized  the  public  attention  that  all 
other  breeds  had  been  allowed  to  run  together;  none  were  kept  pure, 
and  the  wool  was  badly  mixed. 

The  first  well-established  Leicester  flock  in  New  York  is  said  to  have 
been  kept  by  Christopher  Dunn,  near  Albany.  Previous  to  the  war  of 
1812  some  ewes  and  a  ram  were  smuggled  from  England  by  a  Mr.  Lax, 
of  Long  Island,  and  sold  to  Mr.  Dunn.  During  the  war  of  1812  some 
very  superior  Leicester  sheep,  destined  for  Canada,  were  captured  by 
an  American  privateer,  sent  into  New  York,  and  sold  at  auction.  Mr. 
Dunn  bought  one  of  the  rams  at  a  very  high  price.  He  added  fresh 
importations  and  selections  and  established  a  superior  flock,  which  was 
kept  up  many  years.  In  1826  John  S.  Skinner  imported  a  ram  and  two 
ewes  of  the  New  Leicester  breed,  and  their  weights  have  been  pre- 
served, as  follows:  180 J,  171,  and  161  pounds.  In  1831  D.  Stockdale, 
of  Murray,  Orleans  County,  brought  with  him  from  England  one  ram 
and  three  ewes  of  the  purest  Leicester  blood.  In  1835  John  Baker,  ot 
Wayne  County,  imported  two  rams  and  four  ewes  from  the  best  Eng- 
lish flocks,  and  William  Hallock  &  Bros.,  of  Ulster  County,  were  the 
owners  of  a  fine  Leicester  flock.  Mr.  Adcock,  of  Gilberts ville,  had  a 
flock  of  Cotswolds  and  Leicesters  in  1836,  and  Mr.  C.  Dunn  had  also 
added  some  Cotswolds  to  his  Leicester  flock.  By  1837  the  Leicester 
was  found  in  almost  every  section  of  the  State,  and  their  mutton  was 
seen  every  spring  in  the  city  markets,  where  it  surpassed  all  others  for 
fatness. 

But  as  early  as  1836  the  Leicester  and  Cotswold  were  so  crossed  and 
mingled  in  most  flocks  that,  except  to  the  practiced  eye,  the  distinc- 
tion between  the  two  was  lost.  Some  of  the  best  flocks  were  those  of 
Mr.  Dunn  and  Mr.  Wilkinson,  of  Albany  County,  Mr.  Adcock,  of  Gil- 
bertsville,  and  Mr.  Clark,  of  Otsego,  all  of  whom  gave  much  attention 
to  the  Leicester.  The  average  product  of  their  wool  was  5  to  6  pounds, 
though  individuals  were  found  carrying  fleeces  of  10  and  12  pounds. 
Mr.  Dunn  crossed  the  most  of  his  flock  with  the  Cotswold  in  1834, 1835, 
1836,  and  1837,  to  improve  the  fleece  and  increase  the  size.  His  Cots- 
wold ram  was  imported  in  1832,  and  was  perhaps  then  the  largest  sheet) 
in  the  country,  weighing  250  pounds,  and  giving  at  one  shearing  15£ 
pounds  of  wool  14J  inches  long.  The  cross  of  this  ram  on  his  Leicester 
flock  increased  the  yield  of  wool  one-fourth.  Mr,  Cowlen,  of  Cortland 
County,  imported  some  superior  Leicesters,  and  in  1839  had  a  yearling 
ram  which  gave  10J  pounds  of  wool,  and  from  20  ewes  he  sheared  145 
pounds  of  clean  wool,  or  7£  pounds  per  head.  Ten  yearling  rams  gave 
him  97  pounds. 

The  Leicester  sheep  spread  rapidly  through  the  State,  by  sale  and 
by  the  various  crosses,  and  commanded  good  prices.  At  Rochester,  in 
March,  1835,  ram  lambs  1  year  old  and  under  sold  from  $25  to  $50 ; 


EAST    OF    THE    MISSISSIPPI   RIVER.  367 

rams  more  than  1  year  old  sold  from  $50  to  $100,  and  ewe  lambs  $20  to 
*30.  Southdown  sheep  were  somewhat  lower,  while  the  Saxony  and 
Spanish  Merinos  and  other  fine-wooled  sheep  sold  from  $25  to  $50. 

Some  of  these  early  Leicesters  sold  to  the  butchers  for  $20  each.  Six 
furnished  from  the  flock  of  Mr.  Dunn  when  butchered  weighed  810 
pounds,  an  average  of  135  pounds,  and  one  fattened  by  Hallocks  Bros., 
when  killed  in  1834  for  the  Poughkeepsie  market,  dressed  148  pounds. 

Mr.  John  Wilkinson,  of  Duanesburg,  sheared  an  average  of  over  6 
pounds  of  wool  per  head  from  his  Leicestershire  flock,  and  in  1837  Mr. 
Dunn  sheared  10  yearling  rams,  a  cross  of  the  Cotswold  on  the  Leices- 
ter, of  100J  pounds  of  wool. 

But  the  Leicester  breed  of  sheep  never  proved  a  great  favorite  with 
a  large  class  of  the  New  York  farmers.  The  long,  cold  winters,  but 
more  especially  the  dry,  scorching  summers,  when  it  was  often  difficult 
to  obtain  the  green  tender  food  in  which  it  delighted,  together  with  the 
general  deprivation  of  green  food  and  roots  in  the  winter,  robbed  it  of 
its  early  maturity,  and  even  of  the  size  which  it  attained  in  England. 

In  1823  Sidney  Hawes  imported  some  Southdowns,  of  which  he  sold 
36  ewes,  2  rams,  and  10  2-year  old  wethers  to  C.  N,  Bement,  of  Albany. 
Mr.  Bement  maintained  his  flock  many  years,  and  in  1836  had  also  a 
flock  of  good  and  well-descended  Hampshire  Downs.  'In  1834  Francis 
Botch,  of  Butternuts,  Otsego  County,  imported  6  Southdown  ewes  and 
1  ram  from  the  famous  English  flock  of  John  Ellman.  The  ewes  aver- 
aged 4  pounds  of  wool  each,  but  it  was  for  their  unrivaled  mutton  that 
they  were  esteemed  and  became  such  great  favorites  throughout  the 
State  and  the  United  States.  In  1835  James  Bagg,  of  Orange  County, 
began  importing  Southdowns,  and  continued  it  for  many  years,  select- 
ing from  the  best  flocks  in  Sussex,  and  disposing  of  his  increase  to  every 
section  of  the  State.  In  1837  and  1838  Mr.  E.  P.  Prentice,  Mount  Hope, 
near  Albany,  imported  some  sheep  from  the  flock  of  John  Ellman. 
These,  with  some  Cotswolds,  were  sold  to  J.  D.  Mclntyre,  of  Albany, 
in  1841,  who  had  at  that  time  as  select  a  flock  as  any  in  the  country. 
It  numbered  64  Southdowns  and  Cotswolds  and  crosses.  His  South- 
down fleeces  averaged  4J  pounds  clean  wool,  and  his  Cotswold  fleeces 
7j  pounds.  Mr.  Botch,  of  Otsego,  continued  his  importations  from  the 
flocks  of  Jonas  Webb,  the  Duke  of  Richmond,  and  the  Ellmans,  until  it 
became  the  bestinthe  Union.  Heimported  also  for  others,  amongwhoin 
were  Bishop  Meade  and  Mr.  Stevenson,  of  Virginia.  An  importation  of 
1  ram  and  2  ewes  for  the  former  and  the  same  number  for  the  latter 
was  made  in  1841,  and  the  weight  of  the  rams  were  noted.  Bishop 
Meade's  10-months-old  ram  weighed  248  pounds;  Mr.  Stevenson's,  254 
pounds ;  and  a  6-monthsram  lamb,  bought  by  Mr.  Botch  for  his  own  flock, 
weighed  152  pounds.  These  were  from  Jonas  Webb's  flock,  whose 
whole  flock  sheared  an  average  of  6i|  pounds  each,  the  rams  yielding 
from  9  to  11  pounds. 


368        SHEEP  INDUSTRY  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES 

The  Cotswold  sheep  began  to  attract  attention  about  1832,  in  which 
year  Mr.  0.  Dunn  imported  a  ram  to  cross  on  the  Leicester.  Up  to  1837 
they  were  but  little  known  in  the  State.  In  1840  William  H.  Sotham 
imported  19,  for  which  he  paid  $110  each,  and  in  the  same  year  Erastus 
Corning  and  Mr.  Sotham  imported  25  sheep,  a  cross  of  the  Cotswold 
and  Bakewell,  and  said  to  have  been  as  fine  animals  of  the  kind  as  were 
ever  imported.  These  were  from  the  flock  of  Mr.  Hewer,  Northleach, 
Gloucestershire,  from  which  another  importation  of  50  to  70  head  was 
made  in  the  fall  of  1840.  Justus  C.  Haviland,  of  Duchess  County,  began 
the  breeding  of  the  Cotswold  in  1836  and  continued  it  many  years. 

The  Cotswold  sheep  are  natives  of  low  calcareous  hills,  running  through 
the  eastern  side  of  Gloucestershire,  England,  in  a  direction  from  south- 
west to  northeast.  In  Gloucestershire  these  hills  are  of  moderate  eleva- 
tion, not  fertile,  yet  capable  of  cultivation,  and  yielding  in  the  natural 
state  a  short  sweet  herbage.  It  was  formerly  a  range  of  bleak  wastes 
employed  in  the  pasturage  of  sheep,  and  much  of  it  was  in  the  state  of 
common;  but  with1  the  progress  of  the  last  century  the  commons  were 
appropriated  and  cultivation  was  extended.  These  hills  were  called 
the  Cotswold,  from  the  practice  in  early  times  of  protecting  the  sheep 
during  winter  in  long  ranges  of  buildings,  three  or  four  stories  high, 
with  low  ceilings,  and  with  a  slope  at  one  end  of  each  floor,  reaching  to 
the  next,  and  by  which  the  sheep  were  enabled  to  ascend  to  the  top- 
most one.  These  sheds  were  called  cots  or  cottes,  and  with  the  open 
hilly  ground  or  woold,  on  which  the  sheep  fed  in  summer,  gave  name 
both  to  the  sheep  and  their  habitat. 

There  is  but  little  doubt  that  the  original  Cotswold  sheep  were,  if 
not  the  earliest,  at  any  rate  one  of  the  earliest  breeds  of  sheep  in  Eng- 
land, and  that  they  obtained  a  position  unrivaled  for  the  production  of 
wool.  Camden,  one  of  the  early  English  chroniclers,  says: 

In  these  woolds  (Cotswold)  they  feed  in  great  numbers  flocks  of  sheep,  long  necked 
and  square  of  bulk  and  bone,  by  reason  (as  is  commonly  thought)  of  the  weally  and 
hilly  situation  of  their  pasturage,  whose  wool,  being  most  fine  and  soft,  is  held  in 
passing  great  account  amongst  all  nations. 

Other  writers  refer  to  the  excellence  and  abundance  of  the  wools  of 
the  Cotswold.  Drayton,  who  lived  in  the  time  of  Henry  VIII,  contrasts 
the  rich  fleeces  of  Costwold  with  those  of  the  flocks  of  Sarum  and  Leo- 
minster,  and  writers  since  that  time  have  made  similar  references  to 
the  famous  wool  which  for  fineness  "comes  very  near  to  that  of  Spain, 
for  from  it  a  thread  may  be  drawn  as  fine  as  silk." 

The  precise  character  of  the  sheep  which  produced  this  wool  is  now 
unknown,  as  some  contend.  While  Marshall,  Youatt,  and  others  con- 
sider that  they  have  always  been  a  long-wooled  breed,  many,  including 
Low,  incline  to  the  opinion  that  they  were  probably  similar  to  the  large 
fine-wooled  breeds  of  the  adjoining  counties  of  Berks  and  Wilts,  a  sup- 
position agreeing  with  the  locality  of  the  districts  and  with  "the  long 


REGISTERED  COTSWOLD  RAM. 


EAST    OF    THE    MISSISSIPPI    RIVER.  369 


necks  and  square  of  bulk  and  boue  n  ascribed  to  the  Cotswold  sheep  by 
Camden. 

It  is  difficult  to  reconcile  these  opinions,  nor  indeed  is  it  necessary; 
the  Cotswolds  beyond  the  memory  of  our  day  have  been  a  long-wooled 
race  and  valuable  principally  for  their  wool.  They  were  large-framed, 
coarse,  slow-feeding  sheep;  very  hardy,  and  accustomed  to  travel  in 
search  of  the  short  herbage  which  invariably  prevails  on  limestone  hills. 

When  Bakewell  made  his  great  improvement  on  the  Leicester  sheep 
in  the  middle  of  the  last  century  his  improved  sheep  soon  extended 
throughout  central  England,  and  about  1780  crossed  the  Cotswold  as 
well  as  the  other  long-wooled  sheep  of  Gloucestershire,  a  system  of 
crossing  that  was  pursued  so  extensively  that  but  a  short  time  elapsed 
when  there  did  not  perhaps  exist  a  single  Cotswold  flock  which  was 
not  more  or  less  mixed  in  blood  with  the  New  Leicester  breed.  It  re- 
sulted in  diminishing  the  bulk  of  body  of  the  old  Cotswold  and  lessen- 
ing the  produce  of  wool,  but  hi  giving  to  the  animal  a  greater  delicacy 
of  form.  About  1820,  however,  the  Cotswold  breeders  thought  that 
their  flocks  were  declining  in  carcass  and  fleece  and  becoming  less 
fitted  for  the  climate  of  their  native  hills,  and  a  preference  set  in  for 
the  native  stock;  crossing  was  generally  suspended,  and  the  former 
model  of  the  breed  adhered  to. 

The  feeding  qualities  of  the  Cotswolds  have  been  subjected  to  careful 
experiments  by  Mr.  Lawes,  who  found  that  in  comparison  with  Downs 
they  consumed  the  least  food  to  produce  a  given  amount  of  increase, 
and  made  the  greatest  progress  in  a  given  time.  The  fat  is  principally 
external  and  the  flesh  is  coarse  and  open.  Under  a  liberal  treatment, 
with  good  care  and  attention,  fed  on  ground  oats,  dust  oil  cake,  and 
followed  by  turnips,  the  lambs  make  great  progress,  and  at  eleven  and 
twelve  months  old  are  fit  for  the  English  market,  with  a  weight  of 
22  to  25  pounds  a  quarter. 

These  sheep,  standing  rather  high  upon  the  legs,  and  having  grand 
heads,  present  an  imposing  appearance.  Their  fleeces  are  either  white, 
gray,  or  mottled.  White  predominates,  but  slight  variations  neither 
indicate  impurity  nor  detract  from  appearance.  Mr.  Coleman  cites  an 
instance  where  some  years  ago  a  flock  of  gray- faced  sheep  were  bred, 
and  at  the  annual  ram  sales  every  animal  was  more  or  less  colored. 
For  the  purpose  of  crossing  with  the  Hampshire  ewe,  gray-faced  rams 
were  preferred,  the  produce  becoming  darker  in  the  face  in  consequence. 
The  head  of  the  Cotswold  is  large,  wide  across  the  forehead,  the  eyes 
full  and  prominent.  The  head  should  be  well  wooled,  particularly  the 
forehead  and  cranium,  long  locks  hanging  down  over  the  face;  if  the 
eyes  and  upper  part  of  the  nose  are  covered,  so  much  the  better.  The 
eftect  of  the  lovelock  is  pleasing  and  adds  to  the  general  good  style  of 
the  sheep.  The  neck  should  be  long  and  moderately  thick,  especially 
t  at  the  base  and  where  it  joins  the  head.  The  head  should  be  carried 
22990 24 


370 


SHEEP    INDUSTRY    OF    THE    UNITED    STATES 


easy  and  high ;  the  ram  should  so  carry  his  as  to  be  able  to  look  over  a 
hurdle.  The  carcass  should  be  long,  level  along  the  back,  and  the  ribs 
well  sprung.  The  under  lines  are  not  so  true  and  the  flank  is  often 
weak.  The  greatest  defect  in  the  appearance  of  the  Cotswold  is  the 
lightness  under  and  the  short  space  between  hips  and  flanks.  The 
Cotswolds  are  often  too  long,  high,  and  lusty,  and  their  height  in  such 
instances  gives  them  a  weak  appearance. 

The  wool  should  be  long,  open,  and  curly.  The  staple  is  coarser, 
and  the  weight  of  fleece  is  usually  rather  less  than  that  of  the  Leices- 
ter and  considerably  under  the  Lincoln.  In  quality  it  is  below  both 
the  Leicester  and  Lincoln. 

In  recent  years  many  of  these  animals  have  been  introduced  into 
Australia,  New  Zealand,  Canada,  and  the  United  States,  as  well  as 
into  France  and  Germany,  to  impart  size  and  wool  to  native  breeds. 
In  the  United  States  they  are  widely  known  and  in  general  favor  as  a 
combined  wool  and  mutton  sheep.  The  American  Cotswold  Record 
Association  has  adopted  the  following: 

Scale  of  points. 


Ewe. 

Kara. 

Ewe. 

Ram. 

Head 

8 

8 

5 

5 

"Face              .... 

4 

4 

12 

12 

Nostrils  

1 

1 

Belly 

3 

•5 

Eyes. 

2 

2 

8 

8 

Ears  

4 

4 

Hock 

2 

Collar 

6 

6 

Twist 

5 

5 

Shoulders  

8 

8 

Fleece 

18 

18 

4 

4 

Breast  

10 

10 

Total 

100 

100 

In  October,  1836,  Leonard  D.  Clift,  of  Carmel,  Putnam  County,  im- 
ported some  Lincolnshire  sheep.  One  pair  was  sent  to  Virginia,  one 
pair  to  Ohio,  one  pair  to  a  gentleman  of  Somers,  all  at  about  $250  each 
pair,  and  1  ram  and  8  ewes  Mr.  Clift  reserved  for  his  own  farm.  More 
were  subsequently  imported,  and  in  the  spring  of  1837  there  was  a 
shearing.  Sixteen  imported  Lincolnshire  ewes  sheared  109  pounds  of 
wool ;  1  imported  Lincolnshire  2-year-old  ram  sheared  10  pounds  of  wool  ; 
1  imported  Lincolnshire  4-year-old  ram  sheared  8  pounds  of  wool ;  1 
Leicester  ram  sheared  6  pounds  of  wool;  15  Leicester  wether  lambs, 
half-bloods,  sheared  101  pounds;  25  Lincoln  ewes,  half-blood,  sheared 
153  pounds,  and  6  half-blood  rams  sheared  42  pounds.  The  weights  of 
his  yearling  rams  were  188,  186,  180,  166,  156,  and  185J  pounds.  They 
had  been  kept  only  with  a  view  to  their  thrifty  growth.  In  1840  Mr. 
Clift  described  his  Lincolnshires  as  not  over  large,  but  carrying  great 
weight  for  their  compass  of  carcass.  They  inclined  to  early  maturity 
and  to  lay  on  fat.  Their  skin  was  delicate  and  soft  to  the  touch,  and 
there  grew  on  it  a  thick,  long,  and  heavy  fleece  of  wool,  completely  en- 
veloping the  whole  body  from  the  ears  backward.  In  1839,  from  64 


EAST    OF    THE    MISSISSIPPI   RIVER.  371 

ewes  he  raised  92  lambs  without  the  loss  of  one  by  exposure.    A  4-year- 
old  ram  measured  as  follows: 

Ft.  In. 

From  nose  to  root  of  tail 4  7i 

Height  of  fore  shoulders 2  8 

Height  of  rump 2  9 

Breadth  across  shoulders 1  6 

Breadth  across  loins 1  4 

Girth  around  brisket  and  shoulders 3  10 

Weight  of  clean  fleece,  10  pounds. 

The  Cheviot  sheep  were  introduced  into  Delaware  County  in  1838  by 
Bobert  Young,  and  in  1842  by  George  Lough  and  a  Mr.  Davison. 

These  various  breeds  of  English  sheep  were  crossed  upon  the  com- 
mon sheep  of  the  country  and  upon  the  Merino  and  its  grades  to  a  great 
extent,  the  despised  Merino  during  this  period  being  of  but  little  con- 
sideration. All  these  crosses  went,  however,  to  the  perceptible  im- 
provement of  the  common  sheep,  both  as  to  its  flesh  and  its  wool.  It 
n  <-ver  entered  into  the  mind  of  the  farmer  to  improve  his  sheep  in  any 
other  manner  than  by  crossing.  This,  however,  had  an  exception  in 
the  case  of  an  English  farmer  by  the  name  of  Tonecliffe.  He  moved 
into  Otsego  County  about  1815  or  1816,  taking  a  few  sheep  with  him. 
He  selected  his  best  sheep  for  breeding,  and  finally  so  improved  them 
that  he  established  what  was  thought  to  be  a  very  superior  breed,  and 
in  the  course  of  twelve  or  fifteen  years  had  such  a  reputation  that 
farmers  came  from  50  to  100  miles  to  purchase  what  they  supposed  was 
a  now  English  breed,  "the  Tonecliffe  breed."  The  owner  kept  the 
secret  for  years,  but  finally  said:  "I  can  tell  you  where  the  difference 
has  originated;  when  the  butchers  or  drovers  come  to  purchase  sheep 
of  you,  you  allow  them  to  select,  but  when  they  come  to  purchase  of 
me,  I  select  for  them." 

To  resume  the  progress  of  the  Merino — Chancellor  Livingston  gives 
the  weight  of  fleece  of  the  original  Spanish  sheep  as  SJ  pounds  in  the 
ram  and  5  in  the  ewe.  The  common  sheep  at  the  same  time  averaged 
about  2  pounds.  From  that  time  the  march  of  improvement  began  both 
in  the  Merino  and  the  native  sheep.  The  introduction  of  the  Saxons 
in  1825  to  1830  produced  a  weak  ra«e  of  sheep,  which  prevailed  in  the 
fine-wool  districts  until  about  1840,  when  a  reaction  commenced,  and 
people  called  to  mind  the  great  excellence  of  the  old  Spanish  Merino. 
A  change  in  the  tariff  laws,  a  modified  condition  of  the  wool  market, 
and  the  increased  demand  for  medium  clothing  wools  also  contributed 
towards  the  overthrow  of  the  Saxons  and  the  second  start  in  the  pro- 
gress of  improvement.  The  number  of  pure  Spanish  Merino  sheep 
throughout  the  country  was  then  very  limited,  and  confined  almost  en- 
tirely to  Vermont,  Connecticut,  Ehode  Island,  and  Kew  York.  From 
these  States  the  breeders  and  wool- growers  of  the  country  from  Maine 
to  tin1  Mississippi  drew  very  largely  to  either  establish  pure-bred  Span- 
ish flocks  or  to  improve  the  cross-bred  wool-growing  flocks.  Fortu- 


372  SHEEP    INDUSTRY    OF    THE    UNITED    STATES 

nately  for  New  York,  she  had  preserved  a  few  pure  flocks,  which  have 
been  noted  j  but  there  were  only  a  few  flocks  of  this  kind,  and  those 
were  small.  Throughout  the  State  there  were  few  flocks  that  numbered 
over  200,  and  as  a  general  rule  the  best  were  one-half  to  seven-eighths 
blood,  and  kept  in  the  hill  towns,  where  the  pasturage  was  short.  In. 
1841  Ontario  County  had  28,000,  chiefly  Merino  and  Saxon  mixed  upon 
the  common  sheep  of  the  country.  Toinpkins  County  had  lost  all  her 
extensive  flocks  through  the  unfortunate  cross  with  the  Saxons,  and 
was  again  introducing  the  Spanish.  Erie  County  was  increasing  in 
wool-growing,  the  Spanish  Merino  and  grades  predominating,  though 
some  long  wools  were  coming  in.  Oneida  had  many  fine  flocks  of  Saxons 
and  all  the  grades  of  them.  In  1849  the  prevailing  races  in  Delaware 
County  were  the  Saxon,  Spanish  Merino,  and  the  Southdown.  The 
Saxon  gave  2£  pounds  of  wool,  the  Spanish  3  pounds,  and  the  South- 
down 3  pounds.  At  Buffalo  in  1849  sheep  husbandry  had  declined,  be- 
cause wool  for  two  years  past,  since  the  passage  of  the  tariff  of  1840, 
had  been  so  low  as  to  afford  the  wool-growers  but  a  small  remuneration, 
and  dairy  farming  had  become  more  profitable.  Very  little  wool  was 
brought  to  the  market  (except  from  Canada)  that  did  not  show,  to  a 
greater  or  less  extent,  the  effects  of  a  cross  with  a  fine-Avooled  sheep. 
It  was  difficult  to  define  the  sheep  by  any  distinctive  names.  In  par- 
ticular sections  sheep  of  pure  Saxony  and  pure  Spanish  Merino,  as  also 
Southdown,  could  be  found.  Generally,  however,  the  great  mass  of 
sheep  were  grades  between  the  Saxony  and  Merino  and  the  common 
sheep  of  the  country.  The  weight  of  fleeces  ranged  from  2f  pounds 
washed  wool  for  Saxony  and  grades  to  3J  for  Spanish  Merino  and 
grades. 

In  1842  Jesse  Harron,  Monroe  County,  sheared  from  2  Merino 
rains  two  years7  growth  of  wool  which  weighed  23  pounds  13  ounces, 
and  one  fleece  from  a  ram  of  one  year's  growth  which  weighed  10 
pounds.  In  the  Genesee  Valley  the  average  Merino  fleece  was  3  pounds 
4  ounces,  washed  on  the  sheep's  back.  Mr.  Wadsworth  had  several 
thousands,  and  the  Shakers  at  Groveland,  Livingston  County,  a  con- 
siderable flock.  ]n  1845  the  Spanish  Merino  flock  of  J.  Speed,  near 
Ithaca,  averaged  5  pounds  of  clean- washed  wool  per  head.  In  the  same 
year  E.  E.  and  L.  G.  Collins,  Otsego  County,  from  65  full-blood  Spanish 
Merinos  sheared  304  pounds  of  wool,  averaging  within  a  fraction  of  4 
pounds  11  ounces  per  head.  Twenty-three  were  yearlings  and  averaged 
4  pounds  14  ounces.  The  sheep  were  well  washed.  In  1844  Henry  S. 
Eandall  received  the  premium  for  the  best-managed  and  most  profitable 
flock  in  the  State.  In  1845  Mr.  Eandall  sheared  from  his  Paulars  an 
average  of  over  6  pounds  well- washed  wool.  A  three-year-old  ram 
sheared  13  pounds  3  ounces,  and  a  yearling  8J  pounds  of  unwashed  wool. 
Many  ewes  sheared  0,  7,  and  8  pounds  5  1  sheared  9  pounds  and  1  ounce,  i 
In  1846  Mr.  Henry  S.  EandalPs  flock  averaged  over  6  pounds  of  well- 1 
washed  wool,  Some  of  the  ewes  ran  to  8  pounds,  and  1  to  9  pounds  2 


EAST    OF    THE    MISSISSIPPI    RIVER.  373 

ounces.  A  three-year-old  ram  sheared  13 J  pounds.  In  1847  Col.  John 
M.  Sherwood's  flock  at  Auburn,  mostly  Blakeslee  sheep,  were  shorn. 
Sixty-four  rams  sheared  340£  pounds  of  clean-washed,  well-tagged 
wool.  Forty-four  were  yearlings,  11  were  2  years  old,  and  9  were  older. 
The  average  was  5^  pounds  each.  The  Blakeslee  ewes,  110  in  num- 
ber, sheared  443J  pounds  of  clean- washed  wool,  or  an  average  of  4 
pounds  1J  ounces  each.  This  wool  was  very  fine  and  even  and  com- 
manded the  highest  price.  At  a  shearing  in  Madison  County  in  1849 
B.  P.  Chapman  sheared  from  12  sheep  86J  pounds  of  wool.  The  high- 
est fleece  was  13  pounds,  from  a  ram  that  after  shearing  weighed  160 
pounds.  At  Chautauqua  the  same  year  native  sheep  gave  2J  to  3 
pounds  of  wool,  Spanish  Merinos  3  to  4  pounds,  and  Saxons  If  to  2J 
pounds.  Mr.  J.  D.  Patterson  had  a  flock  of  550  pure-blooded  Spanish 
Merinos  that  sheared  an  average  of  over  5  pounds  of  wool  each.  He 
also  had  a  pair  of  French  Merinos  1  year  old.  The  ram  sheared  14J 
and  the  ewe  10}f  pounds  washed  wool. 

In  1845  and  1846  there  was  a  slight  revival,  in  some  sections,  in  favor 
of  the  Saxony  Merino,  and  some  new  blood  was  infused  into  existing 
flocks  and  a  few  pure-blood  flocks  started;  but  the  tariff  of  1846,  by 
crippling  the  fine  broadcloth  manufacture,  stopped  the  tide  in  that 
direction ;  thousands  of  Saxony  sheep  were  slaughtered  for  their  pelts 
and  tallow;  and  in  1850  the  New  York  Agricultural  Society  reported 
that  the  pure  Saxons  were  declining  in  favor  among  the  wool-growers. 
This  was  attributed  to  the  low  price  of  fine  wool  for  the  few  years  pre- 
ceding and  the  smaller  quantity  produced  by  this  family  than  from 
some  others.  This  idea  having  become  prevalent  with  many  breeders 
of  the  pure  Saxons,  they  neglected  to  keep  up  the  quality  of  their 
flocks,  so  essential  to  the  profitable  growing  of  fine  wool,  and  either 
suffered  them  to  degenerate  or  merged  them  with  other  families.  The 
flock  of  S.  H.  Church,  Vernou,  Oneida  County,  celebrated  for  the  supe- 
rior quality  of  wool  and  the  fine  symmetry  of  the  sheep,  clipped  in 
1850  an  average  of  2J  pounds  of  wool;  and  Joseph Haswell,  of  Hoosick, 
Washington  County,  whose  flock  numbered  800,  succeeded  in  bringing 
them  up  to  3J  pounds  without  impairing  the  quality  of  the  wool.  But 
the  difference  realized  in  the  price  received  did  not  compensate  for  the 
lighter  fleece,  and  it  was  less  piofitable  to  raise  it  than  the  Spanish 
Merino.  In  1845  there  were  72,000  Saxons  in  Seneca  County;  in  1850 
but  35,000,  and  the  decline  was  similar  in  all  parts  of  the  State. 

Xor  was  the  decline  in  fine  sheep  confined  to  the  Saxons  alone.  Wool- 
growers  located  in  the  vicinity  of  large  cities  and  towns,  who  had  up 
to  1845  and  1846  bred  both  Saxony  and  Spanish  Merinos,  then  began  to 
change  their  flocks  for  large-framed,  coarse- wooled  sheep,  whose  car- 
casses were  valuable  for  mutton,  and  they  derived  a  greater  profit  from 
the  Leicester,  Southdown,  and  Cotswold  sheep  and  their  crosses  with 
the  common  and  other  breeds,  by  the  sale  of  mutton  and  wool,  than 
from  the  sale  of  wool  alone  from  the  finer  grades  of  Saxony  and  Merino. 


374        SHEEP  INDUSTRY  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES 

This  system  prevailed  to  a  greater  extent  in  the  eastern  part  of  the 
State  than  in  the  western.  In  the  latter  part  the  most  enterprising 
wool-growers  bred  the  Saxony  and  Merino  and  their  crosses,  and  pro- 
duced wool  varying  from  2J  to  5  pounds  per  fleece.  But  throughout 
the  whole  State  sheep  husbandry  was  on  the  decline.  Causes  other 
than  the  tariff  were  also  operating.  The  great  West  was  being  opened 
up  and  settled,  and  many  flocks  were  driven  there  where  land  was 
cheap.  The  extraordinary  profits  of  dairying  and  the  prospect  that 
they  would  be  continuous  displaced  the  sheep  on  many  a  farm.  From 
all  causes  the  number  of  sheep,  which  in  1840  was  5,118,777,  yielding 
9,845,295  pounds  of  wool,  and  which  had  increased  in  1845  to  0,443,865, 
yielding  13,864,828  pounds  of  wool,  fell  in  1850  to  3,453,241  sheep,  yield- 
ing 10,071,301  pounds  of  wool,  and  the  decline  has  continued  to  the 
present  day. 

In  1850  and  following  years  the  Saxon  blood  was  crossed  out  of  many 
flocks,  but  it  was  observed  that  after  the  breeders  had  discontinued  the 
use  of  Saxon  rams  they  never  could  get  their  sheep  back  to  what  they 
were  originally  before  the  infusion  of  the  Saxony  blood.  John  D.  Pat- 
terson, of  Chautauqua.  County,  had  a  flock  of  800  pure  bloods  of  Span- 
ish origin  and  a  few  French  Merinos.  A  yearling  ram,  the  first  cross 
of  a  French  Merino  on  the  Spanish,  sheared  9J  pounds  of  unwashed 
wool,  and  some  yearling  ewes  of  the  same  cross  6  to  9J  pounds  of  fine, 
clean-washed  wool.  From  this  flock  the  French  Merino  and  its  crosses 
found  their  way  into  the  adjoining  counties  and  into  Pennsylvania, 
Ohio,  and  the  States  still  further  west. 

Wool-growing  was  not  profitable  in  1850,  but  growers  continued  the 
business,  hoping  for  better  times  and  higher  prices;  many,  however, 
sacrificed  their  fine-wool  flocks  for  mutton  sheep,  offering  pure-bred 
Merinos  at  a  very  low  figure.  A  flock  of  40  rams  and  100  ewes,  de- 
scended from  the  flock  of  J.  N.  Blakeslee,  wtis  offered  at  $10  for  the  rams 
and  $5  for  the  ewes.  The  average  yield  of  wool  per  head  was  4f 
pounds.  About  1851  prices  were  better,  and  the  industry  partially 
revived.  Spanish  Merinos  were  again  sought  after,  and  the  French 
Merino  was  looked  to  as  promising  a  large  carcass  with  a  heavy  fleece 
of  fine  wool.  Monroe  County  reported  many  good,  fine-wooled  flocks 
that  averaged  4  to  5  pounds  of  wool ;  the  cost  of  production  small,  as, 
like  cattle,  they  were  fed  on  what  would  have  been  otherwise  wasted. 
Lambs  paid  all  expenses,  and  the  Merino  was  most  profitable  both  for 
mutton  and  wool.  In  Steuben  County  nine-tenths  of  the  sheep  were 
Spanish  and  Saxon  Merinos  and  their  grades,  yielding  3J  pounds  of 
wool  per  head  and  consuming  annually  300  pounds  of  hay  each.  In 
Seneca  County  the  sheep  Avere  mostly  Merinos,  yielding  3J  pounds  of 
wool,  and  there  was  an  improvement  in  the  blood  by  the  introduction  of 
rams  from  Vermont.  In  Ontario  County  the  sheep  were  of  almost 
every  grade  from  the  finest  Saxony  to  the  coarsest  native. 

Of  the  Spanish  Merino  there  were  choice  flocks  yielding  fleeces  from 


EAST    <>F    TITK    MISSISSIPPI    RIVER.  375 

1  t<>r>  pounds.  Southdown*  had  multiplied  largely  during  the  three 
years  preceding,  and.  there  were  some  Leicesters,  but  these  were 
deemed  too  tender  for  the  winter  storms  and  were  crossed  with  the 
mure  hardy  Merino  and  "Southdown.  The  tendency  was  for  larger 
sheep.  Formerly  wool-growers  entertained  the  idea  that  to  grow  fine 
wool  they  must  keep  small  sheep,  but  they  now  began  practicing  on  the 
theory  that  by  selecting  from  the  best  flocks  the  largest  and  finest 
rams  and  ewes  they  could  improve  both  the  size  of  their  sheep  and  the 
quality  of  their  wool.  In  Allegany  County  by  1854  the  French  Merino 
had  become  a  great  favorite,  and  of  these  and  the  pure-bred  Spanish 
Merinos  there  were  quite  a  number.  Since  the  introduction  of  the 
French  Merino,  in  1849,  they  had  increased  the  weight  of  the  fleece  on 
an  average  nearly  or  quite  2  pounds  in  the  flocks  where  used.  There 
was,  however,  a  growing  interest  in  mutton  sheep,  for  the  improvement 
of  which  the  Southdowns  were  being  introduced.  Sheep  were  kept  in 
pasture  seven  or  eight  months  and  the  remainder  of  the  year  on  hay  or 
straw.  Good  wool  could  be  produced  at  less  expense  of  keeping  and 
labor  than  poor,  as  the  fleeces  were  heavier.  The  tendency  in  the 
western  counties  was  toward  sheep  for  mutton  and  v:ool  combined. 
This  tendency  was  still  more  marked  in  the  eastern  and  northern 
counties.  In  Delaware  County  wool-growing  and  raising  lambs  for 
market  returned  the  greatest  profits,  though  the  owner  of  a  fine  Merino 
flock,  which  averaged  5  pounds  of  well- washed  wool  per  head,  could  at 
a  cost  of  25  to  30  cents  put  it  on  the  market.  In  the  extreme  northern 
counties  of  St.  Lawrence,  Franklin,  and  Clinton  less  attention  was  paid 
to  raising  sheep  than  of  cattle.  There  were  a  few  flocks  of  full-blooded 
Spanish  Merinos  which  would  not  in  any  respect  suffer  by  comparison 
with  the  best  flocks  of  Vermont,  but  the  description  most  raised  was  a 
grade  of  the  Merino  on  the  common  or  native  sheep.  For  the  purpose 
of  mutton,  here  a  leading  object,  this  grade  answered  a  good  purpose. 
This  section  had  Leicesters,  Southdowns,  and  Cotswolds,  mostly  from 
Canada,  and  were  quite  popular,  but  of  the  mutton  sheep  the  large 
natives  were  the  most  profitable  for  carcass  and  wool.  Their  flesh  was 
considered  better  and  they  took  on  tallow  more  readily.  They  were 
more  hardy  and  their  increase  could  be  relied  on.  One  hundred  hardy, 
coarse- wooled  ewes  would  raise  100  lambs  when  the  Saxon  would  raise 
25  and  the  Spanish  Merino  50,  each  having  equal  care.  The  Saxon 
sheared  2  J,  the  Spanish  Merino  3  J,  and  the  coaser  varieties  5  pounds  of 
wool. 

The  decade  from  1850  to  1860  was  noted  for  the  substitution  through- 
out the  State  of  coarse- wooled  sheep  for  fine-wooled,  the  rapid  elimina- 
tion of  the  Saxon  from  the  fine-wooled  flocks,  and  the  spread  of  the 
French  Merinos  in  the  western  counties.  The  total  number  of  all 
kinds  decreased  from  3,453,241  in  1850  to  2,620,920  in  1860,  a  loss  of 
832,321  sheep  and  616,828  pounds  of  wool.  But  the  average  yield  of 
wool  per  head  increased  from  2.91  to  3.60  pounds. 


376        SHEEP  INDUSTRY  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES 

The  elimination  of  the  Saxons  from  the  sheep  husbandry  of  New  York 
was  accompanied  by  a  heated  discussion.  There  were  those  who  con- 
tended that  they  were  a  hardy  sheep,  and  that  the  failure  to  make  them 
profitable  was  largely  due  to  the  want  of  care  and  general  careless 
manner  of  breeding.  A  noted  breeder  of  Oneida  County  sums  up  the 
record  of  the  case  in  his  own  experience.  He  had  been  raising  sheep 
over  twenty  years,  having  a  small  flock  100  to  200  originally  of  grade 
Merinos,  half  blood.  From  this  flock,  without  change  except  by  judi- 
cious breeding  and  the  use  of  Saxon  rams,  he  produced  a  flock  yielding 
about  2j  pounds  of  fine  wool.  After  thorough  trial  he  became  con- 
vinced that,  although  producing  fine  wool,  he  was  not  increasing  the 
real  value  of  the  flock;  the  improvement  in  the  quality  of  the  fleece 
being  attended  with  a  proportionate  diminution  of  the  quantity,  so  that 
while  he  was  enabled  to  obtain  an  advanced  price  per  pound  for  a  given 
number  of  fleeces,  the  aggregate  value  had  in  reality  decreased  in 
consequence  of  the  decrease  of  weight.  He  also  found  the  animals  to 
be  less  hardy,  less  able  to  withstand  the  great  changes  of  our  variable 
climate,  and,  consequently,  much  more  subject  to  disease.  A  change, 
therefore,  seemed  to  be  necessary.  This  was  sought  to  be  eifected  by 
the  introduction  of  the  pure  Spanish  Merino  blood,  and  for  ten  years 
rams  of  that  description  were  used  to  the  exclusion  of  all  others  and  to 
great  satisfaction,  bringing  back  the  flock  to  medium-sized  sheep,  com- 
pact and  symmetrical  in  form,  perfectly  healthy  in  every  respect,  and 
yielding  per  head  an  average  of  about  4  pounds  of  fine  Merino  wool,  of 
good  length  of  staple,  uniform  in  quality,  not  overcharged  with  yolk, 
and  showing  in  opening  a  good  crimp  and  luster.  With  the  Saxony 
sheep  the  average  annual  loss  from  disease  and  other  causes  amounted 
to  nearly  10  per  cent. 

After  the  change  made  in  the  course  of  breeding  the  average  annual 
loss  did  not  exceed  2  per  cent,  and  that  arising  mostly  from  accidental 
causes.  This  seemed  to  be  convincing  that  in  that  county  (it  being  on  a 
range  of  land  in  latitude  43°)  the  Spanish  or  French  Merino  sheep  were 
preferable  to  the  Saxony,  if  wool-growing  was  to  be  made  profitable. 
The  principal  benefits  found  to  result  from  the  change  were :  An  in- 
crease in  the  average  weight  of  fleece  from  about  2£  to  nearly  4 
pounds;  getting  a  close  and  compact  fleece,  comparatively  impervious 
to  the  weather,  and  thus  furnishing  a  more  perfect  protection  to  the 
body  of  the  sheep  from  wet  and  cold,  consequently  a  more  firm  and 
vigorous  constitution;  and,  in  consequence  of  the  preceding,  better 
breeders  and  better  success  in  rearing  lambs.  The  only  offset  was  in 
the  quality  of  the  wool.  A  few  figures  demonstrate  whether,  in  a 
pecuniary  point  of  view,  there  was  actually  any  loss: 

2£  pounds  Saxony  wool,  at  56  cents $1. 40 

4  pounds  Spanish  wool,  at  44  cents 1.  76 


Difference  in  favor  of  Spanish .36 


EAST   OF   THE   MISSISSIPPI   RIVER.  377 

On  the  other  hand  there  were  good  showings  for  the  Saxons.  Solo- 
mon Hitchcock,  of  Livingston  County,  had  been  a  wool-grower  since 
1834,  and  admitted  witli  all  the  prominent  wool-growers  of  his  day  that 
sheep  consumed  food  in  proportion  to  their  own  weight,  and  also  (other 
circumstances  being  the  same)  that  it  required  an  equal  amount  of  food 
to  produce  a  pound  of  wool  without  regard  to  the  size  of  the  sheep. 
So,  after  having  the  weight  of  the  fleece  and  its  value  per  pound,  it  TV  as 
necessary  to  have  the  weight  of  the  living  animal  from  which  to  cal- 
culate the  cost  of  growing  the  fleece  before  the  profits  could  be  deter- 
mined. 

In  1846  Mr.  Hitehcock  became  convinced  in  his  own  mind  that  as 
many  pounds  of  Saxon  wool  from  ewes  weighing  about  62  pounds  each 
(the  common  weight  of  a  full-grown  Saxon  ewe)  could  be  raised  on  100 
acres  of  laud  as  could  be  grown  on  the  same  of  Merino  wool  from  ewes 
weighing  about  88  pounds  each  (about  the  common  weight  of  a  full- 
grown  Merino  ewe).  Earns,  wethers,  and  younger  sheep  of  each  herd 
would  weigh  in  the  same  proportion  to  each  other  as  the  ewes.  With 
the  view  of  testing  this  by  experiment  he  purchased  4  ewes  and  5  rams 
from  the  Saxon  flock  of  Thomas  W.  Swift,  of  Dutchess  County,  and  13 
ewes  from  another  flock  descended  from  Swift's.  These  sheep,  collec- 
tively considered,  had  no  superior  for  symmetry,  quantity,  and  quality 
of  fleeces.  It  is  true  that  they  were  not  so  large  as  Merinos,  but  this 
was  thought  to  be  of  little  consequence  when  it  was  considered  that 
100  pounds  of  the  Saxons  produced  the  same  amount  of  (equally  clean) 
wool  as  the  same  weight  of  Merinos,  and  that  it  cost  no  more  to  keep 
100  pounds  of  one  than  of  the  other.  Mr.  Hitchcock  made  a  pains- 
taking experiment  and  gave  the  result  to  the  public  through  the  columns 
of  the  Genesee  Farmer. 

One  week  after  washing  he  sheared  an  equal  number  of  Saxon  and 
Spanish  Merino  ewes,  selecting  them  so  that  they  should  not  differ  in 
n.uv.  or  condition,  or  in  wastage  of  their  wool  by  cleansing.  He  weighed 
these  selected  sheep  and  their  fleeces  immediately  after  they  were  shorn 
and  found  that  the  Saxons  gave  1  pound  of  wool  for  every  18  pounds 
of  their  li ve  weight,  and  that  the  Spanish  Merinos  gave  1  pound  for  a 
fraction  less  than  19  pounds  of  their  live  weight.  The  average  weight 
of  the  Saxons  was  63  pounds ;  the  Spanish  Merinos,  72  pounds.  The 
Saxons  were  rather  above  the  medium  weight  of  the  flocks  from  which 
they  were  selected.  The  Spanish  Merinos  were  weighed  at  a  time  when 
they  were,  perhaps,  lighter  than  at  any  other  season  of  the  year. 

Besides  the  above  a  number  of  other  Merino  ewes  were  weighed,  some 
of  which  went  from  90  to  100  pounds;  but  in  every  case  it  was  found 
that  it  took  from  18  to  19  pounds  live  weight  to  produce  a  pound  of 
wool.  The  Saxon  Merino  wool  had  a  market  value  of  50  cents  per 
pound,  the  Spanish  Merino  35  cents  per  pound. 

Accepting  the  proposition  that  these  two  kinds  of  sheep  consume 
food  and  shear  clean  wool  in  proportion  to  their  own  weight,  then  the 
farmer  keeping  400  Spanish  Merino  sheep  (the  young  and  old  of  which 


378  SHEEP    INDUSTRY   OF    THE    UNITED    STATES 

average  65  pounds)  could  on  the  same  feed  keep  472  Saxons  of  same 
age  averaging  55  pounds.  The  gross  weight  of  each  flock  is  26,000 
pounds.  Allowing  1  pound  of  wool  to  every  18  pounds  live  weight 
would  be  1,444  pounds. 

1,444  pounds  Saxon  AVOO!,  at  50  cents  per  pound $722. 00 

1,444  pounds  Spanish  Merino  wool,  at  35  cents  per  pound 505. 40 

Difference  in  favor  of  Saxons 216. 60 

The  papers  of  the  State  and  of  other  States  were  full  of  similar  state- 
ments, but  nothing  could  prevent  the  condemnation  of  the  Saxons;  the 
weight  of  the  testimony  seemed  to  be  against  them. 

With  the  disappearance  of  the  Saxony  was  the  advent  of  the  French 
Merino.  These  sheep,  introduced  into  Connecticut  in  1840  and  1846, 
and  into  Vermont  in  1846,  1847,  and  subsequent  years,  found  their 
greatest  IsTew  York  admirer  in  1848  in  the  person  of  John  D.  Patterson, 
Westfield,  Chautauqua  County.  Mr.  Patterson  made  his  first  impor- 
tation in  1848,  and  continued  the  increase  of  his  flock  by  annual  impor- 
tations for  many  years.  In  1853  he  purchased  1  ram  from  the  celebrated 
flock  of  M.  Cugnot  for  $600,  also  2  rams  from  the  flock  of  M.  Gilbert  for 
$400  each.  Mr.  Patterson's  earlier  importations  were  described  as 
unusually  large  for  fine-wooled  sheep,  the  ewes  when  of  full  age  and  in 
good  condition  weighing  from  120  to  150  pounds  each,  and  some  of  the 
rams  over  300  pounds  each.  Their  wool  was  of  good  quality,  though 
not  equal  to  Saxony  for  fineness  nor  up  to  the  standard  of  the  Spanish 
Merino.  The  wool  was  thick  and  compact,  covering  their  entire 
bodies,  thick  and  long  on  their  bellies  and  legs,  and  their  heads  and 
faces  sometimes  so  completely  covered  as  to  blind  them,  and  unless 
sheared  away  frequently  injured  their  sight.  His  imported  ewes 
sheared  15  pounds  each  on  the  average,  of  one  year's  growth,  in  a  per- 
fectly natural  condition,  or  unwashed,  and  some  of  his  ranis  sheared 
much  more.  They  were  prolific;  a  good  portion  of  the  ewes  had  twins, 
and  as  they  were  good  mothers  there  was  no  difficulty  in  raising  their 
lambs,  and  the  flock  raised  50  per  cent  more  lambs  than  there  were 
ewes  in  it.  In  1853  Mr.  Patterson  had  many  half  and  three-quarter 
French  bloods,  and  he  found  that  the  larger  the  infusion  of  French 
blood  the  larger  the  sheep  and  the  greater  the  increase  in  the  weight 
of  fleece. 

F.  M.  Rotch,  of  Otsego  County,  who  imported  some  of  the  French 
Merinos  in  conjunction  with  Mr.  Taintor  in  1851,  considered  those  of  the 
first  class  as  a  superb  sheep,  but  they  varied  greatly.  In  his  opinion 
they  were  not  suited  to  the  American  style  of  rough  farming.  Though 
a  vigorous,  good  constitutioned,  and  hardy  sheep,  they  were  accustomed 
to  so  much  care  and  watchfulness  in  their  native  laud  that  they  were 
unable  to  endure  the  rough-and-tumble  style  of  much  of  our  farming. 
The  north  side  of  a  barn  or  the  lee  of  a  rail  fence  for  animals  that  had 
been  housed  every  night  in  the  year  at  home  was  too  much  of  a  change. 
With  proper  care  they  were  able  to  endure  even  our  vicissitudes  of  climate, 


EAST    OF    THTv  MISSISSIPPI    RIVER. 


379 


ami  thrivi-'  and  grow  fat  here  as  in  France;  but,  like  all  improved  breeds 
of  domestic  animals,  it  stM-im-d  lolly  to  expect  them  to  do  well  without  care 
or  feeding.  Any  animal  brought  from  a  state  of  high  cultivation  and  a 
mild  temperature  to  a  colder  climate  and  poorer  soil  will  deteriorate, 
unless  extra  pains  are  taken  to  supply  the  loss  of  care  and  counteract 
the  change  of  food.  The  same  care  given  them  as  in  their  own  coun- 
try showed  that  they  would  thrive  and  breed  and  shear  and  weigh  as 
they  did  there,  almost.  The  long  winter  and  the  necessity  of  feeding 
dry  food  so  many  months  told  upon  them  somewhat.  As  a  cross  upon 
our  usual  type  of  Merino,  Mr.  Eotch  considered  them  very  valuable, 
but  quite  unfit  for  the  general  use  as  a  stock  sheep  of  our  farmers  at 
present.  With  a  better  husbandry  and  improved  shepherding  they 
may  one  of  these  days  take  their  place  among  us  as  a  breed,  but  now 
their  crosses  are  what  we  must  look  to.*  Mr.  Rotch  sold  his  French 
flock  to  John  D.  Patterson  in  1856. 

Mr.  E.  L.  Gage,  of  De  Euyter,  commenced  breeding  French  Merinos 
in  September,  1852,  his  first  purchase  being  of  Mr.  Taintor,  of  Connec- 
ticut. Subsequent  purchases  were  made  of  Mr.  Patterson  an  d  Mr.  Eotch. 
His  statement  as  to  their  management,  made  January  2, 1862,  was  pub- 
lished.  by  Henry  S.  Randall  in  his  "Fine- wool  Sheep  Husbandry." 

Forty  is  the  most  we  had  at  any  one  time.  The  average  weight  of  the  ewes'  fleeces 
was  10  pounds  8  ounces,  well  washed.  In  addition  to  hay  in  winter,  we  fed  them 
about  a  pint  of  a  mixture  of  grain  and  roots  each  per  day.  We  also  feed  a  small 
amount  of  grain  in  summer  to  attract  them  to  the  barn  at  night  for  their  safety  from 
dogs.  They  were  always  kept  housed  in  winter  except  on  clear  days,  when  they 
were  allowed  to  go  out  or  in  at  will.  They  were  also  allowed  to  go  into  the  shed  at 
will  in  summer.  The  French  Merinos  always  afforded  us  good  returns  in  wool  and 
lambs.  The  ewes  were  good  nurses,  often  bearing  twins.  One  full-grown  ram 
weighed  from  180  to  225 pounds;  the  ewes  from  125  to  170  pounds. 

Mr.  Gage  sold  his  flock  to  Mr.  Patterson  in  February,  1861,  andcoin- 
mcnri'd  a  flock  of  pure-blood  Spanish  Merinos  of  the  Atwood  and  Ham 
mond  stock,  believing  them  to  be  the  most  profitable  for  all  classes  of 
\\nol -growers,  and  more  easily  kept  in  better  condition  on  short  keep 
and  rough  usage. 

William  Chamberlain,  of  Eed  Hook,  Dutchess  County,  imported  3 
rams  and  86  ewes  of  the  French  Merino  breed  in  1851,  and  in  1853  and 
1  s.~i 4  imported  two  small  lots  of  about  30  each.  The  shearing  record  of 
5  ewes  in  1856  is  here  given : 


Weight  of 
car< 

Weight  of 
flelce, 

Pounds. 
73 
71 
69 
72 
70 

Pounds. 
14 

13| 

•Letter  of  F.  M.  Rotch,  January  13,  1862,  in  "Randall's  Fine  Wool  Sheep  Hus- 
bandry." 


380        SHEEP  INDUSTRY  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES 

The  acquisition  of  tlie  Botch  flock  in  1856  and  of  the  Gage  flock  in 
1801  made  Mr.  Patterson's  flock  the  largest  and  best  French  Merino 
flock  in  the  State.  In  January,  1862,  he  furnished  Mr.  Eandall  a  full 
and  unreserved  account  of  it  and  what  it  had  been,  which  will  not  bear 
abridgment,  and  is  herewith  given: 

It  would  be  difficult  to  give  the  characteristics  of  these  various  importations  of 
slieep,  as  there  lias  been  so  great  a  difference  in  them,  they  having  been  of  all  kinds 
and  qualities,  from  good  to  very  inferior.  Some  of  them  have  been  of  large  size,  were 
well  proportioned,  being  short  in  the  leg,  broad  in  the  chest,  had  strong,  hardy  con- 
stitutions, were  easily  kept,  and  always  in  good  condition.  With  ordinary  care  and 
on  ordinary  feed  they  sheared  heavy  fleeces,  and  their  wool  was  even  and  of  good 
quality ;  while  others  of  them,  and  by  far  the  greatest  number,  were  the  opposite  of 
these  in  all  the  different  qualities  mentioned,  some  having  been  the  discarded  and 
refused  sheep  of  good  flocks,  and  others  were  grade  sheep  from  flocks  having  no 
reputation  as  being  of  strictly  pure  blood ;  but  these  kinds  of  sheep  were  bought  np 
by  speculators  at  low  prices,  brought  to  this  country,  and  sold  on  the  reputation  and 
credit  of  the  better  class  of  French  sheep  that  had  been  previously  imported.  They 
were  long  in  the  leg  and  long  in  the  neck;  were  slab-sided,  thin-visaged,  gaunt,  thin 
through  the  shoulders,  narrow  in  the  chest ;  their  constitutions  so  puny  and  delicate 
that  it  was  impossible  to  keep  them  in  fair  condition,  even  with  the  best  possible  care 
and  attention ;  their  fleeces  were  light,  their  wool  uneven  in  quality,  some  being  quite 
too  fine  for  profit  (because  too  light),  while  others  would  be  exceedingly  coarse  and 
filled  with  jarr.  In  France,  as  in  this  country,  there  are  all  descriptions  and  grades 
of  sheep,  and  it  does  not  follow,  as  is  supposed  by  many,  that  all  that  have  been  im- 
ported from  there  are  of  the  same  kind  and  quality,  even  if  called  by  the  same  name. 
My  French  rams  have  generally  sheared  from  18  to  24  pounds  of  an  even  year's 
growth,  and  unwashed,  but  some  of  them,  with  high  keeping  and  light  use,  have 
sheared  more,  and  my  yearling  rams  have  generally  sheared  from  15  to  22  pounds 
each.  My  breeding  and  yearling  ewes  have  never  averaged  as  low  as  15  pounds  each, 
unwashed,  taking  the  entire  flock.  Some  of  them  have  sheared  over  20  pounds  each, 
but  these  were  exceptions,  being  large  and  in  high  condition. 

The  live  weight  of  any  animal  of  course  depends  very  much  upon  its  condition. 
My  yearling  ewes  usually  range  from  90  to  130  pounds  each,  and  the  grown  ewes 
from  130  to  170  pounds  each,  and  I  have  had  some  that  weighed  over  200  pounds 
each;  but  these  would  be  above  the  average  size  and  in  high  flesh.  My  yearling 
rams  usually  weigh  from  120  to  180  pounds  each,  and  my  grown  rams  from  180  to  250 
pounds  each;  some  of  them  have  weighed  over  300  pounds  each,  but  these  were 
unusually  large  and  in  high  flesh  and  in  full  fleece.  I  have  had  ram  lambs  weigh  120 
pounds  at  7  months  old,  but  they  were  more  thrifty,  fleshy,  and  larger  than  usual 
at  that  age. 

As  you  request  the  height  from  the  top  of  the  shoulders  to  the  ground,  I  have 
measured  some  of  those  of  medium  height,  and  find  that  yearling  ewes  run  from  26 
to  28  inches,  the  grown  ewes  from  28  to  30  inches ;  the  yearling  rams  from  28  to  32 
in nli es,  and  the  grown  rams  from  30  to  34  inches. 

When  running  out  and  exposed  to  the  storms  they  are  as  a  whole,  light  colored 
when  compared  with  the  Spanish  Merinos,  for  the  reason  that  they  have  much  less 
yolk  or  gum  in  their  fleeces,  besides  their  oil  or  yolk  is  more  of  a  soap-like  substance, 
and  separates  from  their  wool  so  readily  that  the  rains  will  wash  their  surface  com- 
paratively clean,  leaving  them  light  colored,  while  the  oil  or  gum  of  the  Spanish 
merino  is  so  adhesive  and  sticky  it  is  difficult,  and  in  many  of  them  impossible,  to 
wash  it  out  of  their  wool  by  ordinary  brook  washing;  and  as  it  is  the  yolk  or  oily 
matter  contained  in  the  fleece  (causing  the  dust  and  other  matter  to  adhere  to  it) 
which  gives  the  external  color,  the  Spanish  .Merinos  are  generally  darker  on  the  sur- 
face than  the  French;  and  it  is  this  excess  of  oil  in  the  Spanish  Merino  which  causes 


•  -  - 


HAINES.  DEL. 


FRENCH  MERINO  RAM,  LOUIS  PHILIPPE. 
4)NE  YEAR  OLD. 

FROM  "N.  Y.   AGRICULTURAL  REPORT,"  1849. 


EAST    OF    THE  ^MISSISSIPPI    RIVER.  381 

their  fleece  to  lose  so  large  a  percentage  in  weight  when  cleaned  for  manufacturers' 
use.  Experiment-*  made  with  the  two  kinds  of  wool  by  reliable  and  experienced 
manufacturers  have  proved  that  as  much  cloth  can  be  made  of  the  same  number  of 
pounds  of  unwashed  French  Merino  wool  as  can  be  made  of  an  equal  number  of 
pounds  of  brook-washed  Spanish  Merino  wool  in  the  condition  it  is  usually  sold. 

Their  wool  is  generally  of  a  cream  color,  or  has  a  yellowish  cast,  and  the  oil  or 
yolk  iu  their  fleece  is  a  similar  color ;  still,  when  washed  their  wool  is  of  a  pure  white. 
The  wool  of  some  of  the  French  sheep  is  naturally  quite  white  when  opened  on  the 
body,  without  being  washed,  but  I  have  invariably  found  those  having  the  whitish 
wool  (when  alike  in  other  respects)  were  the  lightest  shearers. 

Regarding  the  cross  between  the  French  and  Spanish  Merinos,  Mr. 
Patterson  had  succeeded  beyond  his  expectations.  Indeed,  as  a  wool- 
growing  sheep  in  the  hands  of  most  farmers,  and  to  be  kept  as  sheep  are 
generally  kept  throughout  the  country,  he  had  never  seen  a  stock  which 
he  thought  as  profitable,  both  for  wool- grower  and  manufacturer.  He 
had  bred  them  since  1848.  Most  of  the  time  he  had  more  of  this  kind 
than  all  others,  although  he  always  kept  a  flock  of  pure  Spanish  and 
always  put  French  rams  to  French  ewes,  making  his  cross  by  putting 
French  rams  to  his  Spanish  ewes,  not  that  he  thought  that  principle 
of  breeding  the  best,  but  it  cost  much  less  money  to  do  it.  And  while 
this  cross  with  him  resulted  in  a  very  profitable  wool-growing  sheep, 
he  could  also  say  that  he  had  seen  crosses  from  these  long-legged,  slab- 
sided,  narrow-chested  French  rams  as  miserable  and  worthless  as  could 
be  imagined. 

There  were  other  importers  and  breeders  of  French  Merinos  in  New 
York  and  they  spread  with  great  rapidity,  but  obtained  no  strong  foot- 
hold and  disappeared  rapidly.  In  a  short  time  no  sale  could  be  found 
in  the  State  for  the  increase  of  the  flocks.  Some  were  sold  to  breeders 
in  Washington  County,  Pa.,  and  many  found  their  way  into  Ohio, 
northern  Illinois,  and  southern  Michigan,  where  they  did  better  than  in 
New  York.  Among  those  from  Michigan  who  purchased  of  Mr.  Patter- 
son was  Mr.  Stanton,  of  Oxford,  who  bred  his  purchase  pure  until  his 
death,  when  the  flock  was  purchased  by  Mr.  S.  Cooley,  of  Oakland 
County,  who  bred  them  with  great  care  and  to  a  marked  improvement. 
The  flock  is  now  (1892)  in  possession  of  Mr.  Henry  Grinnell,  of  Oakland, 
and  forms  the  foundation  of  the  American  Eambouillet  Association  of 
Michigan,  and  will  be  noted  at  more  length  when  the  sheep  of  that  State 
come  under  review.  In  1859  Mr.  Patterson  took  30  rams  and  22  ewes  to 
California,  where  they  were  highly  appreciated.  He  sold  3  rams  at  $1,500 
each;  1  at  $1,000;  2  at  3800  each,  and  18  from  $700  down  to  $300 each. 
Fourteen  ewes  were  sold  for  $4,500,  or  an  average  of  $321  each.  Mr. 
Patterson  subsequently  disposed  of  his  entire  flock  in  California,  and  by 
1870  it  was  a  matter  of  doubt  whether  there  was  a  single  pure-blood 
or  even  high-grade  French  Merino  in  New  York,  or  in  fact  in  any  of  the 
Northern  or  Eastern  wool-growing  States,  and  among  breeders  a 
French  cross  in  a  Merino  pedigree,  though  ten  generations  back,  would 
be  esteemed  a  fatal  taint.  "Never,"  says  Dr.  Randall,  "  did  a  breed  of 


382        SHEEP  INDUSTRY  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES 

animals  shoot  so  rapidly  into  favor,  and  disappear  so  rapidly  and  under 
such  general  contempt.  We  thought  it  went  to  an  extreme  5  that  under 
certain  circumstances  something  useful  could  have  been  made  out  of 
crosses  with  these  sheep."  They  were  introduced  especially  as  a  wool- 
growing  sheep.  They  were  wholly  unused  to  a  climate  like  ours,  and 
wholly  unsuited  by  their  previous  management  to  the  American  system 
of  wool-growing.  They  required  more  shelter  from  vicissitudes  of 
weather,  more  care  in  all  respects,  more  and  better  feed  than  anybody 
then  thought  of  giving  to  American  Merinos.  French  management  had 
converted  them  into  mutton  sheep  by  forcing  them  as  English  mutton 
sheep  are  forced ;  and  when  this  management  was  abandoned  in  the 
United  States,  where  they  were  put  on  scanty  pasturage,  or  pastures 
rendered  dry  and  innutritions  by  our  scorching  summers,  and  confined 
to  dry  hay,  or  that  with  a  mere  modicum  of  grain  in  winter,  they  did 
not  of  course  receive  sufficient  sustenance  to  build  up  and  support  their 
great  frames.  The  result  was  precisely  what  it  would  have  been  with 
the  large  mutton  sheep  of  England,  suddenly  subjected  to  such  a 
change  of  temperature  and  feed.  A  few  breeders  who  understood  the 
thing  better  kept  up  the  forcing  and  kept  up  their  sheep.  But  the  mass 
treated  them  as  they  had  been  in  the  habit  of  treating  the  American 
Merino — or  not  much  better — and  they  perished  like  hot-house  plants 
exposed  to  frost.  Their  progeny  was  gaunt  and  unthrifty  and  rapidly 
dwindled  in  size;  and  when  it  was  found  out  that  they  produced  con- 
siderably less  wool  for  the  amount  of  food  consumed,  and  that  their 
wool  was  no  better  than  first-class  American  Merino,  the  edict  for  their 
extermination  went  forth.*  It  was  conceded,  however,  that  this  sheep 
materially  increased  the  weight  of  many  flocks  in  western  New  York. 

The  Silesian  Merino  closely  followed  the  French  Merino  into  New  York. 
Like  the  latter  it  originated  from  the  Spanish  Merino.  The  native 
sheep  of  Silesia  were  small  with  long  neck  and  legs,  and  the  head, 
the  body,  and  the  legs  devoid  of  wool.  In  some  districts  there  existed 
a  superior  breed,  so  far  as  the  wool  was  concerned.  They  were  never 
folded;  they  were  housed  at  night  even  in  summer;  the  sheep  houses 
were  badly  ventilated,  and  the  excrement  removed  from  them  but  twice 
in  the  year.  Lasteyrie  tells  us  that  when  Count  Yon  Magnis  retired 
to  his  large  estates  at  Eckersdorf,  in  1786,  he  had  3,000  sheep,  the  gross 
return  from  them  amounting  to  about  $912 — American  money.  He 
began  experiments  to  improve  these  sheep  by  crossing  them  with  the 
large  breeds  of  Hungary.  His  success  was  not  marked  and  he  had 
recourse  to  the  Merinos,  sparing  no  expense  in  order  to  procure  the  best 
rams.  He  labored  hard  to  produce  an  artificial  pasture  on  a  tract  of 
country  that  would  hardly  produce  an  indigenous  plant,  for,  on  scarcely 
any  part  of  his  estates  would  the  rigor  of  the  climate  permit  any  pas- 
turage during  six  months  of  the  year.  As  his  power  of  supporting  his 
sheep  increased,  lie  increased  their  numbers.  In  process  of  time  the 

*  Henrv  S.  Randall  in  Rural  New  Yorker,  1870. 


EAST   OF    THE   MISSISSIPPI    RIVER.  383 

wool  yielded  by  the  greater  part  of  his  sheep  would  bear  comparison 
with  that  found  on  the  best  sheep  of  Spain,  and  at  length  exceeded  it 
in  fineness  and  value;  and  in  the  course  of  a  few  years  his  returns  were 
multiplied  more  than  twenty-fold. 

Mr.  J.  G.  Eisner,  in  his  history  of  Silesian  sheep,  giving  an  account  of 
the  origin  of  nearly  300  Silesian  flocks,  leaves  the  impression  that  the 
Silesiaus  are  a  cross  between  the  Negretti  of  Spain  and  the  Electorals 
of  Saxony.  Under  the  head  of  "  History  of  some  flocks  which  were 
founded  from  the  so-called  Kegretti  and  Electoral  Merinos  "he  describes 
the  Lichnowskyan  flocks.  The  sheep  forming  the  original  fine-wooled 
flock  of  the  Duke  of  Lichnowsky  were  descendants  of  the  original 
importation  of  Spanish  sheep  at  Holitsch  and  Mannusdorf.  His  flock 
was  a  private  one,  and  located  near  Troppau,  in  Silesia.  The  type  of  his 
sheep  was  ^Tegretti-Infantado.  The  wool  was  very  strong,  containing 
a  large  quantity  of  grease;  the  body,  barrel- shaped;  the  head  well  cov- 
ered with  woolj  and  folds  around  the  neck;  wool  covering  the  limbs  well 
down  towards  the  extremities;  the  skin  of  a  deep  rose  color — these  are 
the  main  characteristics  of  the  type.  At  that  period  sheep  were 
esteemed  valuable  in  proportion  to  the  many  folds  they  had  on  the  neck 
and  body,  and  that  became  the  prevailing  type  in  Moravia,  Austrian 
and  Prussian  Silesia,  and  adjoining  provinces. 

In  1801  the  Duke  Lichnowsky  traveled  in  Saxony,  where  he  discov- 
ered that  the  Saxony  Merino  had  many  desirable  qualities  which  were 
not  possesed  by  his  own  flocks.  At  about  the  same  time  the  fine,  soft, 
Electoral  wool  was  very  much  sought  after  throughout  all  the  Austrian 
and  German  states.  The  flock  owned  by  the  Duke  had  been  very  care- 
fully bred  and  selected,  and  had  many  desirable  qualities  of  which  the 
Electorals  were  destitute.  He  concluded  to  combine  the  two  types  and 
thus  secure  the  desirable  qualities  of  both.  He  quietly  secured  one  of 
the  most  highly  prized  rams  of  Saxony  origin,  and  the  progeny  of  this 
ram,  bred  to  the  Merino  ewes  of  Silesian  parentage,  were  all  that  the 
most  sanguine  could  expect.  Soon  after  he  procured  a  second  ram, 
and  in  a  very  short  time  sheep  of  these  crosses  were  in  great  demand 
as  breeders ;  he  furnished  them  to  other  sheep-raisers  as  far  as  prudence 
and  the  interests  of  his  own  flock  would  permit,  and  from  this  com- 
mencement has  grown  one  of  the  types  of  sheep  known  throughout  the 
world  as  Silesians. 

Another  celebrated  Silesian  flock  was  that  of  Gross  Herrlitz.  The 
domain  of  Gross  Herrlitz  was  the  property  of  the  Duke  Eugene  of 
Ubrna,  in  Troppau,  Silesia,  and  in  1842  was  in  possession  of  the  oldest 
Merino  flock  in  this  region  of  country,  and  which  must  be  classed  with 
the  first  flocks  of  Germany;  and  this  flock  has  furnished  more  improved 
breeding  ewes  and  done  as  much,  if  not  more,  than  any  other  to  dis- 
seminate and  encourage  the  growth  of  fine- wool.  The  history  of  this 
fine  flock  is  thus  briefly  tolcj. : 

In  the  last  quarter  of  the  preceding  century  there  was  great  attention  paid  to  fine 
wool,  and  many  sheep  from  the  best  flocks  in  Spain  were  introduced  into  Austria. 


384        SHEEP  INDUSTRY  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES 

Being  interested  in  the  progress  of  agriculture,  the  then  premier,  Duke  Kaunitz- 
Rittberg,  by  an  especial  favor  of  the  Spanish  court,  obtained  a  flock  of  the  very  best 
wool-growers  in  Spain,  and  placed  them  on  his  estates  in  Jarmintz,  Moravia.  The 
mother  of  the  then  owner  of  the  Heriiitz  estates  was  a  daughter  of  the  premier,  and 
wife  of  Duke  Eugene  of  Ubrna,  who  was  the  owner  of  the  large  family  estates  in 
Herztfvitz,  in  Bohemia,  and  fell  heir  to  a  portion  of  the  original  flock  imported  from 
Spain.  This  inherited  portion  was  taken  to  the  Bohemian  estates  ostensibly  in  order 
to  improve  the  Bohemian  flocks,  but  really  to  form  the  nucleus  of  a  large  flock  of 
the  very  best  wool  sheep  in  the  Empire.  This  nucleus  was  composed  of  Negrettis 
and  Infantados.  The  flock  at  Herzovitz  has  been  kept  pure  from  the  first  "  Kau- 
nitz"  sheep  landed  there,  but  in  order  to  increase  the  flock  rapidly  additions  were 
made  from  the  flocks  at  Holitsch  and  Maunersdorf ;  and  at  the  commencement  of  the 
present  century  a  portion  of  the  Herzovitz  flocks  were  sent  to  the  estates  at  Gross 
Herrlitz,  and  increased  by  additions  of  bucks  and  ewes  from  Herzovitz  until  the  year 
1820. 

Gross  Herrlitz,  by  its  topographical  and  agricultural  position,  lying  at  the  base 
of  the  Sudete  Mountains,  is  admirably  adapted  for  sheep  and  wool  growing.  In  a 
short  time  after  the  removal  from  Herzovitz,  it  was  found  that  the  physique  of  the  flock 
was  undergoing  a  gradual  change — the  bodies  became  larger,  with  broad  and  power- 
ful frames.  The  entire  body  was  covered  with  a  thick  and  heavy  fleece,  the  wool 
was  nervous,  even,  and  somewhat  heavily  gummed,  but  could  very  readily  be  dis- 
tinguished as  the  Saxony  wool  of  Spanish  origin.  Thus  encouraged,  the  proprie- 
tor spared  neither  pains  nor  expense  to  obtain  this  end,  to  bring  his  flock  to  the  very 
greatest  perfection,  and  as  a  means  to  obtain  this  end,  in  the  year  1805  he  purchased 
55  ewes  from  the  old  Jarmeritz  stock,  and  in  1816  purchased  3  bucks  from  Hoschlitz ; 
this  latter,  at  the  time  had  the  reputation  of  being  the  finest  flock  in  Moravia.  By 
the  year  1820  the  flock  at  Herrlitz  had  become  so  consolidated  and  equal  in  the. 
hereditary  transmission  of  qualities  that  breeding  animals  from  it  were  in  the  great- 
est demand — although  it  was  then  very  far  from  its  present  development.  But  in 
order  to  attain  the  highest  possible  development  of  strength  and  fineness  of  wool  and 
evenness  of  fleece,  the  proprietor  made  annual  purchases  until  the  year  1827  of  the 
best  bucks  from  the  Lichnowskyan  flock.  Since  1827  the  Herrlitz  flock  has  been 
carefully  bred  in-and-in,  so  that  all  the  characteristics  of  form  and  quality  of  wool 
are  now  permanently  fixed.* 

The  Merino  sheep  originally  imported  into  Silesia  were  pretty  nearly 
of  the  same  blood — large  vigorous  animals  with  a  strong  elastic  wool. 
Although  the  blood  was  pure  and  the  character  of  the  wool  excellent, 
the  limited  number  with  which  they  commenced  the  Silesian  flocks  did 
not  conduce  to  a  rapid  progress  in  their  increase  and  improvement. 
The  shepherds  intrusted  with  them  were  ignorant  of  the  proper  mode 
of  treatment,  consequently  the  animals,  like  the  native  breed,  were  ne- 
glected and  permitted  to  shift  for  themselves.  The  few  samples  exist- 
ing from  these  first  Merinos  in  1845,  when  compared  with  wool  of  the 
best  breed  at  the  latter  date,  showed  how  great  had  been  the  improve- 
ment. 

The  estate  holders  and  farmers  of  Silesia  crossed,  with  great  success, 
their  native  flocks  by  rams  of  these  first  Merino  flocks,  and  the  fact  that 
rams  with  strong  elastic  wool  and  with  a  well-developed  body  produce 
a  more  profitable  breed  and  in  shorter  time  than  those  delicate  animals, 
with  very  thin  and  soft  wool,  was  fully  proved. 


*  Ohio  Agricultural  Report,  1862. 


EAST   OF   THE    MISSISSIPPI   RIVER.  385 

When  the  Silesian  wool-growers  became  acquainted  with  the  Merinos 
<>i  Saxony,  they  went  there  for  rams  and  ewes  possessing  a  different  char- 
acter from  the  Silesian;  the  wool  was  softer  and  the  sheep  of  a  more 
delicate  form  and  less  in  size.  Silesia  had  then  two  distinct  breeds — 
those  of  the  flocks  furnished  by  the  King  of  Prussia,  with  a  strong 
elastic  wool  and  large  strong  body,  and  the  Saxon  breed,  of  small  size 
and  with  thin  and  soft  wool.  At  that  time  the  knowledge  in  wool  was 
exceedingly  limited.  Very  little  attention  was  paid,  also,  to  the  form 
of  the  sheep;  the  only  object  was  to  obtain  pure  Spanish  blood. 

The  progressive  demand  for  Merino  wool,  and  the  success  in  breed- 
ing, induced  all  the  estate  holders  to  improve  their  native  flocks.  Sax- 
ony was  the  only  country  where  Merinos  could  be  got  to  supply  the 
numerous  applicants,  and  the  flocks  of  the  Elector  and  those  of  the 
private  estates  of  Kliphausen  and  Eocheburg  furnished  most  of  the 
imported  animals.  Those  who  had  less  means  bought  rams  of  a  cross- 
breed of  native  sheep  and  Merinos,  and  in  a  short  time  few  of  the 
original  country  sheep  could  be  seen.  The  improvement  was  princi- 
pally carried  on  with  rams  of  mixed  blood,  and  with  a  very  limited 
knowledge  in  breeding. 

Some  wool-growers  were  misled  in  the  beginning  by  the  demand  of 
the  manufacturers  for  wool  of  different  grades,  which  induced  them  to 
make  changes  in  the  direction  of  greater  fineness.  This  gave  the  wool 
a  tendency  to  felt  and  twist;  fortunately  it  was  only  in  a  few  flocks,  and 
the  fault  was  remedied  by  breeding  anew  from  an  original  thorough-blood 
flock.  By  skillful  treatment,  and  gradually,  the  taste  of  the  manufac- 
turers was  gratified  and  their  demand  answered  by  the  production  of  a 
wool  of  a  quality  suited  to  various  new  styles  of  woolen  stuffs,  which 
attracted  buyers  from  all  countries  to  supply  their  wants. 

The  high  price  of  wool  from  1815  to  1825  caused  an  extreme  fineness 
of  wool  to  be  cultivated  at  the  expense  of  other  valuable  qualities  and 
the  size  and  vigor  of  the  animals.  With  the  highest  degree  of  fine- 
in  -s  great  softness  had  to  be  combined;  the  Saxon  Electoral  breed  com- 
bined these  qualities.  Such  sheep  were  employed  in  crossing;  conse- 
quently the  finest  Silesian  consisted  of  thin  fleeced,  delicate  animals, 
which,  besides  a  deficiency  of  wool,  were  liable  to  many  diseases.  Be- 
t\veen  1825  and  1830  wool  sunk  to  an  exceedingly  low  figure,  and  the 
Silcsiau  growers  began  to  diminish  their  flocks  and  change  their  whole 
sy>rem  of  farming.  It  brought  about  a  crisis,  and  the  attention  now 
became  particularly  directed  to  an  increase  of  wool  in  the  fleece  to  com- 
pensate for  the  loss  in  the  price.  This  crisis  operated  to  the  great  bene- 
fit of  the  whole  vsystem  of  breeding  the  Merinos;  the  wool-growers 
aimed  now  at  a  greater  quantity  of  wool  instead  of  extreme  fineness. 
This  was  the  commencement  of  a  system  which  reached  a  development 
tli at  proved  to  be  a  great  advantage. 

The  greatest  development  of  the  Silesian  wool  growing  system  had 
for  its  object  the  production  not  only  of  the  finest  and  softest  wool, but 
22990 25 


386        SHEEP  INDUSTRY  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES 

in  great  quantity ;  not  overlooking  nerve,  whereby  not  only  the  value 
of  wool,  but  the  weight  and  volume  also  are  enhanced.  While  the  im- 
provement of  the  sheep  was  so  closely  followed  the  improvements  on  thej 
farms  were  not  neglected;  pastures  were  sown  with  grass  and  clover  and! 
large  quantities  of  fodder  were  housed  for  the  winter,  which  amply  supl 
plied  the  flocks  with  food.  Through  a  proper  culture  of  pasture  land 
they  were  able  not  only  to  furnish  a  more  abundant  food,  but  a  mord 
healthy  one.  Another  advantage  gained  by  this  system  of  improving? 
the  pasture  land  was  that  the  wool  developed  itself  more  perfectly,; 
according  to  the  established  fact  that  the  better  and  more  regularly 
sheep  are  fed  and  taken  care  of  the  more  uniform  and  healthy  the  wool 
becomes,  and  its  superior  qualities  remain  without  deterioration. 

In  1811  Ferdinand  Fischer,  of  Wirchenblatt,  Silesia,  visited  Spain? 
and  purchased  100  ewes,  the  best  he  could  find  of  the  Infanta  do  flocks, 
and  4  rams  from  the  Negretti  flock,  and  took  them  to  Silesia,  and  up  to 
1851,  when  the  first  American  importation  was  made,  bred  them  pure 
without  crossing  with  any  other  flocks  or  blood;  but  they  were  crossed 
within  the  two  families.  The  mode  pursued  was  to  number  every  sheep 
and  give  the  same  number  to  all  her  increase.  An  exact  record  was] 
kept  in  books,  and  thus  the  owner  was  enabled  to  give  the  pedigree  ofl 
every  sheep  owned  by  him,  running  back  to  1811,  which  was  positive! 
proof  of  their  entire  purity  of  blood.  The  sheep  of  this  flock  were! 
perhaps,  not  as  large  as  they  would  have  been  had  a  little  of  other] 
blood  been  infused,  but  it  was  claimed  that  entire  purity  of  blood  wad 
indispensably  necessary  to  insure  uniformity  of  improvement  wheiJ 
crossed  on  ordinary  wool  growers'  flocks,  and  such  was  the  general] 
opinion  of  wool-growers  in  Germany,  Poland,  and  Eussia,  which] 
enabled  Mr.  Fischer  to  sell  at  high  prices  as  many  rams  and  ewes  aa 
he  could  spare. 

In  1851  George  Campbell,  of  Vermont,  was  traveling  in  France  ami 
Germany  looking  for  a  fine-wooled  sheep  adapted  to  American  hus- 
bandry. In  Silesia  he  saw  the  flock  of  Mr.  Fischer,  and  was  attracted 
to  it.  The  sheep  composing  it  possessed  great  sameness  and  uniformity 
of  appearance,  denoting  purity  of  blood.  They  retained  a  remarkable^ 
degree  of  evenness  of  staple  over  the  entire  body,  and  were  finer  anJ 
more  compact,  especially  on  the  belly,  than  any  other  sheep  of  that 
time.  The  staple  was  not  quite  so  long  as  in  some  other  flocks.  The 
surface  presented  a  dark  appearance,  and  on  opening  disclosed  a  beau-] 
tifully  white  oily  wool.  The  oil  was  sufficient  to  give  the  sheep  a  desir-j 
able  dark  surface,  but,  unlike  some  of  the  Spanish,  was  wholly  removed.] 
by  washing  in  cold  water.  The  ewes  were  nearly  faultless  in  shape  jj 
the  rams  were  less  perfect  in  this  respect  previous  to  maturity.  They] 
were  of  medium  size,  the  ewes  weighing  at  maturity  80  to  100  pounds,, 
and  the  rams  from  100  to  150.  The  weight  of  fleece  was  about  the' 
same  as  the  best  Spanish  flocks,  19  ewes  from  this  flock  producing 
145f6-  pounds  of  unwashed  wool  of  ten  months7  growth,  which  would 


EAST    OF    THE    MISSISSIPPI    RIVER.  387 

equal  175  pounds  for  twelve  months,  and  would  make  the  yearly  aver- 
age a  fraction  over  9  pounds.  The  average  live  weight  of  these  ewes 
was  71  pounds  each,  but  when  fully  grown  would  have  been  80  to  90 
pounds.  The  product  of  wool  to  live  weight  was  1  to  7-^. 

Believing  that  a  selection  from  this  flock  would  supply  an  existing 
want  and  prove  acceptable  to  a  large  class  of  wool- growers  in  the  coun- 
try, Mr.  Campbell  made  a  purchase,  and  in  May,  1851, 15  ranis  and  40 
ewes  from  the  Fischer  flock  arrived  at  New  York  for  William  Chamber- 
lain, Red  Hook,  Dutchess  County,  who  was  a  partner  with  Mr.  Camp- 
bell in  the  transaction.  Other  importations  were  made  in  1853, 1854, 
and  1856,  to  the  total  of  34  rams  and  212  ewes. 

The  Silesians  did  not  attract  the  attention  vouchsafed  the  Saxon  in 
former  days,  and  more  latterly,  though  not  to  great  degree,  the  French 
Merino.  So  many  experiments  with  imported  sheep  had  resulted  in 
disastrous  failure  that  farmers  were  wary  and  avoided  them. 

In  1862  Mr.  Chamberlain  stated  that  his  medium-aged  ewes  sheared 
from  8  to  11  pounds;  rams,  from  12  to  16  pounds.  The  wool  on  his 
sheep  (8  months'  growth)  was  1£  to  2  inches  long.  Their  external  color 
was  dark.  The  wool  had  oil,  but  no  gum  whatever,  the  sheep  having 
been  bred  so  as  to  make  them  entirely  free  from  gum.  The  oil  was 
white  and  free. 

Five  ewes  weighed  115,  140,  130,  115,  and  127  pounds,  and  three 
grown  rams  145, 158,  and  155  pounds;  a  yearling  ram  weighed  130 
pounds.  The  ewes  were  from  24  to  28  inches  high ;  fore  leg,  11  to  12 
inches;  rams,  27  to  28  inches  high;  fore  leg,  12  to  13 J  inches.  The 
Silesians  were  hardy,  much  more  so  than  a  small  mutton  flock  subjected 
to  the  same  treatment,  and  they  were  first :rate  breeders  and  nurses. 
They  had  not  deteriorated,  but  the  wool  was  fine  without  any  reduction 
in  the  weight  of  fleece.  Take  the  average  of  the  flock  and  the  ewes 
would  weigh  110  to  115  pounds.  In  a  few  years  the  American- Silesian 
had  slightly  increased  in  size.  The  shearing  of  a  New  York  flock  in 
1856  shows  the  following  weight  of  carcass  and  fleece: 


Carcass 
after 
shearing. 

Fleece. 

Ram                   

Pounds. 
110 

Lbs.  oz. 
13    4 

74 

812 

DM                           

62 

9    2 

Do 

75 

90 

Do                 .                 

65 

8    9 

Yearling  ewe 

57 

8    7 

Do 

72 

8    7 

Do 

67 

8    5 

The  Silesian  more  nearly  resembled  the  Spanish  Merino  than  did  the 
French  and  Saxon,  which  were  bred  away  from  the  characteristics  of 
the  parent  race.  It  was  a  high-bred  Spanish  sheep,  with  a  fleece  supe- 


388  SHEEP    INDUSTRY    OF    THE    UNITED    STATES 

rior  in  quality  to  that  of  any  Merino  imported  into  the  country,  except 
the  Saxony.    Mr.  Randall  sums  up  his  opinion  of  this  sheep  in  1862: 

Wherever  it  is  more  profitable  to  grow  really  fine  wool  this  variety  ought  to  stand 
unrivaled ;  and  I  can  not  entertain  a  doubt  that  there  will  always  be  sufficient 
demand  in  the  United  States  for  such  wool  to  make  large  flocks  of  these  Silesian 
sheep  profitable.  If  our  broadcloth  manufactures  should  revive,  as  it  is  to  bo  hoped 
they  will,  it  will  add  immensely  to  the  call  for  this  class  of  wool.  Where  it  is  desira- 
ble to  make  crosses  between  Merinos  and  coarse  breeds,  or  to  add  to  the  fineness  and 
evenness  of  coarse  families  of  Merinos,  these  sheep  would  seem  well  fitted  to  the 
object. 

But  the  demand  for  Silesian  wool  was  not  felt,  and  the  broadcloth 
manufacture  did  not  revive,  consequently  the  Silesian  sheep  had  no 
encouragement,  and  with  the  French  and  Saxony  Merinos  were  almost 
^universally  condemned  by  1865.  As  to  their  value  as  crosses  an  ex- 
periment was  made,  but  not  in  the  direction  indicated  by  Mr.  Ran- 
dall. Mr.  James  Geddes  preserved  a  fine  flock  of  Silesians,  and  in  1869, 
when  everything  was  running  to  coarse- wool  production,  he  selected 
100  choice  Silesian  ewes,  with  the  view,  on  account  of  the  uureinunera- 
tive  price  of  wool,  of  combining  with  it  the  production  of  mutton.  Two 
Cotswold  ranis  were  purchased  to  put  with  them.  The  resultant  80  to 
90  lambs  from  these  ewes  were  very  fine,  and  partook  strongly  of  the 
characteristics  of  the  Cotswold.  An  average  yearling  of  the  cross 
weighed  80  pounds,  and  his  fleece  weighed  7f  pounds.  Several  fleeces 
of  the  ewes  weighed  9  pounds  each,  and  one  only  fell  as  low  as  5 
pounds. 

Writing  in  1870,  William  Chamberlain  said  that  he  had  during  the 
preceding  fifteen  years  imported  500  Silesian  sheep  of  the  first  quality, 
and  had  them  ever  since,  and  they  continued  to  do  well ;  full  as  well  as 
any  breed  of  sheep  of  which  he  had  any  knowledge.  The  wool  did  not 
deteriorate.  His  flock  averaged  fully  8  pounds  umvashed  wool.  It 
was  sold  to  a  Connecticut  manufacturer,  who  made  doeskins  which 
compared  favorably  with  the  best  German  doeskin.  The  cross  of  the 
Saxon  and  Silesian  had  resulted  very  satisfactorily. 

At  the  death  of  Mr.  Chamberlain  the  German  shepherd,  Carl  Heyne, 
who  had  cared  for  and  handled  the  flock  with  great  ability,  selected  a 
choice  lot  and  more  than  sustained  their  former  reputation  in  hardiness 
and  excellence  of  fleece.  After  the  death  of  Mr.  Heyne  the  flock  be- 
came the  property  of  C.  D.  Kenyon,  of  White  Creek,  Washington 
County,  N.  Y.  The  fleeces  averaged  one-third  less  than  those  of  the 
American  Merinos,  but  excelled  in  fineness  and  sold  for  5  cents  more 
per  pound.  The  wool  was  formerly  in  demand  for  soft  felt  hats.  It  is 
very  soft  and  not  quite  so  fine  as  the  Saxony.  The  sheep  are  somewhat 
larger  than  the  Saxony,  which  they  resemble  in  form.  They  shear  a 
heavier  fleece  than  the  Saxony.  At  the  New  Orleans  Fair  in  1885  they 
took  the  premiums  for  fine- wool  sheep.  The  descendants  of  the  Cham- 
berlain flock  are  still  bred  by  the  Kenyon  Brothers  and  seem  to  be  well 
adapted  to  their  surroundings. 


EAST   OF   THE   MISSISSIPPI   RIVER. 


389 


The  war  of  the  rebellion  gave  a  great  impetus  to  the  sheep  husbandry 
of  New  York,  as  shown  by  the  increase  of  flocks  in  1862-'63,  and  the 
importation  of  Merino  ranis  from  Vermont.  There  was  a  sharp  revival 
of  fine-wool  growing  and  an  emulation  not  only  in  the  State  but  through- 
out the  entire  country  in  raising  heavy  fleeces  and  announcing  the 
weights  in  the  newspapers  and  agricultural  publications  of  the  day. 
These  weights  show  the  great  improvement  made,  and,  though  in  some 
cases  probably  excessive  and  lacking  in  uniformity  of  the  standard, 
deserve  permanent  record. 

In  1861  Dr.  Ira  Spencer,  of  De  Buyter,  sheared  an  Atwood  Merino 
flock  of  40  ewes  3  years  old  and  upwards,  10  yearling  and  2  grown 
rams,  and  8  wethers.  The  average  weight  of  the  whole  fleeces,  washed 
on  the  back,  was  a  trifle  over  7  pounds.  As  this  small  flock  may  be 
accepted  as  a  typical  New  York  Atwood  Merino  flock  of  that  date,  some 
particulars  are  given. 


Sex. 

Live 
weight. 

Height 

Weight 
fleece. 

Ram     

Lit. 
132 

Inches. 
29 

Lbt. 

191 

Ewe 

91 

23 

j»4 

Do    . 

87 

231 

61 

Do 

107 

24A 

8 

Do    

89 

24 

7 

Do 

98 

24» 

7 

The  ram's  fleece  was  of  eleven  months'  growth  and  unwashed.  The 
sheep  ran  for  nearly  three  weeks  between  washing  and  shearing.  Their 
winter  feed  was  hay,  and  each  received  daily  half  a  pint  of  provender, 
made  up  of  three  parts  by  measure  of  oats  and  one  part  of  oil-meal. 
The  ram  received  more. 

In  the  same  year  George  Geddes,  president  of  the  New  York  State 
Agricultural  Society,  procured  from  Sweet  Brothers,  of  Onondaga 
County,  a  statement  showing  the  proportion  of  wool  to  meat  in  sheep 
of  different  ages,  sexes,  and  sizes.  The  flock  of  the  Sweet  Brothers 
consisted  of  180,  of  several  grades,  one-half  to  three-fourths  Spanish 
Merino,  and  a  portion  of  the  largest  one-fourth  French  Merino ;  the  base 
of  the  flock,  but  a  few  years  previous,  was  Saxony.  The  sheep  were 
sheared  June  26  and  27,  1861,  and  every  sheep  and  fleece  was  weighed 
and  recorded  on  the  spot.  They  were  sheared  promiscuously  and  classi- 
fied both  by  age  and  weight.  The  heaviest  sheep  weighed  133  pounds, 
the  lightest  43.  The  heaviest  fleece  weighed  9£  pounds,  the  lightest 
3J  pounds. 


390 


SHEEP  INDUSTRY  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES 


Classified  by  age,  except  those  4  years  old,  ivhich  are  subdivided  by  sex.     The  4-year  old 
ewes  all  had  lambs,  and  35  reared  them. 


No.  in  class. 

Sexes. 

Gross 
weight. 

Weight 
carcass. 

Weight 
of 
Lwool. 

Average 
weight 
of 
carcass. 

Average 
weight 
of 
fleece. 

Pounds 
of  carcass 
to  one  of 
wool. 

Per  cent 
of  wool 
to  gross 
weight. 

Age. 

8 

H 

Wethers. 

Rams. 

32 

30 
51 
26 
41 

19 
15 
9 

"ii" 

11 
15 
42 
25 

2 
1 

i 

Pounds. 
2,  160.  25 
2,  508.  37 
5,  013.  25 
2,  921.  13 
3,  738.  00 

Pounds. 
1,991 
2,347 
4,700 
2,736 
3,557 

Pounds. 
169.  25 
161.  37 
313.  25 
185.  13 
181.  00 

Pounds. 
62.21 
78.23 
92.15 
105.  11 
86.  75 

Pounds. 
5.28 
5.27 
6.14 
7.12 
4.41 

11.11 

13.98 
14.10 
14.76 
39.65 

7.83 
6.43 
6.24 
6.33 
4.84 

Tears. 

1 
2 
3 
4 
4 

180 

84 

92 

4 

16,  241.  00 

15,331 

1,  010.  00 

85.17 

5.38 

15.17 

6.18 

Ito4 

Classified  by  weight  in  divisions  of  10  pounds  each. 


m 

J 
o 

& 

I 

Weight 
of  division 
from  — 

Sex. 

Gross 
weight. 

Weight 
of  car- 
cass. 

Weight 
of  wool. 

Average 
weight  of 
carcass. 

Average 
weight  of 
fleece. 

Pounds 
of  carcass 
to  one  of 
wool. 

Per  cent 
of  wool  to 
gross 
weight. 

09 
9 
£ 
H 

t 

o 
£ 
"S 
£ 

§ 

a 

5 
14 

20 
34 
39 
34 
18 
11 
5 

43  to    51 
50  to    61 
60  to    71 
70  to    81 
80  to    91 
90  to  101 
100  to  111 
110  to  121 
120  to  134 

5 
10 
14 
21 
19 
11 
4 

Pounds. 
256 
871 
1,427 
2,742 
3,566 
3,453 
2,016 
1,353 
657 

Pounds. 
234 
803 
1,320 
2,567 
3,355 
3,252 
1,905 
1,273 
622 

Pounds. 
22 
68 
107 
175 
211 
201 
111 
80 
35 

Pounds. 
46.80 
57.  35 
66.00 
75.50 
86.00 
95.64 
105.  83 
115.  72 
124.  40 

Pounds. 
4.40 
4.85 
5.35 
5.14 
5.41 
5.91 
6.16 
7  27 
7.00 

10.63 
11.80 
12.33 
14.66 
15.87 
15.42 
17.16 
15.91 
17.76 

8.59 

7.80 
7.49 
6.38 
5.90 
5.82 
5.50 
5.89 
5.32 

4 
6 
12 
20 
22 
13 
10 
5 

i 

i 
i 
i 

180 

43  to  134 

84 

92 

4 

16,  341 

15,  331 

1,010 

85.17 

5.38 

15.17 

6.18 

These  figures  may  be  taken  as  a  fair  showing  of  the  average  wool- 
growing  flocks  of  New  York  in  1861.  From  several  shearings  in  Cayuga 
County,  the  same  year,  of  ordinary  Spanish  Merino  flocks  there  was  an 
average  yield  per  head  of  5J  pounds  of  washed  wool,  and  in  Ontario 
County  an  average  yield  of  5^-  pounds,  figures  approximating  very 
closely  to  those  above  given. 

On  June  1, 1864,  at  the  Ontario  County  sheep-shearing  13  rams  and 
C  ram  lambs  were  shorn.  The  average  weight  of  the  old  rams  was  112 
pounds  each,  the  average  weight  of  the  fleeces  19-&  pounds,  an  average 
yield  of  fleece  of  17  per  cent  to  the  weight  of  carcass.  The  6  ram  lambs 
weighed  in  the  aggregate  532  J  pounds— the  heaviest  108  and  the  light- 
est 69J  pounds.  Their  fleeces  aggregated  95-^  pounds— the  heaviest 
16^1  pounds,  the  lightest  15^6-  pounds.  The  sheep  were  unwashed,  and 
most  of  them  had  been  housed  and  carefully  shielded  from  the  weather. 

At  a  public  gathering  iu  Cayuga  County  June  8, 1864,  there  were 
shorn  rams  and  ewes;  the  heaviest  ram's  fleece  was  23-^-  pounds,  and 
the  heaviest  ewe's  fleece  10^  pounds,  both  fleeces  unwashed. 

The  manner  of  shearing  the  sheep,  the  various  methods  of  washing, 
the  different  ages  of  the  fleeces,  and  other  elements  of  uncertainty,  and 


EAST    OP    THE    MISSISSIPPI    RIVER. 


391 


particularly  the  increasing  amount  of  yolk  in  the  wool  suggested  a  more 
correct  standard  of  measurement,  such  a  standard  as  would  determine 
the  absolute  weight  of  a  fleece  when  thoroughly  cleaned  as  wool  is 
cleansed  by  the  manufacturers.  To  this  end  D.  D.  T.  Moore,  of  the 
liural  New  Yorker,  offered  a  premium  of  $50  "for  the  fleece  of  one  year's 
growth  or  thereabouts,  which,  on  being  cleaned,  shall  be  found  to  give 
the  greatest  weight  of  wool,  in  proportion  to  its  time  of  growth  and  to 
the  live  weight  of  the  animal."  There  were  fifteen  entries,  one  of  which 
was  a  ( 'otswold  ewe.  The  shearing  and  scouring  took  place  at  Canan- 
daigua  May  11, 1865,  and  the  result  was  thus  tabulated  in  order  of 
merit : 


:Nu.                     Sex. 

Condi- 
tion. 

Age 
in  years 
and 
days. 

Weight 
of  ani- 
mals. 

Weight 
of  fleece 
shorn. 

Weight 
ofscoured 
wool. 

Per  cent 
of  fleece 
to  live 
weight. 

Per  cent 
ofscoured 
wool  to 
live 
weight. 

i 
1 

! 

9 

10 
11 
12 
13 
34 
15 

Ewe 

Fair 

*2 
t365 
t408 
*2 
*1 
t331 
*2 
t38l 
1369 
t420 
*2 
*2 
*2 
*4 
t381 

Poundt. 
49.00 
53.00 
47.00 
63.50 
50.00 
33.00 
61.00 
99.50 
55.50 
68.50 
77.50 
54.50 
78.50 
95.00 
108.50 

Pounds. 
9.85 
11.21 
8.97 
14.43 
11.31 
7.03 
10.81 
8.90 
9.15 
12.42 
15.72 
10.25 
17.50 
20.09 
18.09 

Pounds. 
4.75 
4.50 
4.43 
5.12 
3.97 
2.28 
4.47 
7.31 
3.59 
4.81 
6.25 
3.33 
5.31 
6.56 
5.18 

20.0 
21.1 
19.0 
22.7 
22.3 
21.3 
17.0 
8.0 
16.0 
18.0 
20.0 
18.0 
22.2 
21.0 
16.0 

9.6 

8.4 
9.4 
8.0 
7.6 
6.9 
7.3 
7.0 
6.2 
7.0 
8.0 
6.1 
6.0 
6.9 
4.7 

....do  

do 

Fair.... 
Good  ... 
Good  ... 
Good  ... 
Thin 

do 

Ram                

Rain                          

Thin  ... 

Cotswold  ewe  
Ewe  
....do  

Ram 

Good... 
Good... 
Fair.... 
Good  ... 
Fair  

Ewe  

....do  
Ram  

Fair.... 
Good... 
Good... 

....do  

No. 

1 
2 
3 

4 

10 
11 
12 

13 

Sex. 

Per  cent 
ofscoured 
wool  to 
fleece. 

Per  cent 
of  shrink- 
age. 

Age  of 
fleece 
in  days. 

Quantity 
of  prod- 
uct each 
day. 

Quantity 
hyl 
pound  of 
animal 
each  day. 

Quantity 
of  wool 
pro- 
duced.J 

Quantity 
by  each 
animal  in 
one  year. 

Ewe 

48.0 
40.1 
49.3 
35.4 
35.4 
32.3 
42.3 
82.0 
39.2 
38.1 
39.4 
32.4 
30.3 
32.6 
28.6 

52.0 
59.9 
50.7 
64.6 
64.6 
67.6 
58.7 
18.0 
60.8 
61.9 
60.6 
67.6 
69.7 
67.4 
71.4 

367 
356 
408 
373 
366 
331 
368 
385 
336 
369 
425 
341 
376 
385 
380 

Pound. 
.01294 
.01264 
.01885 
.  01372 
.01084 
.00688 
.01214 
.01068 
.  01898 
.01068 
.  01303 
.  01470 
.  00976 
.  01703 
.01363 

Pound. 
.000264 
.000238 
.000230 
.  000216 
.000214 
.  000208 
.000199 
.000189 
.000192 
.000190 
.  000188 
.  000179 
.  000179 
.000179 
.000125 

Pound. 
.09636 
.08687 
.08395 
.07884 
.07811 
.  07592 
.07263 
.  07098 
.07000 
.06935 
.06862 
.06533 
.06533 
.06533 
.04562 

Poundt. 
4.72 
4.60 
3.94 
5.00 
3.94 
2.50 
4.43 
7.06 
3.88 
4.75 
5.31 
3.56 
5.12 
6.20 
4.94 

do 

do 

..do  

Ram 

K\vt-      

(  'i>i  swold  ewe  

....do  

Ram 

Ewe    

do 

14 

Ram  

do 

Years. 


tDays. 


I  By  1  pound  of  animal  in  a  year. 


It  will  be  observed  that  the  small  sheep  had  greatly  the  advantage 
in  the  contest,  not  that  the  very  smallest  sheep  proved  the  winner,  but 
the  rule  in  the  main  was  proven  true  that  small  sheep,  having  more 
surface  in  proportion  to  their  weight,  give  more  wool  per  pound  of 
body;  from  which  the  judges  who  made  the  award  drew  the  conclusion 
that  for  the  mere  purpose  of  wool-growing  very  large  sheep  were  not 
desirable. 


392 


SHEEP  INDUSTRY  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES 


On  May  9, 10,  and  11, 1865,  a  State  sheep  fair  was  held  at  Canan- 
daigua,  at  which  many  sheep  were  sheared.  The  heaviest  ram  fleece 
was  29  pounds  2  ounces,  from  an  animal  weighing  121  pounds;  the 
heaviest  ewe  fleece  was  18  pounds  9  ounces,  from  an  8-year-old  animal 
weighing  95  pounds.  In  this  same  year  the  New  York  State  Sheep 
Breeders'  Association  offered  prizes  for  the  heaviest  scoured  ram's  and 
ewe's  fleeces  in  proportion  to  their  time  of  growth  and  weight  of  car- 
cass. The  results,  excluding  the  ram  fleeces  below  5£  and  the  ewe 
fleeces  below  4J  pounds,  were: 


Sex. 

Age. 

Carcass. 

Fleece. 

Scoured. 

Growth. 

Ram 

Trs.  D. 
1    60 

Pounds. 

77  50 

Pounds. 
15  72 

Pounds. 
6  25 

Days. 
425 

Do 

4      0 

95  00 

20  09 

6  56 

385 

Do  

1    14 

108.  50 

18.09 

5  18 

380 

Ewe    .     .     . 

2      0 

49  00 

9  85 

4  75 

367 

Do  

365 

53.00 

11  21 

4  50 

356 

Do 

2      0 

63  50 

14  43 

5  12 

373 

Do  

2      0 

78.50 

17  50 

5  31 

376 

Some  fleeces  scoured  by  private  parties  showed  heavier  than  any 
here  given,  one  owned  by  Josiah  Taft  scouring  8  pounds  from  a  fleece  of 
30  pounds.  This  was  from  the  stock  ram  Osceola,  the  first  New  York 
ram  that  sheared  30  pounds,  or  a  scoured  fleece  of  8  pounds. 

In  1866  the  Pottle  and  Oossitt  prizes  of  the  New  York  State  Sheep 
Breeders'  and  Wool  Growers'  Association  were  offered  for  scoured 
fleeces  of  greatest  weight  and  value  in  proportion  to  time  of  growth, 
without  regard  to  weight  of  carcass.  The  fleeces  were  scoured  by  an 
officer  of  the  Syracuse  Woolen  Manufactory  Company.  Earn  fleeces 
under  5  pounds  and  ewe  fleeces  under  4J,  after  scouring,  are  omitted  in 
this  list. 


Sex. 

Carcass. 

Fleece. 

Scoured. 

Growth. 

Ram  

Pounds. 
124  75 

Pounds. 
16  34 

Pounds. 
5  12 

Days. 
338 

Do 

123  50 

17  96 

5  25 

385 

Do... 

152  00 

22  57 

6  63 

364 

Do 

110  00 

16  69 

5  21 

344 

Do  .... 

116  25 

12  87 

5  03 

345 

Do... 

92  00 

12  76 

5  63 

405 

Do  

127  00 

19  71 

5  26 

360 

Do 

115  00 

15  37 

5  10 

394 

Do  

105  75 

17  21 

5  03 

407 

Ewe 

77  00 

14  06 

5  29 

364 

Do... 

65  75 

17  43 

5  88 

403 

Do  . 

103  50 

16  63 

4  69 

375 

In  1867  the  Pottle  and  Cossitt  prizes  were  again  offered,  and  but  one 
sheep  competed ;  that  one  a  ewe,  whose  weight  of  carcass  was  not  given. 
She  sheared  a  fleece  of  one  year's  growth  weighing  16  pounds  3  ounces, 
which,  when  scoured,  gave  6  pounds  4J  ounces.  The  Moore  and  Wilcox 
prizes  were  offered  for  the  heaviest  ram's  and  ewe's  fleeces,  in  propor- 


EAST   OF   THE   MISSISSIPPI   RIVER. 


393 


tion  to  time  of  growth  and  weight  of  carcass,  and  the  competition  was 

;i>  follows: 


Sex. 

Weight  of 
carcass. 

Weight  of 
fleece. 

Scoured. 

Growth. 

Ham 

Pounds. 
75  00 

Pounds. 
18  84 

Pounds. 

7  84 

Days. 
H68 

Do  

84  50 

15  62 

6  56 

355 

Do 

68  50 

13  37 

5  15 

390 

Ewe  

35  50 

8  75 

4  03 

373 

Do 

59  00 

10  00 

5  37 

365 

These  weights  show  that  from  1865  to  1867  the  sheep  of  western  New 
York  sheared  double  the  weight  in  cleansed  wool  that  they  did  in  1830. 
The  improvement  in  that  direction  continued. 

At  a  sheep-shearing  in  Ontario  County,  June,  1868, 11  ewes  one  year 
old,  whose  aggregate  weight  was  568  pounds,  sheared  130J  pounds  of 
wool,  an  average  per  head  of  ll-fr  pounds.  Seven  ewes,  two  years  old 
and  over,  whose  aggregate  weight  was  450J  pounds,  sheared  84  pounds, 
an  average  per  head  of  12  pounds  5  the  greatest  was  13  pounds  11 J 
ounces.  Two  yearling  rams  whose  weights  were  101J  and  97J  pounds 
gave,  respectively,  16  pounds>  9  ounces  and  18  pounds  3  ounces  of  wool. 
Eleven  rams  two  years  old  and  over,  whose  aggregate  weight  was  1,314J 
pounds,  sheared  217  pounds  10  ounces,  or  an  average  of  19  pounds  12J 
ounces  per  head.  The  heaviest  fleece  was  25  pounds,  and  two  others 
weighed  24J  and  23J  pounds.  All  the  fleeces  were  unwashed. 

The  shearings  of  1869  showed  some  remarkable  results.  That  of  the 
Ontario  and  Livingston  County  Wool-Growers'  Association  was  recorded 
with  considerable  minuteness.  Five  sheep  were  shorn: 


Sex. 

Age. 

Age  of 
fleece. 

Weight  of 
carcass. 

Weight. 

Fleece. 

Scoured 
wool. 

Ewe                                         

Yr.Mo.Dys. 
1      1      21 
113 
122 
3 
3 

Yr.Mo.Dys. 
1      1      21 
113 
123 
11      20 
11      21 

Pounds. 
51 
51 
75 
87 
108 

Lbs.  Oz. 
13      2 
10      2i 
16    13 
16    15 
24      2 

Lbs.  Oz. 
4  i:ii 
4  114 
5  8i 
6  9 
9  3 

Do  

Do 

Do  

Ram 

The  three-year  old  ram  shearing  9  pounds  3  ounces  of  scoured  wool 
was  the  property  of  Levi  Noble,  and  the  first  Merino  sheep  on  record  as 
yielding  9  pounds  of  scoured  wool.  The  wool  was  well  scoured  by 
manufacturers  who  used  wool  for  heavy  cassiineres,  fine  cloth,  flannels, 
and  stocking  yarns,  mostly  for  customers. 


394 


SHEEP   INDUSTRY    OF    THE    UNITED    STATES 


At  a  sheep -shearing  at  Alexander,  Genesee  County,  June,  1869,  8 
sheep  were  shorn : 


Sex  and  age. 

Weight  of 
carcass. 

Weight  of 
fleece. 

Age  of 
fleece. 

Pounds. 
61 

Lbg.    oz. 
14      8 

r.  a. 

1 

109 

19      7A 

1    5 

76 

11    13i 

1    4 

155 

23 

1 

159i 

34        | 

65 

15      5* 

126i 

35      2 

1    4 

107 

17    12 

When  it  was  announced  that  C.  Grossman's  "Dixie"  had  produced 
a  fleece  of  35  pounds  2  ounces  there  was  some  incredulity,  but  the  cor- 
rectness of  the  weight  was  so  well  established  that  it  was  accepted. 
Henry  S.  Eandall  called  for  a  scouring  test,  which  was  given,  the  re- 
sult showing  9  pounds  1J  ounces  of  scoured  wool,  making  the  second 
sheep  that  had  reached  or  exceeded  9  pounds.  Dixie  was  of  Vermont 
stock,  and  had  Humphreys,  Jarvis,  Cock,  Crowningshield,  and  Cut- 
ting blood.  He  was  born  March  25,  1867,  and  on  May  4,  1868,  sheared 
28J  pounds.  In  1870  he  weighed  131  pounds  and  sheared  34  pounds 

14  ounces  of  good  wool.    In  1871  he  sheared  33  pounds.    He  never 
equaled  his  second  fleece. 

Still  another  35-pound  fleece  was  reached  in  1869.  The  record  of 
the  Ontario  and  Livingston  shearing  gives  five  fleeces  as  exceeding  20 
pounds;  the  highest  of  these  was  S.  D.  Short's  two-year  old  ram,  whose 
weight  of  carcass  was  145  pounds.  The  fleece  was  of  one  year's  growth 
and  weighed  just  35  pounds;  his  fleece  of  the  previous  year  weighed  27 
pounds  8  ounces.  The  fleece  was  about  the  usual  fineness  of  wool  con- 
sidered by  the  breeders  as  desirable  for  heavy-fleeced  American  Merino 
sheep.  The  staple  ranged  in  length  from  about  If  to  1J  inches,  mostly 
of  the  latter  length.  The  hardened  external  yolk  or  gum  was  not 
unusual  in  amount.  Within,  the  wool  was  filled  to  excess  and  stuck 
together  with  yellowish,  semi-hardened  yolk.  The  ram  was  housed 
from  nearly  all  storms  during  the  year,  was  wintered  on  hay  and  swill 
from  the  kitchen,  composed  of  sour  milk,  apple  and  potato  peelings, 
and  dishwater,  of  which  he  was  fond.  He  had  some  grain,  say  a  pint 
of  oats  per  day,  and  the  same  quantity  of  bran.  But  this  fleece  did  not 
stand  the  scouring  test.  When  subjected  to  the  same  process  that  the 
Noble  and  Grossman  fleeces  had  gone  through  it  yielded  but  6  pounds 

15  ounces  scoured  wool,  which  amount  was  exceeded  by  two  fleeces 
shorn  at  the  same  time,  weighing  before  scouring  21  pounds  11  ounces 
and  24  pounds  8  ounces,  scouring, respectively,  8  pounds  5  ounces  and  7 
pounds  2  ounces.    The  record  of  7  sheep  is  here  given. 


EAST    OF   THE    MISSISSIPPI    RIVER. 


395 


Sex. 

Weight  of 
carcass. 

fleece. 

Weight  of 
scoured 

fleece. 

Pounds. 
84 

Lbt.  oz, 

10     20 

Lbi.  oz. 

117 

130 

24       ft 

118 

00           A 

Ram  

113 

18    15 

6      8 

Ewe  

89 
86 

14      8 
13      5 

5    12 

Mr.  P.  Martin,  of  Bushville,  had  some  fleeces  scoured,  and  preserved 
me  record : 

A  ram  fleece  weighing  19£  pounds  scoured  7  pounds  4  ounces. 
A  ewe  fleece  weighing  19£  pounds  scoured  7  pounds  1  ounce. 
A  ewe  fleece  weighing  16^  pounds  scoured  5  pounds  4  ounces. 
A  ewe  fleece  weighing  13£  pounds  scoured  4  pounds  15  ounces. 
A  ewe  fleece  weighing  13£  pounds  scoured  4  pounds  12  ounces. 
A  ewe  fleece  weighing  15J  pounds  scoured  5  pounds  6  ounces. 

A  Wyoming  County  flock  of  83  Merinos  sheared  890  pounds  of  un- 
washed wool.  The  5  rams  of  the  flock  sheared  25  pounds  4  ounces,  21 
pounds,  18  pounds  12  ounces,  22  pounds,  and  27  pounds  4  ounces. 
From  a  Monroe  County  flock  3  rams  sheared  20  pounds,  16  pounds,  and 
22  pounds  3  ounces,  and  10  ewes  averaged  12J  pounds  each. 

The  decade  from  1860  to  1870  witnessed  a  wonderful  improvement  in 
thoroughblood  flocks,  but  a  great  decline  in  the  number  of  fine-wooled 
sheep  and  a  further  substitution  of  the  coarse-wooled  mutton  sheep 
throughout  the  State.  The  State  census  of  1855  showed  a  clip  of  2,630,161 
fleeces  weighing  9,331,202  pounds,  an  average  of  3.55  pounds  per  head. 
In  1864  the  clip  had  advanced  to  3,804,982  fleeces,  weighing  15,801,864 
pounds,  or  an  average  of  4.15  pounds  per  fleece.  In  1865  the  fleeces 
numbered  3,783,935,  weighing  15,347,445,  or  an  average  of  4.06  pounds 
per  fleece.  There  was  a  slight  decline  all  around,  a  decline  which  was 
rapid  to  1870, when  the  number  of  sheep  was  2,181,578,yielding  10,599,225 
pounds  of  wool,  a  loss  in  five  years  of  1,602,357  sheep  and  4,748,220 
pounds  of  wool.  But  the  average  amount  of  wool  per  head  increased 
from  4.06  in  1865  to  4.86  pounds  in  1870.  In  1875  the  number  of  sheep 
declined  to  1,489,956,  wool  to  7,369,857  pounds ;  and  the  average  per 
head  of  wool  increased  to  4.95  pounds. 

Between  1824  and  1840  the  Saxony  Merino  absorbed  the  Spanish 
Jerino,  and  for  the  few  years  preceding  1840  the  great  wool-growing 

<-ks  of  the  State  were  mostly  of  Saxon  blood,  and  when  from  1840  to 
jl850  these  began  to  be  abandoned  no  other  wool-growing  sheep  imme- 
diately took  their  places.  The  losses  on  the  Spanish  Merinos  in  1815, 
and  later  on  the  Saxons,  had  not  been  forgotten,  and  many  farmers 
turned  their  attention  to  dairying,  which  proved  a  steadily  and  highly 
remunerative  department  of  husbandry.  But  gradually  the  Spanish 
Merino  regained  favor  and  grew  in  esteem.  It  returned  to  many  farms 
from  which  it  had  been  banished  and  supplanted  newer  and  more  ainbi- 


396  SHEEP   INDUSTRY    OF   THE    UNITED    STATES 

tious  rivals.  The  ten  years  from  1850  to  1860  witnessed  the  almost 
complete  extirpation  of  the  Saxon  Merino  from  the  flne-wooled  sheep 
husbandry  of  the  State  and  the  introduction  of  the  French  Merino| 
The  ten  years  from  1860  to  1870  saw  the  disappearance  of  the  French 
Merino. 

Causes,  too,  now  operated  against  the  Spanish  or  American  Merind 
and  in  favor  of  long  and  middle  wooled  sheep,  in  which  there  was  J 
great  increase.  The  great  development  of  the  worsted  manufacture! 
from  1862,  the  decline  in  the  price  of  fine  wool,  the  scarcity  and  com-: 
paratively  high  price  of  combing  wools,  combined  with  the  greatly 
increased  demand  for  mutton  in  large  cities,  rendered  the  long- wooled 
sheep  more  profitable,  and  induced  many  flock-owners  to  put  their 
Merino  ewes  to  long-wooled  rams,  preferably  the  Cotswolds,  it  being 
considered,  in  fact,  folly  to  use  any  other.  This  caused  the  Cotswold  to 
be  largely  introduced,  and  in  nearly  every  county  of  the  State  this  or 
other  coarse-wooled  breeds  had  almost  supplanted  the  fine-wooled 
Merino  by  1870.  In  this  year  A.  C.  Brundage  crossed  120  Merino  ewes 
with  Cotswold  rams  very  successfully.  The  average  weight  of  his  Me- 
rino ewes  was  80  pounds  5  the  weight  of  the  Cotswold  ram  at  two  years 
was  200  pounds.  Several  of  the  lambs  at  six  months  old  weighed  over 
90  pounds  each,  and  the  fleece  shorn  from  them  in  the  following  season 
brought  more  in  the  market  than  Merino  fleece. 

Some  notes  in  the  progress  of  the  coarse  and  middle  wooled  sheep  can 
be  given.  In  1850  the  Southdowns,  in  Ontario  County,  were  found  not 
only  profitable  for  wool-raising  but  their  superior  mutton  caused  many 
of  them  to  be  raised  for  the  Eastern  markets.  In  1853  John  E.  Chap- 
man, Madison  County,  imported  a  fine  lot  of  Lincolnshire  sheep  from 
the  best  English  flocks.  Their  fleeces  averaged  over  11  pounds  each. 
In  1854  Mr.  Hallock,  of  Milton,  imported,  through  Col.  Ware,  of  Vir- 
ginia, some  Cotswold  sheep  from  the  best  improved  flocks.  Two  of  the 
ewes  had  drawn  first  prizes  at  the  Koyal  Agricultural  show.  These 
ewes  were  large,  superbly  formed,  and  averaged  10  pounds  fine,  soft 
wool.  The  rams  weighed  nearly  300  pounds.  One  of  them  at  two  years 
old  sheared  18  J  pounds ;  another  17  J  pounds.  They  had  fine  heads  and 
limbs,  deep,  full  briskets,  great  breadth  and  length  of  body,  and  well 
taken  up  in  the  belly.  At  the  sale  of  Col.  Lewis  J.  Morris'  Southdowns 
in  July,  1856,  the  ewes  averaged  about  $150  each,  and  an  imported  ram 
brought  $400. 

The  Cheviot  sheep,  introduced  into  Delaware  County  in  1838  and 
again  in  1842,  were  quite  widely  extended  over  the  southern  central 
counties,  particularly  in  Otsego  County,  where  fine  breeding  flocks  still 
exist.  These  sheep  were  very  hardy,  bearing  exposure  to  wet  better 
than  the  long-wool  breeds,  on  account  of  the  closeness  of  the  wool  upon 
the  back  and  the  hardiness  of  their  constitution.  Their  breeders  claimed 
that  they  were  quiet  in  disposition  and  easily  fenced  and  controlled. 


EAST    OF    THE    MISSISSIPPI    RIVER.  397 

The  rams  sheared  8  to  12  pounds  of  wool  and  the  ewes  4  to  8  pounds, 
well  washed.  The  rams  sold  for  $20  to  $40  each. 

Among  the  noted  Southdown  breeders  of  the  State  was  Samuel  Thome, 
of  Dutchess  County.  Mr.  Ttiorne  imported  from  the  best  English  flocks, 
raised  a  breeding  flock  and  crossed  on  Merino  and  common  ewes,  to 
produce  early  lambs  for  the  New  York  market.  His  method  was  to 
purchase  the  ordinary  Ohio  Merinos,  sometimes  from  the  droves  as  they 
arrived  and  sometimes  from  the  farmers  who  kept  them  over  one 
season.  He  preferred  the  latter,  the  difference  in  price  alone  causing 
him  to  purchase  the  former.  When  selecting  them  the  point  of  the 
greatest  importance  was  to  get  good  milkers,  that  governing  the  choice 
more  than  anything  else,  as  the  object  was  to  get  prime  early  lambs. 
When  there  was  a  chance  to  select  ewes  with  a  cross  of  either  of  the 
mutton  breeds  he  always  availed  himself  of  it,  though  the  difference 
in  price  between  them  and  the  ordinary  ones  was  generally  too  great 
to  make  it  as  profitable.  All  things  being  equal,  he  preferred  large 
sheep  to  small  ones.  Ewes  with  a  strong  tincture  of  Merino  blood  take 
the  ram  with  more  certainty  early  in  the  season  than  those  deeply 
crossed  with  the  mutton  breeds,  therefore  the  former  were  preferred. 
He  turned  his  ewes  with  a  Southdown  ram  the  1st  of  September,  thus 
bringing  the  lambs  the  first  part  of  February.  They  were  made  to 
grow  and  fatten  as  rapidly  as  possible,  and  were  disposed  of  to  the 
butchers  when  they  reached  40  pounds  in  weight.  They  were  thus  all 
disposed  of  by  the  1st  of  June,  and  the  ewes  had  all  the  summer  to 
fatten  in.  The  sheep  were  bought  usually  a  few  weeks  before  the  ram 
was  to  be  turned  in  with  them,  and  cost  from  $2.50  to  $3  each.  They 
were  kept  upon  hay  alone  until  just  before  the  lambing  time,  when  a 
daily  feed  of  turnips  was  given.  After  the  lambs  came  they  were  given 
also  a  feed  of  meal  or  bran  slop.  A  place  was  partitioned  off  for  the 
lambs,  and  they  were  regularly  fed.  The  feed  going  directly  to  the 
lamb  made  growth  of  fat  with  more  profit  than  when  given  through  the 
mother's  milk.  The  percentage  of  increase  never  averaged  less  than 
100  per  cent  of  sale  sheep.  The  lambs  went  to  market  from  two  and  a 
half  to  three  months  old,  and  when  in  fine  condition  averaged  $5  per 
head,  bringing  more  early  in  the  season  and  less  later.  The  ewes  hav- 
ing only  to  provide  for  themselves  during  the  summer  were  by  fall  in 
very  good  condition  and  required  very  little  grain  (which  was  first  fed 
to  them  as  soon  as  the  frost  injured  the  grass)  to  fit  them  for  a  good 
market.  They  averaged  about  $5  also.  To  this  must  be  added  the 
wool,  which  generally  n^ade  a  good  return.  It  cost  more  and  required 
more  attention  to  fit  lambs  for  the  early  market,  but  the  extra  price 
they  commanded  and  the  better  chance  which  was  given  the  ewes  to 
fatten  by  getting  off  their  lambs  so  soon  much  more  than  compensated.* 

This  system  was  folio  wed  by  many  farmers  in  eastern  and  southern  New 
York,  and  called  for  Southdown  rams,  which  commanded  good  prices. 


*  Statement  of  Samuel  Thorne,  1862. 


398  SHEEP    INDUSTRY    OF    THE    UNITED    STATES 

At  a  sale  of  Mr.  Thome's,  September  2,  1863,  of  direct  descendants 
of  his  many  importations,  81  ewes  sold,  which  yielded  at  their  last 
shearing  419  pounds  of  clean  wool,  an  average  of  5  pounds  2J  ounces 
per  head.  The  rams  gave  from  8  to  12  pounds  unwashed  wool. 

Twenty-one  yearling  ewes  sold  from  $20  to  $50  each;  aggregate,  $743;  average  of 
$35.39  eacli. 

Nineteen  two-year-old  rams  sold  from  $37  to  $66  each;  aggregate,  $1,027;  average 
of  $54.05  each. 

Thirteen  three  year-old  ewes  sold  from  $25  to  $95  each;  aggregate,  $559.50;  average 
$43  each. 

Nine  four-year-old  ewes  sold  from  $31  to  $51  each;  aggregate,  $351 ;  average,  $39 
each. 

Nineteen  rams  sold  from  $17  to  $500  each;  aggregate,  $1,392;  average,  $73.26. 

The  highest  price  ($500)  was  paid  for  the  imported  prize  ram  Arch- 
bishop by  G.  H.  Brown,  of  Dutchess  County.  He  was  bought  of  Jonas 
Webb  in  1860  at  a  cost  of  $1,250.  These  sheep  were  all  pedigreed  and 
were  sold  to  all  parts  of  the  United  States. 

In  the  same  year  (1863)  P.  Lorillard  had  a  sale  of  Southdowns  ani 
Shropshire  Downs.  Ninety-three  Southdown  ewes  averaged  $22.07 
each,  and  33  rams  averaged  $18.44  each,  one  ram  bred  by  J.  C.  Tayloa 
of  New  Jersey,  selling  for  $160.  The  Shropshires  did  not  sell  so  high. 
Seventy-four  ewes  and  lambs  averaged  $11.50,  and  36  rams  $15.90  eachj 

From  this  time  the  Cotswold  began  to  grow  rapidly  into  favor.  Th| 
Southdown  did  not  have  enough  size  for  most  breeders,  and  it  did  not 
furnish  as  much  wool  as  the  Cotswold.  The  introduction  of  new 
machinery  and  new  fabrics,  for  want  of  cotton,  enhanced  the  value  of 
all  combing  wools  in  England  and  America,  and  placed  their  commercial 
value  nearly  if  not  quite  equal  to  the  ordinary  fine  wool,  a  fact  that 
caused  a  tendency  to  increase  the  flocks  of  Cots  wolds  and  other  combing* 
wool  sheep,  especially  where  pastures  were  rich  and  the  soils  strong, 
population  dense  and  the  people  fond  of  mutton.  As  the  Cotswold 
yielded  8  to  10  pounds  of  wool  where  the  Southdown  yielded  but  6 
pounds,  the  former  was  preferred,  and  the  demand  for  them  was  large. 
Importations  were  freely  made  and  good  prices  realized. 

Woolen  factories  increased  their  capacity  and  took  on  more  operal 
tives;  the  demand  for  coarse  wool  was  great  and  the  product  of  thtf 
mills  doubled.  This  continued  until  the  war  closed,  when  the  heavy 
importations  from  Great  Britain  and  the  immense  body  of  army  woolens 
thrown  upon  the  market  came  near  ruining  our  manufacturers  and 
slaughtering  all  the  sheep.  The  tariff  of  1867,  urged  upon  Congress  btf 
the  wool- grower,  saved  the  fine-wool  industry  from  immediate  and: 
threatened  destruction,  and  built  up  the  coarse- wool  and  mutton  inter- 
est. The  supply  of  coarse  combing  wool  was  Avholly  inadequate  to- 
meet  the  demands  of  the  manufacturer.  On  the  other  hand,  the  coun-' 
try  was  overstocked  with  woolens  sufficient  to  keep  down  prices  for  twoj 
or  three  years.  But  the  coarse  wools  increased  beyond  the  fine  wools 
and  even  obtained  the  ascendency  in  prices.  Consequently  a  mani$t  set 


EAST    OF    THE    MISSISSIPPI    RIVER.  399 

in  for  English  sheep,  and  superficial  observers  thought  that  the  Merino 
was  to  be  wholly  superseded  by  the  mutton  sheep  throughout  the  whole 
country,  and  in  New  York  such  was  measurably  the  case.  Conserva- 
tive writers  called  attention  to  the  great  need  of  more  combing  wool 
and  better  mutton,  which  could  be  obtained  only  by  keeping  the  Eng- 
lish long- wool  sheep.  High-priced  land  and  high-priced  labor  demanded 
high  forming,  and  high  farm  ing  required  high  feeding;  the  latter  profit- 
able only  with  improved  stock.  These  were  the  sheep  of  the  grain- 
growing  farmer,  and  adapted  to  the  Kew  York  system  of  farming. 
Under  the  increasing  demand  and  fashion  for  materials  made  of  comb- 
ing wool  the  English  sheep  received  increased  attention  and  were  mul- 
tiplied, and  their  fleeces  were  noted  as  were  those  of  the  Merino  a  few 
years  previous.  The  Lincolnshire  sheep,  which  were  neglected  years 
before,  now  found  eager  purchasers  and  commanded  high  prices.  The 
fleeces  of  three  are  recorded  in  1869 : 

One  rain  a  year  old  gave  a  washed  fleece  of  20  pounds;  extreme  length,  17  inches. 
One  ram  a  year  old  gave  a  washed  fleece  of  18f  pounds ;  extreme  length,  16  inches. 
One  ewe  one  year  old  gave  a  washed  fleece  of  16£  pounds ;  extreme  length,  15 
inches. 

Texel  sheep  were  also  introduced  and  the  shearing  of  two  ewes  is  re- 
corded. One  whose  weight  of  carcass  was  90  pounds  gave  &-&  pounds 
of  wool,  and  one  whose  weight  was  154  pounds  gave  9  j^  pounds  of  wool. 

The  Cotswold  continued  to  be  the  favorite  coarse-wooled  sheep,  and 
many  trials  were  made  by  crossing  rams  of  that  breed  on  Merino  ewes 
to  get  a  cross  that  would  unite  the  flesh  of  the  former  with  the  wool  of  the 
latter.  In  1871  the  American  Agriculturist  reported  67  lambs  from  60 
Merino  ewes  and  a  pure-bred  Cotswold  ram.  The  lambs  were  healthy 
and  hardy.  But  one  was  lost.  One  weighed  when  dropped  12J  pounds. 
At  9  weeks  old  5  of  these  lambs  weighed  50,  46 £,  52£,  47J,  and  46.J 
pounds,  an  average  of  49  pounds  each.  A  grade  Cotswold-Merino  ram 
lamb  killed  at  7  months  old  weighed  before  being  killed  96  pounds. 

Blood  weighed  2J  pounds ;  offal  weighed  21  pounds;  pelt  weighed  18 
pounds;  carcass  weighed  54  pounds;  waste  weighed  one-half  pound. 

Seventy-four  such  lambs  were  raised  from  60  ewes,  costing  $2.50  each. 
They  were  well  wooled  from  the  nose  to  the  toes. 

In  1869  Joseph  Harris,  of  Eochester,  began  an  experiment  with  the 
Cotswold-Merino  cross,  which  he  conducted  for  many  years  with  great 
care  and  system  in  selection  and  crossing,  as  also  in  feeding,  to  secure 
size  of  carcass  and  qualities  of  flesh  and  fleece.  He  succeeded  in 
breeding  a  flock  of  great  uniformity  both  as  to  mutton  and  wool.  In 
1887  he  raised  168  lambs  from  150  ewes,  losing  three  only. 

J.  D.  Wing  had  a  flock  of  imported  Cotswolds  from  which  lambs  at 
10  weeks  old  weighed  48 J,  50,  48  J,  47 J,  46 J,  and  48  pounds. 

In  1874  his  thoroughbred  Cotswold  ewe  lambs  11 J  months  old  weighed 
128,  122,  125,  135,  129,  137,  125,  101,  104,  109,  125,  and  101  pounds. 
The  last  had  a  fleece  of  fine  lustrous  wool,  12  to  14  inches  long.  His 
ram  lambs  at  same  age  weighed  142,  145,  157,  179,  and  187  pounds, 


400 


SHEEP  INDUSTRY  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES 


dressing  25  to  29  pounds  per  quarter.    The  best  yearling  ram  weighed 
253  pounds. 

In  1875  Joseph  Harris  communicated  to  the  American  Agriculturist 
the  results  of  an  interesting  experiment  on  feeding  Ootswold  sheep, 
showing  the  gain  in  one  month.  He  weighed  the  sheep  July  16  and 
again  August  16.  The  figures  are  given  as  recorded : 


Ago. 

Weight 
July  16. 

Pounds. 
231 
246 
259 
236 
224 
168 
187 
187 
158 
202 
169 
183 
171 
144 
193 
195 

Weight 
Aug.  16. 

Gain  in 
one 
month. 

Variety. 

Tears. 
4 

Pounds. 
235 
265 
262 
249 
229 
173 
202 
198 
165 
218 
181 
200 
174 
146 
193 
215 

Pounds. 
4 
19 
3 
13 
5 
5 
15 
11 
7 
16 
12 
17 
3 
2 

Cots  wold  ram. 
Do. 
Do. 
Do. 
Do. 
Do. 
Do. 
Do. 
Do. 
Do. 
Do. 
Do. 
Do. 
Cotswolrt-Merino,  first  cross. 
Cotswold-Merino,  second  cross. 
Do. 

2  

2 

2  

2 

1  

1 

1   

1  

1  

1  

1  .     ... 

1 

1  

1 

1     . 

20 

These  16  rams  gained  156  pounds  in  one  month,  or  9J  pounds  each, 
The  following  are  the  weights  of  lambs,  all  Cotswolds: 


Sex. 

Born. 

Weight 
July  16. 

Weight 
Aug.  16. 

Gain  in 
one 
month. 

Ram 

Feb     27 

Pounds. 
92 

Pounds. 
105 

Pounds. 
13 

Ewe  

Feb     27 

84 

91 

7 

Do 

Mar       1 

72 

87 

15 

Do.. 

Mar       2 

80 

89 

9 

Ram  

Mar.     2 

87 

101 

14 

Do 

Mar      3 

81 

98 

17 

Do  

Mar.     3 

83 

96 

13 

Do 

Mar      8 

78 

94 

16 

Ewe  

Mar.     8 

71 

81 

10 

Do 

Mar      8 

72 

86 

14 

Ram  

Mar     13 

107 

123 

16 

Do 

Mar     14 

89 

104 

15 

Ewe  

Mar.    14 

81 

95 

14 

Do 

Mar     19 

92 

109 

17 

Do  

Mar.    19 

86 

98 

3 

Ram 

Mar     23 

89 

108 

19 

Do  

Mar.    24 

91 

104 

13 

Do 

April    5 

77 

86 

9 

The  average  weight  of  these  18  pure-bred  Cotswold  lambs  on  July  16 
was  84  pounds,  and  on  August  16  97g  pounds,  or  an  average  gain  of 
13J  pounds. 

In  1876  A.  J.  Brown,  Jeddo,  N.  Y.,  had  a  Cotswold  ram  weighing 
309  pounds  that  sheared  17  pounds  of  wool,  and  A.  E.  Sweet,  of  the  same 
place,  had  three  yearling  ewes  whose  weight  of  carcass  and  fleece  were: 


Carcass. 

Fleece. 

Pounds. 

Pounds. 

148 

16* 

141 

16 

134 

14 

EAST    OF   THE    MISSISSIPPI    RIVER.  401 

At  this  time  the  Cotswold  was  the  most  popular  and  most  widely 
extended  English  breed  of  sheep  in  New  York  and  in  the  Union.  The 
pure-bred  genuine  Leicester  of  twenty  years  past  were  not  to  be  had. 
The  so-called  Leicesters  of  1876  were  nearly  as  large  as  the  Cotswolds 
and  in  no  respect  superior.  A  few  were  imported  but  were  not  appre- 
ciated. They  were  too  small  and  delicate  to  suit  the  popular  taste, 
though  they  made  excellent  crosses  with  the  Merino.  The  Southdown, 
though  acknowledged  as  the  best  mutton  sheep  of  the  English  breeds, 
was  also  too  small.  The  Lincolnshire  had  been  tried  and  discarded  as 
unfitted  to  the  climate  and  method  of  our  agriculture.  There  was  now 
a  demand  for  a  different  type  of  sheep,  a  popular  need  for  a  sheep 
which  would  produce  a  large  carcass  of  mutton  along  with  a  fleece  of 
wool  which  would  command  as  high  a  price  per  pound  as  any  of  the 
pure  breeds.  The  Southdown,  the  Cotswold,  the  Leicester  were  less 
profitable  sheep  for  the  former  than  the  Oxfordshire,  the  Hampshire, 
and  the  Shropshire,  which  had  been  introduced  to  some  extent.  But 
the  trouble  was  that  all  the  English  sheep  deteriorated  and  the  farmer 
could  not  keep  a  pure-bred  flock  up  to  the  standard.  A  sheep  was 
wanted  larger  than  the  Southdown,  but  of  equal  quality  for  mutton, 
and  with  a  heavier  fleece  and  a  fine  one.  Such  a  sheep,  it  was  thought, 
could  be  raised  from  the  material  at  hand,  the  best  foundation  for 
which  could  be  found  in  the  grades  of  English  Downs — the  South- 
downs,  the  Hampshire,  and  the  Shropshire — short,  with  black  or 
smutty  faces  and  hardy  constitutions,  with  medium  wool  packed  close 
and  impenetrable  to  rain  or  snow.  It  did  not  pay  to  import  and  keep 
pure  breeds  to  produce  mutton  at  6  to  8  cents  a  pound.  This  business 
was  carried  on  to  some  extent,  whereby  the  ordinary  flocks  were  crossed 
by  imported  English  sheep,  but  what  was  wanted  was  something  bet- 
ter even  than  English  sheep,  which  it  was  necessary  to  keep  up  by 
constant  importations;  it  was  needed  to  establish  an  American  breed 
or  breeds  of  sheep,  as  we  did  the  Merino,  and  to  stop  importing  with  a 
view  to  maintain  the  standard  of  the  English  breeds.  Such  was  the 
plaint  of  the  agricultural  papers  in  1875  and  1876,  but  no  valuable 
practical  results  followed. 

An  effort  in  the  direction  of  a  new  sheep  may  be  noted.  In  1868  Wil- 
liam Crozier,  of  Beacon  farm,  near  Northport,  Long  Island,  produced  a 
cross  between  an  imported  Southdown  ewe  and  the  Cotswold  ram  King- 
ston, imported  that  year.  This  ram  was  a  choice  animal  and  had  been 
the  winner  of  many  prizes  in  England,  Canada,  and  the  United  States. 
The  ewe  was  also  from  selected  and  choice  stock.  The  produce  of  this 
ram  and  ewe  bred  in-and-in,  the  result  being  a  sheep  of  good  constitu- 
tion, with  a  heavy  fleece  of  combing  wool,  much  superior  in  quality  to, 
and  of  equal  weight  with,  that  of  the  pure  Cotswold,  and  much  closer 
and  denser  upon  the  sheep's  back,  while  the  carcass  of  mutton  was  as 
good  as  and  one-half  larger  than  that  of  the  pure  Southdown.  This 
description  and  an  engraving  of  the  sheep  appeared  in  the  American 
22990 26 


402  SHEEP    INDUSTRY    OF    THE    UNITED    STATES 

Agriculturist  in  1875,  at  which  time  Mr.  Crozier  intended  to  breed  two 
years  longer  until  assured  he  had  a  standard  breed. 

That  assurance  never  came  to  Mr.  Crozier,  and  meanwhile  English 
sheep  continued  to  be  imported,  the  Southdowns  losing  ground,  the 
Shropshires  holding  their  own  and  attracting  much  attention,  but  the 
Cotswold  still  the  predominating  sheep.  These  sheep  were  introduced 
into  all  parts  of  the  State,  some  into  the  southern  and  eastern  part  by 
direct  importations  from  England,  others  from  Canada  went  into  the 
northern  and  western  counties  and  gradually  displaced  the  Merinos. 
There  were  many  crosses  of  these  sheep  on  the  Merino  grades  and  on 
the  common  sheep  of  the  country. 

At  the  New  York  State  fair,  in  1877,  there  were  exhibited  sheep  bred 
from  common  Merino  ewes  and  a  Cotswold  ram.  The  wool  of  the  first 
cross  measured  5  inches  in  length,  was  as  fine  as  Merino,  and  as  easily 
combed  as  Cotswold.  The  wool  of  the  second  cross  was  as  long  as  the 
pure  Cotswold  and  as  fine  as  Merino  wool.  The  carcass  made  excellent 
mutton,  and  was  nearly  as  heavy  as  pure  Cotswold.  A  cross  of  the 
Cotswold  with  the  Merino  made  the  heaviest  lambs,  but  a  cross  of  the 
Southdown  with  the  Merino  made  the  best  ones. 

The  increased  interest  taken  in  coarse- wooled  sheep  did  not  cause  the 
utter  neglect  of  the  Merino,  nor  was  fine  wool-growing  abandoned.  The 
war  of  18Cl-'65  did  not  at  first  cause  a  demand  for  fine  wool,  but  the 
first  year  marked  an  increased  interest  in  the  Merino,  which  developed 
into  a  mild  mania.  High  prices  were  paid  for  fine- wooled  sheep  of  all 
kinds.  Sales  of  Merino  rams  were  made  at  $800,  $1,000,  and  $2,500,  and 
ewes  and  lambs  in  proportion.  There  was  more  practical  sense  in  pay- 
ing these  prices  for  the  hardy,  well-constitutioned  Merino  of  1865  than 
was  shown  in  the  purchase  of  the  delicate  little  Saxony  sheep  of  1825, 
whose  exquisite  fineness  of  wool  had  been  produced  at  the  expense  of 
the  constitution  of  the  breed,  and  whose  extension  degraded  the  vigor 
of  the  old  Spanish  Merino  flocks,  reduced  the  weight  of  their  fleeces, 
and  discouraged  the  efforts  of  the  farmer  in  improvement,  In  1865  it 
was  different.  The  Spanish  Merino  had  been  developed  and  improved 
until  it  had  become  of  great  excellence.  There  was  a  temporary  de- 
pression in  the  fine- wool  industry  from  1865  to  1871,  and  fat  cattle  and 
dairying  received  more  attention.  But  iri  1871,  when  the  tariff  of  1867 
began  to  show  its  effect,  there  was  a  demand  for  fine  arid  other  wools, 
which  gave  a  new  start  to  wool- growing,  which  was  further  assisted  by 
the  great  decline  in  fat  cattle  and  dairy  products.  Beef,  pork,  butter, 
and  cheese  had  brought  good  prices  when  wool  was  quite  low,  but  1871 
restored  wool  to  favor  as  the  others  declined,  and  there  was  a  prosper- 
ous era  for  the  wool-growers  extending  over  some  years,  though  upon 
the  whole  the  Merino  flocks  were  constantly  declining,  and  in  1874 
Merino  rams  could  be  bought  for  $25  and  a  flock  at  an  average  of  $10 
per  head. 

Breeding  flocks  kept  up  the  record  of  improvement.    In  1870  Mr. 


5   3 


EAST    OF   THE   MISSISSIPPI   RIVER.  403 

Munson,  of  Seneca  County,  sheared  53  Merinos,  ewes,  wethers,  and  a  few 
rams,  and  the  average  was  12  pounds  per  head  of  unwashed  wool,  which 
sold  at  25  cents  per  pound.  The  flock  of  P.  &  G.  F.  Martin,  of  Monroe 
County,  sheared  on  an  average  13  pounds  3  ounces,  57  sheep  having 
yielded  753  pounds.  Six  ewes  over  2  years  old,  whose  average  weight 
of  carcass  was  78£  pounds,  gave  an  average  fleece  of  15  pounds  lOf 
ounces.  A  shearing  at  Skaneateles  showed  fleeces  running  from  1C  to 
24  pounds,  and  10  ewes  averaged  16§  pounds.  A  ram  fleece  reached 
32J  pounds  from  a  carcass  weighing  168  pounds.  In  1871  the  flock 
of  P.  &  G.  F.  Martin  (70  ewes  and  15  rams)  clipped  1,203  pounds  of 
good-conditioned,  unwashed  wool,  which  sold  for  30  cents.  The  ewes 
averaged  13J  and  the  rains  17  pounds.  During  the  winter  the  ewes 
were  fed  clover  hay  without  grain  until  lambing  time,  April  1,  when 
they  were  fed  grain  and  roots  in  addition  to  hay,  and  this  feed  was 
continued  until  turned  to  grass.  The  rams  and  lambs  had  oats  and 
wheat  bran  in  moderate  quantity,  with  hay  during  winter.  This 
ftyck  was  started  in  1866  by  the  purchase  of  10  ewes  from  the  flock 
of  William  Eogers,  of  Mendon,  and  increased  by  additions  from  Ver- 
mont flocks,  but  always  in  the  Atwood  blood  or  line  until,  in  1872,  it 
numbered  214  head — 130  ewes,  14  rams,  and  70  lambs.  The  average 
weight  of  the  fleeces  for  the  years  1870,  1871,  and  1872  of  ewes  2  years 
old  and  upward  was  13 \  pounds,  of  yearling  ewes  11J  pounds.  Tor- 
rent was  the  stock  ram  of  the  flock.  He  was  bred  by  F.  H.  Dean, 
Cornwall,  Yt.,  got  by  Little  Wrinkley,  bred  by  Edwin  Hammond. 
His  first  fleece  was  16  pounds;  second,  24£;  third,  29J;  fourth,  28J;  and 
fifth,  29  pounds.  He  is  thus  described  in  the  New  York  Kegister : 

Was  purchased  of  his  breeder,  when  2  years  of  age,  by  Peter  and  George  F.  Mar- 
tin, Rush,  N.  Y.,  and  stood  at  the  head  of  their  respective  flocks  down  to  the  time  of 
his  death,  in  1875.  He  was  also  quite  extensively  used  by  neighboring  breeders, 
and  was  the  sire  of  quite  a  number  of  famous  prize-winning  rams.  He  weighed,  in 
full  fleece,  180  pounds,  was  decidedly  masculine  in  general  appearance,  and  a  showy, 
attractive,  smoothly-turned  ram.  He  had  a  very  heavy  neck,  that  was  well  let 
down,  and  was  enormously  folded  at  tail,  across  the  hips  and  thighs,  and  carried  a 
heavy,  deep  flank,  which  reached  well  forward.  His  side  folds  were  heavy,  hung 
low  on  the  carcass,  extending  well  under  and  across  the  belly,  and  was  proportion- 
ately folded  at  point  of  shoulder.  He  was  in  carcass  what  would  be  termed  a  deep 
sheep,  and  yet  had  good  breadth  of  back,  loin,  hip,  and  shoulder.  His  breastbone 
was  broad,  strong,  and  extended  well  forward.  His  fleece  was  dense,  medium  qual- 
ity, tolerably  well  crimped,  and  heavily  charged  with  a  buff  oil,  which  was  well  dis- 
tributed through  the  fleece.  He  was  fairly  covered  on  the  head  and  legs,  and,  while 
his  fleece  was  thick  and  blocky  on  the  belly,  he  was  a  little  too  open  at  flank  and 
armpit.  His  blood  is  an  important  factor  in  many  of  the  flocks  of  western  New 
York  and  Michigan,  and  he  will  always  take  rank  among  the  best  rams  of  his  day. 
Weight  of  fleece,  29f  pounds;  length  of  staple,  2  inches;  length  of  fiber,  3  inches. 

S.  B.  Lusk,  of  Batavia,  Genesee  County,  had  a  flock  founded  in  1866 
from  which  he  sheared  in  1871  from  98  sheep  (78  ewes  and  20  rams), 
1,280  pounds  of  merchantable  wool,  or  an  average  of  13  pounds  each  on 
the  entire  flock.  In  1874,  at  Skaueateles,  he  sheared  from  a  flock  of  26 


404        SHEEP  INDUSTRY  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES 

an  average  of  14J  pounds  each.  The  heaviest  ram's  fleece  was  24J 
pounds,  the  heaviest  ewe's  fleece  18  pounds.  Mr.  Lusk  was  subse- 
quently part  owner  of  the  ram  Addison,  bred  in  Vermont,  and  he  was 
used  in  his  flock.  This  ram  was  of  immense  carcass  and  enormous  pro- 
portions, weighing  in  full  fleece  a  trifle  over  200  pounds;  was  a  straight- 
backed,  level- topped  sheep,  broad  in  the  shoulder,  back,  loin,  and  hips ; 
round  in  the  rib  and  quite  deep  in  carcass.  His  head  was  shapely,  well 
carried,  and  remarkably  well  covered;  nose  and  face  short  and  broad, 
well  wrinkled,  soft  and  velvety  to  the  touch.  His  horns  turned  moder- 
ately broad  on  top  and  denoted  that  he  possessed  a  wonderful  constitu- 
tion. He  carried  a  very  even  fleece  with  good  length  of  staple,  was 
highly  crimped,  and  for  so  long  a  fleece  it  was  well  set  also.  He  was 
remarkably  well  wooled  on  the  legs  and  fairly  so  on  the  underside.  Oil 
slightly  buff,  abundant,  and  coated  him  well  on  the  outside.  He  would 
be  classed  as  a  smooth-carcassed  sheep,  with  good  neck,  tail,  and  flank. 
Weight  of  fleece,  29f  pounds ;  length  of  staple,  3  inches ;  length  of  fiber, 
4J  inches.  He  was  esteemed  a  good  sire,  and  left  some  heavy  shearing 
stock,  notably  Hopeful  and  Genesee,  whose  fleeces  were  reported  37f 
and  37  J  pounds,  respectively.  This  last  fleece  won  the  highest  honors 
at  the  Paris  Exposition,  a  gold  medal.  Addison  died  at  13  years  of  age, 
the  property  of  S.  B.  Lusk,  of  Batavia,  ET.  Y.,  and  A.  D.  Taylor,  Romeo, 
Mich.* 

In  1874  there  was  a  State  sheep  show  at  Oanandaigua.  It  had  been 
nine  years  since  the  last  one  of  the  kind,  and  the  improvement  made  in 
that  time  was  remarkable,  both  in  size  of  carcass  and  length  and  close- 
ness of  fleece.  The  increase  of  weight  in  the  fleece  was  nearly  all  wool, 
as  the  fleeces  were  less  greasy  on  the  average  than  in  1865.  The  wool 
on  the  belly  and  legs  had  become  as  long  and  nearly  as  close  and  as 
well  crimped  as  on  the  shoulders.  Breeders  had  made  decided  advances 
in  the  direction  of  a  larger  bodied  sheep,  with  fleece  of  greater  weight 
and  uniformity,  the  latter  without  any  increase,  or  with  actual  decrease, 
in  the  greasy  and  gummy  secretion  which  works  out  in  the  scouring. 
The  flocks  compared  favorably  in  weight  with  the  imported  French 
Merinos  of  1846  to  1850,  which  had  been  banished  from  the  State,  but 
which  proved  more  successful  in  the  Southwest  and  in  California.  At 
the  same  time  these  fleeces  were  heavier  in  pure  wool,  and  the  sheep 
were  much  more  hardy.  Another  desirable  change  observed  was  that 
the  sheep  held  their  fleeces  full  and  perfect  to  old  age.  The  ram  Addi- 
son, 8  years  old,  weighed  185  pounds,  and  was  wooled  to  the  hoof 
and  to  the  tip  of  the  ears.  Torrent,  jr.,  7  years  old,  was  wooled  all 
over.  He  weighed  on  the  scales  171  pounds  and  his  fleece  26J  pounds. 
He  was  used  on  200  ewes  in  the  fall  of  1873.  Yet  to  appearance  these 
rams  were  in  their  prime.  Ten  years  before  it  would  have  been 
a  difficult  matter  to  find  a  ram  of  that  age  that  had  any  wool  below  the 

*  Register  of  the  New  York  State  American  Merino  Sheep  Breeders'  Association, 
Vol.  i. 


MERINO  RAM  "ADDISON,"  No.  100. 

FROM  "  REGISTER  OF  THE  N.  Y.   STATE  AMERICAN  SHEEP  BREEDERS^  ASSOCIATION,"  VOL.  »,  1883. 


HAINES,  DEL. 


MERINO  RAM  "HOPEFUL,"  201. 
FROM  "REGISTER  OF  THE  N.  Y.  STATE  AMERICAN  MERINO  SHEEP  BREEDERS'  ASSOCIATION.' 


EAST    OF    THE    MISSISSIPPI    RIVER. 


405 


knee,  or  more  than  a  very  little  on  the  belly.  The  lowest  yield  of  wool 
sheared  at  the  show  was  15  per  cent  of  the  whole  weight.* 

The  shearing  for  1874,  .as  reported  by  the  State  Association,  gives 
no  fleece  under  15  pounds.  Nine  are  recorded,  5  rams  and  4  ewes.  The 
rams'  fleeces  were  31  pounds  8  ounces,  26  pounds  2  ounces,  two  at  25 
pounds  8  ounces,  and  one  at  22  pounds.  Two  ewes  gave  18  pounds 
each,  one  17,  and  one  15  pounds  8  ounces. 

At  the  Eochester  fair  in  1875,  A.  C.  Bennett  received  the  first  pre- 
mium for  a  4-year-old  ram  weighing  1SOJ  pounds  and  giving  a  fleece  of 
29  pounds.  The  second  best  was  P.  E.  Pitt's  ram,  weighing  148  pounds 
and  yielding  a  fleece  of  23  pounds  13  ounces.  The  best  ewe  was  sheared 
by  P.  and  G.  F.  Martin.  She  was  2  years  old,  weighed  108  pounds^ 
and  gave  a  fleece  of  17  pounds  3  ounces.  There  was  shown,  but  not 
entered  for  premium,  a  10-year  old  ewe  that  gave  22£  pounds  of  wool, 
the  growth  of  one  year  and  five  days. 

The  shearing  record  of  1878  shows  10  rams  yielding  from  16  pounds 
to  29  pounds  1  ounce,  and  9  ewes  from  17  pounds  to  20  pounds  7J 
ounces.  The  rams  averaged  23  pounds  8J  ounces,  the  ewes  18  pounds 
2  ounces.  In  1879  4  rams  are  on  record  as  weighing  156J,  146J,  156, 
and  176  pounds,  and  giving  fleeces  weighing,  respectively,  27  pounds  1 
ounce,  26  pounds  3  ounces,  27  pounds  8J  ounces,  and  27  pounds  6J 
ounces. 

In  1879  the  shearing  of  S.  B.  Lusk's  Merino  flock  gave  these  results: 


Sex. 

Age. 

Weight  of 
carcass. 

Weight  of 
fleece. 

Tears. 
5 

Pounds. 
171 

Pounds. 
331 

Do 

2 

149 

29j 

Do  

1 

115i 

254 

Do 

1 

130| 

233 

Do  

1 

115i 

19^ 

Do 

1 

320i 

Do  

4 

138 

28| 

Ewe 

5 

107 

18) 

Do  

2 

106 

24 

Do 

2 

112 

21 

Do  

2 

102 

191 

Do 

2 

111 

191 

Do  

2 

114 

19J 

Do 

2 

111 

isl 

Do  ... 

2 

97 

18J 

Do. 

2 

107 

18 

Do  ... 

1 

97 

IBi 

Do 

1 

82 

17J 

Do  ..               ..               

1 

95 

IT 

The  breeding  flocks  showed  a  constant  and  well-sustained  improve, 
ment,  but  the  growing  of  fine  wool  steadily  declined,  and  in  1880  New 
York  could  not  be  called  a  wool-growing  State,  that  is,  there  were  but 
few  farmers  who  made  the  production  of  wool  a  specialty.  And  yet  a 
large  amount  of  wool  was  produced  annually,  for  the  keeping  of  small 
flocks  was  very  general  with  all  the  farmers  of  the  State.  The  1,715,180 
sheep  kept  in  1880  were  almost  entirely  in  small  flocks,  varying  from  5 


*  Report  on  the  Fair. 


406        SHEEP  INDUSTRY  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES 

to  30.  The  lambs  and  fat  sheep  were  disposed  of  to  butchers  in  cities 
and  towns.  The  conversion  of  Merino  flocks  to  coarse-wools  continued. 
In  western  New  York,  from  1875  to  1880,  many  of  the  best  farmers  crossed 
Cotswold  rams  on  Merino  ewes  with  great  satisfaction.  Some  of  them 
who  made  many  crosses  had  flocks  which  for  all  practical  purposes  were 
nearly  equal  to  pure-blood  long  wools.  These  results  were  secured  by  a 
careful  selection  of  Cotswold  rams  of  pure  blood,  and,  where  possible, 
none  others  were  used.  In  nearly  all  the  western  counties  there  was  an 
increased  demand  for  mutton  and  more  combing  wool.  The  latter  want 
was  supplied  by  the  rapid  conversion  of  the  Merino  flocks,  and  the  call 
for  mutton  was  answered  by  the  shipments  from  the  far  Western  States. 
Not  only  had  New  York  ceased  to  grow  fine  wool,  but  she  had  fallen 
behind  in  the  production  of  her  own  mutton. 

In  1870  the  number  of  sheep,  as  returned  by  the  United  States  cen- 
sus, was  2,181,578,  yielding  10,599,225  pounds  of  wool;  in  1880  the 
number  returned  was  1.715,180,  yielding  8,827,195  pounds  of  wool. 
The  decrease  in  ten  years  was  366,398  sheep  and  1,772,030  pounds  of 
wool.  The  average  yield  per  head  increased  from  4.86  in  1870  anrl 
4.95  in  1875  to  5.14  pounds  in  1880. 

At  no  other  period  previous  to  1882  were  the  New  York  flocks  of 
breeding  Merinos  so  highly  appreciated  as  at  that  date,  nor  was  the 
prospective  demand  on  them  so  promising  5  and  the  breeders  assumed 
that  no  breed  or  family  of  domestic  animals  possessed  such  varied 
characteristics  and  met  such  a  diversity  of  wants  as  their  Merino 
sheep,  varying  greatly  in  size  of  carcass,  form,  and  general  contour,  in 
fleece  from  short  to  long  staple,  with  fiber  varying  from  fine  or  broad- 
cloth wools,  medium  quality,  and  long-stapled  delaine  wools,  and 
coarser,  stronger  fibered,  shorter  staple  clothing  wools,  at  the  same 
time  possessing  another  characteristic  peculiarly  their  own,  that  of 
folds  or  wrinkles,  which  more  than  any  other  gives  character  and  indi- 
viduality to  the  animal.  With  such  varied  characteristics  in  the 
breed,  and  a  demand  for  all  its  different  grades  of  fleece,  and  a  diver- 
sity of  tastes  among  its  breeders,  it  was  not  strange  that  it  was  diffi- 
cult to  find  any  two  flocks  similar  in  type  and  general  characteristics, 
although  nearly  alike  in  blood  or  line  of  descent.  The  New  York 
breeders,  by  common  consent,  group  this  family  of  sheep  under  the 
head  of  two  distinct  types,  classified  as  American  Merinos  and  Delaine 
American  Merinos,  each  supplying  a  special  want  of  our  manufacturers 
in  the  product  of  wool,  as  well  as  meeting  the  fancy  and  taste  of  breeders. 
Those  who  have  a  fancy  for  the  American  Merino  type  generally  have 
a  common  aim  and  object  in  breeding,  and  differ  but  very  slightly  in 
what  constitutes  their  highest  ideal  or  perfect  sheep.  Hence  they 
endeavored,  as  a  rule,  to  type  breed  their  flocks,  and  selected,  as  far 
as  possible,  the  materials  promising  success  in  that  direction,  hoping 
by  untiring  effort  to  establish  the  type  which  would  reproduce  itself 
with  almost  unvarying  certainty. 


EAST   OP   THE   MISSISSIPPI   RIVER.  407 

A  perfect  animal  of  this  type  must  be  symmetrical  and  finished  in  out- 
line, and  harmonious  in  all  its  parts.  "  Back  straight,  ribs  well  arched, 
shoulders  deep,  chest  broad,  breast-bone  or  brisket  extending  well  in 
front,  lung  cavity  well  distended,  hips  long,  straight,  and  broad;  thighs 
heavily  muscled  and  well  let  down;  neck  short  and  strong,  without  de- 
pression on  top;  head  broad,  with  short  face;  nose  broad  and  well 
wrinkled;  legs  medium  length,  straight,  heavy-boned,  and  standing 
well  apart  at  knee  and  hock."  In  point  of  fleece,  there  has  scarcely 
been  an  effort  to  breed  a  fiber  of  sufficient  fineness  for  broadcloth  wools, 
or  staple  long  enough  to  be  classed  as  delaine  wool.  Yet  great  effort 
has  been  made  to  secure  uniform  length,  density,  and  quality  of  fleece 
on  every  part  of  the  carcass,  especially  on  the  belly,  thigh,  forearm,  and 
between  the  neck  folds,  covering,  as  nearly  as  possible,  the  inside  of 
the  flanks,  armpits,  the  legs  all  around  to  the  hoofs,  with  cap  extend- 
ing well  over  the  face,  covering  the  point  between  the  eyes  and  horns, 
well  cheeked  up  from  the  face  corner  of  eyes  to  mouth.  But  few  persons 
would  prefer  a  staple  of  more  than  2  J  inches  for  a  ram,  while  many 
would  be  quite  contented  with  a  2-inch  staple  of  highly  crimped  wool, 
provided  the  maximum  density  of  fleece  had  been  reached.  Compara- 
tive evenness  of  fleece,  with  little  gare  as  possible,  is  an  important 
point  reached  by  modern  breeders,  and  is  an  improvement  in  the  right 
direction.  Experience  has  demonstrated  that  great  weight  of  fleece  of 
high  medium  quality  can  be  combined  with  the  highest  physical  devel- 
opment and  constitutional  vigor  and  other  points  of  perfection.  As  to 
point  of  yolk  or  oil,  the  greatest  amount  that  can  be  secreted  without 
impairing  the  vitality  of  the  animal  is  admissible  in  a  ram.  Most 
breeders  prefer  a  color  bordering  on  a  buff,  while  a  thin,  sticky  oil  of  a 
greenish  cast  is  highly  objectionable.  As  to  folds  or  wrinkles,  which 
are  a  distinctive  feature  of  the  American  Merino  type,  there  might 
be  some  diversity  of  opinion  as  to  size,  location,  and  number;  still,  it 
would  be  difficult  to  find  a  ram  with  such  heavy,  pendulous  neck,  tail, 
and  flank  as  to  disqualify  him  as  a  stock  animal  in  any  flock,  while 
many  would  much  prefer  that  with  the  above  he  should  have  a  large 
fold  extending  across  the  point  of  the  shoulder,  a  considerable  number  on 
the  sides  extending  in  massive  proportions  well  under  and  nearly  across 
the  belly,  yet  diminishing  well  in  size,  and  lost  to  view  in  full  fleece 
before  reaching  the  back,  with  numerous  large  folds  lengthwise  across 
the  hips  and  stifles.  Those  who  fancy  the  delaine  type  aim  in  the  main 
to  secure  the  same  points  of  carcass  and  wooliness  as  the  breeders  of 
other  American  Merinos,  while  at  the  same  time  securing  a  long 
staple  of  high  quality  of  wool.  As  to  folds  or  wrinkles,  a  good  neck, 
tail,  and  flank  is  about  all  that  is  desirable,  with  little  or  none  on  the 
body.* 

*  Register  of  the  New  York  Sheep  Breeders'  Association. 


408 


SHEEP  INDUSTRY  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES 


An  idea  of  the  general  character  of  the  animals  raised  in  the  stand- 
ard flocks  from  1880  to  1890  can  be  obtained  by  the  portraits  given  of 
them  and  the  shearings  as  given  in  the  Eegister  of  the  New  York  Asso- 
ciation. 

The  shearing  record  of  1880  showed  2  rams  shearing  30  pounds  4 
ounces  and  30  pounds  2  ounces,  and  12  shearing  between  20  and  30 
pounds.  Four  ewes  sheared  over  20  pounds  each.  J.  W.  Hardy's  ram 
Matchless,  2  years  old,  gave  28  pounds  5  ounces,  which  when  scoured 
yielded  9  pounds.  The  shearing  record  of  1881  is  interesting  and 
valuable,  as  it  gives,  in  addition  to  weight  of  carcass  and  wool,  the 
weight  of  some  scoured  fleeces  and  length  of  staple  and  fiber. 

Shearing  record  of  1881  of  the  New  York  State  Sheep  Breeders'  Association. 


Owner's  name. 

Name  of  ram. 

Age. 

Age  of 
fleece. 

Length 
of 
staple. 

Length 
of 
fiber. 

Weight 
of 
carcass. 

Weight 
of  fleece. 

Scoured 
wool. 

E  S  Parmele    

Young  Captain  .  .  . 

Trs. 
3 

Days. 
360 

Inches. 

Inches. 
3 

Pounds. 
134 

Lbs.    oz. 
25      3J 

Lbs.    oz. 

Sherman  &  Martin 

Reliable         

2 

367 

1£ 

99 

18    14-1- 

4 

382 

2 

nf 

152 

25      8 

Taft     Sherwood    & 

2 

382 

2* 

122 

25    15 

7      i^ 

Worthington. 
S  Hillman 

3 

351 

100 

22      7 

6      5 

D  Bennett 

1 

24 

2* 

98 

17      1 

Do        

1 

348 

2i 

3 

82 

19      2 

J.  S.  Beecher  

Turk  

2 

363 

2 

123 

22    10£ 

P  Martin 

Martin          

3 

365 

2 

2§ 

118 

24    11  A- 

W.  J.  Tyler  

Gov.  Sprague  

2 

364 

3 

34 

146 

32    12 

1 

363 

• 

1064 

19      6 

F.B.  Pierson  

Pierce  &  Fellows 

Charles  Spencer  .. 
Lon  "'fellow 

5 

2 

368 
364 

3 
3 

it 

133 
132 

24      8 
29      1 

7      l\ 

7      2" 

S.  R.  Lusk           .     .  . 

Moneymaker  

4 

364 

3i 

143 

29      44 

Beecher  &  Short  
M.  L.  Taft 

Banker,  j  r  
Sherwood 

2 
1 

358 
353 

2i 

2J 

120 
93 

23 
20    13J 

6      4$ 

1 

343 

2 

2? 

105 

17    14 

D  Bennett 

Livonia 

3 

363 

24 

3 

126 

25      5 

6      1 

J.W.Cole  

Geo.  Martin  

2 

357 

3 

105 

21 

6     14J 

Ray  Bros  
H.  Sherman  

Towanda  

2 
1 

357 
373 

1 

3 
3 

106 
109 

27    104 
16    14 

'  ?! 

George  F  Martin 

H  F  Dean 

380 

96 

17      7 

Bennett  <fe  Lyon 

Jim  Blaiue 

2 

356 

11 

2 

152 

25      9 

M  L  Taft 

1 

385 

* 

117 

17    11 

D.  Cossitt  

1 

365 

2i 

21 

73 

17      H 

Do 

1 

365 

2? 

2? 

83 

20      94 

A.  C.  Bennett 

7 

354 

2 

3 

82 

17    11 

Do  

7 

354 

2 

2| 

101 

16      8 

J.  Pierce   .  .  . 

2 

363 

3 

44. 

78 

19      1 

6      5V 

M.L.Taft  

2 

357 

2* 

3 

108 

16    12 

E.  S.  Parmele 

1 

402 

72 

16      4 

A.C.Bennett  

5 

354 

2i 

si 

82 

18      1 

Do 

4 

354 

2* 

3 

81 

18      8 

J  Pierce 

2 

363 

3 

33. 

83 

19      g^ 

Ray  Bros 

2 

356 

3 

77 

14      9 

'  Do  

2 

356 

2i 

82 

15    11 

F.  B.  Pierson 

1 

365 

24 

3 

75 

16    10^ 

E.  S.  Parmele  

1 

394 

24 

3 

88 

18      2 

M.  L.  Taft 

1 

396 

2 

74 

15      8 

E.  S.  Parmele  

1 

370 

34 

61 

19      7 

There  was  but  little  change  in  the  shearings  for  1882,  save  that  7 
rams  gave  fleeces  exceeding  30  pounds,  Ruby's  Boy,  bred  by  John  S. 
Beecher,  heading  the  list  at  35  pounds  6J  ounces.  Onondaga,  that 
sheared  20  pounds  9J  ounces  when  a  yearling  in  1881,  had  at  this  time 
30  pounds  2  J  ounces.  This  noted  ram  weighed  in  full  fleece  135  pounds, 
and  was  a  low,  deep,  square,  and  well -formed  sheep  of  very  fine  quali- 


Sack»U  dWUbeims  u'Jw  Cc  * 


MERINO  RAM     RUBY'S  BOY,  483. 

FROM  "  REGISTER  OF  THE  N.  Y.  STATE  AMERICAN  MERINO  SHEEP  BREEDERS'  ASSOCIATION,"  VOL.   I,  1883. 


EAST    OF    THE    MISSISSIPPI    RIVER. 


409 


tics.  His  lie  id  and  nose  were  finely  molded,  legs  short  and  heavy 
boned.  He  had  a  heavy,  deep  neck,  and  was  well  folded  at  point  of 
shoulder,  hip,  tail,  and  flank;  also  had  a  considerable  number  of  side 
folds  which  extended  well  on  the  under  side.  He  was  well  covered  on 
head  and  under  side,  and  remarkably  well  on  the  legs,  especially  the 
forelegs.  His  fleece  was  one  of  his  strong  points  of  excellence.  It  was 
thick,  even,  of  high  style  and  quality,  and  opened  in  flakes  free,  with- 
out cross  fibers,  and  was  of  uniform  length  and  density  throughout. 
He  had  a  very  heavy  straw-colored  oil,  which  circulated  freely  and 
coated  him  extremely  well.  He  was  considered  as  an  extra  sire,  espe- 
cially of  ewes. 

The  shearing  for  1883  is  remarkable  for  the  fact  that  a  3-year-old 
ram  sheared  40  pounds  of  wool,  and  6  others  exceeded  30  pounds  each; 
and  of  18  ewes  shorn  7  gave  fleeces  exceeding  20  pounds,  one  rising 
to  23  pounds  13  ounces.  The  scouring  record  shows  that  a  ram  owned 
by  M.  R.  Bailey,  four  years  old,  age  of  fleece  three  hundred  and  eighty- 
one  days,  gave  27  pounds  13  ounces,  which,  when  cleansed,  gave  9 
pounds  7f  ouuces  of  scoured  wool.  The  length  of  staple  was  3J  inches; 
length  of  fiber,  3f  inches,  and  weight  of  carcass,  131  pounds. 

The  shearing  record  for  1884  gives  11  rams  as  yielding  over  30  pounds 
of  wool  each,  the  highest  being  J.  S.  Beecher's  Jumbo  with  37  pounds 

1  i  ounces.     In  1885,  out  of  22  shorn,  8  exceeded  30  pounds,  the  highest 
being  F.  D.  Barton's  Black  Jacket  at  40  pounds  10  ounces.    In  1886 

2  rams  were  shorn  of  fleeces  exceeding  30  pounds,  Cortez  giving  at  two 
years  of  age,  from  a  carcass  weighing  97  pounds,  38  pounds  3J  ounces 
of  wool,  or  39£  per  cent  of  wool  to  weight  of  carcass.     Another  ram 
gave  32  pounds  14  ouuces.    Two  ewes  gave  respectively  20  pounds  2J 
ouuces,  and  20  pounds  1  ounce,  and  a  number  exceeded  18  pounds. 
The  New  York  Register  gives  3  rams  as  exceeding  30  pounds  of  wool 
in  1887,  and  the  Vermont  Register  adds  6  to  the  number: 


Xarae  of  ram. 

^.te,°f 

i 

Weight  of 
fleece. 

Length  of 
staple. 

Length  of 
fiber. 

Julias        .... 

Years. 
3 
4 
2 
3 
5 
4 
3 
5 
I 

Pounds. 
139J 
140 
142i 
100 
127 
150 
133 
137 

Lbs.    oz. 
36      4 
30      7| 
31      8i 
32 

Inches. 
2i 

H 

Inche*. 
3 

? 

(  apt.  Blaine  

Clipper 

Hoosac 

D.  W  Percy 

35      6 
35      9 
31    15 
30      8 
31 

Kav  Bros  '  167 

Rav  Bros.'  177          .          ... 

'. 

General  Jr 

I  

John  B.  Haves  - 

!  

I 

The  number  of  ewes  exceeding  18  pounds  was  19,  one  reaching  21J 
pounds,  others  21-J&-,  20H,  20^-,  20|J-,  20ft,  and  5  exceeding  19  pounds. 
The  scouring  record  for  this  year  is  here  given: 


410 


SHEEP  INDUSTRY  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES 


Earns'  scouring  record,  1887. 


Owner. 

Name. 

Age. 

Weight  in 
oil. 

Weight  of 
scoured 
wool. 

Sire. 

Ray  Bros.,  Wynn  &  Riley  . 
M  'F  Gibbs 

Draco  Prince  
Thickwool 

Years. 
3 

2 

Lbs.    oz. 
25      9*. 
21      74 

Lbs.    oz. 
1      3 
7    10 

Prince  Bismarck. 

A  C  Bennett 

No.  110 

2 

12    111 

5      0 

El  Dorado 

J  S.  Beecher  &  Son  

No.  330     

26      1 

ti    1U 

R.J.Jones  (196),  955. 

Partridge  &  Dennison.  .  . 
Do                

Black  Jack,  jr.... 
Geo.  F  

2 

2 

20     141 
21      8J 

5      9* 

6      44 

Black  Jack. 
Standard,  2d. 

Royal 

24        i 

6      4 

R  J  Jones  (196)  955 

S.  S  Lusk             

Julius  

3 

36      4£ 

W.  B.  Port  or. 

Do 

Almeren 

3 

29      6a 

7      6£ 

R  J  Jones 

H.  Sherman  &  Son  
Do 

No.  852  

No  701 

1 

2 

14      9i 
21      8^ 

5      4| 
6      71 

Cossitt's  Ram. 
Jud^e 

Ewes. 


P.  &  G.  F.  Martin  
Do                  

No.  719  
No.  685          .... 

3 
3 

15      91 
18      9| 

5      2J 
5      5 

Vici. 
Vici. 

R  M.  Lee  

No.  38  

2 

20     14J 

7        | 

Capt.  Blaine. 

J  P  Ray 

No.  45  . 

3 

13      6k 

5      8 

Prince  Bismarck. 

I).  Cossitt  

No.  659  

3 

15     11 

5      <ij 

Cade. 

P  S  Thornton 

No.  760 

0 

12    10 

5      9 

Jud°"e. 

The  shearing  and  scouring  record  for  1889  is  here  given: 

Ewes. 


Owner  and  breeder. 

Age  of 
sheep. 

Age  of 
fleece. 

Length  of 
staple. 

Length  of 
fiber. 

Weight  of 
carcass. 

"Weight  of 
fleece. 

R  M  Lee 

Years. 
1 

Days. 
382 

Inches. 
2J 

Inches. 
31 

Pounds. 

72 

Lbs.  Oz. 

15    1'H 

Do 

2 

349 

3 

4 

111 

19       9" 

Do  

4 

382 

3 

4 

106 

17      'JJ 

Do 

3 

382 

24 

3| 

97 

20   rj 

Do  

3 

382 

2i 

31 

102 

19    12 

Davis  Cossitt 

2 

367 

2| 

31 

79 

18      4 

Do  

2 

367 

3i 

78 

15    12 

Do 

2 

367 

2? 

3 

69 

18    15 

Do  

2 

367 

2i 

75 

18      0 

G  S  Hickox 

2 

349 

2* 

3i 

88 

15    12 

Do  

2 

349 

2 

3 

87 

14      S) 

Do 

2 

349 

2 

3 

71 

16    154 

Do  

2 

349 

100 

16      5i 

G  S  Preston 

2 

345 

of 

3JL 

80 

16     15 

Do  

] 

355 

2? 

3 

68 

16      6 

Do 

2 

345 

2ji 

65 

17      84 

E.  S.  Parmele  

2 

345 

21 

3? 

79 

23      1 

Do 

2 

354 

21 

23. 

74 

21     15 

Do  

2 

354 

2J 

3? 

83 

26      8 

M.  Mariner 

4 

360 

3? 

41 

97 

17     11 

P.  Martin  

J 

380 

24 

3? 

53 

15     144 

Do  . 

1 

380 

24 

3ft 

64 

15      0 

Do... 

3 

373 

2i 

4 

75 

18    144 

Do  

3 

372 

3 

44 

68 

17      94, 

Do 

3 

372 

2i 

3| 

74 

19      0 

Do  

3 

373 

2ft 

82 

20     14$ 

J.  H.  Earll 

1 

425 

2* 

34 

67 

16      0 

Do... 

] 

422 

2i 

27 

80 

14      8 

Do  

1 

395 

2i 

3i 

69 

12    12 

HAINE8,  DEL. 


MERINO  RAM  "  RANZIN,"  464, 

FROM  "  REGISTER  OF  THE  N.  Y.   STATE  AMERICAN  SHEEP  BREEDERS'  ASSOCIATION/ 


MERINO  EWE,  No.  141. 

FROM    "  REGISTER  OF  THE  N.  Y.   STATE  AMERICAN  SHEEP    BREEDERS'  ASSOCIATION 


YEARLING  MERINO  EWE. 

FROM   PHOTOGRAPH  OF  GROUP  OF  PRIZE  SHEEP  AT  N.    Y.   STATE  FAIR,    1890. 


UHIYEESIT7 


:: 


YEARLING  MERINO  EWE. 

FROM  PHOTOGRAPH  OF  GROUP  OF  PRIZE  SHEEP  AT  N.  Y.  STATE  FAIR,   1880. 


EAST    OF    THE    MISSISSIPPI    RIVER. 
Earns. 


411 


Owner  and 
breeder. 

Name  of  sheep. 

Age  of 
sheep. 

Days' 
growth. 

Length  o 
staple. 

f 

Length  of 
fibers. 

Weight  of 
carcass. 

Weight  of 
fleece. 

P.Martin  
Do    

Standard  Jr  .  . 
Brick  

Years. 
4 
2 

343 

343 

Inches. 

I 

Inches. 

I4 

Pounds. 
129 
128 

Lbs.  Oz. 
32    11 
28    15 

Do 

3 

343 

2i 

108 

29       74 

Do  

Voucher  

3 

387 

34 

125 

32      3* 

Do 

Idaho 

3 

371 

2 

3 

116 

28      8 

G.  F.  Martin  *  .... 
Do 

Copperbottom 

3 
2 

387 
370 

J 

1 

? 

125 
88 

28      8} 
23       21 

P.Martin  . 

1 

373 

2j 

31 

88 

19      5 

Croft  &  Burnett 

2 

346 

2^ 

132 

32    10 

J.  Wilson 

Middlesex  

4 

349 

2- 

3i 

129 

28    12 

Do 

1 

329 

2- 

oj 

132 

24      3 

C.  W.Lewis  t 

Reserve  

2 

349 

2- 

3 

108 

21      0 

3 

360 

2^ 

3 

107 

24      9 

Mariner  &  Leet  .  . 
E.  C.  Harris  

Harmony  
Chimes  

7 
2 

368 
339 

£ 
2j 

\ 

3 

U 

136 
118 

25    1U 
31      5 

P.  Martin,  breeder. 


t  D.  Cossitt,  breeder. 
Eeport  cleansed  fleeces. 


}  E.  Townsend,  breeder. 


Martin's  ram,  "  Standard  Jr.,  "  gross  weight 32 

Clean  wool— First  quality,  6  pounds;  second  quality,  1  pound  4  ounces;  third  quality,  1 
pound  1  ounce ;  total 8 

C.Harris'  ram,  "Chimes,  "gross  weight..-. 31 

Clean  wool — First  quality,  5  pounds  5  ounces ;  second  quality,  1  pound  5$  ounces ;  third 


Oz 
11 


quality,  13  ounces;  total  ...............................................................      7       7J 

t  &-  Bennett's  ram,  137,  gross  weight  .....................................................    32      10 

lean  wool—  First  quality,  4  pounds  10  J  ounces;  second  quality,  1  pound  1  ounce;  third 


Croft 

Clean 
quality,  10£  ounces  ;  total  ..............................................................      6 

R.  M.  Lee's  ewe,  38.  gross  weight  ............  .  ................................................    17 

Clean  wool  —  First  quality,  5  pounds  ;  third  quality,  10  ounces  ;  total  .....................      5 


10 


The  record  for  1890  is  remarkable  in  the  feet  that  one  breeder  pre- 
sented 7  rams  whose  united  fleeces  weighed  251  pounds  and  J  ounce, 
an  average  of  35  pounds  13f  ounces  each.  The  heaviest  of  the  seven 
fleeces  was  38J  pounds  and  the  lightest  was  34fg  pounds.  The  heaviest 
fleece  shorn  at  this  time  was  41  pounds  6f  ounces  from  a  3-year-old 
ram,  Chimes,  the  property  of  E.G.  Harris.  The  details  of  this  shearing 
are  presented  in  the  following  table  : 

Table  slowing  record  of  HieNeio  York  State  Breeders'  Association  for  1890. 

[All  fleeces  are  on  the  basis  of  365  days'  growth.] 

RAMS. 


Owner  and  breeder. 

Name  of  sheep. 

Name  of  sire. 

Age. 

Length 
staple. 

Length 
fiber. 

±T  -  &£ 

! 

P.Martin  
Do            ... 

Brick  
Rough 

Vici  
do          

Tears. 
3 
3 
3 
4 
4 
2 
3 
3 
5 
3 
3 
1 
1 
1 

Inches. 
2 

It 

I 

Inches. 
3 

I 

3 
g 

3J 

Pounds. 
134 

107 
103 
130 
112 
107 
118 
132 
147 
110 

Lbs.  Oz. 
36    lo* 
34      5* 
36    12 
35      3 
35      9| 
34      5 
38      9 
41      0§ 
39    11  J 
27      0 
25      ff 
13    11 
14      1 
19      2J 

Do 

Block 

do 

Do    . 

Voucher 

do            

Do  
Do 

Chub  
No  438 

Standard  Bearer  .  . 
Standard  Junior  .  . 
Copperbottom  
Vici  

Do  

Ben  

E.  C.  Harris 

Chimes 

G.  S.  Preston  

Clipper  
D.  C.  894  . 

Envoy  

D.  Cossitt  711  
A  Imoren 

Davis  Cossitt 

Lusk  &.  Hickox*  
J.H.Earll  
R  M  Tee 

Star  Gazer  
R.M.L.86.... 
Uncle  Sam  

Adirondack  2d  .  .  . 

68 

H  C  Smith  t 

Paddv 

97 

'  S.  S.  Lusk,  breeder. 


tL.  P.  Clark,  breeder. 


412 


SHEEP    INDUSTRY    OF    THE    UNITED    STATES 


Table  showing  record  of  the  New  York  State  Breeders'  Association  for  1890 — Continued. 

EWES. 


Owner  and  breeder. 

Name  of  sheep. 

Name  of  sire. 

Age. 

Length 
of 

staple. 

Length 
of 
fiber. 

Weight 
of  car- 
cass. 

Weight 
of  fleece. 

3i  Af  Lee 

Years. 
4 

Inches. 
3* 

Inches. 
31 

Pounds 
92 

Lbs.  Oz. 
22      0 

Do 

do 

5 

3 

3* 

104 

19      8 

Do 

do 

4 

2 

3! 

96 

21      2 

H.C.  Smith  

Do* 

Adirondack  
Paddy 

2 
1 

? 

69 

72 

13      2£ 
12      1 

Do 

Grand  View 

1 

3 

q§ 

67 

15     11 

J  H  Earll 

Adirondack  2d.  .  .  . 

1 

2i 

gl 

61 

12    12 

G  S  Hickox 

Prince  Crimps 

;j 

2* 

3* 

19      1\ 

D  Cossitt 

2 

24 

31 

75 

20     12 

Do 

Keal  Estate 

1 

50 

15      9 

*  L.  P.  Clark,  breeder. 

It  is  freely  acknowledged  by  the  New  York  breeders  that  in  their 
efforts  to  secure  the  largest  fleeces  many  of  them  have  paid  too  little 
attention  to  character  and  quality,  and  that  the  animal  shearings  show 
that  sheep  in  many  flocks  have  been  well  nigh  fleeced  to  death. 

From  1883  to  the  present  time  there  has  been  an  increasing  interest 
in  breeding  a  mutton  Merino,  and  while  it  is  not  expected  that  such  a 
sheep  can  supplant  the  Hampshire  and  Shropshire,  it  is  expected  that 
with  the  elimination  of  the  ruffles  and  oil  of  the  Merino,  a  tolerable 
mutton  sheep  would  result.  But  the  American  people  will  not  accept 
and  use  a  tolerable  or  an  inferior  meat  if  a  superior  article  can  be 
obtained,  and  their  demand  for  the  juicy  Down  mutton  stimulates  the 
cultivation  of  the  Southdown,  the  Hampshire,  and  the  Shropshire,  and 
discourages  the  efforts  of  those  who  would  convert  the  Merino  into  a 
mutton  sheep.  The  Merino,  since  1883,  has  not  held  its  own  in  New 
York.  Large  flocks  have  been  reduced,  and  some  have  been  sold  and 
disappeared.  There  has  been  a  decline  in  the  number  of  the  fine-wool 
sheep,  and  also  in  the  coarse- wooled.  This  decline  reached  its  lowest 
point  in  1886,  when  mutton  was  a  drug  in  the  city  markets  and  wool 
had  touched  bottom  prices.  But  the  temporary  rise  of  wool  in  the 
spring  of  1887  and  a  better  demand  for  mutton  came  just  in  time  to 
save  thousands  of  sheep  from  slaughter,  and  held  out  an  inducement  to 
many  farmers  to  start  small  flocks  to  supply  markets  with  mutton  and 
early  lambs.  Merino  flocks  gave  way  to  mutton  ones,  and  regular 
Atwood  Merinos  were  sold  in  lots  at  $5  per  head,  and  their  places  on 
the  farm  taken  by  sheep  purchased  in  the  West  and  fed  through  the 
winter  for  mutton.  Thousands  of  such  sheep  are  yearly  brought  into 
the  central  and  western  counties  of  the  State.  Formerly  none  but 
mature  wethers  were  selected  for  this  purpose,  but  the  number  of 
yearlings  and  lambs  demanded  for  this  industry  is  increasing.  The 
revival  of  the  sheep  husbandry  of  New  York  continues,  and  is  likely  to 
continue  as  long  as  the  appreciation  of  mutton  as  an  article  of  food 
grows  upon  the  people. 


EAST   OF   THE   MISSISSIPPI   RIVER.  413 

The  Department  of  Agriculture  estimates  the  number  of  sheep  in 
New  York  January  1,  1890,  at  1,548,426.  From  other  sources  the  esti- 
mate is  made  that  over  half  of  these  are  of  English  blood  and  that  less 
than  half  are  descendants  of  the  common  sheep  and  Merinos  and  their 
grades.  There  are  very  few  sections  of  the  State  where  the  former 
presence  of  the  Merino  does  not  show  itself,  but  at  present  it  is  waning. 
While  the  improved  English  breeds  produce  the  best  mutton,  the 
Merinos  do  not  produce  the  worst,  and  the  day  may  not  be  far  distant 
when  the  prejudice  against  it  may  be  removed.  Certain  it  is,  we  must 
look  to  this  sheep  alone  for  improvement  in  our  fleeces,  nor  can  it  be 
possible  that  it  will  ever  be  discarded  entirely,  for  where  large  flocks 
are  kept  either  for  their  meat  or  fleece  they  rest  upon  a  Merino  founda- 
tion. 

But  to  be  a  mutton  sheep  the  Spanish  Merino  must  be  bred  away 
from  a  thick,  heavy  fleece  to  a  full,  rounded,  and  broader  carcass,  with 
a  more  open  fleece  and  one  of  less  weight;  and  some  see  in  the  French 
Merino  a  means  to  that  end.  When  these  sheep  were  originally  intro- 
duced into  New  York  wool  was  the  only  object  looked  to  in  the  raising 
of  sheep,  and  as  they  were  inferior  in  that  respect  to  the  Spanish  Merino 
they  were  driven  to  the  wall  before  they  had  a  fair  trial  in  any  other 
direction.  An  importation  of  these  sheep  by  William  G.  Markham 
gives  chance  for  a  fair  test  and  revives  interest  in  them.  In  1886  Mr. 
Markham  secured  a  few  of  these  sheep,  bred  from  German  flocks  tracing 
to  the  Eambouillet  fold  near  Paris.  He  predicts  that  should  they 
prove  hardy  they  will  take  the  place  of  the  Down  breeds  for  crossing 
with  a  view  to  mutton  because  of  the  great  value  of  their  wool.  At 
the  New  York  State  fair  of  1890  some  of  the  descendants  of  these 
sheep  were  shown  by  Mr.  John  P.  Ray,  who  also  had  a  few  ewes  sired 
by  one  of  these  French  Merino  rams  out  of  Spanish  Merino  ewes.  They 
were  shown  in  the  mutton  Merino  class  and  had  fine  but  short  wool. 
They  were  larger  than  the  Spanish  Merino  of  any  family,  had  shorter 
wool  and  filled  the  mutton  idea  of  a  Merino,  having  a  more  inviting  look 
than  the  wrinkly  Merino. 

Many  prominent  wool-growers,  however,  do  not  hesitate  to  say  that 
the  day  for  wool-growing  at  a  profit  in  New  York  has  passed,  and  that 
meat  must  be  the  foundation  on  which  the  sheep  industry  of  the  State 
must  henceforth  stand.  There  are  those  who  go  further  and  say  that 
had  mutton  breeds  been  substituted  for  Merinos  fifty  years  ago  our 
people  would  ere  this  have  been  educated  to  the  consumption  of 
many  times  more  mutton  than  they  now  demand,  and  we  would 
have  a  grade  of  mutton  that  Great  Britain  would  take  at  remunerative 
prices. 

In  the  eastern  part  of  the  State  of  New  York  sheep  husbandry  ceased  to  exist  when 
Merinos  were  abandoned,  because  they  were  unprofitable,  and  it  is  now  reviving 
with  the  introduction  of  the  improved  mutton  breeds.  The  industry  is  steadily  grow- 
ing. Our  large  cities  demand  lambs  which  develop  rapidly  and  lay  on  flesh  quickly, 


414        SHEEP  INDUSTRY  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES 

and  which  give  good  carcasses  at  from  8  to  12  weeks  of  age.     The  rearing  and  feed-] 
ing  of  such  is  a  very  profitable  business. 

The  Cheviots  introduced  into  New  York  in  1838  and  maintained  in\ 
great  purity  are  now  attracting  some  attention,  not  only  in  the  State ) 
but  beyond  it.  Many  small  flocks  have  lately  been  formed,  and  breed- j 
ers  believing  in  them  who  think  "they  are  here  to  stay"  have  organ- 
ized the  Cheviot  Sheep -Breeders'  Association  and  adopted  the  follow- j 
ing: 

Scale  of  points. 

BLOOD. — Pure  bred  from  one  or  more  importations  from  Scotland 10 

CONSTITUTION  AND  QUALITY. — Indicated  by  the  form  of  body ;  deep  and  large  in 
breast,  and  through  the  heart ;  back  wide  and  straight,  and  well  covered 
with  lean  meat;  wide  and  full  in  the  thigh;  deep  in  flank;  skin  soft  and 
pink  in  color ;  prominent  eyes,  healthful  countenance 25 

SIZE. — In  fair  condition,  when  fully  matured,  ranis  should  weigh  not  less  than 
175  pounds,  ewes  135  pounds  (when  bred  in  America.  Imported  stock,  rams 
125  to  150  pounds,  ewes  100  to  125  pounds) 10 

GENERAL  APPEARANCE. — Good  carriage ;  head  well  up ;  elastic  movement ;  show- 
ing symmetery  of  form  and  uniformity  of  character  throughout 10 

BODY. — Well  proportioned ;  small  bone ;  great  scale  and  length ;  well  finished 
hind  quarters;  thick  back  and  loins ;  standing  with  legs  well  placed  outside; 
breast  wide  and  prominent  in  front;  tail  wide  and  well  covered  with  wool.  10 

HEAD. — Long  and  broad,  and  wide  between  the  eyes;  ears  of  medium  length 
and  erect;  face  white,  but  small  black  spots  on  head  and  ears  not  objection- 
able; straight  or  Roman  nose ;  end  of  nose  dark  (but  never  smut  nose  on 
top  with  black  or  brown);  no  tuft  of  wool  on  head 10 

NECK. — Medium  in  length ;  thick,  and  well  placed  on  the  shoulders 5 

LEGS  AND  FEET. — Short  legs,  well  set  apart ;  color  white ;  no  wool  on  legs ;  fore 
legs  round,  hind  legs  flat  and  straight ;  hoofs  black  and  well  shaped 5 

COVERING. — Body  and  belly  well  covered  with  fleece  of  medium  length  and 
good  quality 10 

QUALITY  OF  WOOL. — Medium ;  such  as  is  known  in  market  as  half  combing 
wool -5 


Total 100 

The  Cheviot  is  a  mountain  sheep,  extremely  hardy,  of  quiet  habits, 
and  producing  a  wool  always  in  demand.  In  the  mountain  parts  of  the 
State  they  are  found  to  stand  cold  weather  remarkably  well,  and  it  is 
believed  that  they  would  form  a  valuable  addition  to  the  live  stock  in- 
terests of  the  mountain  regions  of  the  Alleghanies  and  in  Idaho,  Mon- 
tana, and  Wyoming. 

The  rams  at  3  years  old  weigh  about  245  pounds,  and  yield  8  pounds 
of  wool,  though  cases  are  on  record  where  they  have  run  from  250  to 
275  pounds  and  gave  fleeces  from  9  to  14  pounds.  The  ewes  weigh 
about  175  pounds  and  give  6  to  8  pound  fleeces. 

A  sheep  that  has  some  hold  on  popular  favor  and  many  enthusiastic 
admirers,  is  the  Hampshire  Down.  These  sheep  are  bred  in  England 
on  the  chalk  formations  of  Berkshire,  Hants,  Wilts,  and  Dorset,  and 
occasionally  are  found  in  Sussex  and  Surrey.  Youatt  says  the  black- 


EAST    OF   THE   MISSISSIPPI   RIVER.  415 

faced  sheep  of  Hampshire  are  a  cross  between  the  old  black-faced  Berk- 
shire arid  the  pure  Southdown.  A  celebrated  English  breeder  of  1858 
stated  that  they  were  closely  descended  from  an  original  hardy  race 
peculiar  to  Hampshire.  Their  strength  of  constitution  and  size  have 
been  retained,  and  are  characteristic  of  the  animal.  Prof.  John  Wil- 
son, in  1855,  said  that  the  breed  appeared  to  be  the  result  of  a  cross 
between  the  pure  Southdown  and  the  old  horned  sheep  of  Hampshire 
and  Wiltshire,  by  which  the  hard  working  though  fine  quality  of  the 
former  was  combined  with  the  superior  size  and  constitution  of  the 
latter.  The  breed  was  commenced  early  in  the  present  century,  and 
by  a  system  of  judicious  crossing  possesses  the  leading  characteristics  of 
the  two  parent  breeds.  E.  P.  Squarey,  most  excellent  authority,  asserts 
that  the  breed  undoubtedly  dates  its  origin  from  the  crossing  of  the 
Old  Wiltshire  horned  sheep  and  the  Old  Berkshire  ISTott  with  the  South  - 
downs,  which  were  introduced  into  Wiltshire  and  Hampshire  early  in 
the  present  century.  The  Old  Wiltshire  has  already  been  noted  (p.  45). 
The  Old  Berkshire  was  found  at  an  early  day  in  the  center  of  Berkshire, 
where  they  fed  on  a  light,  sandy,  and  barren  soil.  Most  of  them  were 
horned,  some  were  polled.  They  had  generally  black  faces,  Bom  an 
noses,  black  or  mottled  legs,  and  long  tails;  some  few,  however,  had 
white  or  mottled  faces.  They  were  strong,  active,  and  tall,  and  folded 
well,  and  when  fattened  grew  to  an  enormous  size,  but  it  generally  took 
a  long  time  to  fatten  them.  These  sheep  were  next  in  weight  to  the 
old  Leicester  breeds,  but  higher  than  them  on  the  legs.  The  wool, 
although  somewhat  coarse,  ranked  among  the  short  varieties.  The 
first  cross  of  this  breed  was  with  the  Wiltshires,  and  was  not  altogether 
satisfactory;  then  the  Southdowns  gradually  spread  in  the  district  and 
effected  a  complete  revolution  in  the  character  of  the  sheep,  and  with 
few  exceptions  the  Berk  shires  are  now  either  pure  Southdowns  or  very 
deeply  crossed  by  them.* 

For  a  long  time  after  the  displacement  of  the  Wiltshires  and  Berk- 
shires,  the  charming  character  and  high  quality  of  the  Southdowns 
which  superseded  them  satisfied  the  most  advanced  of  the  farmers  of 
Berks,  Dorset,  Wilts,  and  Hants,  and  only  when  they  came  to  realize 
how  much  they  had  lost  in  the  size,  early  maturity,  and  hardiness  of 
the  Old  Wiltshire  type,  as  represented  in  the  Old  Wiltshire  itself  and 
the  Berkshire,  did  they  bethink  them  of  going  back  to  those  animals 
for  additional  substance  and  development  to  the  Southdowns.  Then 
they  began  a  system  of  crossing  with  Hampshire  rams  with  varying 
degrees  of  success,  depending  simply  on  the  instinctive  capacity  of 
the  farmer  to  properly  select  the  animals  for  this  purpose.  Whilst 
one  aimed  at  the  production  of  a  large-framed  long- wool  producing, 
hardy  animal,  another  devoted  his  attention  to  the  maintenance  of  the 
high  quality  and  beauty  of  the  Southdown,  with  earlier  maturity  and 

*  The  Sheep  of  Great  Britain.    In  report  of  Bureau  of  Animal  Industry,  1889-'90. 


416        SHEEP  INDUSTRY  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES 

greater  size.  The  consequence  was  that  from  about  1815  to  1355 'the 
Hampshire  Downs  of  the  north  of  Hants  and  the  south  of  Wilts  were 
totally  dissimilar  in  character.  It  was  evident  that  the  leading  rain 
breeders  of  each  district  had  aimed  at  and  secured  a  different  type. 
The  North  and  East  Hampshire  sheep  were  large,  muscular,  early  ma- 
turing animals,  growing  a  fair  quality  of  wool  of  moderate  fineness  5  the 
head  large  and  well  set  on,  of  dark  brown  color  verging  toward  black, 
covered  with  coarsish  hair,  with  Eoman  nose;  the  neck  with  greatly 
developed  muscles ;  the  ears  thick,  of  the  same  color  as  the  face,  and 
an  occasional  tendency  to  recur  to  the  original  type  by  producing  "snig 
horns;"  the  legs  with  large  bones,  and  in  the  most  strongly  marked  type 
the  wool  growing  below  the  hocks  and  knees.  An  occasional  white 
spot  was  exhibited  on  the  face,  ears,  or  legs,  but  the  efforts  of  the  ram 
breeders  were  uniformly  directed  to  avoid  this,  and  to  procure  perfect 
uniformity  of  color.  On  the  other  hand  the  Wiltshire  breeders  had 
adopted  a  more  largely  framed  and  probably  less  handsome  ani- 
mal than  their  Hampshire  brethren.  They  were  less  careful  as  to  the 
uniformity  of  color,  and  an  ewe  with  speckled  face  or  ears  was  not  dis- 
missed from  their  flocks,  provided  she  had  size  and  other  good  quali- 
ties.* 

The  Hampshire  breeders,  as  a  rule,  selected  the  largest,  coarsest, 
and  blackest  faced  Sussex  or  Southdown  rams,  which  it  was  thought 
would  suit  the  coarse  sheep  with  which  they  had  to  amalgamate.  How 
many  crosses  were  made  is  not  known,  but  enough  materially  to  alter 
the  character  of  the  breed,  to  cause  the  horns  to  disappear,  and  to 
change  the  color  of  the  face  from  white  to  black;  to  impart  a  more 
compact  form,  a  broader  back,  rounder  barrel,  shorter  legs,  and  su- 
perior quality  altogether,  and  yet  preserving  the  hardiness  and  dispo- 
sition to  make  early  growth,  which  the  original  flocks  possessed,  and 
with  it  the  large  head  and  Koman  nose  which  form  so  distinguishing 
a  character  of  the  Hampshire  Downs,  and  which  are  derived  from  the 
original  breed.  Having  thus  formed  a  sheep  desirable  in  every  respect, 
except  the  size  of  the  head,  the  breeders  began  reducing  the  size  of 
the  head,  which,  by  careful  selection,  was  accomplished,  and  finally  a 
breed  was  formed  or  rather  established  admirably  adapted  to  the  sys- 
tem of  fattening  off  at  earlier  ages  than  formerly. 

The  Hampshire  sheep  may  therefore  be  instanced  as  an  example  of  successful 
crossing,  and  as  a  proof  of  what  can  be  done  by  the  male  parent  in  changing  in  a 
very  few  generations  the  character  of  the  originals,  and  yet  retaining  some  of  its 
good  qualities,  thus  forming  a  breed  more  intrinsically  valuable  than  either  source 
from  whence  it  is  derived,  t 

Mr.  Spooner  had  no  reason  to  believe  that  after  a  few  generations 
the  Hampshire  breeders  continued  to  use  the  Southdown  rams.  As 

*The  Hampshire  or  West  Country  Down  Sheep,  by  E.  P.  Squarey. 
t  Spooner  on  Cross  Breeding.   Journal  of  the  Royal  Agricultural  Society  of  England, 
Vol.  xx. 


S«teiaWilbetasUthoCoJ 


AFTER    CURTIS. 


HAMPSHIRE  RAM  "BARON." 
IMPORTED  BY  JAMES  WOOD,  NEW  YORK. 


EAST   OF   THE   MISSISSIPPI   RIVER.  417 

soon  as  the  Hampshire's  horns  were  gone,  to  which  perhaps  the  Berk- 
shire Xotts  contributed,  and  the  white  face  had  become  black,  they 
employed  their  own  cross-bred  rams  with  their  cross-bred  ewes,  and 
eventually  the  Sussex  or  Southdown  blood  predominated  in  the  Hamp- 
shire sheep. 

It  may  be  noted  here  that  in  Wiltshire  a  different  plan  was  pursued. 
Here  the  same  large,  flat-sided,  uncouth  horned  sheep,  whose  ancestors 
were  its  denizens  in  the  days  of  the  Roman  occupation,  roamed  over  the 
Wiltshire  downs.  Their  breeders  began  with  the  Sussex  ewe  and  crossed 
with  the  Hampshire  ram,  while  the  Hampshire  breeders  used  the  orig- 
inal horned  ewe  and  the  Sussex  ram. 

The  early  improvement  of  these  sheep  then,  as  we  have  seen,  was  due 
to  many  farmers  acting  on  various  lines.  Prominent  among  those  of  a 
later  day  for  skill,  sagacity,  energy,  and  care,  was  Mr.  William  Hum- 
phrey, of  Oak  Ash,  near  Newbury,  who  was  first  to  perceive  the  results 
likely  to  follow  the  infusion  into  the  Hampshire  Down  of  the  blood  of 
the  largest  and  best  fleshed  of  Jonas  Webb's  Southdowns.  To  him, 
probably,  for  the  care  he  exercised,  the  ability  he  displayed,  and  time 
and  money  expended,  is  due  the  present  almost  perfect  animal  known 
as  the  Improved  Hampshire  Down.  Others  followed  in  the  line  laid 
down  by  Mr.  Humphrey,  so  that  greater  uniformity  was  arrived  at,  a 
uniformity  perhaps  unequaled  among  the  flocks  of  any  other  Down  breed. 

The  plan  pursued  by  Mr.  Humphrey  is  known  and  is  full  of  instruc- 
tion to  the  breeder  and  of  interest  to  all  intelligent  readers.  About 
1834  or  1835,  in  forming  his  flock,  he  purchased  the  best  Hampshire  or 
W<>st  Country  Down  ewes  he  could  meet  with,  using  the  best  rams  he 
could  get  of  the  same  kind  until  the  Oxford  show  of  the  Royal  Agri- 
cultural Society.  On  examining  the  different  breeds  exhibited  there 
he  found  the  Cotswolds  were  beautiful  in  form  and  of  great  size,  and 
on  making  inquiries  as  to  how  they  were  brought  to  such  perfection, 
he  was  informed  that  a  Leicester  ram  was  coupled  with  some  of  the 
largest  Cotswold  ewes,  and  the  most  robust  of  the  produce  were 
selected  for  use.  The  thought  struck  him  that  his  best  plan  would  be 
to  obtain  a  first-rate  Sussex  Down  sheep  to  put  to  his  larger  Hampshire 
Down  ewes,  both  being  of  the  short- wooled  breed.  He  thus  determined 
to  try  an  improvement  in  the  quality  and  form  of  his  flock,  still  retain- 
ing the  size  and  hardihood  so  necessary  for  the  low  lands  and  cold 
exposed  hills  of  Hampshire.  With  this  object  in  view  he  wrote  to  Mr. 
Jonas  Webb  to  send  him  one  of  his  best  sheep,  and  Mr.  Webb  sent  a 
shearling  by  his  favorite  sheep  Babraham,  which  made  some  good 
stock  out  of  his  larger  ewes.  He  went  down  the  next  two  years,  and 
selected  for  himself,  but  the  stock  did  not  suit  his  taste  so  well  as  the 
one  Mr.  Webb  had  sent  him,  and  he  did  not  use  them.  He  then  com- 
missioned Mr.  Webb  to  send  him  the  sheep  which  obtained  the  first 
prize  at  Liverpool,  and  from  these  two  sheep,  the  first  and  the  last,  by 
marking  the  lambs  of  each  tribe  as  they  were  dropped,  then  coupling 
22990 27 


418        SHEEP  INDUSTRY  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES 

them  together  at  the  third  and  fourth  generations,  his  flock  was  made. 
Not  having  used  any  other  blood  on  the  male  side  for  more  than  twenty 
years,  he  found  some  difficulty  at  first,  when  putting  the  first-produce 
ram  to  the  first-produce  ewe,  the  lambs  coining  too  small  to  suit  his 
customers.  To  obviate  this  difficulty  Mr.  Humphrey  drafted  out  the 
finest  and  smallest  bred  ewes,  replacing  them  with  the  largest  Hamp- 
shire Down  ewes  he  could  find  that  suited  his  fancy,  still  continuing  to 
use  the  most  masculine  and  robust  of  his  rams  to  keep  up  size.  Some 
of  his  friends  advised  the  use  of  a  large,  coarse  ram  to  these  small 
ewes  to  remedy  the  defect,  but  the  larger  ewe  seemed  to  Mr.  Humphrey 
the  better  way,  and  that  course  he  pursued.  He  got  rid  of  his  smallest 
ewes  and  replaced  them  with  larger  ones,  which  gave  him  what  he 
thought  to  be  an  advantage.  Then  using  no  male  animal  but  of  his 
own  blood,  the  pedigree  of  which  he  knew  for  more  than  twenty  years, 
he  succeeded  beyond  his  expectations.  His  object  was  to  produce  a 
Down  sheep  of  large  size  with  good  quality  of  flesh,  and  possessing 
sufficient  strength  and  hardiness  to  retain  its  condition  while  exposed 
in  rough  and  bad  weather  to  consume  the  root-crops  on  the  cold  hills. 
Independently  of  the  value  of  the  Hampshire  or  West  Country  Down 
in  an  agricultural  point  of  view  for  such  a  locality  as  Hampshire,  they 
produce  when  slaughtered  a  valuable  carcass  of  mutton,  giving  the 
consumer  a  good  proportion  of  flesh  to  the  fat,  which  is  a  point  not 
sufficiently  looked  to  in  the  case  of  many  sheep. 

A  later  breeder  than  Mr.  Humphrey  is  Mr.  Eawlence,  of  Bulbridge, 
near  Wilton,  who,  since  1863,  has  maintained  and  increased  the  reputa- 
tion of  the  Hampshire  Down,  having  obtained  a  large  number  of  prizes 
at  the  Eoyal  Agricultural  Society,  the  Smithfield  Club,  the  Bath  and 
West  of  England  and  local  shows.  The  original  flock  from  which  Mr. 
Eawlence's  flock  descended  was  of  the  Sussex  breed  and  of  moderate 
quality.  He  began  by  drafting  all  the  small  and  delicate  ewes,  and  the 
remainder  were  crossed  with  rams  of  the  Hampshire  breed.  He  bred 
from  their  produce  for  two  or  three  years  and  then  had  another  cross 
with  the  Hampshire,  still  continuing  to  cull  defective  ewes.  After  he 
had  obtained  considerable  size  from  the  infusion  of  the  Hampshire 
blood,  he  had  recourse  to  some  of  the  rams  bred  by  Mr.  Humphrey,  the 
produce  of  the  Jonas  Webb  Southdowns  and  the  large  Hampshire  ewes. 
Mr.  Kawlence  then  used  his  own  rams,  and  also  frequently  purchased 
a  few  of  the  best  Hampshii  e  ewes  lie  could  get,  and  put  his  own  sheep 
to  them  and  used  their  lambs.  He  also  put  a  Humphrey  ram  to  some 
of  his  best  ewes,  and  selected  rams  from  their  produce,  thus  getting 
fresh  blood  without  making  an  entire  cross.  Other  Wiltshire  breeders 
have  generally  followed  the  system  practiced  by  Mr.  Kawlence,  and 
the  Southdown  flocks  of  Wiltshire  and  Dorset  have  gradually  merged 
into  the  improved  Hampshire  Downs. 

The  improvement  of  this  sheep  has  its  lesson  in  giving  an  illustration 
of  "  what  breeders  can  accomplish  in  preserving  vigor  of  constitution 


EAST   OF   THE   MISSISSIPPI   RIVER.  419 

and  general  hardihood,  and  in  adding  to  them  the  desirable  qualities  of 
early  maturity,  disposition  to  lay  on  flesh  with  fat  and  lean  properly 
intermingled,  and  symmetry  of  form,  with  a  most  useful  and  valuable 
fleece  of  wool." 

James  Wood,  of  Mount  Kisco,  New  York,  who  has  made  extended 
examination  of  the  districts  occupied  by  these  sheep,  and  given  careful 
study  of  them,  gives  us  the  best  description  of  the  improved  Hamp- 
shire Down  and  its  management:  His  head  is  rather  large,  with  a 
Eomau  face;  neck  long  and  usually  well  set  on;  shoulders  sloping; 
brisket  deep,  with  abundant  room  for  the  vital  organs ;  back  straight, 
with  a  good  spring  of  rib  going  around  the  barrel;  loin  broad;  quar- 
ters long  and  broad ;  hams  round  and  heavy ;  legs  bony  and  strong, 
and  feet  large  and  open,  with  a  tough  sole  and  crust.  The  face  and 
legs  are  the  blackest  of  any  of  the  Down  breeds.  Gray  faces  are 
avoided.  The  wool  is  of  medium  length  and  strong  fiber.  It  is  used 
for  making  cheviots,  tweeds,  and  such  business  cloths,  and  commands 
the  top  prices.  Flocks  of  breeding  ewes  average  about  7  pounds  to 
the  fleece.  Mature  rams  weigh  300  pounds  and  ewes  something  over 
200.  The  peculiar  advantages  claimed  for  the  Hampshire  are  consti- 
tutional vigor,  a  greater  exemption  from  foot-rot  than  other  breeds, 
rapid  growth,  early  development,  and  excellent  fattening  qualities  of 
the  lambs;  to  which,  last  but  not  least,  must  be  added  that  quality 
which,  in  the  opinion  of  many,  gives  to  this  sheep  his  greatest  practical 
value,  and  the  one  which  above  all  others  commends  him  to  the  aver- 
age American  sheep-raiser. 

Mr.  Wood  says : 

It  is  his  extraordinary  prepotency — that  power  which  enables  him  to  stamp  his 
characteristics  with  unerring  certainty  npon  his  offspring.  This  is  especially 
important  where  the  blood  is  crossed  with  common  ewes,  either  for  the  sale  of  the 
first  cross  or  for  grading  up  a  flock  so  as  to  make  them  as  good  as  pure  bred  for  all 
but  breeding  purposes.  The  first  cross  so  strongly  resembles  the  Hampshire  that 
n  many  cases  it  takes  a  good  judge  to  distinguish  them. 

The  Hampshire  is  scarcely  as  prolific  as  the  Dorset  horned  ewes, 
but  under  good  management  and  more  even  and  liberal  feeding  the 
yield  of  lambs  has  been  increased.  The  ewes  are  usually  bred  from 
for  three  years,  and,  as  full-mouthed  ewes,  are  sold  at  the  autumn 
fairs  to  breeders  of  early  lambs,  who  generally  put  them  to  a  Lincoln 
or  Cotswold  tup  and  fatten  the  ewe  and  lamb  together.  The  first 
cross  produces  an  animal  with  great  aptitude  to  fatten,  and  if  kept  till 
they  become  shearlings  they  carry  a  large  quantity  of  mutton  and  wool. 

The  general  management  of  these  sheep  is  that  which  prevails  in 
the  south  of  England,  where  spring  and  grass  come  early.  They  are 
kept  in  the  open  fields  throughout  the  year.  The  breeding  ewes  are 
separated  by  midsummer  and  the  rams  are  put  with  them  at  such  time, 
from  July  until  the  middle  of  September,  as  best  suits  the  purpose  for 
which  the  lambs  are  to  be  bred.  Earn  lambs  are  almost  invariably  used, 
by  which  it  is  believed  the  early  development  of  the  breed  has  been 


420        SHEEP  INDUSTRY  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES 

aided.  Those  lambs  which  have  the  strongest  masculine  characteristics 
and  show  the  greatest  vigor  and  force  are  selected.  The  best  breeders 
keep  the  rams  and  ewes  apart  at  night;  others  alternate  their  ranis 
with  the  flock,  thus  giving  to  each  an  opportunity  for  recreation,  while 
still  others  turn  a  greater  or  less  number  of  rams  in  with  the  ewes,  all 
together,  and  leave  them  to  roam  at  their  sweet  will.  Meanwhile  the 
ewes  are  given  such  food  as  will  put  them  in  good  condition,  a  matter 
considered  of  much  importance.  As  winter  approaches  turnips  arc 
given,  and  during  the  winter  months  hay  and  straw,  cut  together,  with 
bran  and  malt  dust,  to  which  is  sometimes  added  a  little  oil  cake.  When 
lambing  time  arrives  some  sheltered  spot  is  selected  and  inclosed  with 
hurdles,  convenient  to  the  field  in  which  are  the  turnips  or  Swedes  that 
are  to  be  fed.  Storms  are  severe  and  the  exposure  great,  but  the  losses 
in  the  lambing  yard  are  seldom  serious.  If  the  weather  is  fine  the 
lambs  are  allowed  to  go  out  on  turnips  in  a  few  days  after  they  are 
dropped,  but  some  farmers  keep  them  in  the  lambing  yard  or  pen  for 
two  or  three  weeks,  the  ewes  being  fed  there.  The  ewe  and  lamb  are 
generally  kept  on  turnips  and  hay  until  about  the  first  week  in  April, 
when  the  water  meadows  or  irrigated  pastures  being  ready,  they  go 
there  by  day,  feeding  on  the  new  grass,  and  are  taken  at  night  to  be 
folded  on  Italian  rye-grass,  rye,  winter  barley  or  trifolium,  the  tup 
and  wether  lambs  getting  a  little  cake  or  corn.  When  vetches  are  in 
flower  they  furnish  a  very  valuable  food  for  the  growing  lambs.  On 
farms  where  there  are  no  water  meadows  there  is  usually  a  larger  quan- 
tity of  late  Swedes  provided,  after  consuming  which  the  sheep  are  kept 
on  rye,  winter  oats,  barley,  mangolds,  and  trifolium  until  the  vetches 
are  in  flower.  Lambs  are  generally  weaned  about  the  first  or  second 
week  in  May,  when  they  are  kept  on  sainfoin  or  clover  by  day  and  are 
folded  on  vetches  by  night.  When  the  vetches  give  out  they  are  fed 
rape  or  cabbages  with  the  aftermath  clover  or  sainfoin.  The  sale  lambs 
have  large  folds  of  the  above,  the  ewe  lambs  or  the  stock  ewes  clearing 
up  any  food  which  they  leave.  Grass,  cabbages,  rape,  and  clover  are 
the  reliance  in  summer  and  until  such  time  in  the  autumn  as  the  tur- 
nips are  ready.  Rani  and  wether  lambs  have  the  choice  of  everything, 
and  are  first  served,  the  ewe  stock  cleaning  up  after  them.  By  this 
management  the  wether  or  sale  lambs  attain  great  size,  and  realize 
high  prices  at  the  early  fairs.  Many  go  to  the  butchers  as  early  spring 
lambs. 

Shearing  takes  place  in  May  or  June,  when  professionals  in  that  line 
go  through  the  country  in  parties  of  six  to  ten,  doing  the  work  at  so 
much  per  hour.  After  shearing  the  full-mouthed  ewes  are  overhauled, 
and  a  draft  is  made  of  all  such  as  are  not  desired  for  another  crop  of 
lambs.  These  draft  ewes  are  fattened  upon  the  farms,  or  as  store 
sheep  are  disposed  of  at  the  fairs  to  go  into  other  counties,  to  be  fat- 
tened there  or  to  produce  one  crop  of  cross-bred  lambs.  Here,  as  in 
other  parts  of  England,  the  keeping  of  breeding  flocks  and  the  fatten- 
ing of  sheep  are  considered  quite  distinct  lines  of  business. 


EAST    OF    TliE    MISSISSIPPI    RIVER.  421 

These  sheep  were  introduced  into  the  United  States,  principally  into 
Virginia,  some  time  before  the  war  of  the  rebellion,  and  many  fine 
Hocks  suffered  destruction  at  the  hands  of  hungry  soldiers.  Within 
a  few  years  past  they  have  grown  in  popularity,  and  many  importa- 
tions have  been  made.  In  1855  Thomas  Messenger,  of  Great  Neck, 
Long  Island,  imported  a  small  flock  from  England,  and  the  descend- 
ants have  been  widely  distributed  throughout  the  country,  and  partic- 
ularly in  New  York.  In  February,  1881,  Henry  Metcalf,  Canaudaigua, 
imported  the  Hampshire  ram  "Shepherd's  Pride,  2d,"  bred  by  Mr. 
Stubbs,  of  Aylesford.  At  1  year  old  he  weighed  201  pounds,  and 
the  fleece  of  the  first  shearing  weighed  9  pounds. 

In  1891  Mr.  S.  E.  Bradley,  of  Nyack,  imported  two  rams  and  five 
ewes,  pure  Negretti  Merinos,  descended  from  the  flock  brought  by 
George  III  from  Spain.  They  were  bought  from  Sturgeon  &  Son, 
Gray's  Hall,  Essex,  England,  for  the  purpose  of  breeding,  and  with  the 
idea  of  raising  a  flock  from  this  celebrated  strain. 

New  York  disputes  the  claim  of  Vermont  for  the  first  direct  importa- 
tion of  the  Dorset  sheep,  it  being  stated  that  the  first  direct  importa- 
tion of  those  sheep  into  the  United  States  was  made  by  Adin  Thayer, 
Hoosick  Falls,  June  10,  1887,  and  were  landed  at  Boston,  Mass.  This 
importation  consisted  of  12  sheep  selected  from  the  well-known  flocks 
of  Henry  Mayo,  Cokes  Frome,  Dorchester,  England.  On  September  4, 
1887,  Messrs.  Woodward  &  Jaques,  of  Wrights  Corners,  made  an  impor- 
tation, and  again  in  July,  1888.  Other  importations  have  been 
made  and  these  original  flocks  drawn  upon  for  new  ewes,  so  that  of  the 
eighty -eight  flocks  of  thoroughbred  Dorsets  known  in  this  country, 
distributed  over  sixteen  States,  New  York  contains  about  twenty  of 
them.  Mr.  J.  S.  Woodward,  who  raises  800  head  of  sheep  per  year  for 
the  market,  and  who  has  tried  nearly  every  breed  as  sires  to  cross  on 
the  so  called  Michigan  Merino  ewes,  says  none  has  given  such  good 
results  as  the  Dorsets.  In  the  summer  of  1890  he  put  with  a  flock  of 
126  ewes  3  rams,  one  each  of  Shropshire,  Hampshire,  and  Dorset,  all 
faring  alike.  When  the  lambs  came,  of  the  first  60,  only  3  had  black 
faces,  and  of  the  whole  crop  more  than  three-fourths  were  Dorset 
crosses,  and  a  much  larger  proportion  of  the  twins  showed  Dorset 
blood;  besides,  the  Dorset  lambs  were  much  more  vigorous. 

The  most  recent  acquisition  to  the  mutton  sheep  of  the  State  and  the 
United  States  has  been  the  introduction  of  the  Black-faced  Suffolk  or 
Suffolk  Down.  This  breed  is  a  cross  between  the  old  Norfolk  Black- 
faces of  the  last  century  (see  page  46)  and  the  Southdowns,  probably 
improved,  think  some,  with  a  Hampshire  Down  cross.  It  was  first  de- 
scribed in  August,  1883,  by  H.  Kaim  Jackson  as  a  proper  "  nigger,"  so 
far  as  face  and  legs  go,  and  the  blacker  these  were  the  better.  The  meat 
was  said  to  be  juicy  and  lean,  and  in  much  request  in  some  places.  It 
was  claimed  for  the  breed  that  it  was  active  and  hardy  and  could  live 
where  other  breeds  would  famish. 


422        SHEEP  INDUSTRY  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES 

The  Suffolk  Flock  Book  says  that  this  breed  of  Suffolk  sheep  existed 
early  in  the  present  century,  and  had  been  formed  by  crossing  the  orig- 
inal Norfolk  ewes  with  improved  Southdown  rams.  The  great  excel- 
lence of  the  Southdown  it  is  unnecessary  to  set  forth.  The  old  Norfolks 
were  early  noted  as  producing  mutton  "for  the  table  of  the  curious,  no 
superior  in  texture  or  grain,  flavour,  quantity  an*1  colour  of  gravy,  with 
fat  enough  for  such  tables,"  and  also  of  bearing  wool,  and  of  their 
great  activity,  bearing  hard  driving,  and  success  as  nurses.  The  ele- 
ments for  crossing  were  certainly  good,  but  the  crojss  was  not  greatly  ex- 
tended. It  has,  however,  been  perpetuated  for  m\iny  generations  with 
rigid  adherence  to  purity  of  blood,  some  flocks  of  the  present  day  dat- 
ing back  to  1810.  > 

i 

CHARACTERISTICS   OF   THE   SUFFOLK   SHEEP  AS   THEY  NOW  EXIST. 

They  may  be  briefly  described  as  black-faced,  hornless  sheep,  with  clean,  black  legs, 
closely  resembling  the  Southdowns  in  character  and  wool,  but  about  20  per  cent 
larger  and  proportionately  longer  on  the  leg.  They  excel  in  the  following  points : 

Fecundity. — Thirty  lambs  reared  per  score  of  ewes  is  a  frequent  average. 

Early  maturity. — If  well  grassed  they  are  fit  for  the  butcher  at  10  to  12  months 
old,  and  the  ram  lambs  are  so  forward  at  7  to  8  months  that  they  are  preferred 
as  tups  by  most  breeders  to  older  sheep. 

Hardihood. — They  will  get  a  living  and  thriAre  where  other  breeds  starve. 

Mutton. — The  quality  is  super  excellent,  with  an  exceptionally  large  proportion  of 
lean  meat,  and  commands  a  ready  sale  at  top  prices. 

The  distinguishing  feature  of  these  sheep  is  their  head.  It  is  long 
and  narrow,  has  an  exceedingly  clean,  graceful  appearance,  and  is 
always  as  black  as  jet.  A  breeder  of  them  states  that  he  had  yet  to 
see  a  single  variation.  The  newly  fallen  lambs  are  a  peculiar  sight,  as 
they  invariably  come  spotted  or  black ;  but  while  the  head  and  legs 
retain  their  inky  black  color,  the  wool  grows  out  white  as  with  the  other 
Down  breeds.  There  is  rarely  any  wool  on  any  part  of  the  head,  which, 
being  clean  and  coal  black,  with  long,  black  ears,  gives  the  Suffolk  a 
strong  individuality. 

In  the  report  made  on  the  exhibition  of  live  stock  at  Preston,  England, 
1885,  Jabez  Turner  says  of  the  Suffolk  sheep  exhibited  by  Mr.  Joseph 
Smith,  of  Thorpe  Hall,  Hasketon,  that  " these  are  evidently  a  variety 
of  much  merit,  combining  a  large  quantity  of  mutton  of  fine  quality, 
with  a  fleece  of  more  than  medium  weight,  and  being  also  extremely 
valuable  for  purposes  of  cross-breeding." 

Mr.  Smith  had  the  prize  flock  of  English  Suffolks,  which  in  1886 
consisted  of  260  ewes  of  medium  size,  comprising  42  shearlings,  37 
two-shear,  140  3  and  4  year  olds,  and  40  varying  in  age  from  5  to 
8  years.  Six  rams  were  used,  all  bred  on  the  farm  from  selected 
ewes.  The  faces  of  these  sheep,  with  the  legs,  are  uniformly  black, 
show  a  good  preponderance  of  full,  bright  eyes,  and  the  black  color  on 
the  faces  of  many  of  them  fairly  shines.  They  have  close  fleeces,  free 
from  gray,  only  12  being  reported  as  having  some  gray  on  the  tails. 


.-'.'      - 


SUFFOLK  RAM. 

'AMERICAN   AGRICULTURIST,"  MAY,   1890. 


EAST   OF   THE   MISSISSIPPI   RIVER.  423 

They  have  fine-boned  legs,  free  from  wool  below  the  knees  and  hocks. 
This  flock  was  established  in  1859,  since  which  time  but  few  ewes  have 
been  bought.  It  is  a  noted  flock,  and  has  been  freely  drawn  upon  by 
sheep-breeders  of  France,  Germany,  Eussia,and  Canada,  and,  to  a  very 
small  extent,  by  the  United  States. 

There  are  two  flocks  of  Suffolks  in  Canada,  one  owned  by  Blanchard 
D.  Sewell,  of  Fredericton,  Province  of  New  Brunswick,  the  other  by 
the  Ontario  Agricultural  College  at  Guelph.  Mr.  Sewell  imported  20 
ewes  in  the  fall  of  1888  from  Joseph  Smith's  flock.  In  the  spring  of 
1889  they  brought  him  38  lambs,  37  of  which  he  raised.  In  the  spring 
of  1891,  out  of  32  ewes  he  weaned  58  lambs,  and  good  ones.  He  sold 
some  early  lambs  as  Easter  lambs,  one  month  old,  weighing  22  pounds 
and  upwards,  for  which  he  received  $5  per  head.  Mr.  Sewell  considers 
the  Suffolks  as  good  sheep  for  Canada,  standing  the  cold  well,  and 
yielding  above  the  average  clip  of  wool  of  a  superior  quality,  and  second 
to  none  in  mutton.  Under  date  of  November  2,  1891,  he  writes: 

I  have  sheep  by  ine  now,  registered  Suffolk,  which  have  had  their  lambs  killed  for 
sale  in  the  spring,  with  a  second  crop  now  2  months'  old  running  with  them.  I 
consider  them  as  producers  of  early  lambs  and  good  quality  superior  to  homed 
Dorset. 

Mr.  Sewell  clips  9  pounds  per  fleece  on  the  average.  His  rams  run 
from  200  to  240  pounds. 

During  a  visit  to  England,  in  1887,  Mr.  M.  B.  Streeter,  of  Brooklyn, 
an  owner  of  Southdowns  from  boyhood,  and  an  admirer  of  the  dark- 
faced  Down  families,  saw  some  of  the  Suffolks  at  the  Metropolitan 
stock  yards,  near  London,  and  was  struck  with  their  remarkably  orna- 
mental quality,  and,  in  1888,  made  an  importation  from  the  prize  stock 
of  Joseph  Smith,  of  Hasketou.  One  of  his  yearling  ewes  (1  year  9 
months  old)  just  after  coming  off  the  vessel  weighed  precisely  200 
pounds.  A  rani  lamb,  9  months  old,  weighed  195  pounds.  In  the 
spring  of  1890  a  7-weeks-old  lamb  weighed  85  pounds,  and  it  was  a 
twin.  In  the  spring  of  that  year  he  had  2  lambs  for  every  ewe.  One 
had  a  single  lamb  and  one  had  3,  which  kept  up  the  average.  In 
the  spring  of  1891  his  5  imported  ewes  produced  11  lamb?,  and  in  the 
spring  of  1892  the  same  5  ewes  produced  14  lambs. 

As  to  the  product  of  wool,  in  a  letter  to  the  writer  of  this  article, 
under  date  of  May  7,  1892,  Mr.  Streeter  says: 

To  be  candid  with  you,  I  think  these  sheep  have  just  one  fault — they  are  not  heavy 
shearers.  Of  all  the  heavy  mutton  breeds  they  are  perhaps  the  most  natural,  or 
the  least  manipulated  by  a  long  course  of  selection  to  produce  show  points.  If  I 
understand  rightly,  this  breed  has  been  developed  under  conditions  that  called  for 
much  rustling  for  food,  and  they  are  somewhat  leggy  and  bare  of  wool  underneath. 
I  like  them  as  well  as  I  ever  did,  and  am  willing  they  shall  shear  light  because  of 
other  undoubted  advantages. 

Mr.  Streeter's  flock  is  at  Berlin,  Kensselaer  County,  and  consists  of 
15  ewes  besides  his  last  crop  of  lambs.  It  is  the  only  flock  known  in 
the  United  States. 


424 


SHEEP    INDUSTRY    OF    THE    UNITED    STATES 


The  ISTew  York  statistical  agent  for  the  Department  of  Agriculture  \ 
reported  in  1888  that  "When  land  is  as  high  as  the  average  farm  in  j 
New  York  there  must  be  a  broader  foundation  for  sheep  husbandry  j 
than  the  fleece.  The  body  of  the  sheep  as  a  food  product  must  make  i 
the  foundation  of  this  important  industry ;  n  and  again,  in  1890: 

There  is  an  increase  in  the  number  and  value  of  sheep.     Many  sheep  have  been  \ 
purchased  from  Ohio,  Michigan,  and  Canada,  and  have  been  distributed  about  the  j 
State  in  small  flocks.     The  high  price  of  lambs  for  mutton  and  a  growing  apprecia-  : 
tion  of  mutton  as  a  meat  food  has  helped  to  bring  this  about.     The  need  of  more 
animals  on  the  farms  to  make  manure  has  also  been  a  potent  influence  in  making 
quite  a  boom  in  sheep.     But  for  dogs  many  more  sheep  would  be  kept  in  small 
flocks.     It  seems  to  be  a  common  characteristic  of  farmers  to  sell  out  when  things 
are  going  down,  forgetting  that  their  o\vn  acts  send  them  lower,  and  to  buy  in  when  \ 
the  price  is  possibly  rising.     Last  year  there  was  a  scramble  to  sell  sheep,  and  this 
year  to  buy;  whereas  sheep  should  really  be  an  established  and  permanent  factor 
on  every  farm.     It  is  a  gratifying  fact  that  they  are  once  more  becoming  appre-  ] 
ciated,  both  for  mutton  and  wool— the  first  being  the  more  important  consideration 
to  the  New  York  farmer. 

Fortunately  for  the  New  York  sheep  industry,  both  for  mutton  and 
wool,  the  supply  of  thoroughbred  flocks  of  all  the  breeds  is  ample;  in 
no  other  State  is  it  excelled  in  pure  stock.  The  sheep  of  the  State  are  \ 
remarkably  healthy.  Breeders  insist  on  a  high  standard  and  emu- 
lation keeps  it  up.  The  raising  of  sheep  is  now,  more  than  ever  before, 
one  of  the  factors  of  farm  life ;  not  the  only  one — it  has  become  part  of 
a  system  of  diversified  agriculture. 

Sheep  and  wool  of  New  York,  1840  to  1890. 


Year. 

Number  of 
sheep. 

Wool. 

Average 
weight  of 

fleece  per 
head. 

1840 

5  118  777 

Pounds. 
9  845  295 

Pounds. 

1X50      

3  45:{  241 

10,071,301 

2.91 

I860  

2,  617,  855 

9,  454,  474 

3.60 

1870 

2,181  578 

10,  599.  225 

4.86 

1880  

1,715,180 

8,  827,  195 

5.14 

1890      .. 

1  548  426 

8,  702,  154 

5.62 

The  figures  as  given  by  the  Statistician  of  the  Department  of  Agri- 
culture show  a  falling  off  in  number  of  154,843  sheep  from  January  1? 
1890,  to  January  1,  1891,  although  the  State  agent  reported  that  the 
keeping  of  sheep  was  demanding  general  attention,  and  but  for  the 
ravages  of  dogs  they  would  be  doubled  could  the  stock  be  obtained. 
There  was  a  slight  increase  in  the  number  during  1891,  and  the  average 
value  was  somewhat  higher.  More  were  being  kept  than  formerly,  as 
lamb  and  mutton  were  in  demand  at  all  times  at  paying  prices.  More 
full-blood  rams  were  used  and  there  was  a  strong  tendency  to  improve 
the  sheep  for  mutton. 


EAST   OF   THE   MISSISSIPPI   RIVER.  425 

NEW   JERSEY. 

Some  of  tlie  choicest  importations  of  Merino  sheep  were  taken  up  in 
Jersey.  Merchants  and  others  of  wealth  in  the  two  cities  of  New 
York  and  Philadelphia  formed  flocks  and  entered  extensively  upon  the 
business  of  wool-growing  when  wool  was  in  demand,  and  we  have  fre- 
quent notes  in  the  papers  of  the  day  of  flocks  projected  and  schemes 
for  buying  large  tracts  of  mountain  land  in  the  northern  counties  for 
the  purpose  of  converting  them  into  sheep  graziugs,  but  of  the  subse- 
quent history  of  these  undertakings  little  is  known.  Some  of  the  Liv- 
ingston sheep  were  early  introduced  into  the  counties  of  Bergen  and 
Essex. 

The  most  noted  flock  of  the  State,  and  one  of  the  best  in  the  United 
States,  was  that  of  James  Caldwell,  a  merchant  of  Philadelphia,  own- 
ing a  farm  at  Haddonfield,  Gloucester  County.  As  some  reference  will 
be  made  to  this  flock  in  future  pages  we  here  give  entire  Mr.  Caldwell's 
history  of  it  as  communicated  in  a  letter  to  William  E.  Dickinson, 
April  11,  1826: 

In  the  fall  of  1806  I  purchased  1  ram  and  2  ewes  from  Col.  Humphreys'  Merino 
flock,  for  which  I  paid  $300.  The  ram  was  accidently  killed  a  short  time  after.  In 
the  spring  of  1807  Mr.  Basse  Muller  imported  into  the  city  of  Philadelphia  6  Merino 
sheep,  which  he  said  had  been  obtained  by  him  from  the  flock  of  the  Prince  of  Hesse 
Cassel.  The  sheep  were  all  remarkably  fine  animals,  and  at  Mr.  Midler's  request  I 
took  them  to  my  farm,  and  kept  them  until  they  had  recovered  from  the  eifects  of 
the  voyage  and  were  in  a  condition  to  travel.  I  then  prevailed  on  Mr.  Muller  to  let 
me  have  one  of  these  rams,  and  to  name  his  own  price.  He  consented  to  do  this  as  a 
personal  favor,  and  did  not  consider  it  a  sale  when  he  named  $100  as  about  sufficient 
to  defray  the  additional  cost  and  charges.  This  sum  was  paid  by  me  with  great 
satisfaction,  although  at  that  time  I  would  rather  have  had  a  ram  of  equal  quality 
direct  from  Spain,  thinking  it  best  to  procure  the  water  from  the  fountain  head,  as 
less  liable  to  impurities  than  farther  down  the  stream.  A  sheep  seven-eighths  Merino 
may  have  all  the  external  qualifications  of  a  full-blood  Merino,  but  no  experienced 
breeder  would  think  it  equally  safe  or  desirable  to  breed  from  such  an  animal  when 
the  genuine  full-blood  can  be  obtained.  I  would  prefer  one  of  the  best  horses  of 
Arabia  for  speed  and  bottom  to  the  most  beautiful  English  racer,  if  I  desired  to 
propagate  and  perpetuate  those  qualities.  And  even  now  I  would  rather  cross  with 
the  best  Spanish  ram  than  with  the  best  Saxon  Merino,  unless  I  knew  that  the  Merino 
had  been  kept  pure  and  unmixed  with  Saxony.  The  contrary  practice  would  be 
gradually,  but  certainly,  breeding  back  again  into  the  common  stock  of  the  country. 
I  have,  however,  every  reason  to  believe  that  the  sheep  which  were  imported  by 
Mr.  Muller  were  perfectly  pure  Merinos,  and  1  think  Columbus  (a  noted  ram)  was 
the  first  descendant  from  Mr.  Muller's  ram  and  one  of  Col.  Humphreys'  ewes.  You 
are  certainly  wrong  in  thinking  Columbus  was  the  best  ram  in  my  flock.  It  was 
Americus  that  sheared  12|  pounds  of  wool,  which  I  sold  for  $25  cash.  It  was  Amer- 
cus  that  weighed  148  pounds.  Americus  was  begotten  by  Columbus  and  was,  in  my 
opinion,  in  all  respects,  a  superior  sheep.  1  now  think  Americus  was  the  best  Merino 
ram  I  have  ever  met  with,  although  I  have  traveled  from  Boston  to  Alexandria  for 
the  purpose  of  examining  all  the  early  importations  from  Spain,  and  of  purchasing 
the  best  I  could  find.  I  have  expended  more  than  $40,000  upon  Merino  sheep,  but 
never  could  find  one  equal  to  Americus  in  every  respect.  I  do  not  remember  the 
weight  of  Columbus,  but  his  fleece  never  weighedmore  than  9^  pounds,  which  I  sold 
for  $2  per  pound.  Mr.  Howell  gave  me  $300  for  Columbus  at  a  time  when  the  best 


426        SHEEP  INDUSTRY  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES 

imported  Spanish  raius  were  to  be  had  for  $50.     The  same  Mr.  Howell  gave  me  $500 
for  Americus.    I  presume  you  have  mistaken  these  two  sheep. 

In  addition  to  this  foundation  Mr.  Caldwell  purchased  in  September, 
1810,  190  Merino  sheep,  and  a  few  days  later  some  more,  all  of  which 
were  added  to  his  flock  at  Haddonfield.  These  last  purchases  were  of 
the  Jarvis  importations,  and  the  first,  at  least,  were  Paulars.  He  pur- 
chased also  some  of  the  Infantados  imported  by  Capt.  Charles  Stewart. 
Other  choice  sheep  were  added  to  the  flock,  and  it  became  noted  as 
one  of  the  very  best  in  the  country.  In  1815  it  passed  from  Mr.  Cald- 
welFs  hands  to  Mr.  Samuel  L.  Howell,  and  was  subsequently  sent  to 
William  K.  Dickinson,  of  Ohio,  and  from  it  originated  many  of  the  best 
flocks  known  in  Ohio  and  AVestern  Pennsylvania  and  the  Pan  Handle 
counties  of  Virginia. 

The  Samuel  L.  Howell  mentioned  by  Mr.  Caldwell  was  a  resident  of 
Ashfield,  Gloucester  County,  and  was  an  early  importer  of  Merino 
sheep  and  had  a  large  and  choice  flock  before  he  made  the  purchase  of 
the  Caldwell  flock.  In  June,  1813,  he  published  a  valuable  article  on 
the  diseases  of  the  Merino  that  had  come  under  his  notice — worm  in  the 
head,  prolapsus  vaginae  et  uteri,  abortion,  cholera,  and  foot-rot.  Mr. 
Howell's  fine  flock,  or  a  part  of  it,  also  found  its  way  to  Ohio. 

The  Jarvis  importations  found  many  purchasers  in  New  Jersey,  and 
the  liberal  action  of  the  legislature  in  encouraging  woolen  manufac- 
tures gave  the  sheep  a  general  distribution.  Miles  Smith,  of  New 
Brunswick,  imported  70  from  Lisbon  in  May,  1811,  and  during  the 
year  they  could  be  procured  in  almost  every  section  of  the  State,  although 
they  were  held  at  high  figures.  By  a  return  made  to  the  State  author- 
ities in  1814  it  appears  that  there  were  then  in  the  State  285,049  sheep, 
of  which  3,807  were  full-blood  Merinos,  25,826  mixed  bloods,  and  the 
remainder  common  sheep,  and  that  these  sheep  supported  the  life  of 
56  woolen  factories  and  129  carding  machines  for  country  business. 
Gloucester,  Essex,  and  Morris  counties  led.  We  are  otherwise  informed 
that  in  the  latter  a  worthy  minister  of  Mendh am  made  in  the  preceding 
year  from  his  flock  of  Merino  sheep  a  sufficiency  of  cloth  for  his  entire 
family,  and.  sold  $500  worth  to  others. 

Among  those  who  had  flocks  of  Merino  sheep  was  Hon.  John  Euth- 
erford,  of  Bergen  County,  formerly  a  United  States  Senator.  He  had 
a  "  home  flock  "  in  Bergen  and  a  "  mountain  flock"  in  Sussex,  and  fol- 
lowing the  practice  of  Spain  these  were  kept  as  migratory  flocks.  At 
shearing  time  the  flocks  were  driven  from  one  feeding  place  to  another 
more  distant  from  home.  The  flocks  aggregated  nearly  600  sheep.  The 
summer  migration  of  these  flocks  was  attended  with  some  ceremony,  and 
the  transfer  from  their  winter  quarters  in  Bergen  to  the  hills  of  Sussex 
in  summer  was  chronicled  by  a  Sussex  paper  as  "  presenting  a  lively 
picture  of  the  patriarchs  of  the  primitive  ages."  The  flocks  of  the 
patriarchs,  however,  were  considerably  larger.  We  have  a  record  of 
the  shearing  of  340  of  these  sheep,  giving  928  pounds  of  wool.  Another 


EAST   OF   THE   MISSISSIPPI    RIVER.  427 

shearing,  iii  Essex  County,  June  21,  1815,  of  ranis,  ewes,  and  lambs 
gives  this  result:  Twenty-six  sheep  gave  186J  pounds,  an  average  of 
7J  pounds  a  head;  2  bucks  and  6  ewes  gave  73J  pounds,  an  average  of 
9_?_ pounds;  12  lambs  born  in  the  spring  gave  30  pounds. 
In  the  same  county,  at  Bah  way,  December,  1824,  a  farmer  writes: 

My  flock  consists  of  550,  and  the  yield  is  as  nearly  as  can  be  4  pounds  to  the  fleece 
the  flock  round,  when  shorn  without  washing.  When  washed  on  the  back  3  pounds. 
I  began  twelve  or  thirteen  years  ago  with  a  few  Merinos,  crossing  them  with  an  old 
flock  of  coarse-wooled  sheep,  being  careful  to  preserve  the  finest,  and  now  have  the 
flock  in  such  a  state  that  the  wool  is  equal  to  the  flocks  of  Spain. 

When  the  woolen  manufacture  succumbed  after  the  peace  of  1815, 
and  under  the  great  importation  of  woolen  goods  from  Great  Britain, 
New  Jersey  suffered  intensely  and  her  Merino  flocks  diminished  rap- 
idly and  to  such  an  extent  that  in  1820  there  were  but  few  remaining. 
The  woolen  factories  that  were  so  plentiful  and  prosperous  in  1814  were, 
in  1821,  so  few  in  number  and  so  poor  as  to  workmanship  that  New 
Jersey  wool  was  sent  to  Steubenville,  Ohio,  there  to  be  manufactured 
into  cloth  and  returned  to  the  State  or  sent  to  New  York,  Philadelphia, 
and  Baltimore.  There  were  but  few  full-blood  Merino  flocks  then 
remaining;  most  of  them  had  been  sold  to  go  westward  or  converted  into 
mixed  flocks  by  the  crossing  on  them  of  mixed  Leicester  and  Teeswater 
rams,  by  which  the  whole  sheep  husbandry  of  the  State  was  radically 
changed  and  fine  wool  growing  was  superseded  by  mutton  and  lamb 
raising  for  the  New  York  and  Philadelphia  markets.  By  1830  the 
Merino  flocks  had  almost  disappeared ;  but  a  year  or  two  before  this 
Merino  sheep  were  selling  for  $3  to  $6,  the  best  rams  bringing  the  lat- 
ter price.  Many  flocks,  among  which  may  be  mentioned  Caldwell's, 
Howell's,  and  Judge  Griffith's,  had  been  transferred  to  the  cheaper 
lands  of  Ohio  and  western  Pennsylvania.  The  Saxon  Merino  found 
but  little  favor  in  New  Jersey  and  the  French  Merino  came  into  the 
country  after  the  State  had  become  so  thoroughly  committed  to  the 
mutton  sheep  that  it  was  scarcely  noticed.  In  1840  the  Merino  was 
entirely  eliminated  from  the  sheep  husbandry  of  New  Jersey.  There 
was  an  occasional  instance  where  a  farmer  kept  a  half  dozen  or  so  as  a 
curiosity  to  be  shown  at  county  or  State  fairs,  but  as  part  of  the  econ- 
omy of  the  farm  they  were  not  considered,  and  Gloucester  County, 
which  in  1814  supported  choice  flocks,  could  not  show  a  score  even  of 
mixed  grade,  and  the  fields  that  fed  the  choice  importations  from  Spain, 
collected  with  such  care  and  at  such  expense  by  James  Caldwell,  were 
now  feeding  low-grade  descendants  from  these  same  sheep,  shipped 
from  Ohio  to  be  fattened  for  the  Philadelphia  butcher  and  sold  in  the 
market  at  from  $5  to  $6  each.  By  1850  a  similar  system  prevailed 
throughout  the  State.  Flocks  were  kept  principally  for  producing 
early  lambs,  which  sold  from  $2.50  to  $5.  Many  grazers,  however, 
were  in  the  habit  of  buying  a  considerable  number  of  Western  sheep, 
principally  wethers,  which  they  bought  in  June  or  July  from  $2  to  $3 


428        SHEEP  INDUSTRY  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES 

and  sold  in  the  fall  and  winter  as  high  as  $4  to  $16.  But  the  system 
that  has  been  carried  to  great  success  in  the  State  is  that  of  raising 
both  early  lambs  and  fattening  for  fall  mutton.  Nowhere  are  sheep 
and  early  lambs  handled  with  such  profit  and  the  return  made  so 
quickly. 

It  was  fortunate  for  the  sheep  husbandry  of  the  State  that  the  far- 
mers saw,  at  an  early  day,  that  there  was  more  profit  in  mutton  that 
was  always  in  some  demand  than  in  wool  which  sometimes  would  not 
sell,  and  when  they  abandoned  their  Merino  flocks  the  abandonment 
was  permanent  and  absolute.  Their  nearness  to  the  large  markets  of 
New  York  and  Philadelphia  gave  a  permanency  to  the  demand  for  mut- 
ton that  could  not  be  expected  of  wool. 

The  marked  growth  of  the  mutton  industry  in  the  State  may  be  fixed 
at  about  1830.  In  the  years  following  many  Leicester  sheep  were  grown 
in  the  State  and  fattened  for  market.  In  after  years  the  Southdown 
came  in  and  remained  the  favorite.  The  greatest  development  of  the 
Southdown  was  made  by  J.  C.  Taylor,  of  Holmdel,  Monmouth  County. 
Mr.  Taylor  began  raising  sheep  in  1834,  following  the  custom  then  in 
vogue  of  buying  a  few  sheep  from  drovers  that  came  along  in  early  au- 
tumn with  flocks  from  New  York,  Pennsylvania,  and  Ohio,  of  the  char- 
acter of  the  ordinary  sheep  of  those  States,  in  which  fine  wool  and  a 
light  carcass  formed  the  predominating  element.  These  were  bought 
from  the  drovers,  and  with  a  few  steers,  also  purchased  in  the  fall,  were 
carried  through  the  winter  mostly  upon  coarse  feed,  such  as  cornstalks, 
grazed  and  fattened  through  the  summer  and  then  disposed  of  to  make 
room  for  a  new  supply.  Lambs  were  sold  in  the  spring,  but  they  were 
not  a  primary  consideration.  In  1848  Mr.  Taylor  came  to  the  conclu- 
sion that  an  improvement  could  be  made  upon  this  system  by  which 
butchers'  lambs  could  be  bred  more  profitably  by  the  introduction  of 
better  blood  on  the  part  of  the  sire,  to  secure  greater  size  and  earlier 
maturity  in  the  offspring.  He  purchased  some  Southdown  rams  in 
1848  that  had  been  prize- takers  at  the  American  Institute  show,  and 
found  this  cross  upon  the  common  ewes  fully  as  advantageous  in  every 
respect  as  had  been  anticipated.  The  neighbors  had  to  keep  up  with 
his  improvement,  consequently  he  had  a  ready  local  demand  for  all  the 
pure  Southdown  lambs  he  could  spare.  Earn  lambs,  purchased  by  them 
at  $15  each,  were  found  to  more  than  repay  their  cost  in  the  increased 
value  of  the  butchers7  lambs.  From  $6  to  $7  advance  upon  each  ewe 
purchased  in  fall  with  this  system  was  realized  by  the  best  farmers- 
say,  $4.50  for  the  lamb,  $1  profit  on  the  ewe  by  fall,  and$l  for  the  wool. 
Mr.  Taylor  and  the  best  farmers  fed  the  ewes  about  three  months  with 
half  a  pint  daily  of  corn  meal,  together  with  hay  and  cornstalks,  but 
some  gave  good  clover  hay  only.  They  were  allowed  to  run  on  grass 
as  soon  as  it  gave  a  good  bite  and  the  lambs  were  sold  when  ten  to  fif- 
teen weeks  old.  The  earliest  lambs  from  this  Southdown  cross  dressed 
from  50  to  55  pounds,  but  at  three  months  or  over  70  pounds.  The 


EAST    OF    THE    MISSISSIPPI   RIVER.  429 

lambs  commenced  to  drop  about  March  1  and  were  fit  for  market  June 
1.  The  ewes  were  fit  for  market  September  1. 

Mr.  Taylor  did  not  confine  his  sheep  husbandry  to  growing  lambs  and 
mutton,  but  formed  a  Southdown  breeding  flock  not  excelled  in  the 
United  States.  In  1854  he  made  an  importation  from  England,  and  in 
1856  purchased  fully  one-fourth  the  sheep  disposed  of  at  Col.  Morris' 
sale  in  Xew  York,  and  in  November  of  this  year  received  a  ram  and 
four  ewes  from  the  celebrated  Southdown  flock  of  Jonas  Webb.  He 
paid  8500  for  the  ram. 

In  1858  Mr.  Taylor  sold  8  rams  and  2  ewes  to  go  to  California,  at  an 
average  of  8110  each,  and  the  fame  of  his  flock  extended  throughout 
the  whole  country  and  sales  from  it  were  many  to  improve  flocks  in 
every  section.  On  July  10,  1861,  the  famous  Southdown  flock  of  Jonas 
Webb  was  sold  at  auction  at  Babraham,  England,  and  marked  an  era 
in  sheep  husbandry  long  to  be  remembered.  Persons  to  the  number  of 
3,000  were  present,  embracing  the  nobility,  the  leading  Southdown 
breeders  of  England,  and  agents  from  every  quarter  of  the  globe. 
Competition  was  keen  and  the  prices  higher  than  ever  before  recorded. 
Xiue  hundred  and  sixty-seven  sheep  sold  for  $54,610.  The  highest- 
priced  animal  was  a  2-year  old  ram  which  was  bought  by  Mr.  Taylor 
for  $1,300.  He  bought,*  also,  a  yearling  ram  for  $500  and  another  for 
$275,  and  5  ewes  for  $187.50. 

In  1862  Mr.  Taylor  had  75  breeding  ewes,  25  of  which  were  imported, 
16  ewe  lambs,  and  17  ram  lambs.  His  stock  rams,  all  imported,  were  5 
in  number.  In  September,  following  the  English  custom  in  that  regard, 
he  had  a  sale  and  letting  of  his  sheep.  His  rams  rented  at  an  average 
of  $50  each  per  year,  and  his  ewes  sold  at  an  average  of  $37.80  each. 
By  his  annual  sales  and  lettings  the  Southdowns  were  extended 
throughout  the  State,  and  many  from  his  flock  found  their  way  to  New 
York,  Pennsylvania,  and  Ohio,  and  the  system  of  sheep  husbandry 
which  he  did  so  much  to  improve  enriched  many  farmers  and  farms. 

Another  Southdown  importer  of  that  day  was  George  Hartshorne,  of 
Rahway,  N.  J.  He  imported  the  famous  ram  Young  York  and  bred  a 
fine  flock,  descendants  from  which  still  exist  in  the  flock  of  Jeremiah 
McCain,  of  Mount  Herman,  Warren  County.  In  1839  Mr.  McCain  pur- 
chased, in  Hunterdon  County,  from  an  imported  Leicester  flock,  a  rain 
and  2  ewes,  and  their  descendants  carried  off  premiums  at  the  State 
fair  of  1884.  In  1861  he  bought  4  Southdown  ewes  of  Mr.  Hartshornc, 
sired  by  Young  York,  out  of  imported  ewes,  and  took  these  ewes 
to  Mr.  Taylor's  rams,  and  raised  6  lambs  from  them,  thus  establishing 
a  flock  of  Southdowns,  which  has  carried  away  many  premiums  at 
county  and  State  fairs.  In  1863  Mr.  McCain  went  to  Canada  and 
bought  a  ram  and  6  ewes  of  the  Cotswold  breed,  all  large  and  fine  in 
quality.  The  ram  clipped  13  pounds  of  washed  wool  and  the  ewes  9£ 
pounds  each.  This  was  the  foundation  of  Mr.  McCain's  Cotswold  flock, 
to  which  imported  stock  was  added,  and  which  has  been  bred  from  with 
great  success. 


430        SHEEP  INDUSTKY  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES 

In  1876  and  in  succeeding  years  large  numbers  of  the  English  breeds 
were  imported  into  New  Jersey,  and  the  State  had  in  possession  nearly 
all  the  breeds  profitable  to  keep.  There  were  Southdowns,  Oxford 
Downs,  Hampshire  Downs,  Shropshire,  and  Cotswolds,  and  some 
Merinos.  At  the  State  fair  in  1884,  and  in  subsequent  years,  all  these 
breeds  have  been  represented,  and  the  flocks  are  maintained  to  supply 
breeding  rams  for  other  flocks  and  to  cross  on  grade  sheep  for  early 
lambs. 

The  system,  so  succesfully  inaugurated  by  Mr.  Taylor,  of  raising  cross- 
bred lambs  for  the  early  market  and  fattening  the  ewes  for  fall,  still 
prevails  in  some  parts  of  the  State,  and  is  profitable  even  on  lands 
costing  $100  and  more  per  acre.  But  few  sheep  are  grown  to  maturity 
in  the  State.  The  flocks  consist  principally  of  ewes  purchased  from  the 
surplus  flocks  of  Pennsylvania,  western  New  York,  and  Ohio,  sometimes 
Michigan,  at  $2.50  to  $5  per  head,  in  July  or  August.  These  are  pas- 
tured as  long  as  weather  permits,  served  with  an  Oxford,  a  Hampshire, 
a  Shropshire,  or  a  Southdown  rani;  fed  well  on  hay,  cornstalks,  and 
sometimes  roots,  during  the  winter;  sheared,  early  in  the  spring,  of  5  to 
6  pounds  of  wool;  their  lambs  sold  in  May  and  June,  sometimes  as  early 
as  April,  at  $5  to  $10  each,  and  if  in  March,  at  $12,  and  the  mother 
ewes  meanwhile  are  fattened  and  follow  the  lambs  early  in  the  summer; 
some  few  are  kept  until  early  autumn.  This  system  disposes  of  the  whole 
flock  within  a  year,  at  a  cash  profit  of  $5  to  $12  on  each  ewe  pur- 
chased, besides  the  manure,  which  adds  to  the  fertility  of  the  farm. 

A  veteran  in  this  line  of  industry  thus  writes  in  the  report  of  the 
New  Jersey  State  Board  of  Agriculture  for  1886 : 

Good,  strong,  medium  wool  common  ewes  should  be  procured  in  July,  if  possible, 
and  a  young  and  vigorous  thoroughbred  Southdown  buck  should  be  turned  with  them 
immediately  after  harvest,  allowing  not  more  than  25  ewes  to  1  buck,  if  a  lamb,  and 
not  over  50  to'  a  yearling.  By  this  practice  the  lambs  will  be  dropped  between  the 
15th  of  December  and  the  15th  of  January.  If  the  ewes  are  well  fed' through  the  win- 
ter, and  if  the  lambs  have  a  free  and  separate  access  to  cornmeal,  whole  oats,  wheat 
bran,  and  linseed  meal  as  soon  as  they  are  old  enough  to  eat  they  will,  when  6  weeks 
old,  up  to  3  months  old,  weigh  from  30  to  60  pounds  per  head.  I  have  known  some 
farmers  to  sell  lambs  for  St.  Patrick's  day  as  high  as  $12.  These  prices  do  not  last 
long,  and  are  obtained  by  but  few.  I  know  of  farmers  who  have  disposed  of  their 
lambs  from  40  ewes  by  the  middle  of  April,  bringing  from  $6.50  to  $10  per  head, 
averaging  a  little  over  $8  per  head.  After  the  lambs  are  sold  the  ewes  will  fatten 
and  will  bring  a  larger  price  than  at  any  other  time  of  the  year,  from  $1  to  $10  more 
than  cost.  NOWT,  estimating  the  gain  in  price,  thp  value  of  the  fleece  and  manure,  to 
balance  the  cost  and  trouble  of  feeding,  the  lamb  can  be  reckoned  as  clear  profit. 
If,  however,  the  lambs  are  dropped  later  and  sold  for  less  prices,  say  $5  or  $6  each, 
the  profit  will  be  proportionally  less,  but  there  will  be  still  a  profit  equal  to  the  price 
obtained  for  the  lamb  on  every  ewe  that  raises  one,  and  it  is  not  unusual  for  a  flock 
of  ewes  to  average  one  lamb  apiece. 

It  is  no  uncommon  thing  for  the  New  Jersey  farmer  to  purchase  20 
ewes  at  $5  each,  making  $100  for  the  lot,  and  before  the  expiration  of 
the  year  sell  the  wool  and  lambs  at  $100  or  more  a  profit  of  100  per 


EAST   OF   THE   MISSISSIPPI   RIVER.  431 

cent  on  the  investment,  and  have  the  original  stock  on  hand  worth  as 
much  or  more  than  at  the  time  of  purchase. 

Many  of  the  early  lambs,  raised  in  New  Jersey  are  sold  in  the  market 
in  New  York  City  when  2J  to  3  months  old  at  $8  to  $11  each,  and  lambs 
at  5  weeks  old  sell  for  $9  per  head.  One  of  the  most  successful  and 
public-spirited  farmers  of  Sussex  County  selects  strong  ewes  of  western 
grades  and  uses  Oxford  or  Hampshire  rams,  and  succeeds  in  getting 
$11  per  head  for  ninety  or  more  of  his  crop  of  lambs  and  an  advance 
on  the  ewes  bred  from. 

It  is  not  absolutely  necessary  in  this  branch  of  industry  that  the  farmer 
should  have  a  large  body  of  land.  A  few,  who  have  skill  in  manage- 
ment, buy  a  flock  of  western  ewes  in  the  late  summer  or  early  fall  and 
put  them  on  a  lot  large  enough  only  to  give  them  exercise  needed  for 
health,  and  keep  them  through  the  entire  period  upon  root  crops  grown 
on  a  few  acres,  with  bran  and  other  feeds,  then  sell  off  both  lambs  and 
mothers  in  spring  or  early  summer,  to  begin  with  an  entirely  new  stock 
the  succeeding  autumn.  The  only  sheep  remaining  during  the  summer 
is  a  lone  ram,  confined  to  a  small  patch  where  he  can  graze  the  fresh 
grass.  Sometimes  the  flock  is  cleaned  out  entirely  even  to  the  ram,  a 
new  one  being  purchased  every  season  or  hired  from  a  breeding  flock. 
In  this  system  it  is  very  essential  that  the  ewes  selected  be  sound  of 
udder  and  of  teat,  and  are  not  what  is  termed  "  broken  mouthed  w  and 
unable  to  use  their  grinders  on  roots,  grain,  or  hay.  In  feeding  on 
grass  the  loss  of  a  few  teeth  does  not  so  much  matter,  but  when  the 
sheep  are  to  be  fed  on  harder  and  drier  substances  the  loss  is  severely 
felt.  Thorough  mastication  and  good  digestion  are  absolutely  neces- 
sary to  good  condition  in  the  ewe  and  a  good  supply  of  milk. 

The  ordinary  and  well-known  mutton  breeds  have  been  raised  in 
New  Jersey  for  many  years.  The  most  recent  introductions  have  been 
the  Hampshire  Downs  and  the  Horned  Dorsets.  The  Hampshires, 
though  brought  into  the  country  in  1855  by  Thomas  Messenger,  of  Long 
Island,  were  extended  slowly.  Now  they  are  quite  widely  distributed 
throughout  the  country,  and  pure  flocks  are  maintained  in  New  Eng- 
land, in  each  of  the  Middle,  and  in  many  of  the  Western  States.  Three 
flocks  were  maintained  in  New  Jersey  in  1891,  two  in  the  county  of 
Burlington  and  one  in  Sussex.  Mr.  Martin  Dennis,  owner  of  the  Sus- 
sex flock,  states  that  the  forty  or  fifty  head  comprising  it  are  descended 
from  three  distinct  importations,  and  that  his  experience  of  twelve 
years  as  a  breeder  convinces  him  that  they  are  the  best  breed  for  pro- 
ducing a  large  carcass  of  high  quality  mutton,  such  as  is  now  demanded 
in  our  large  cities.  They  are  a  hardy  sheep  and  stand  well  the  ex- 
tremes of  our  American  climate,  and  are  especially  adapted  to  the  hill 
counties  of  New  Jersey  and  generally  to  our  pasture  lands  and  our 
methods  of  winter  feeding.  The  ewes  are  excellent  mothers,  having 
large  udders  and  a  bountiful  supply  of  milk,  upon  which  the  lambs 
mature  more  quickly  than  those  of  other  breeds.  Mr.  Dennis'  Hamp- 


432        SHEEP  INDUSTRY  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES 

sliire  lambs  at  six  months  old  weigh  about  125  pounds.  Although  the 
hill  region  of  Sussex  and  adjoining  counties  are  especially  adapted 
to  the  raising  of  mutton  sheep  and  lambs,  in  which  the  Hampshires 
would  play  a  prominent  part,  they  are,  nevertheless,  given  up  to  the 
dairy,  every  farmer  being  engaged  either  in  selling  milk  to  a  creamery 
or  making  it  into  butter  and  shipping  it  to  the  city. 

The  Dorsets  were  first  introduced  into  the  State  in  September,  1887, 
by  Robert  J.  Buck,  of  Bridgeton,  and  in  July,  1888,  by  Rutherford 
Stuyvesant,  of  Warren  county.  Mr.  Stuyv .  ant  imported  two  rams 
and  twenty-eight  ewes  from  the  English  flocks  of  John  and  William 
Kinder.  His  experience  with  them  has  been  highly  satisfactory. 

Scattered  throughout  the  State  there  are  many  small  flocks  of  South- 
downs,  kept  to  supply  the  home  table  and  the  village  butcher.  These 
flocks  run  from  12  to  20  and  are  generally  healthy  and  hardy.  The 
number  of  lambs  is  usually  about  the  same  as  the  number  of  ewes. 
Losses  of  lambs  are  rare,  and  when  they  take  place  the  'twins  keep  up 
the  average.  Lambs  are  dropped  in  February,  and  are  sold  to  the  local 
butchers  for  $4.50  to  $7  per  head,  to  be  taken  as  wanted  from  June  to 
October.  Four  to  5  sheep  are  sold  with  the  lambs  at  the  same  price, 
and  a  like  number  reserved  from  the  best  lambs  to  keep  up  the  flock. 
The  wool  is  sold  from  18  to  25  cents  unwashed,  the  weight  of  the  fleece 
running  from  4  to  6  pounds.  Usually  the  sheep  are  shut  up  every  night 
in  the  year  in  the  barn  or  basement  sheds  for  protection  against  dogs. 
They  are  not  fed  when  on  pasture.  When  off  pasture  they  receive  hay, 
corn-meal,  and,  in  the  early  spring,  mangels.  There  is  not  much  money 
profit  in  keeping  these  small  flocks,  but  they  pay  for  themselves  in  the 
service  rendered  in  keeping  the  fields  clean  and  in  the  valuable  manure 
they  furnish,  and  it  is  noticeable  that  wherever  such  a  flock  is  kept 
the  farms  look  thrifty  and  the  grass  fields  green  and  luxuriant. 

But  these  and  other  flocks  are  gradually  diminishing.  The  causes 
assigned  for  the  decrease  are  greater  profits  in  dairy  farming  and  mar- 
ket gardening,  and  the  destruction  caused  by  dogs.  There  is  no  farm 
in  the  State  over  7  miles  distant  from  a  railroad  station,  and  this  ready 
access  to  the  markets  of  all  the  principal  cities  in  the  State  arid  to  New 
York  and  Philadelphia,  encourages  the  production  of  milk  and  cheese 
and  every  variety  of  garden  truck,  consequently  fields  that  will  yield 
$20  to  $50  per  acre  annually,  and  sometimes  much  more,  in  these  in- 
dustries are  not  willingly  consigned  to  the  raising  of  sheep  with  the 
attendant  risk  of  dogs.  Two  per  cent  of  the  sheep  of  the  State  are 
annually  killed  by  the  dogs,  and  there  is  more  protectiim  for  the  safety 
and  life  of  these  worthless  animals  than  for  the  valuable  sheep. 


EAST    OF    THE    MISSISSIPPI   RIVER. 

Sheep  in  Xeic  Jersey,  1836  io  1890. 


433 


Tear. 

Number  of 
sheep. 

Wool. 

Average 
weight  of 
fleece 
per  head. 

1836                                                              .... 

250  000 

Pound*. 

812  500 

Pounds. 

30  = 

219  285 

397  909 

1  81 

160  488 

375  396 

0    Q«l 

135  298 

349  250 

2  58 

120  067 

336  609 

2  80 

EggQ 

117*  Oi;>0 

441  110 

3  77 

I-'1    ' 

103  170 

432  683 

4  20 

The  continued  ravages  of  the  dogs,  and  the  greater  profits  of  the 
dairy  industry  and  trucking,  operate  against  an  extension  of  sheep 
husbandry,  and  the  number  of  sheep  has  slightly  decreased  since  Jan- 
uary, 1890. 

PENNSYLVANIA . 

Sheep  husbandry  and  wool-growing  have  always  received  much 
encouragement  in  this  State,  both  from  the  legislative  authorities  and 
the  press.  Public  spirit  and  private  enterprise  responded.  The  vicin- 
ity of  Philadelphia  has  been,  in  an  especial  degree,  the  home  of  fine 
flocks,  and  was  early  interested  in  the  Merino  sheep.  The  patriotic 
efforts  of  Dr.  James  Mease  and  others  to  introduce  them  have  been 
elsewhere  noted,  and  we  have  seen  that  some  of  the  Humphreys  sheep 
were  owned  there  prior  to  1810.  In  1810  and  1811  over  2,500  Merinos 
were  landed  at  Philadelphia,  some  of  them  being  the  very  best  that 
were  brought  into  the  country.  At  first  they  were  not  generally  appre- 
ciated, but  soon  grew  popular,  and  some  choice  flocks  were  formed;  but 
the  known  facts  concerning  them  are  sadly  defective.  The  papers  of 
the  day  made  casual  reference  to  them,  inculcated  the  duty  of  all  true 
patriots  to  patronize  them  and  the  goods  made  from  their  wool,  but 
gave  very  little  other  information  concerning  them.  The  wool  sales  in 
the  Philadelphia  markets  show  that  they  must  have  been  numerous, 
and  that  their  wool  was  of  good  quality  as  it  commanded  good  prices. 
The  Essex  (Mass.)  Register,  June  22,  1811,  in  noticing  the  success  of 
the  Merino  sheep,  stated  that  the  United  States  had  26,000  of  them, 
.and  says  that  at  a  sheep  shearing  of  Mr.  Bicknall,  of  Pennsylvania, 
62  Merino  sheep  of  different  grades,  all  ewes  but  one,  gave  on  an  aver- 
age 4^  pounds  washed  wool.  The  ram  gave  8J  pounds,  and  the  weight 
increased  as  they  approached  nearer  being  full-blooded.  There  were, 
at  an  early  day,  some  Merino  flocks  in  Luzerne  County,  and  in  February, 
1814,  Dr.  Robert  H.  Rose  read  a  paper  before  the  Philadelphia  Agri- 
cultural Society  respecting  the  cost  of  keeping  them,  from  which  it 
appears  that  1,000  head  could  be  maintained  for  $800,  and  that  it  would 
require  six  years  to  convert  a  flock  of  common  sheep  into  Merinos.  It 
was  by  conversion  that  many  flocks  were  formed.  Rams  and  ewes  of 
full  blood  were  held  at  too  extravagant  prices  for  farmers  to  purchase 
22990 28 


434        SHEEP  INDUSTRY  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES 

them,  and  recourse  was  had  to  select  common  sheep  and  the  hire  of  or 
partnership  in  a  full-blooded  ram.  Of  this  crossing  on  the  common 
sheep  and  the  economic  value  of  the  Spanish  Merino  at  this  early  day, 
an  extract  from  the  Memoirs  of  the  Philadelphia  Society  for  promoting 
Agriculture,  for  1815,  is  given : 

The  fortunate  introduction  of  the  Spanish,  English,  and  Barbary  sheep,  all  of 
which  are  now  spreading  through  the  Middle  States,  may  be  considered  as  important 
acquisitions  to  the  agricultural  interests.  With  regard  to  the  Spanish  sheep,  it  is 
found  by  years  of  experience  that  the  cross  with  American  ewes  produces  a  healthy, 
hardy,  gentle  race,  which  fatten  more  speedily  than  the  pure  American  blood ;  do 
not  lose  their  wool  when  shearing  has  been  neglected  beyond  the  usual  time,  and  do 
not  become  diseased  when  fat.  The  fine  quality  of  the  wool  is  known  to  all  the 
world;  and  what  is  of  great  consequence,  the  weight  of  fleece  of  the  cross  with 
American  ewes  is  evidently  increased  when  compared  with  the  imported  sheep.  The 
same  increase  takes  place  in  the  cross  with  the  English  sheep.  It  may  be  well  to 
add  that  the  wool  of  sheep  from  the  Spanish  cross  exhibits  the  most  evident  marks 
of  improvement.  This  adds  another  proof  to  the  many  which  all  parts  of  the  world 
furnish  that  the  prejudice  respecting  the  peculiar  nature  of  the  climate  of  Spain, 
being  exclusively  calculated  to  produce  fine  wool,  is  erroneous. 

Most  of  the  Merino  flocks  near  Philadelphia  were  owned  in  Delaware 
County,  and  some  of  them  were  very  large,  many  of  them  as  late  as 
1824  having  1,000  to  3,000  head.  One  large  grower  was  James  Mcllvain, 
who  had  in  1823  over  1,500  head.  Five  hundred  of  these  he  exhibited 
at  the  cattle  show  of  that  year,  described  by  a  Philadelphia  paper  as 
"  all  in  high  health,  with  clean  noses,  rosy  skins,  lively  eyes,  and  silk- 
like  fleece." 

Among  those  who  shipped  Merino  sheep  from  Cadiz,  Spain,  in  1810 
and  1811,  was  Bichard  W.  Meade,  then  United  States  consul  at  that 
place.  All  his  shipments  are  believed  to  have  been  Infantados.  On 
August  1,  1812,  David  Eose,  of  Delaware  County,  took  on  shares  60 
ewes,  2  rams,  and  8  lambs,  the  property  of  Mr.  Meade,  then  in  Spain, 
and  agreed  to  pay  $6  per  annum  for  each  sheep  for  five  years,  whether 
it  lived  or  died.  On  August  1,  1817,  at  the  expiration  of  the  contract, 
Mr.  Eose  delivered  to  the  agent  of  Mr.  Meade  32  old  sheep  and  149 
young  ones,  making  in  all  181,  and  had  for  his  own  share  149,  just  half 
the  increase  5  so  that  the  whole  flock  at  the  expiration  of  the  five  years 
consisted  of  330,  almost  five  times  the  number  he  had  received.  These 
sheep  yielded  from  4  to  5  pounds  of  wool,  sometimes  more,  depending 
upon  the  condition  in  which  they  were  kept.  The  Merino  carcass  was 
generally  light,  but  was  easily  fattened,  and  Mr.  Eose  sold  in  the  Phila- 
delphia market,  at  a  later  day,  some  fatted  wethers  for  $2  per  head 
after  being  sheared,  and  the  mutton  was  pronounced  excellent. 

In  1814  W.  J.  Miller,  of  Philadelphia  County,  took  possession  of  a 
farm  of  194  acres  that  his  predecessor  had  occupied,  as  a  tenant,  as  a 
sheep  farm  since  1809.  Mr.  Miller  says:  "  My  predecessor  commenced, 
I  believe,  with  100  to  150  Merinos  in  3 809,"  and  having  assumed  his 
contract  in  September,  1814,  Miller  had  turned  over  to  him  236  sheep, 
9  cows,  and  6  horses  to  keep  over  winter.  It  may  be  remarked  just 


EAST    OF    THE    MISSISSIPPI    RIVER. 


435 


IHTC  that  Mr.  Miller,  making  this  statement  in  1824,  nearly  fifteen  years 
after  the  date  assigned,  quite  naturally  fell  into  an  error  of  one  year. 
There  were  not  in  1809  100*  or  150  full  blooded  Merinos  near  Philadel- 
phia to  start  a  flock  with,  and  the  true  cUte  is  undoubtedly  1810,  when 
the  Spanish  importations  began  to  arrive,  and  among  them  the  sheep 
of  Mr.  K.  W.  Meade,  to  whom  these  236  sheep  evidently  belonged,  as 
will  appear  farther  along  by  Mr.  Millers  memorandum.  Mr.  Miller  kept 
a  strict  account  of  his  expenditures  for  feeding,  fencing,  care,  etc.,  and 
also  of  the  shearing  and  increase  of  the  flock. 


Year. 

Sheep 
shorn. 

Lambs  at 
shearing. 

Total. 

1815                       

160 

102 

ORO 

18161       

225 

128 

353 

1817 

132 

56 

-100 

1818                   ;  

177 

57 

234 

1819 

200 

104 

o(vi 

18°02                             .         .   . 

265 

98 

363 

!£•>!                 

256 

65 

321 

18923 

284 

96 

380 

lg->3  4                 

292 

101 

393 

1  In  October,  1816,  divided  the  increase  with  Mr.  Meade's  agent,  being  150  sheep,  and  kept  my  own 
share — 150 ;  returned  also  48  old  ewes. 

2  Placed  70  ewes  and  2  rams  with  S.  L.  Howell  on  shares,  and  sold  40  wethers  to  B.  Loyd. 

sln  October  sold  and  sent  to  Ohio  55  ewes  and  rams  of  my  own  flock,  and  85  from  those  of  Mr.  How- 
ell's  ;  also  6  to  Virginia. 

4  Sold  30  fat  wethers  to  butcher. 

Mr.  Miller  adds  to  this  a  memorandum : 

In  September,  1814,  I  paid  for  half  the  increase  of  Mr.  Meade's  flock,  being  83  ewes 
and  rams.  Immediately  sold  off  30  rams,  leaving  me  53  ewes^  20  of  which  were 
lambs;  and  from  this  stock  and  the  half  increase  of  Mr.  Meade's  for  two  years  I 
have  now  (1824)  a  flock  of  360  sheep  and  lambs,  after  having  sold  as  above  stated 
216 — together  576  sheep.  The  first  five  years  I  kept  the  farm  in  my  own  hands.  Since 
1820  it  has  been  let  on  shares,  giving  half  of  everything  raised,  including  wool,  the 
increase  of  sheep  my  own.* 

In  May,  1825,  there  were  sold  from  Mr.  Miller's  flock  in  the  Philadel- 
phia market  1,173  pounds  of  wool  at  50  cents  a  pound,  which,  compared 
with  other  wool,  was  high,  being  8  cents  above  Maryland  Merino. 

It  will  be  noticed  by  Mr.  Miller's  memorandum  that  the  sheep  he  had 
011  shares  were  E.  W.  Meade's,  that  some  of  them  were  bred  by  Samuel 
L.  Howell,  of  New  Jersey,  and  that  the  increase  of  the  flocks  in  1822 
(146  head)  were  sent  to  Ohio  and  Virginia.  The  portion  of  Virginia  was 
evidently  that  embraced  in  the  Panhandle  counties. 

In  1823  Mr.  Miller  imported  2  Saxon  rams  and  placed  in  his  flock,  and 
part  of  it,  at  least,  was  devoted  to  the  increase  and  dissemination  of 
this  family  of  the  Merino.  In  1824  he  had  80  to  90  lambs  from  the 
Saxon  rams  and  Spanish  ewes,  the  males  of  which  he  offered  to  dispose 
of  at  moderate  prices,  with  the  view  of  extending  the  breed. 

Samuel  D.  Ingham,  Moses  Eastburn,  and  others,  of  Bucks  County, 
had  Merino  flocks  as  early  as  1811,  the  former  keeping  his  more  for 


*  Memoirs  of  Pennsylvania  Agricultural  Society,  1824. 


436  SHEEP    INDUSTRY    OF    THE    UNITED    STATES 

pleasure  tlian  profit,  lie  said,  competing  at  many  of  the  fairs  and  carry- 
ing away  some  of  the  prizes.  In  October,  1813,  Mr.  Ingham  had  a 
choice  flock,  some  of  the  best  imported  into  Philadelphia,  3  rams  and 
33  ewes  of  which  were  then  for  sale.  The  Merinos  were  introduced  into 
Chester  County  in  1810,  and  in  1811  there  were  many  flocks,  among 
which  were  those  of  John  P.  Steele,  Jesse  Evans,  and  Ze'ba  Vickers. 

When  beef  fell  from  $10  to  $6  per  hundred  in  1817,  Caleb  Church- 
man, of  Tinicum,  considering  it  advisable  to  keep  some  sheep  as  an 
appendage  to  his  occupation  as  a  grazier,  commenced  with  20  Merinos 
to  form  a  flock,  and  continued  to  purchase  fine-wooled  sheep  and  to  dis- 
pose of  the  coarse-wooled  ones  until  in  1824,  when  he  had  over  1,000. 
These  did  not  average  more  than  50  to  60  pounds  in  weight,  those  with 
the  finest  fleeces  being  the  smallest.  He  made  his  selections  with  regard 
to  the  quality  of  the  wool,  and  found  that  the  short-bodied  small  sheep 
were  the  most  hardy  and  possessed  not  only  the  finest  but  the  heaviest 
fleeces.  The  fleece  averaged  about  7  pounds  of  unwashed  wool. 

Many  Merino  flocks  were  kept  up  for  many  years  near  Philadelphia 
after  they  had  ceased  to  be  profitable.  After  1815  the  common  and 
mixed  breeds  of  sheep  were  the  most  profitable  to  the  grower,  and 
Leicester  and  other  coarse-wooled  rams  were  used  in  some  flocks  to  con- 
vert them  into  coarse-wooled  sheep,  but  fortunately  many  Merinos  were 
sent  to  the  western  part  of  the  State  and  to  Ohio.  Writing  about  1824 
John  Hare  Powell,  of  Philadelphia,  said: 

I  have  always  considered  that  the  introduction  of  Merinos  was  fortunate  merely 
as  it  gave  the  means  of  crossing  various  creeds  of  our  native  and  imported  sheep, 
not  in  affording  the  material  for  clothes  fitted  but  for  the  rich,  and  crooked  ill- 
flavored  little  carcasses,  disdained  even  by  the  poor.  The  average  weight  of  the 
fleeces  produced  by  the  best  Merino  flocks,  when  made  perfectly  clean,  seldom  ex- 
ceed 2-J  pounds  per  head,  which  at  50  cents  per  pound,  would  equal  but  $1.25  each. 
The  weight  of  its  carcass  may  fairly  be  stated  at  from  35  to  40  pounds.  The  bad 
quality  of  the  mutton,  or  its  ill  appearance  upon  the  stall,  or  possibly  some  prejudice 
existing  against  it  in  this  country  as  in  Spain,  whence  the  animal  was  brought, 
makes  it  less  valuable  for  the  shambles  than  the  most  common  sheep  bred  upon  the 
worst-managed  farms.  If  the  market  afford  a  test  by  which  its  value  can  be  shown 
it  may  be  stated  that  no  mutton  is  so  little  sought. 

Mr.  Powell  had  just  begun  the  importation  of  English  sheep,  and  it 
was  natural  that  he  should  set  in  dark  colors  the  picture  of  the  Merino, 
then  at  its  lowest  estimation  in  the  country.  It  was  speedily  super- 
seded by  the  improved  English  mutton  breeds,  and  by  1840  was  almost 
unknown  and  forgotten  on  tine  farms  where  it  formerly  grazed  to  the 
great  delight  and  satisfaction  of  the  owners.  Their  course  ran  as  in 
New  Jersey  and  eastern  and  southern  New  York.  Many  flocks  found 
homes  in  the  expanding  West,  a  few  were  neglected,  but  the  greater 
number  were  crossed  by  the  Leicester  and  Southdown,  and  later  by  the 
Cots  wold.  Wool-growing  in  the  eastern  part  of  the  State  was  grad- 
ually abandoned,  and  at  the  Pennsylvania  State  Fair,  in  1852,  not  a 
Spanish  or  Saxon  Merino  could  be  found  on  the  ground  from  the  coun-  ; 

' 


EAST    OF    THE    MISSISSIPPI   RIVER.  437 

try  east  of  the  Alleghanies.  In  1853  and  1854  it  was  tlie  same,  but  in 
1855  Aaron  Clement,  of  Philadelphia  County,  obtained  a  premium  fora 
Spanish  Merino  ram.  The  fine  display  of  Southdowns,  Leicesters,  Cots- 
wolds,  New  Oxfordshires,  and  mixed  breeds,  showed  the  great  change 
that  had  come  over  sheep  husbandry.  Where  the  growing  of  wool  was 
formerly  lucrative  it  was  now  abandoned.  The  time  when  it  was  profita- 
ble to  raise  sheep  for  the  wool  interest  alone  had  gone  by.  It  was  found 
necessary  to  combine  the  carcass  with  the  fleece,  to  have  an  eye  to  the 
value  of  the  flesh  as  an  article  of  food  as  well  as  to  the  wool  for  cloth- 
ing. The  farmers  adopted  the  system  initiated  so  successfully  by  their 
New  Jersey  neighbors,  of  purchasing  strong,  healthy,  common  ewes  or 
Merino  grades,  in  the  fall,  breeding  them  early  to  Southdowns  or  long- 
wooled  mutton  rams,  and  selling  the  spring  lambs  and  such  of  the  ewes 
as  reached  a  marketable  condition  in  the  following  season  in  the 
Philadelphia  and  other  large  markets.  A  Southdown  or  Cotswold 
ram  to  a  grade  Merino  or  common  ewe  gave  a  lamb  which,  dropped  in 
April  or  early  in  May,  sold  in  July  or  August  for  $4  to  $6.  and  the 
mother  soon  followed  at  nearly  the  same  price.  Wethers  were  also 
bought  out  of  droves  and  fattened  for  market  at  considerable  profit. 

Taking  the  State  as  a  whole,  there  was  small  variation  in  the  number 
of  sheep  from  1840  to  1880.  In  1840  it  was  1,767,620,  in  1880  it  was 
1,776,593,  and  the  variation  in  the  intermediate  census  did  not  exceed 
150,000.  But  there  was  a  shifting  of  location.  The  decline  in  eastern 
Pennsylvania  was  very  great,  while  the  increase  in  western  Pennsyl- 
vania was  very  large,  the  loss  in  one  section  being  offset  by  the  gain 
in  the  other.  And  there  was  a  change  in  the  character  of  the  sheep. 
Eastern  Pennsylvania  rapidly  changed  the  Merino  for  the  mutton  breeds, 
while  in  the  West  the  Merino  received  the  principal  share  of  attention. 
Since  1880  the  decline  in  the  whole  State  has  been  very  marked,  the  num- 
ber of  sheep  falling  off  from  1,776,598  in  1880  to  945,002  in  1890.  The 
decline  began  in  1885,  and  may  be  followed  by  the  inspection  of  the  fol- 
lowing returns  as  given  by  the  Statistician  of  the  Department  of  Agri- 
culture : 

Sheep. 

1884 1,749,236 

1885 1,486,857 

1886 1, 189, 481 

1887 1,094,323 

1888 984,891 

1889 935, 640 

1890 945,002 

The  causes  assigned  were  the  low  prices  of  wool  and  mutton.  The 
decline  was  general  throughout  the  State,  and  it  was  said  that  so  gen- 
erally had  the  sheep  disappeared  that  it  was  rarely  a  sheep  was  seen 
except  on  a  freight  car  from  the  West.  Whole  flocks  were  sold  between 
1884  and  1887  at  a  very  low  price,  but  prices  advanced  in  the  latter  year 
and  many  who  had  sold  out  stocked  up  again  j  but  the  tendency  was 


438        SHEEP  INDUSTRY  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES 

towards  mutton  sheep  to  the  neglect  of  the  Merinos.  The  eastern  part 
of  the  State  was  almost  stripped  of  sheep  and  what  it  retained  were  of 
the  mutton  variety.  Of  these  breeds  this  section  has  some  of  the  best 
flocks,  handled  by  some  of  the  most  intelligent  breeders  of  the  country. 
There  are  Southdown  s,  Hampshires,  Shropshires,  Oxfords,  Lincolns, 
Leicesters,  Cotswolds,  Dorsets,  and  Cheviots,  and  all  do  well.  There 
are  light  pastures  and  heavy  pastures,  hills,  mountains,  dales  and  val- 
leys, and  streams  of  pure  water.  There  are  localities  and  surroundings 
for  every  valuable  breed,  and  these  are  becoming  better  known.  It  is  no 
longer  possible  to  see  the  Lincoln  and  the  Leicester  feeding  on  the 
mountain,  while  the  Merino  and  the  Southdown  were  confined  to  the 
rich  valleys.  There  is  a  better  understanding  of  the  wants  of  the  vari- 
ous breeds,  and  more  skill  in  managing  them.  Near  the  cities  early 
lambs  are  the  most  profitable  to  grow,  and  within  ten  hours'  ride  of  the 
large  markets  lambs  and  fat  mutton  monopolize  the  attention  of  the 
sheep-raiser.  The  vast  ranges  of  the  West  ship  away  their  oldest  ewes, 
which  find  their  way  east.  These  ewes,  with  proper  care,  are  well  able 
to  rear  another  lamb  or  two  each  in  the  smaller  and  better-kept  flocks 
of  Pennsylvania.  They  are  purchased  cheap  and  put  upon  the  farm, 
the  purchaser  getting  clear  bone  and  muscle,  upon  which  he  evolves  a 
large  profit  within  eight  or  nine  months.  If  there  be  a  dash  of  Cots- 
wold  or  Down  blood  in  his  purchase  it  is  preferable.  These  ewes  are 
put  to  a  Southdown,  a  Hampshire,  or  a  Cotswold  rani,  preferably  to  the 
two  former,  as  the  Cotswold  imparts  too  much  bone  to  his  progeny; 
besides  which  the  grade  lambs  from  the  Down  cross  are  more  precocious 
and  are  fit  for  the  butcher  younger,  especially  Hampshires. 

It  is  this  system  of  handling  sheep  that  supports  the  fine  breeding 
flocks  in  the  eastern  part  of  the  State,  rams  being  drawn  from  them  to 
cross  on  the  ewes  used  for  breeding  the  lambs.  The  business  is  not  so 
remunerative  now  as  in  former  years,  for  there  is  more  competition  for 
the  Philadelphia  markets  than  formerly  from  lambs  raised  in  Maryland, 
Virginia,  and  West  Virginia.  Eecent  importations  of  the  prolific  Dor- 
set Horn  sheep  have  added  new  interest  to  this  branch  of  industry. 
These  sheep  were  introduced  into  the  State  in  1887  by  M.  M.  Small,  of" 
Cooperstown,  and  S.  B.  Griffin,  of  Canton.  On  September  13,  1889, 
T.  S.  Cooper,  of  Coopersburg,  made  an  importation  of  153  head,  mostly 
from  the  flock  of  Henry  Mayo,  and  again  on  September  18, 1891,  an 
importation  of  204  head  from  the  flocks  of  several  well-known  English 
breeders.  On  the  voyage  7  ewes  dropped  14  lambs.  Among  Mr. 
Cooper's  first  importation  were  3  first-prize  yearling  ewes  at  the  Eoyal 
show  in  England,  July,  1889,  that  weighed  at  time  of  shearing  262, 245,  and 
222  pounds,  respectively,  and  in  August  each  dropped  twin  lambs.  Four 
of  these  lambs,  when  4  months  old,  after  the  rough  experience  of  a  sea 
voyage,  weighed  452  pounds.  A  prize  two-year  old  ram  of  this  importa- 
tion weighed  317  pounds,  and  a  prize  shearling  287  pounds.  First  and 
second  prize  ram  lambs  weighed  184  and  164  pounds,  respectively,  at 


EAST    OF    THE    MISSISSIPPI    RIVER. 


439 


r>  months  1  week  old.  In  February,  1890,  he  made  the  statement  that  he 
had  85  imported  ewes  (mostly  yearlings)  that  were  suckling  139  lambs, 
and  among  them  were  lambs  4  weeks  old  that  weighed  from  42  to  60 
pounds  each. 

Mr.  Small,  who  bought  two  ewes  and  a  ram  on  September  1,  1887, 
under  date  of  February  15, 1892,  gives  an  interesting  statement  regard- 
ing their  fecundity.  In  October,  1887,  ea<?h  ewe  dropped  twin  lambs, 
and  the  following  spring  twins  again.  One  of  the  ewes  was  very  old 
and  did  not  breed  regularly,  and  finally  died  a  year  or  so  later,  giving 
birth  to  twin  lambs.  The  other  ewe  after  producing  the  two  pairs  of 
twins  spoken  of  dropped  five  sets  of  triplets,  the  last  set  in  December, 
1891.  This  makes  in  all,  for  the  credit  of  this  one  sheep,  from  Septem- 
ber 1,  1887,  to  December,  1891, 19  lambs.  In  July,  1891,  Mr.  Small  put 
this  old  ewe  and  five  of  her  daughters  with  a  fresh  ram,  and  the  result 
was  13  lambs  in  December  for  the  6  ewes,  the  old  ewe  and  her  oldest 
daughter  each  triplets,  three  of  them  twins  each,  and  one  a  single 
lamb.  All  the  lambs  were  seemingly  sound  and  all  right  every  way 
when  dropped,  and  the  triplets  from  the  old  ewe  weighed  31£  pounds 
the  day  they  were  dropped. 

Sheep  and  wool  in  Pennsylvania,  1840  to  1890. 


Tear. 

Number  of 
sheep. 

Wool. 

Wool  per 
head. 

1  767  690 

Pounds. 
3  048  564 

Pounds. 
1  73 

1850  

],  822.  357 

4*  481  !  570 

2  43 

1,631,540 

4,752  522 

2  91 



1870 

1  794  301 

6  561  "^ 

3  65 

1880    

1,776  598 

8  470  273 

4  77 

1890 

945  002 

4  800  610 

5  08 

Since  the  early  part  of  1890  and  to  the  present  day  there  has  been  an 
increasing  interest  in  sheep  husbandry,  owing  to  the  belief  that  the  day 
of  cheap  raising  on  the  public  lands  of  the  West  is  about  over,  and  that 
sheep  will  again  be  a  profitable  stock.  This  feeling  is  especially  pro- 
"nounced  in  the  western  part  of  the  State.  This  section  has  a  system  of 
sheep  husbandry  peculiarly  its  own,  and  will  be  considered  later  on. 


DELAWARE. 


Merino  sheep  were  introduced  into  Delaware  about  1803,  by  E.  I. 
Dupont,  the  foundation  of  his  flock  being  descendants  of  Don  Pedro 
and  Livingston  ewes.  In  1805  Don  Pedro  was  taken  to  Delaware,  and 
Mr.  Dupout  increased  his  flock  to  such  an  extent  that  in  1810  it  was 
probably  the  largest  single  flock  in  the  United  States,  from  which  went 
many  sheep  to  found  or  improve  the  other  flocks  in  Delaware,  Mary- 
land, and  Virginia.  The  legislature  encouraged,  fine- wooled  sheep  hus- 
bandry, and  so  popular  did  it  become  that  in  1814  there  were  many 
thousand  full  and  mixed  bloods  in  the  State,  principally  in  the  vicinity 


440        SHEEP  INDUSTRY  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES 

of  Wilmington,  where  their  growth  was  greatly  encouraged  by  the  ere- 
ation  of  Du pout's  woolen  factory.  A  celebrated  flock  in  its  day  was 
that  of  John  Warner,  of  Wilmington.  He  began  with  some  of  the  Don 
Pedro  stock,  to  Avhich  were  added  purchases  from  the  best  of  the  Jarvis 
importations  into  Philadelphia  and  Baltimore,  Mr.  Warner  making  selec- 
tion of  the  best  offered.  The  flock  was  disposed  of  in  1814,  soon  after 
the  death  of  Mr.  Warner,  and  was  bought  mostly  by  breeders  of  the 
vicinity. 

The  Merino  flocks  were  well  sustained  in  the  State  until  the  failure 
of  woolen  manufactures  in  1815,  when  they  underwent  the  same  trans- 
formation as  in  eastern  Pennsylvania  and  New  Jersey.  First  they  were 
crossed  by  the  Leicester  and  SouthdoAvns,  then  by  the  Cots  wolds  or  New 
Oxfordshire,  until  there  was  not  remaining  a  pure -blood  or  high-grade 
Merino  in  the  State.  From  1842  to  1850  the  Leicesters  and  Ootswolds 
were  the  fashionable  sheep,  and  the  cross  of  the  Cotswold  ram  on  the 
low-grade  Merinos  and  common  ewes  was  a  favorite  for  the  Philadel- 
phia, Wilmington,  and  Baltimore  markets.  In  1842  Philip  Keybold,  of 
Delaware  City,  had  a  flock  of  over  600  head  of  Leicester  sheep  said  to 
be  pure-bloods.  He  slaughtered  and  sold  for  the  Philadelphia  market 
in  that  year  a  two-year-old  wether  weighing  alive  251  pounds.  Beside 
this  home  flock  of  600  he  had  as  many  more  divided  among  his  differ- 
ent farms.  In  1844  100  of  his  Leicester  ewes  sheared  an  average  of  7J 
pounds  of  wool  per  head.  In  1846  his  son,  0.  Eeybold,  visited  England, 
and,  with  the  view  of  introducing  into  the  country  the  very  best  breed 
of  English  sheep,  selected  the  improved  Cotswold  or  New  Oxfordshire 
as  combining  the  greater  number  of  good  qualities,  all  things  consid- 
ered. In  September,  1847,  he  sold  some  of  these  imported  rams  for 
$40  to  $60  each.  In  February,  1848,  he  imported  2  rams  from  the  flock 
of  Charles  Large,  of  Broadwell,  Oxfordshire,  weighing  344  and  288 
pounds.  These  sheep  became  very  popular  in  Delaware  and  Maryland. 
At  the  Maryland  State  Agricultural  Show  in  1850  they  were  considered 
the  finest  mutton  sheep  exhibited  and  not  to  be  excelled  in  the  country. 
One  fat  wether  slaughtered  during  the  fair  weighed  206  pounds  closely 
dressed,  and  won  $100,  a  standing  offer  of  ten  years  from  a  Mr.  Turner, 
of  Baltimore,  for  the  first  sheep  that  would  dress  50  pounds  the  quarter. 

The  Oxfordshire  Down  is  a  comparatively  new  breed  of  sheep,  and 
originated  in  1833  in  the  desire  to  construct  a  breed  that  should  in 
great  measure  possess  the  weight  of  the  long-wooled  with  the  quality  of 
the  Down.  The  leader  in  this  movement  was  Mr.  Samuel  Druce,  of 
Eynsham,  Oxford,  and  he  had  as  colaborers  Mr.  Gillett,  of  Southleigh, 
Mr.  Twynham,  of  Hampshire,  and  Mr.  Blake,  of  Stan  ton  Harcourt.  The 
foundation  of  the  breed  was  a  neat,  improved  Cotswold  ram  and  Hamp- 
shire Down  ewes;  and  by  careful,  skillful  breeding  a  cross  bred  sheep  j 
was  produced  of  great  value  and  deserved  popularity.  As  a  number  of 
breeders  were  engaged  in  the  attempt  there  was  always  an  opportunity  1 
of  getting  fresh  blood  by  selecting  sheep  which  suited  different  flocks, 


EAST   OP   THE   MISSISSIPPI   RIVER. 


441 


thereby  maintaining  the  uniform  character  which  came  to  be  established. 
Some  of  the  breeders  used  a  Cotswold  ram  with  the  Southdown  ewe, 
whence,  with  a  mixture  of  blood  of  the  various  flocks,  the  blood  of  the 
improved  Southdown  was  infused  in  the  cross.  For  many  years  after 
the  breed  had  become  recognized  as  distinct  the  want  of  uniform  char- 
acter was  a  source  of  criticism,  which  was  met  by  Mr.  Druce  with  the 
assertion  that  he  found  no  difficulty  to  keep  the  form  and  size  of  the  ani- 
mal as  it  should  be,  the  wool  of  a  valuable  quality  and  not  deficient  in 
quantity;  and  he  maintained  that  the  good  qualities  could  be  better 
secured  by  employing  the  cross-bred  animals  on  both  sides  than  by  using 
the  first  cross.  A  comparison  was  instituted  with  other  sheep  with  this 
showing  as  to  proceeds  of  fleece,  carcass,  single  teg,  and  flock: 


Breed. 

Fleece. 

Carcass. 

Single  teg. 

Mock. 

Cotswold                                                                                ...  - 

s.  d. 
11    4 

*.   d. 
38    4 

*.  d. 
49    8 

£    s.  d. 
248    6    8 

9  10 

32    7 

42    5 

222  12    9 

6  111 

33    9 

40    8J 

204    2    6 

9    0 

36  10 

45  10 

263  10  10 

9  Hi 

41    2 

51    1J 

292  18    0 

i 


This  showing  in  favor  of  the  cross-breeds  was  certainly  very  great, 
arising  of  course  from  the  superior  quality  and  therefore  higher 
prices  per  pound  of  the  mutton  as  compared  with  the  short-wooled 
sheep.  The  question,  argued  Mr.  Druce  and  his  supporters,  was  not 
whether  any  of  the  long- wools  or  the  short- wools,  such  as  the  Cots- 
wold, the  Leicester,  the  Hampshire,  or  Sussex  Down,  should  be  given 
up,  but  whether  there  was  room  for  another ;  whether  in  fact  it  did 
not  require  in  addition  a  middle-wool  breed  beside  them.  But  the 
evident  disadvantage  of  the  system  of  using  only  a  first  cross  was 
this,  that  as  most  breeders  did  not  breed  their  own  ewes  they  must 
be  purchased  every  year,  therefore  there  was  no  sure  dependence 
upon  keeping  up  a  superior  breeding  stock. 

The  difficulty  of  establishing  a  new  breed,  as  is  well  known,  consists  in  the  tend- 
ency of  the  cross  for  many  generations  to  revert  to  one  or  other  of  the  original 
races.  Still,  many  farmers  have  now  (1853)  for  some  years  bred  this  sheep,  inter- 
mediate between  the  long-wool  and  the  Down,  and  have  thereby  laid  a  foundation 
on  which,  if  it  be  thought  fit,  others  may  build.* 

The  success  of  the  early  promoters  of  this  breed  brought  many  others 
into  the  field,  and  whereas  till  within  a  short  period  the  Hampshire 
Down  was  the  principal  sheep  kept  south  of  the  Cotswold  district  of 
Oxfordshire,  the  glory  of  the  county  soon  became  the  cross-breeds,  the 
improved  Cotswold,  the  most  profitable  to  the  butcher,  the  producer, 
and  the  consumer,  and  after  a  period  of  twenty  years  without  infusion 
of  any  fresh  blood  became  a  distinct  breed  of  sheep,  quite  as  distinct 
and  pure  as  the  Shropshire,  and  brought  to  the  same  uniformity.  They 

•Journal  of  the  Royal  Agricultural  Society  of  England,  Vol.  xiv. 


442        SHEEP  INDUSTRY  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES 

so  imich  resembled  the  Shropshire  as  to  be  taken  as  the  same  kind  of 
sheep.  The  superiority  claimed  for  them  was  that  they  combined  the 
early  maturity,  heavy  carcass,  and  ample  fleece  of  the  Cotswold,  with 
the  fine  wool  and  mutton  of  the  Downs. 

At  first  there  was  much  difficulty  in  keeping  a  newly-formed  flock 
of  these  cross-breeds  to  one  character.  The  first  cross  and  their  pro- 
duce would  be  dissimilar;  some  would  partake  too  much  of  the  long- 
wool,  while  others  were  too  small  and  short-coated.  The  owner  for- 
merly divided  his  flock  into  three  parts,  putting  a  half-bred  ram  to  the 
ewes  that  were  about  right — a  Cotswold  to  the  small  ones  and  a  Down 
to  the  coarser  sheep.  By  constant  attention  to  these  points  a  flock 
may  be  brought  to  some  degree  of  uniformity;  but  the  breeder  fre- 
quently found  that  if  the  fleece  was  a  little  too  short  or  face  too  white, 
by  using  pure  Cotswold  or  Down  rams  he  rushed  into  the  other  extreme, 
the  product  too  much  resembling  their  sires.* 

These  cross-breeds  are  considered  as  profitable  as  any  that  can  be 
raised,  both  on  account  of  size,  weight  of  wool,  aptitude  to  fatten,  hardy 
character,  and  valuable  meat.  Not  until  1850  were  they  known  as  any- 
thing but  cross-breeds  (Down-Cotswolds,)  under  which  designation  they 
achieved  some  success  and  reputation  at  the  Smithfield  shows.  In  1850, 
from  the  county  of  their  origin  and  stronghold,  they  were  styled  the 
Oxfordshire  Down.  A  writer  in  the  Journal  of  the  Eoyal  Agricultural 
Society  of  England,  1852,  said :  "  On  the  Oxfordshire  side  of  Northamp- 
ton County  the  Leicester  flocks  have  been  crossed  to  some  extent  with  the 
New  Oxfords.  These  are  sheep  of  large  dimensions,  and  are  bred  in 
Oxfordshire  and  the  surrounding  districts.  A  cross  of  this  kind  in- 
creases the  weight  and  size  of  the  Leicester."  From  1850  to  18()0  the 
breed  was  much  extended  by  sale  from,  different  flocks,  but  more  largely 
by  the  sale  under  the  hammer  of  some  choice  flocks  owned  by  rani 
breeders  of  skill,  standing  high  in  the  estimation  of  the  public.  The 
distribution  of  these  flocks  laid  a  good  foundation  for  many  others,  and 
many  tenant  farmers  gave  up  the  old  breeds  to  make  room  for  the  im- 
proved one,  and  landed  proprietors  became  interested  in  and  favored  it. 

As  soon  as  the  breed  became  established  some  of  the  most  success- 
ful breeders  began  to  exhibit  their  sheep  at  the  show  of  the  Eoyal  Ag- 
ricultural Society,  and  as  they  had  no  special  class  their  animals  were 
shown  with  short-wooled  sheep  and  cross-breds.  At  a  meeting  at 
Warwick,  in  1859,  there  were  thirty-seven  entries.  The  first  prize  in  the 
old  class  (comprising Oxfords,  Shropshires,  and  Hampshire  Downs)  was 
taken  by  Mr.  Samuel  Druce  for  a  sheep  of  this  breed.  The  three  prize 
animals  were  measured  with  this  result :  Mr.  Druce's  Oxfordshire  Down 
2  years  and  5  months  old,  girth  4  feet  10  inches;  Mr.  Humphrey's 
Hampshire  Down,  3  years  and  4  months  old,  girth  4  feet  9  inches;  Mr. 
Adney's  Shropshire  Down,  2  years  and  3J  months  old,  girth  4  feet  8 
inches. 

*  Fanning  of  Oxfordshire.  By  Clare  Sewell  Read,  J.  R.  A.  S.  of  England,  Vol.  xv, 
1855. 


EAST    OF    THE    MISSISSIPPI    RIVER.  443 

At  the  Leeds  show  of  1801  there  was  a  large  showing  of  shearling 
rains,  the  greater  portion  of  which  were  Oxfordshires,  which  were  ex- 
cluded from  competition,  as  they  were  not  considered  as  coming  within 
the  category  of  short- wooled  sheep.  The  stewards  in  their  report  stated : 

At  the  same  time  the  judges  are  of  opinion  that  the  Oxfordshire  Downs  should  not 
l»e  excluded  from  competition  at  these  annual  shows,  as  they  believe  them  to  be  ani- 
mals possessing  great  merit,  and  worthy  of  having  a  class  to  themselves. 

The  society  accorded  the  breed  a  separate  class,  and  the  Oxfordshire 
Downs  made  their  first  appearance  as  a  recognized  breed  by  the  great 
society  in  the  year  1862,  at  Battersea,  where  they  numbered  sixty-two 
entries,  and  were  highly  spoken  of  by  the  judges,  who,  however,  objected 
to  their  want  of  uniformity.  The  same  objection  was  made  at  the  New- 
castle show  in  1864,  when  the  judges  said  they  "still  exhibit  a  consider- 
able diversity  of  color  in  their  legs  and  faces,  but  the  tendency  seems 
as  much  as  possible  toward  the  dark  faces  and  to  the  retention  of  the 
( 'otswold  topknot;  some  were  a  little  too  high  on  the  leg."  Similar 
traces  of  a  departure  from  uniformity  were  remarked  upon  by  the  judges 
at  the  annual  shows  in  1865  and  1868. 

From  this  time  a  greater  fixedness  of  type  was  secured,  and  the  re- 
ports of  the  judges  and  stewards  of  the  annual  shows  in  1870  and  1872 
give  high  praise  for  the  general  excellence  and  great  improvement  in 
uniform  character.  There  was  still  to  be  seen,  however,  a  difference 
in  type  in  the  rams  offered  to  the  public;  but,  knowing  that  a  heavy 
fleece  could  be  obtained  with  wool  thickly  set  on  the  skin,  and  holding 
the  opinion  that  a  fine  quality  of  mutton  was  not  to  be  found  under  an 
open  coat,  judges  thought  a  great  advance  would  be  made,  and  they 
have  not  been  disappointed.  For  rent-payers  in  England  the  Oxford- 
shires  are  thought  not  to  be  excelled,  and  with  their  robust  constitu- 
tions and  early  maturity,  bearing  as  they  do  such  an  abundant  supply 
of  mutton  and  wool,  they  have  made  their  way  into  most  counties,  and 
many  hundreds  of  rams  are  yearly  sold  by  the  different  breeders. 

The  Oxfordshire  is  a  well  formed,  round  bodied,  short  legged,  mutton 
and  wool  combined  sheep.  It  about  equals  the  Hampshire  in  size,  an 
average  weight  for  mature  breeding  rams  being  between  200  and  225 
pounds,  while  2-year  old  fat  wethers  are  frequently  found  weighing  up- 
wards of  275  to  300  pounds.  The  following  figures,  taken  from  the 
Smithfield  Club  show  catalogue,  and  given  by  Coleman  in  his  "  Sheep 
of  Great  Britain,"  will  give  some  idea  of  the  live  weight  of  a  pen  of  three 
shearlings  when  about  22  months  old : 


Weight. 

Year. 

Owt.  an.  Ibs. 
7       3     27 

1870 

7        1     20 

1871 

-KwrS....                                                                                     

8        1      26 

1870 

Ewes                                                                                            

739 

1871 

444        SHEEP  INDUSTRY  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES 

The  average  age  of  the  pen  of  three  ewes  in  1870  was  57  J  months; 
that  of  three  ewes  in  1871  was  Cl  months. 

The  weight  of  wool  for  a  whole  flock  will  average  about  7  pounds 
per  sheep ;  rams  have  been  known  to  cut  as  much  as  20  pounds  when 
shearlings.  The  Oxfordshire  sheep  seem  to  be  particularly  adapted 
for  mixed  soils  and  bear  close  confinement.  They  are  a  healthy 
class  of  sheep,  and  their  management  closely  approaches  that  prac- 
ticed in  Hampshire  and  Wiltshire,  wrhere  the  attention  to  ewes  and 
lambs  has  become  proverbial — early  maturity  (i.  e.,  20  pounds  a 
quarter  at  a  year  old)  requiring  great  attention  during  the  young 
stage. 

The  stock  ewes  are  generally  divided  in  August,  and  rams  selected 
to  suit  each  lot;  they  run  over  the  stubbles  and  are  penned  on  rape  or 
cabbage  at  night.  They  then  clean  up  the  pastures  till  Christmas, 
having  bean  or  pea  straw  at  night.  It  is  considered  unwise  to  give 
them  many  turnips  before  yeaning.  They  are  then  brought  into  the 
fold-yard  for  lambing,  and  are  fed  on  hay,  cotton  cake,  and  a  few 
roots,  and  remain  so  till  the  lambs  are  sufficiently  strong  to  go  into 
the  turnip  field.  They  will  be  found  very  good  mothers,  being  strong 
and  prolific,  producing  a  considerable  proportion  of  twins.  This,  how- 
ever, depends  much  upon  the  nature  of  the  land.  The  lambs  when 
taken  in  the  field  have  a  fold  in  front  of  their  mothers,  where  they 
are  supplied  with  hay,  corn,  and,  as  the  case  may  be,  cut  swedes,  or 
crop  off  the  greens;  the  ewes  with  twins  are  also  given  corn.  The 
lambs  are  usually  weaned  when  about  22  weeks  old.  The  plan  most 
recently  adopted  is  to  have  the  fold  thoroughly  well  set,  and  allow 
them  to  remain  in  front  of  the  ewes.  After  a  few  days  they  will 
become  quite  reconciled.* 

The  characteristics  of  a  good  type  of  Oxfordshire  Downs  are:  A  nice 
dark  drab  color  of  the  face  and  legs;  the  head  medium  large,  and  well 
covered  with  wool  with  a  tuft  or  topknot  on  the  forehead,  the  tuft  not 
so  long  as  that  of  the  Cotswold,  but  standing  out  more  from  the  head ; 
the  forehead  broad  and  full;  ears  set  low  and  well  back;  eyes  large, 
and  muzzle  finely  pointed.  The  fleece  of  wool  is  thick  on  the  skin  but 
not  so  long  as  that  of  the  Cotswold,  being  about  5  to  7  inches;  finer 
than  that  of  the  Cotswold,  curly,  and  standing  well  out  from  the  body. 

One  of  the  finest  specimens  of  this  breed  was  the  ram  Freeland,bred 
by  Mr.  A.  F.  M.  Druce  in  1874.  He  took  all  the  chief  prizes  wherever 
shown  in  1875,  and  was  afterwards  let  for  the  season.  In  1876  he  was 
let  to  T.  S.  Cooper,  of  Coopersburg,  Pa.,  for  $425.  He  weighed  425 
pounds  when  exhibited  at  Philadelphia  at  the  International  Exhibi- 
tion of  1876,  where  he  gained  the  honor  against  all  breeds,  and  received 
the  commendation  of  the  judges  "for  excellence  in  quality,  uniformity 
of  symmetry,  great  constitutional  development,  and  for  being  a  very 
superior  specimen  of  the  breed  to  which  it  belongs." 

*Oxfordshire  Do\vn  Slieep.     By  A.  F.  M.  Druce  and  C.  HoLLs. 


EAST    OF    THE    MISSISSIPPI   RIVER. 


445 


Time  adds  to  the  popularity  of  these  sheep,  and  they  are  now  widely 
distributed.  Careful  breeding  has  given  them  more  uniformity  of  char- 
acter, and  as  producers  of-  good  quality  and  heavy  weight  of  mutton 
and  wool  at  an  early  age  it  is  difficult  to  equal  them.  They  have  found 
their  way  into  nearly  every  part  of  the  world,  in  every  state  or  kingdom 
of  Europe,  into  South  Africa,  Australia,  South  America,  Canada,  and 
the  United  States. 

As  has  been  stated,  the  New  Oxford  sheep  or  Cotswold  cross-bred, 
then  called,  was  introduced  into  the  United  States  in  1846  by  Clayton 
Eeybold,  of  Delaware,  and  at  his  annual  shearing  at  Delaware  City, 
Del.,  May,  1846,  two  animals  were  shown: 

Number  1  was  3  feet  across  the  back;  5  feet  from  nose  to  rump;  7 
feet  4  inches  in  circumference;  weighed  320  pounds  (live  weight),  and 
gave  13  pounds  well  washed  wool. 

Xumber  2  was  2  feet  2  inches  across  the  back;  5  feet  2  inches  from 
nose  to  rump;  7  feet  in  circumference;  weighed  272  pounds  (live  weight), 
and  gave  17  pounds  well  washed  wool. 

A  2-year  old  Oxfordshire  sheep  was  sold  in  Maryland  in  1848  for  $80, 
which  was  considered  a  very  low  price.  We. are  told  that  the  first  im- 
portations of  the  new  sheep  were  not  appreciated.  In  1853  William  C. 
Eives,  then  in  England,  sent  home  to  Virginia  one  ram  and  five  ewes 
of  the  breed,  which  were  the  first  taken  into  Virginia.  About  the  same 
time  E.  S.  Fay  introduced  them  into  Massachusetts,  from  the  same  flock 
from  which  Mr.  Eives  made  his  purchase.  They  are  now  well  known 
and  numerous  in  the  United  States.  The  American  Oxford  Down 
Eecord  Association  has  adopted  the  following  scale  of  points : 


Parts. 

Points. 

Parts. 

Points. 

Head 

g 

5 

Face  

4 

Back  and  loin  

12 

Xostrils 

1 

Belly 

3 

Eves  

2 

Quarters             

g 

Fars 

4 

Hock 

2 

Collar  

6 

Twist  or  junction  

G 

Shoulder 

g 

Fleece 

17 

Fore  legs  

4 

Breast 

10 

Perfection 

100 

In  1853,  Mr.  C.  Eeybold  was,  perhaps,  the  largest  sheep  raiser  in  the 
State,  at  which  time  he  made  a  statement  that  he  imported  regularly, 
every  two  years,  2  rams  and  6  or  more  ewes  of  the  New  Oxfordshire 
sheep,  and  that  he  then  had  some  80  very  superior  full-blood  ewes.  He 
found  universally  that  a  cross  with  the  common  western  sheep,  which 
were  generally  one-half  or  one-fourth  blood  Merinos,  would  add  100  per 
cent  both  to  wool  and  carcass,  and  the  wool  commanded  about  the  same 
price  as  half-blood  Merino  wool.  His  imported  Oxfordshires,  or  rather 
the  progeny,  gave  for  rams  and  wethers  15  to  18  pounds  of  wool,  and 
for  ewes  10  to  12  pounds,  well  washed.  Full-blood  rams  sold  for  $50  to 
$100  and  ewes  $25  to  $40.  Thousands  of  common  and  grade  Merino 


446 


8HEEP   INDUSTRY    OF    THE    UNITED    STATES 


sheep  were  brought  from  the  West,  crossed  with  the  improved  mutton 
breeds,  and  the  lambs  sent  to  market,  soon  to  be  followed  by  the  fat- 
tened ewes  and  wethers.  Baising  lambs  for  market  and  fattening  mut- 
ton has  been  the  principal  business  of  the  Delaware  sheep  husbandman 
since  1850,  and  in  which  he  has  been  reasonably  successful. 

In  a  paper  read  before  a  convention  of  agriculturists,  at  Washington, 
D.  C.,  January  27, 1883,  Prof.  Wesley  Webb,  of  Delaware  College,  stated 
that  in  1878  Delaware  had  35,000  sheep,  which  yielded  3  -£<,'  pounds  of 
wool  per  head,  or  136,500  pounds.  This  wool  sold  for  28  cents  per  pound, 
amounting  to  $38,129.  These  35,000  sheep  raised  26,250  lambs,  worth 
probably  $3.50  each,  or  $91,875.  Thus  the  annual  income  was  in  round 
numbers  $130,000.  Here,  as  everywhere  else,  we  find  a  wide  range  of 
practice  in  management,  and  a  broad  difference  in  the  income  of  differ- 
ent flocks.  If  all  flocks  were  bred  up  to  a  good  standard  and  properly 
fed  they  might  yield  210,000  pounds  of  wool,  or  6  pounds  per  head,  and 
raise  31,500  lambs  worth  $6  per  head,  making  an  annual  income  of 
$247,800— an  increase  of  $117,800  or  90  per  cent.  The  natural  conditions 
are  favorable  to  this  great  improvement  in  Delaware  sheep  husbandry. 
A  climate  exempt  from  the  rigors  of  northern  winters  and  the  excessive 
heats  of  southern  summers,  with  a  fertile  soil,  rolling  and  well  drained 
surface,  good  water  and  salubrious  atmosphere  could  keep  successfully 
the  best  and  most  productive  breeds  of  sheep,  and  being  near  large  cities 
and  busy  woolen  mills  exceptional  facilities  are  possessed  for  marketing 
the  produce  of  the  flocks.  With  all  these  favoring  circumstances  Dela- 
ware does  not  need  to  keep  a  small,  unproductive,  unthrifty  variety  of 
sheep.  Her  low  fertile  lands  are  capable  of  carrying  the  largest  and 
best  mutton  breeds.  But  on  much  of  the  land  of  the  State  such  large 
long-wooled  sheep  as  the  Leicesters  and  Cotswolds  need  some  extra 
feed.  So  that  for  the  majority  of  farms  the  Oxfordshire,  the  Hampshire 
and  the  Shropshire  Downs  are  better  adapted.  Either  breed  thrives 
and  yields  the  required  amount  of  wool.  There  is  much  land  in  Dela- 
ware capable  of  improvement  and  which  the  sheep  only  can  improve, 
but  the  animal  is  not  utilized  for  that  purpose.  Like  all  the  older  States 
of  the  Union,  Delaware  is  losing  in  the  number  of  her  sheep,  though  not 
as  rapidly  as  some.  The  number  of  sheep  and  pounds  of  wool  from 
1840  to  1890  are  here  given : 


Year. 

Number 
of  sheep. 

Wool. 

Average 
weight  of 
fleece 
per  head. 

1840  

30  247 

Pounds. 
64  404 

*  Pounds. 
1  64 

1850  

27  503 

57  768 

2  10 

I860  

18  857 

50  201 

2  65 

1870  

22  714 

58  316 

2  52 

1880  

21  967 

97  946 

4  46 

1890  

22  294 

112  873 

5.06 

EAST   OF   THE   MISSISSIPPI   RIVER.  447 

While  these  figures  show  a  loss  as  compared  with  1840,  they  show  a 
remarkable  steadiness  from  1870  to  1890.  The  low  price  of  wool  from 
1884  to  1887  did  not  materially  affect  sheep-husbandry,  for  the  sheep 
breeders  of  Delaware  were  exempt  from  the  periodical  fluctuations  of 
the  wool  market  caused  principally  by  the  necessities  of  political  par- 
ties. The  industry  of  the  State  rests  entirely  on  a  mutton  foundation, 
and  that  upon  the  appreciation  of  the  people  for  a  good  article  of  food. 
This  stimulates  improvement,  and  so  while  the  flocks  have  not  increased 
in  number  or  in  size  they  have  greatly  improved  in  quality.  The  best 
strains  of  the  best  breeds  are  sought  after  and  the  steady  market  encour- 
ages close  culling  and  good  care  of  the  flock.  The  flocks  kept  for  home 
purposes  and  to  supply  local  markets  are  not  large,  consequently  can 
be  carefully  gone  over.  In  these  flocks,  generally,  a  ewe  is  never  kept 
longer  than  her  fourth  year.  The  practice  is  much  the  same  as  that 
followed  in  Xew  Jersey;  one- third  the  ewes  are  disposed  of  yearly  with 
the  lambs,  and  the  best  ewe  lambs  reserved  to  fill  up  their  places  and 
maintain  the  flock  at  the  same  number.  This  selection  makes  improve- 
ment. 

MARYLAND  AND  THE  DISTRICT  OF   COLUMBIA. 

Some  of  the  earliest  and  most  enthusiastic  breeders  of  Merino  sheep 
were  of  the  District  of  Columbia  and  the  country  adjacent  thereto. 
Prominent  among  these  was  Gen.  John  Mason,  who  owned  the  fine 
estate  of  Aualostan  Island  in  the  Potomac,  opposite  Georgetown,  D. 
C.  Gen.  Mason  was  commandant  of  the  District  militia,  a  gentleman 
of  means  and  culture,  and  the  owner  of  some  fine  farms  in  Maryland 
and  Virginia.  He  was  a  purchaser  of  a  Dupont  ram  as  early  as  1808, 
and  had  a  seven-eighth  blood  Humphrey's  ram  in  1811.  He  was  a  pur- 
chaser of  a  Yiadillo  ram  at  the  sale  in  Philadelphia  September  5,  1810, 
of  the  cargo  of  the  Unity,  shipped  by  William  Jarvis.  In  the  year  1811 
he  himself  imported  Merinos,  as  we  have  seen,  and  bought  from  the 
importations  of  others  a  few  selected  from  each  as  they  were  lauded, 
and  thus  formed  a  small  flock  made  up  of  thePaular,  Infantado,  Guada- 
loupe,  Viadillo,  and  Montarco  sheep,  known  to  be  among  the  best  fine- 
wooled  flocks  in  Spain.  This  stock  he  kept  for  more  than  twenty  years 
under  his  own  eye,  and  so  preserved  a  little  colony  of  pure  Spanish 
blood  (as  his  insular  situation  conveniently  enabled  him  to  do),  uncon- 
taminated  by  any  other  mixture.  He  sent  out  from  it  to  his  other  farms 
the  stock  rams,  and  drafted  from  it  every  year  for  crossing  at  these 
any  excesses  of  the  number  limited  by  the  means  of  his  small  farm, 
retaining  always  for  the  breeding  stock  the  individuals  found  to"  have 
the  finest  and  closest  wool.  As  long  as  the  imported  sheep  lived  he 
was  in  the  habit  of  so  marking  their  immediate  descendants  as  that  the 
intermixture  of  the  Spanish  flocks  mentioned  could  be  at  once  ascer- 
tained in  each  case. 


448        SHEEP  INDUSTRY  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES 

There  are  some  records  of  Mason's  sheep,  as  well  as  those  of  his 
neighbors,  which  can  be  given. 

At  a  fair  of  the  Columbian  Agricultural  Society  of  Georgetown,  held 
Hay  5, 1811,  five  candidates  entered  for  the  premium  for  fine-wooled 
sheep. 


Gross 
weight. 

Fleece. 

Gen  John  Mason's  Potomac  Chief  

Pounds. 
103| 

Pounds. 
53 

S43- 

Bazil  Darby's  Jack 

131i 

9§ 

Jl  Brook's  "Hopewell                  

931 

941 

51 

These  were  all  of  the  Merino  breed,  and  the  weight  of  fleece  is  given 
as  unwashed.  The  premium  for  the  best  was  awarded  to  Gen. 
Mason's  "  Potomac  Chief,"  of  Humphreys  breed,  and  the  second  pre- 
mium to  R.  Brook's  "Hopewell,"  a  half-blood  Merino  ram  of  the 
Dupont  breed. 

On  May  22, 1812,  at  the  fifth  semi-annual  fair  of  the  Columbian  Agri- 
cultural Society,  held  at  Georgetown,  D.  C.,  a  premium  of  $60  for  the 
best  two-toothed  rani  lamb  of  the  fine-wooled  breed  was  awarded  to 
Gen.  John  Mason,  of  Analostan  Island,  for  his  full-blooded  Merino  ram 
Golden  Fleece,  of  imported  father  and  mother,  from  the  Spanish  flock 
of  the  Duke  of  Infantado,  and  $40  for  the  second  best  to  Edward  Lloyd, 
of  Wye,  Talbot  County,  late  governor  of  Maryland,  for  his  full-blooded 
Merino  ram  lamb  Talbot,  of  imported  father  and  mother,  from  the 
Paular  flock.  Golden  Fleece  weighed  93  pounds  6  ounces ;  his  fleece 
weighed  10  pounds  6  ounces ;  total,  103  pounds  12  ounces.  Talbot 
weighed  123  pounds  6  ounces ;  his  fleece  weighed  13  pounds  10  ounces; 
total,  137  pounds. 

Other  sheep  exhibited  showed  that  the  Merino  exceeded  the  long- 
wooled  breed  not  only  in  quality  of  wool  but  in  quantity,  and  on  an 
average  were  little  inferior  in  weight  of  carcass.  It  was  manifest  to 
every  one  that  Merino  sheep  could  be  brought  to  as  great  perfection  in 
States  adjacent  to  the  Potomac  as  in  any  country  in  the  world  where 
an  attempt  had  been  made  to  raise  or  breed  them.  The  full-blooded 
Merino  sheep,  and  those  of  the  higher  crosses  exhibited  for  premium 
and  shown  as  specimens  yeaned  and  raised  in  the  country,  were  decid- 
edly preferable  to  those  imported  from  Spain,  or  any  other  part  of 
Europe,  in  almost  every  essential  or  desirably  quality — in  size,  in  beauty, 
and  quantity  of  fleece,  and  not  inferior  in  fineness  of  wool. 

In  1813  John  Threlk eld,  who,  with  Gen.  Mason,  bought  an  Escurial 
ram  at  the  sale  of  the  Diana  sheep,  June,  1810,  and  who  had  Merinos 
also  of  the  Dupont  and  Humphreys  blood,  sheared  60  pounds  of  wool 
from  4  rams  and  2  ewes,  and  in  1814  he  cut  78  pounds  8  ounces  from  2 
rams  and  6  ewes.  In  the  latter  year  Gen.  Mason  sheared  -;5  pounds  V& 


EAST    OF    THE    MISSISSIPPI    RIVER. 


449 


ounces  from  G  ewes.  The  lightest  fleece  of  these  20  sheep  weighed  7 
pounds  8  ounces;  the  heaviest,  15  pounds  3  ounces;  total,  194  pounds  4 
ounces:  average  for  each,  9  pounds  10  ounces.  The  wool  sold  for  $1.75 
per  pound.  Tbe  following  table,  made  by  Gen.  Mason  in  1812  or  1813, 
gives  some  interesting  details  of  his  sheep: 


A  Comparison  of  the  weight  in  carcass  and  wool  of  different  breeds  of  imported  Merino 
sheep  fed  on  Analostan  Island. 

Variety  of  sheep. 

Weight  of 
carcass. 

Weight  of 
wool. 

Proportion 
of  wool  to 
carcass. 

Average. 

Lb.    Oz. 

82      8 
73      0 
155      8 
100    12 
90      2 
190    14 
85      0 
02      8 
53      4 
57      6 
50      3 
223      5 
56      2 
63      6 
65      6 
184    14 
54      2 
54    12 
48      9 
157      7 

Lb.     Oz. 
8      8 
7      0 
15      8 
7      5 
5    14 
13      2 
9      0 
6      8 
6    12 
6      8 
5    13 
25      9 
4    14 
4    10 
4    10 
14      2 
5    14 
5      4 
5      7 
16      9 

Pounds. 
1    to    9| 
1         10i 
2          20 
1          13| 
1          15.i 
2          29£ 

i 
? 

8i 
4          35$ 
1          11* 
1          14 
1          14 

io| 

3          28* 

Pounds. 
1    to  10 

1  141. 
1  9* 

I  8t 

1  13 

1  9J 

Do                            

Do                                                                  

1  Vi-ulillo  rim. 

Do 

Do                                                        

Do 

Do 

Do                                                  

Do                               

Do 

3  <  I  uadaloupe  ewca  

Result. 


431 

6 

37 

10 

5 

58| 

1    llf 

565 

10 

56 

4 

10 

104* 

1    10J 

997 

o 

93 

14 

15 

165i 

1    10J 

The  fleece  of  each  sheep  weighed  upon  an  average  6  pounds, 
ounces,  and  the  average  weight  of  carcass  of  the  15  rams  and  ewes  was 
66^5  pounds. 

There  were  many  others  in  Washington  and  vicinity  who  bred  Me- 
rino sheep,  but  not  to  such  extent  and  with  such  care  as  did  Gen.  Ma- 
son ;  and  his  flock  can  be  taken  as  the  typical  one  of  what  could  be  real- 
ized in  the  fine-wooled  sheep  industry  on  the  Potomac.  E.  K.  Meade, 
whose  successful  efforts  with  the  Frederick  sheep  has  been  noted,  says 
that  of  the  Merino  sheep  of  the  District  of  Columbia  in  1810  and  1811 
the  smallest  and  most  indifferent  had  the  most  remarkably  fine  wool. 

Edward  Lloyd,  of  Wye,  Talbot  county,  Md.,  was  a  farmer  delighting  in 
fine  sheep  of  all  kinds,  of  which  lie  had  many.  He  was  enthusiastic  in  his 
advocacy  of  home  manufacture,  and  in  his  address  to  the  legislature 
of  the  State,  on  assuming  the  office  of  governor,  in  November,  1810, 
appeared  in  a  suit  of  homespun  made  from  wool  taken  from  his  own 
Merino  sheep.  He  was  an  early  advocate  and  purchaser  of  the  Merino, 
and  from  his  flock  went  many  rams  and  ewes  into  other  flocks  on  the 
22990 29 


450        SHEEP  INDUSTRY  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES 

eastern  shore  of  Maryland.  Whether  from  his  flock  or  another — pre- 
sumably, however,  from  Mr.  Lloyd's,  in  May,  1813 — two  Merino  lambs 
were  exhibited  at  Talbot  on  court  day,  the  fleeces  of  which  weighed  20  J 
and  18 J  pounds.  The  lambs  weighed  174  and  159  pounds,  respectively. 
The  united  fleeces  sold  for  $78,  or  $2  per  pound. 

There  were  some  fine  Merino  flocks  near  Baltimore,  but  facts  con- 
cerning them  are  wanting.  On  May  26,  1814,  a  sale  of  39  rams  and  50 
ewes  took  place  on  the  farm  of  Samuel  G.  Jones,  3  miles  from  the  city. 
The  sheep  were  represented  as  full-blooded  Guadaloupes,  Paulars,  and 
Negrettis,  principally  Paulars  imported  by  E.  Barry,  and  all  in  high 
health,  beautiful  form,  and  fine  fleece.  The  Paular  and  Guadaloupe 
ewes  sold  for  $85  and  $100;  a  ewe  and  lamb  together  at  $125  to  $190, 
and  ranis  from  $50  to  $100. 

Western  Maryland  has  been  formed  by  nature  for  sheep-raising,  and 
was  the  home  of  some  superior  flocks  of  long-wooled  sheep.  The  Me- 
rinos found  their  way  there  and  were  raised  in  considerable  numbers, 
not,  however,  so  strictly  in  pure-blood  as  in  crosses  with  the  long- wools. 

Some  crosses  with  the  Arlington  long-wool  gave  satisfactory  results. 
Washington  County  was  the  center  of  the  fine-wooled  husbandry  and 
maintained  some  fine  flocks,  one  of  which  contained  Escurials  and  Paul- 
ars. This  was  owned  by  O.  A.  W.  Stull,  at  Salubria,  near  Hagerstown, 
and  was  offered  at  public  sale  September  3,  1814,  when  over  200  full 
bloods,  including  10  Escurial  and  28  Paular  rams,  and  some  half  bloods, 
were  disposed  of  at  good  prices  to  purchasers  from  the  surrounding 
country.  A  woolen  factory  at  Hagerstown  did  much  to  encourage 
full-blood  sheep  husbandry,  and  other  establishments  also  aided  in  that 
direction.  As  early  as  1811  there  were  on  the  upper  Potomac,  in 
Washington  County  alone,  fourteen  fulling  mills  which  annually  passed 
17,000  yards  of  cloth,  eleven  carding  machines  which  passed  28,000 
pounds  of  wool,  and  132,000  yards  of  cloth  were  made  in  private  fam- 
ilies. Upon  the  failure  of  the  woolen  manufacture  in  the  country,  and 
the  subsequent  suspension  of  the  woolen  mill  at  Hagerstown  and  allied 
mills  in  various  parts  of  the  State,  fine-wooled  husbandry  declined  and] 
the  course  of  other  States  was  repeated — whole  flocks  disposed  of  to  goi 
West  to  be  slaughtered,  or  were  converted  into  coarse- wooled  mutton 
sheep.  The  Merinos  rapidly  disappeared  from  the  State. 

In  1853  Mr.  H.  N.  Andrews  established  a  Merino  sheep  farm  in  Prince 
George  County,  where  he  had  that  year  about  1,000  Merinos  of  all 
grades.  He  had  been  engaged  some  years  in  driving  Merino  sheep 
from  Vermont  to  Virginia,  and  finding  it  a  profitable  business  estab- 
lished this  sheep  farm,  not  only  as  an  intermediate  station  and  dis- 
tributing point,  but  also  to  breed  from.  Its  existence  was  not  long 
maintained,  but  it  scattered  a  few  Merino  sheep  in  that  section  of  the 
State. 

The  older  common  breeds  and  the  Merino  have  given  way  in  turn  to 
the  Leicester's,  the  Southdowns,  the  New  Oxfordshires,  and  latterly 


EAST    OF    THE    MISSISSIPPI    RIVER.  451 

the  Shropshires,  which  now  take  the  lead.  The  New  Oxfordshires  were 
introduced,  about  1847  or  1848  from  the  importations  of  Mr.  Eeybold,  of 
Delaware,  and  spread  rapidly,  and  at  about  the  same  time  some  Lin- 
colnshires  made  their  appearance.  In  1850  James  N.  Goldsborough,  of 
Talbot  County,  preserved  the  weights  of  4  sheep,  which  are  here  given: 


Age  and  sex. 

Live 
weight. 

Washed 
fleece. 

Three-  year-old  Oxfordshire  ram  ......  

Pounds, 
235 

Pounds. 
74 

171J 

8* 

Three-year-old  I  eici-ster  ewe            ... 

212J- 

3 

Tliree-v  ear-old  Leicester  ewe  ,  „  •  

194! 

71 

The  date  of  the  Shropshires  entrance  on  Maryland  farms  is  uncer- 
tain, but  in  1860  Samuel  Sutton,  near  the  Belay  House,  imported  1  ram 
and  20  ewes,  also  1  ram  and  6  ewes  of  the  Lincolnshire  breed.  Since 
1885  the  Maryland  sheep  have  been  greatly  improved  by  the  introduc- 
tion of  a  number  of  high-priced  Cotswold  and  Shropshires  imported 
from  the  best  English  flocks.  These  have  taken  the  place  in  small 
numbers  of  a  large  number  of  indifferent  and  common  sheep.  Wash- 
ington, Baltimore,  and  Philadelphia  are  the  markets,  and  some  choice 
early  lambs  find  a  ready  sale  at  good  prices  in  i^ew  York.  Some  Shrop- 
shire lambs  at  3  months  old,  weighing  60  to  70  pounds,  have  sold  for 
10  to  14  cents  per  pound  live  weight.  There  are  times  when  mutton  is 
a  drug  in  the  market  and  wool  sells  discouragiugly  IOAV.  Then  the  intel- 
ligent farmer  culls  his  flock  and  improves  it,  and  when  the  depression 
passes  away  he  finds  himself  the  possessor  of  a  better  animal,  yielding 
more  and  better  wool  and  of  better  flesh.  He  may  not  have  as  many 
sheep,  but  he  has  better  ones. 

There  is  no  part  of  Maryland  that  would  not  support  a  prosperous 
sheep  husbandry,  and  there  are  parts  of  the  State  where  its  extension 
would  be  a  blessing.  In  western  Maryland  the  rich  grasses  of  the  hill- 
sides and  the  valleys  grow  a  superior  mutton,  and  the  farmer  who 
adopts  the  sheep  as  a  factor  in  mixed  husbandry  finds  his  profit  in  it, 
not  only  in  the  ready  cash  which  comes  from  the  early  lamb  and  the 
fall  mutton,  but  in  the  increased  fertility  of  his  land.  In  most  of  the 
State,  and  particularly  in  the  southern  portion,  sheep  require  but  little 
shelter  during  the  winter,  except  that  afforded  by  open  sheds.  As  a 
matter  of  fact  they  get  even  less  than  that.  Grain  is  seldom  given 
them.  A  farmer  representing  the  average  treatment  in  the  country 
lying  adjacent  to  the  District  of  Columbia  gave  during  the  winter  no 
grain,  no  hay,  and  no  shelter,  except  what  his  tobacco-houses  afforded, 
and  his  sheep  were  fat  and  healthy,  with  well-grown  fat  lambs  that 
brought  high  prices  in  the  Washington  markets.  The  sheep  had  the 
run  all  the  time  on  timothy  pasture  and  old  clover  fields,  except  when 
the  ground  was  frozen  or  covered  with  snow,  when  they  had  the  choice 
of  corn  fodder  or  straw.  They  sheared  over  6  pounds  of  wool  each. 
The  wool  alone  more  than  paid  for  the  cost  of  keeping. 


452 


SHEEP  INDUSTRY  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES 


In  the  southern  counties  of  the  State  sheep  have  not  reached  a  great 
degree  of  popularity.  The  average  farmer  does  not  believe  in  them  and 
contends  that  they  poison  the  land  upon  which  they  feed.  Those  who 
rise  above  this  prejudice  find  the  climate  and  surroundings  very  favor- 
able to  their  keeping.  Where  there  is  free  access  to  the  salt  marshes, 
which  abound  along  all  the  water  courses,  they  are  said  to  be  entirely 
free  from  the  liver  rot,  and  the  salt  mud  is  claimed  to  prevent  the  foot 
rot,  which  fresh- water  mud  induces.  The  pure  Southdowns,  which  find 
such  congenial  conditions  in  western  Maryland,  do  not  thrive  so  well 
when  removed  to  the  lower  counties,  and  some  attempts  to  breed  them 
have  not  been  successful.  The  best  results  are  produced  when  South- 
downs,  Shropshires,  and  Oxford  Downs  are  bred  to  native  ewes.  The 
produce  is  a  fine  mutton  sheep  with  great  hardiness.  The  so-called 
native  or  common  sheep  are  the  remains  of  the  old  Merinos  formerly  kept 
for  wool.  The  great  drawback  to  sheep  husbandry  in  this  section,  next 
to  the  prejudice  of  the  people,  is  the  hostility  of  the  dog,  and  no  progress 
seems  possible  while  the  people  think  that  the  dog  is  more  valuable  than 
the  sheep. 

There  was  a  slight  decline  in  interest  among  the  sheep-breeders  of  the 
State  in  1882  and  1884,  but  interest  revived  in  the  last-named  year,  when 
the  ravages  of  the  dogs  were  somewhat  abated  and  the  sheep  were  free 
from  any  general  epidemic  disease.  The  character  of  the  sheep  was  very 
much  improved  and  more  attention  was  given  to  the  selection  of  stock. 
In  1885  there  was  a  slight  decline  in  the  number  of  sheep,  owing  to  the 
low  prices  of  wool  and  mutton,  yet  the  aggregate  value  was  greater 
than  in  the  preceding  year,  because  of  the  number  of  high-priced  im- 
ported sheep  that  had  taken  the  place  in  small  numbers  of  a  large  num- 
ber of  more  indifferent  ones.  It  did  not  pay  to  raise  sheep  for  the 
butcher,  hence  few  cared  to  keep  more  than  would  be  necessary  for 
home  consumption.  No  disease  prevailed  and  the  destruction  by  dogs 
was  less  than  before,  yet  both  Wicomico  and  Allegany  counties  re- 
ported the  loss  by  dogs  to  be  not  less  than  500  each.  The  Agricultural 
Department  reported  a  still  further  decrease  in  1886,  but  there  had 
been  large  importations  of  the  Downs  and  the  Cotswolds.  The  mass  of 
country  sheep  seemed  to  be  disappearing,  while  a  small  but  far  better 
class  were  slowly  taking  their  place.  Hence,  while  the  State  presented 
a  great  falling  off  in  numbers,  she  was  slowly  enriching  herself  by  the 
introduction  of  a  superior  class  of  animals. 

Sheep  and  wool  in  Maryland,  1840  to  1890. 


Tear. 

Sheep. 

Wool. 

Average 
woight'of 
fleece 
per  head. 

1840  

257  929 

Pounds. 

488  °01 

Pounds. 
1  89 

1850  

177  902 

477  438 

o  eg 

1800  

155'  765 

491  511 

3  15 

1870  

1°9  Gf)7 

435  213 

3  ^5 

1883  

171   1  83 

850  084 

4  96 

1800  

796  432 

5  18 

IMPORTED  SOUTHDOWN  RAM. 
Two  YEARS  OLD. 


EAST    OF    THE    MISSISSIPPI    RIVER.  453 

VIRGINIA. 

At  the  begin,  ing  of  this  century  Virginia  possessed  some  of  the  best 
wool-producing  sheep  of  the  United  States,  and  there  was  a  growing 
interest  in  their  further  improvement.  Some  of  the  early  importations 
of  the  Merino  sheep  were  secured  from  the  Dupont,  Humphreys,  and 
Livingston  descent,  and  Thomas  Jefferson,  James  Madison,  Gen.  John 
Mason,  Gen.  Thompson  Mason,  and  many  other  prominent  and  patriotic 
men,  bought  of  the  Jarvis  importations  and  took  pride  in  cultivating 
and  disseminating  the  sheep.  At  first  the  newspapers  urged  the  adop- 
tion of  the  Merino  as  a  basis  of  manufactures  and  true  independence. 
The  Richmond  Inquirer  of  September  28,  1810,  said : 

These  will  form  a  real  acquisition  of  riches  to  this  country,  more  precious  than 
mines  of  gold  and  silver,  the  diamonds  of  Golconda,  or  the  gems  from  Samarcand. 
It  is  the  real  Golden  Fleece  of  which  the  ancients  have  woven  such  wonderful  tales, 
and  those  who  bring  them  into  this  country  may  be  considered  as  the  real  Argonauts 
of  America.  Let  us  cherish  these  treasures.  The  legislature  should  take  care  to  foster 
them  by  laws,  and  the  owner  to  furnish  the  proper  food  and  preserve  the  breed  from 
adulteration.  (1)  The  legislature  should  lay  a  tax  on  dogs.  This  tax,  if  necessary, 
to  be  given  a?  a  premium  for  wolves'  scalps.  Without  such  a  shield  the  rearing  of 
sheep  must  be  retarded  in  Virginia.  Few  will  be  willing  to  invest  $400  or  $500  in 
an  animal  which  may  be  torn  from  them  in  a  night  between  the  teeth  of  a  dog. 

(2)  A  law  should  be  in  force  a  few  years  exempting  them  from  sheriffs'  executions. 

(3)  Owners  should  take  care  to  keep  the  blood  pure,  and  to  mark  the  full-blooded 
rams. 

But  the  popularity  of  the  sheep  was  limited ;  it  did  not  obtain  a  foot- 
hold, a  fact  attributed  by  many  to  the  writings  of  one  of  her  purest 
public  men — Col.  John  Taylor,  of  Caroline.  Col.  Taylor  was  a  farmer 
of  more  than  forty  years7  experience,  had  served  his  State  in  the  Senate 
of  the  United  States,  and  was  universally  beloved  as  a  man  of  unblem- 
ished integrity  of  character  and  a  pure  patriot. 

In  1808  and  1809,  when  Connecticut,  New  York,  New  Jersey,  Penn- 
sylvania, Ohio,  and  other  States  were  encouraging  home  manufactures 
and  the  introduction  of  Merino  sheep,  when  embargoes  closed  nearly  all 
the  ports  of  the  world,  and  the  manufacturing  spirit  was  rapidly  rising 
all  over  the  Union,  Col.  Taylor  published  in  the  columns  of  a  Virginia 
paper  a  series  of  essays,  sixty-four  in  number,  which  were  collected  in 
1813  and  published  in  one  volume,  and  of  which  several  editions  were 
printed.  These  essays  were  upon  politics,  slavery,  labor,  live  stock, 
fencing,  and  other  subjects  of  the  farm,  and  combining  his  long  expe- 
rience and  extensive  reading,  were  valuable,  and  produced  much  effect. 
In  the  fourth  edition  Col.  Taylor  gave  the  motive  which  prompted  the 
preparation  of  the  essays,  which  was  "  a  conviction  that  the  prosperity 
of  our  country  depended  upon  a  competent  share  of  agricultural  and 
political  knowledge,  and  that  an  ignorance  of  either  would  defeat  the 
benefits  naturally  flowing  from  a  proficiency  in  both."  These  essays 
were  professedly  an  effort  to  combine  and  treat  together  agriculture 
and  politics,  "  the  primary  causes  of  our  wealth  and  liberty,"  both  con- 


454        SHEEP  INDUSTRY  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES 

taming  "  internal  good  principles,  bnt  both  liable  to  practical  destruc- 
tion." The  keynote  of  his  argument  was  opposition  to  banks,  manu- 
facturers, and  a  privileged  class  of  officeholders.  "  The  device  of  pro- 
tecting duties,  under  the  pretext  of  encouraging  manufactures,  oper- 
ates, like  its  kindred,  by  creating  a  capitalist  interest,  which  instantly 
seizes  upon  the  bounty  taken  by  law  from  agriculture,  and  instead  of 
doing  any  good  to  the  actual  workers  in  wool,  metal,  cotton,  or  other 
substances,  it  helps  to  rear  up  an  aristocratical  order  at  the  expense 
of  workers  in  earth,  to  unite  with  government  in  oppressing  every 
species  of  useful  industry."  Twelve  essays  were  devoted  to  the  polit- 
ical aspects  of  the  subject,  in  which  he  attributed  the  decay  of  Virginia 
agriculture  and  the  depopulation  of  her  small  towns  to  the  evils  of  gov- 
ernment and  the  partiality  shown  banking  and  manufactures.  In  his 
forty-fourth  essay  he  takes  up  the  sheep,  and  says : 

It  is  with  reluctance  that  I  am  about  to  express  my  opinion  as  to  this  stock, 
lest  they  may  discredit  those  upon  which  I  have  had  more  experience.  For  sixteen 
years  I  have  labored  to  estimate  their  value  and  character,  upon  a  small  scale,  hav- 
ing a  flock  only  of  from  one  to  four  hundred,  daily  attended  by  a  shepherd,  and  my 
conclusions  are  that  they  require  and  consume  far  more  food,  in  proportion  to  their 
size,  than  any  other  stock;  that  they  are  more  liable  to  disease  and  death,  and  they 
can  not  be  made  a  profitable  object,  throughout  the  whole  extent  of  the  warm,  dry 
climate  and  sandy  soil  of  the  United  States,  but  by  banishing  tillage  from  vast  tracts 
of  country.  These  opinions  are  by  no  means  intended,  however,  to  exclude  them  as 
a  luxury  for  the  table,  capable  of  being  made  to  repay  a  considerable  portion  of  the 
expense  it  causes.  It  is  probable  that  the  hot  constitution  of  sheep  produces  a  rapid 
digestion  and  that  insatiable  appetite,  by  which  the  fact  is  accounted  for  of  their 
flourishing  only  to  any  extent  in  fine  meadows  or  extensive  wildernesses.  If  this  vora- 
ciousness is  not  gratified  the  animal  perishes  or  dwindles;  if  it  is,  he  depopulates 
the  country  he  inhabits.  The  sheep  of  Spain  have  probably  kept  out  of  existence 
or  sent  out  of  it  more  people  than  the  wild  beasts  of  the  earth  have  destroyed  from 
the  creation,  and  those  of  England  may  have  caused  a  greater  depopulation  than 
all  her  extravagant  wars.  It  may  be  owing  to  this  animal  that  the  independence  of 
one  country  is  almost  overthrown,  and  of  the  other  tottering.  In  both  countries  the 
sufficiency  of  bread  for  sheep  may  have  produced  the  insufficiency  of  bread  for  man, 
and  prejudice  may  have  nurtured  errors,  of  which  our  folly  may  relieve ithem,  just  as 
superstition  has  been  known  to  seize  or  steal  an  idol  which  had  long  been  a  curse 
to  the  place  of  its  invention.  It  is  admitted  that  the  wool  of  sheep  is  to  a  certain 
extent  a  necessary  and  often  a  luxury;  but  if  I  fancied  a  pearl,  why  should  I  dive 
for  it  myself,  when  those  who  love  the  employment  wish  to  supply  me;  or  why  should 
a  nation  depopulate  itself  to  gain  them  if  it  can  become  strong  and  populous  with- 
out pearls?  The  earth's  capacity  to  produce  food  and  materials  for  clothes  is  lim- 
ited, and  by  endowing  the  brute  creation  with  so  much  of  the  former  as  to  produce 
a  deficit  for  man's  use  in  order  to  obtain  a  surplus  of  the  latter  for  exportation,  the 
sheep  policy  is  said  to  be  perfected.  It  is  probable  that  an  acre  of  the  proper  soil 
in  the  proper  climate  is  capable  of  raising  ten  times  as  much  cotton  wool  as  sheep's, 
and  if  we  shall  only  glance  at  the  vast  quantity  of  the  former  material  for  clothing 
exported  from  a  small  district  of  country  thinly  peopled  we  shall  at  once  see  the 
capacity  of  the  earth  to  produce  it  to  any  needful  extent  without  paying  depopula- 
tion for  raiment.  Although  sheep's  wool  was  the  best  resource  for  a  state  of  igno- 
rance it  is  superseded  to  a  great  extent  by  a  state  of  cotton  manufacturing  skill, 
and  whilst  the  English  nation  have  proved  the  high  value  of  our  cotton  and  opened 
an  inexhaustible  demand  for  the  abundance  we  can  spare,  it  is  certainly  a  respoiisi- 


EAST    OF    THE    MISSISSIPPI    RIYER.  455 

Mr  huslaur  for  tin-  small  portion  of  her  woolens  we  may  want,  and  an  exchan.uv  i> 
probably  better  than  turning  our  cornfields  into  sheep  pastures.  It  is  exactly  the 
•  a>r  in  which  commerce  renders  a  mutual  benefit,  as  we,  under  our  warm  and  dry 
climate  and  in  our  sandy  soil,  can  raise  cotton  cheaper  than  England ;  and  she  by 
the  help  of  her  moisture  and  verdure  can  raise  wool  cheaper  than  the  United  States. 
It  is  curious  that  wool  should  be  supplanting  cotton  here,  whilst  cotton  is  supplant- 
ing wool  in  Europe;  but  as  fashions  wear  out  in  one  country  they  flee  to  another. 

Tliis  essay,  following  close  upon  assertions  made  in  preceding  ones 
that  agriculture  was  being  "filched"  to  assist  manufactures,  had  imme- 
diate effect,  and  some  papers  that  had  given  encouragement  to  the 
Merino  changed  front  and  insisted  that  their  introduction  would 
exclude  all  the  old  sheep,  and  no  wool  would  be  obtainable  for  coarse 
woolen  cloths;  that  long  wool  was  wanted  as  much  as  fine;  some  sheep 
must  be  raised  for  mutton,  not  for  wool  only,  and  to  the  appeal  made 
by  some  that  the  Merino  should  not  be  crossed,  but  bred  pure,  the 
Alexandria  Gazette  thought  that  would  be  too  much  of  a  good  thing: 
M  Democrats  intermarry  with  Federal  families,  and  that  breed  is  thus 
improved  without  Federal  deterioration." 

There  were  others  who,  friendly  to  domestic  manufactures,  were 
totally  opposed  to  the  scheme  of  fostering  and  forcing  manufactures  by 
heavy  duties,  giving  rise  to  great  manufacturing  establishments,  sup- 
ported by  wealthy  individuals,  and  tending,  as  they  believed,  to  destroy 
the  physical,  moral,  and  political  character  of  the  laborer.  To  them 
the  preservation  of  the  Merino  blood  pure  and  alone  would  be  at  once 
unwise,  impolitic,  and  in  many  respects  injurious.  The  country  had 
many  useful  native  breeds  which,  by  crossing  with  the  valued  stran- 
gers, would  imbibe  a  sufficiency  of  their  superior  qualities  to  answer 
every  necessary  and  ordinary  purpose.  At  the  same  time  this  system 
would  rescue  the  native  sheep  from  unmerited  neglect  and  disperse  the 
Merino  strain  through  all  parts  of  our  country.  Again,  clothes  made 
of  the  pure  Merino  wool  were  only  suited  to  the  uses  of  the  rich  and 
luxurious.  Their  costly  nature  precluded  their  introduction  to  the 
humbler  walks  of  life,  and  although  the  man  of  fortune  might  indulge 
in  the  comforts  of  warm  clothing,  flannels,  and  nightcaps,  his  poorer 
neighbor  would  still  be  shivering  in  the  horrors  of  nakedness  and 
neglect.  If  manufactures  were  wanting,  they  were  especially  wanting 
to  the  needy  and  distressed;  a  blanket  was  more  useful  than  a  shawl,  a 
strong  cloth  more  extensively  useful  than  a  fine  one.  To  encourage 
domestic  establishments  in  parishes  and  townships  and  to  discourage 
extensive  monopolies  should  form  the  essential  policy  of  our  country; 
when  it  became  an  exporting  community  was  time  enough  to  fashion 
our  fabrics  to  the  taste  of  luxury  abroad.  First  minister  to  the  com- 
forts of  that  large  and  useful  class  of  the  political  family  who  support 
the  cause  of  industry  in  peace  and  protect  the  cause  of  freedom  in 
war,  who  deserve  the  due  attention  of  science  and  patriotism  to  supply 
their  real  wants.  It  was  argued  that  the  great  preference  given  to 
imported  sheep  discouraged  the  small  farmer  from  improving  his  native 


456        SHEEP  INDUSTRY  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES 

breeds.  To  introduce  a  proper  admixture  of  the  fine  with  the  coarser 
wooled  sheep  would  tend  to  equalize  the  price  and  bring  it  more  within 
the  compass  of  farmers  in  general.  It  were  better  to  see  every  farmer's 
little  territory  spotted  with  a  few  sheep  than  to  see  the  flocks  of  a 
Merino  nabob  extending  far  and  wide.  Beneficent  systems  of  human 
affairs  had  their  abuses,  and  from  these  the  Merino  system  was  not 
exempt.* 

There  were  many,  however,  who  did  not  agree  with  Col.  Taylor  and 
his  followers,  many  who  considered  the  Merinos  and  all  other  sheep 
as  a  blessing  and  not  as  a  curse,  as  the  savior  of  Virginia  agriculture 
and  not  its  destroyer,  and  manufactures  as  the  handmaid  of  agricul- 
ture. These  argued  that  all  the  ordinary  stock  of  wool  was  con- 
sumed in  manufactures  and  all  that  could  be  procured  by  our  import 
trade  and  by  all  the  foreign  breeds  of  sheep.  The  great  effort  of  the 
farmers,  north  and  east,  to  produce  wool  did  not  keep  pace  with  the 
increasing  demand ;  hence  the  price  of  wool  kept  up,  and  under  these 
circumstances,  when  wool  was  in  demand,  was  it  wise,  asked  some,  to 
keep  on  raising  tobacco  to  be  dutied  and  plundered,  or  was  it  the  part 
of  wisdom  to  decrease  tobacco  and  raise  more  sheep,  produce  more  and 
better  wool,  and  provide  a  marKet  at  home,  free  from  injury,  insult,  and 
vexation,  whereby  the  industry  of  the  women  and  children  and  the 
power  of  machinery  with  a  little  aid  from  regular  and  skillful  male 
manufacturers  the  people  could  be  truly  independent  and  prosperous? 

Notwithstanding  Col.  Taylor's  writings  and  the  prejudice  en  gendered 
by  those  who  followed  him,  there  were  some  fine  flocks  of  Merino  sheep 
in  the  State.  Jefferson  had  made  them  numerous  in  his  neighborhood 
and  there  were  many  in  the  upper  and  eastern  part  of  the  State  along 
the  borders  of  the  Potomac.  Gen.  John  Mason  distributed  many  from 
the  increase  of  his  flock  on  Analostan  Island.  Gen.  Thompson  Mason 
had  a  choice  flock  of  Infantados  on  his  estate  adjoining  Mount  Vernon, 
and  Fairfax,  Loudoun,  Prince  William,  Stafford.  King  George,  Fau- 
quier,  and  Jefferson  counties  had  a  few  choice  flocks.  Many  of  these 
gradually  disappeared,  so  that  by  1820-1825  but  few  of  full  blood  were 
remaining.  In  June,  1823,  a  gentleman  of  Fairfax  County  sheared  a 
flock  of  525  mixed  Merinos,  from  which  he  obtained  2,36S£  pounds  of 
wool  free  from  tags,  or  an  average  of  little  more  than  4J  pounds  per 
sheep,  not  as  great  as  in  former  years,  in  consequence  of  the  flock  con- 
taining a  larger  proportion  of  breeding  ewes  than  usual.  This  wool 
sold  in  the  Alexandria  market  for  40  cents  a  pound,  which  price  it  held 
for  the  four  years  preceding.  In  1825  W.  H.  Fitzhugh,  Ravenswood, 
near  Alexandria,  was  still  maintaining  a  pure  flock.  600  to  700  of  which 
he  offered  for  sale.  There  were  at  the  time  other  flocks  of  which  no 
record  has  been  preserved.  Western  Virginia,  that  part  of  the  State 
lying  beyond  the  mountains,  had  fine  flocks,  which  will  be  noted  in  con- 

*  The  Agricultural  Museum,  Georgetown,  January  23,  1811. 


EAST    OF    THE    MISSISSIPPI   RIVER.  457 

uection  with  those  of  western  Pennsylvania  and  Ohio,  to  which  they 
were  allied  and  from  which  they  originated. 

The  Saxon  Merino  made  no  impression  upon  the  sheep  husbandry  of 
eastern  Virginia — was  hardly  known  there,  in  fact,  and  from  1820  to 
1845  fine-wool  growing  was  almost  entirely  neglected.  From  1840  to 
1845  the  subject  attracted  more  attention  than  at  any  previous  period 
not  only  in  Virginia  but  in  other  Southern  States.  There  were  at  that 
time  thousands  of  acres  of  land  that  had  been  run  out  by  the  cultiva- 
tion of  tobacco  years  in  succession,  and  there  were  other  thousands  of 
mountain  lands  and  unproductive  tracts  that  could  not  be  made  to 
yield  any  vegetable  products  but  pasturage.  Nor  was  this  pasturage 
of  a  kind  to  support  large  animals ;  it  suggested  a  small  animal,  the 
sheep,  and  the  growing  of  wool.  The  sheep  answered  the  requirement 
of  the  worn-out  lands  also,  a  fact  not  so  apparent  to  the  landowners 
and  planters  of  Virginia  as  it  was  to  others  who  had  observed  the 
utility  of  this  animal  in  converting  the  useless  products  of  worn  out 
laud  into  manure  for  its  successful  fertilization.  Henry  S.  Band  all,  of 
New  York,  had  noticed  the  peculiar  adaptability  of  some  of  the  South- 
ern lands  for  growing  wool,  and  in  a  letter  to  the  Secretary  of  the 
Treasury  in  1845,  and  in  a  series  of  letters  published  in  the  Virginia 
Valley  Farmer  the  same  year,  stated  some  of  the  general  conclusions 
at  which  he  had  arrived.  These  letters  attracted  much  attention  and 
stimulated  inquiry,  and,  in  1846,  John  S.  Skinner,  editor  of  the  Monthly 
Journal  of  Agriculture  of  New  York,  requested  Mr.  Eandall  to  prepare 
a  series  of  letters  on  sheep  husbandry,  and  especially  on  sheep  hus- 
bandry in  the  South,  for  the  Farmers'  Library.  Mr.  Randall  prepared 
the  letters,  which  were  addressed  to  Col.  R.  F.  W.  Allston,  of  Wacca- 
maco  Beach,  near  Georgetown,  S.  C.,  and  they  were  published  and  had 
extensive  circulation  and  attentive  consideration  throughout  the  South, 
and  more  especially  in  Virginia.  He  considered  the  grounds  of  oppo- 
sition that  had  been  urged  or  imagined  against  sheep  husbandry  in 
the  South,  on  the  score  of  climate,  deficiency  of  forage,  want  of  an  ade- 
quate demand  for  wool,  and  other  obstacles,  and  brought  together  a 
mass  of  facts  of  great  value.  He  discussed  the  great  hilly  region  lying 
back  of  the  Atlantic  Ocean  and  extending  westward  from  the  Blue 
Eidge  to  the  borders  of  the  Ohio  and  southwest  from  the  Pennsylvania 
line  to  the  borders  of  North  Carolina  with  the  grasses  and  other 
natural  pasturage  conducive  to  the  life  and  health  of  sheep,  collated 
the  direct  profits  of  raising  sheep  in  less  favored  localities  of  the  North, 
argued  the  great  value  of  the  sheep  as  a  renovator  of  worn-out  land, 
and  presented  a  point  of  no  mean  importance,  whether,  independent  of 
all  other  considerations,  and  even  if  the  staples  furnished  by  sheep 
husbandry  proved  no  more  profitable  in  direct  returns  on  capital 
invested  than  some  of  the  present  staples,  it  would  not  be  better 
economy,  on  the  whole,  for  the  South  to  produce  the  raw  material 
and  manufacture  domestic  woolens,  particularly  for  the  apparel  and 


458  SHEEP    INDUSTRY    OF    THE    UNITED    STATES 

bedding  of  slaves,  than  to  be  dependent  for  them  on  England  or 
Massachusetts. 

In  the  tidewater  counties  Mr.  Eandall  recommended  the  mutton  sheep 
as  best  adapted  to  the  system  of  farming  carried  on,  and  as  the  most 
profitable,  but  on  poor  lands  westward  and  the  hilly  regions  he  sug- 
gested the  Merino,  producing  wool  ranging  from  good  medium  upward. 
As  to  the  question,  which  variety  of  the  Merino,  the  Saxon  or  the  Span- 
ish, he  entered  into  an  explanation  and  comparison  of  their  respective 
merit  and  adaptability.  He  knew  by  experience  that  once  interbreeding 
between  an  ewe  bearing  good,  medium  wool,  the  fleece  weighing,  say, 
from  4J  to  5  pounds,  with  a  Merino  ram  of  sufficient  high  quality,  would 
produce  wool  in  the  offspring  equaling  ordinary  Saxon,  and  a  fleece 
averaging  4  pounds,  with  more  of  its  weight  made  up  of  gum.  The 
result  of  two  such  interbreedings  would  bring  the  progeny  of  a  heavy- 
fleeced  medium  ewe,  provided  the  fleece  be  properly  even,  to  the  same 
point.  The  4-pound,  fine-fleeced  Spanish  Merino  would  be  a  far  more 
profitable  animal  than  the  Saxon,  other  things  being  equal.  But  other 
things  were  not  equal.  The  Spanish  was  in  every  way  a  hardier  animal 
and  a  better  nurse.  It  was  about  20  pounds  heavier,  and  therefore  con- 
sumed more  feed,  but  this  additional  expense  was  more  than  counter- 
balanced by  the  additional  care  and  risk  attending  the  husbandry  of  the 
Saxon.  It  was  practicable  to  increase  the  Saxon's  fleece  to  4  pounds, 
but  it  would  be  at  the  expense  of  its  fineness,  and  there  was  an  addi- 
tional objection  to  this  system  of  breeding,  so  far  as  the  Saxon  was 
concerned.  The  breeder  was  not  only  called  upon  to  increase  the  weight 
of  its  fleece  and  carcass,  but  to  engraft  on  it  hardiness  of  constitution, 
nursing  properties,  etc.,  which  by  no  means  followed,  as  a  matter  of 
course,  its  improvement  in  other  particulars.  These,  and  particularly 
the  latter,  could  only  be  attained  so  as  to  be  transmissible  with  a  proper 
degree  of  certainty  from  parents  to  offspring  by  years  of  breeding,  accom- 
panied by  a  vigorous  course  of  selection.  He  concluded,  therefore,  that 
if  called  upon  to  form  a  variety  just  suited  to  the  wants  of  the  South  the 
Spanish  Merino  would  present  the  most  ductile  and  the  safest  materials. 
But  the  Southern  agriculturist,  just  entering  upon  sheep-rearing,  would 
not  be  prepared  to  conduct  nice  experiments  in  breeding.  He  wanted 
a  breed,  a  variety,  already  prepared  to  hand,  a  hardy  breed,  one  that 
demanded  no  extra  skill,  no  great  experience  for  its  management. 
Spanish  Merinos  reaching  or  closely  approaching  the  standard  were  to 
be  found,  while  there  were  no  corresponding  varieties  of  Saxons;  and 
to  incur  the  risks  arising  from  inexperience,  want  of  preparation,  and 
other  minor  reasons,  the  superior  hardiness  of  the  Spanish  Merinos 
would  render  them  entirely  preferable.  Some  had  recommended  a  cross 
between  the  Saxons  and  Spanish  Merinos  as  a  cheap  and  ready  method 
of  obtaining  a  4-pound  fine-fleeced  sheep. 

A  properly  selected  Saxon  rain,  crossed  with  good  medium  and  me- 
dium-wooled  Spanish  ewes,  cutting  from  5  to  5J  pounds  of  wool,  would 


LAST    01-'    THE    MISSISSIPPI    RIVER.  459 

always  uniformly  produce  this  result.  And  it  was  easier  then  to  get 
the  Saxon  than  the  Spanish  Merino  fine  enough  for  the  purpose.  Or  a 
tloek  could  be  bred  up  from  Saxon  ewes  and  a  Spanish  Merino  ram.  The 
objection  to  both  courses  was  the  same,  though  not  equal  to  that  ex- 
isting against  breeding  the  full-blooded  Saxons,  viz.,  the  production  of 
a  feeble  and  a  poor  nursing  sheep.  The  latter  evil,  especially,  clung  for 
generations  to  these  cross-bred  animals,  and  unless  Saxons  were  se- 
lected not  possessing  the  characteristic  faults  of  the  variety  the  cross- 
breds  would  be  found  inferior  to  pure-blood  Spanish  Merinos  in  many 
other  and  essential  particulars,  although  the  fleece  might  be  all  that 
was  desired.  There  was  another  point  where  the  pure-blood  Spanish 
Merino  possessed  a  marked  advantage.  Few  southern  wool-growers 
would  commence  their  flocks  exclusively  with  high-bred  animals  of  any 
kind.  With  a  few  of  them  to  breed  rams  from  and  to  gradually  grow 
up  a  full-blood  flock,  they  would  mainly  depend  upon  grading  up  the 
common  sheep  of  the  country.  With  the  long-legged,  bare-bellied, 
open-wooled  sheep,  common  in  the  South,  as  it  once  was  in  the  North, 
the  Saxon  made  an  indifferent  cross.  Their  faults  ran  too  much  in  the 
same  direction,  in  all  save  the  fineness  of  wool,  for,  however  good  its  shape, 
the  wool  of  the  Saxon  was  comparatively  short  and  open.  It  therefore 
shortened  the  wool  of  the  common  sheep  without  adding  much  or  any  to 
its  thickness,  and  thus  the  fleece  remained  a  light  one.  Precisely  the 
reverse  of  all  this  was  the  result  from  a  cross  between  the  Spanish  Me 
rino  and  the  common  sheep.  The  wool  was  but  little  shortened,  unless 
the  staple  of  the  common  sheep  was  very  long;  it  was  essentially  thick- 
ened; it  extended  over  the  belly;  the  fleece  was  greatly  increased  in 
weight;  the  sheep  rendered  more  compact  and  stocky,  and  brought 
nearer  the  ground.  Even  the  first  cross,  though  the  fleece  be  somewhat 
uneven,  would  be  found  a  prime  sheep  for  the  wants  of  ordinary  farmers, 
and  among  these  it  was  a  decided  favorite  over  the  whole  Northern 
States,  a  majority  preferring  it  over  any  other  kind  or  variety  of  sheep. 
Two  or  three  proper  Spanish  Merino  crosses  raises  it  to  the  rank  of  a 
first-rate  wool-growing  sheep,  scarcely  inferior  to  the  full-blood  Spanish 
Merino  in  anything,  save  that  it  does  not  transmit  its  good  qualities 
with  quite  so  much  certainty  to  its  offspring.* 

Having  thus  indicated  the  proper  sheep  for  wool-growing  in  the 
South,  Mr.  Randall  further  proceeded  to  indicate  the  points  of  excel- 
lence of  the  Spanish  Merino  and  its  grades,  the  management,  washing, 
shearing,  care  of  wool,  diseases  to  which  the  sheep  were  liable  and  their 
remedies,  in  fact  everything  pertaining  to  the  subject,  embracing  the 
best  work  on  American  sheep  husbandry  up  to  that  date. 

The  effect  of  the  work  was  immediately  perceptible  in  a  revival  of 
wool  growing  in  many  sections  of  the  South,  particularly  in  Virginia. 
The  material  for  forming  new  flocks  was  plenty  and  cheap.  From  the 
passage  of  the  tariff  of  1846  there  had  been  a  panic  among  the  wool- 


"  Sheep  husbandry  in  the  South."    Henry  S.  Randall. 


460  SHEEP    INDUSTRY    OF    THE    UNITED    STATES 

growers  of  New  York  and  the  Eastern  States,  and  the  rise  in  bread- 
stuffs,  beef,  pork,  and  dairy  products,  occasioned  by  the  change  in  the 
British  tariff,  and  the  famine  which  prevailed  in  Europe  by  reason  of 
the  short  crops  of  1846,  tended  farther  to  depreciate  sheep,  by  offering 
inducements  to  embark  in  branches  of  husbandry  furnishing  the  former 
staples.  Consequently  sheep  became  cheaper  than  ever  before,  prime 
grade  sheep,  bearing  wool  of  good  quality,  selling  for  $1,25  per  head, 
and  coarse  common  sheep  for  $1,  lambs  half  a  dollar,  making  in  the 
ordinary  proportion  between  lambs  and  grown  sheep  about  75  cents 
per  head,  taking  a  flock  through.  Advantage  was  taken  of  the  low 
price  of  high-grade  sheep  in  Vermont  and  elsewhere,  where  they  were 
being  sold  off,  and  many  thousands  were  purchased  and  taken  to  the 
South,  some  peddlers  selling  well  into  the  thousands,  one  dealer  alone, 
from  1847  to  1852  disposing  of  more  than  13,000  in  Virginia  for  wool- 
growing  purposes.  In  1848  Samuel  F.  Christian,  near  Greenville, 
Augusta  County,  had  a  flock  of  very  superior  Merinos.  In  1850  Buck- 
ingham County  was  growing  fine  wool ;  in  Fairfax  a  considerable  num- 
ber of  the  fine-wooled  sheep  had  been  brought  from  Vermont  and  New 
York,  and  in  1852  it  was  reported  that  Mr.  Dox,  of  Nelson  County, 
sent  2,500  pounds  of  Saxony  wool  to  New  York,  the  produce  of  900 
sheep  which  had  been  driven  to  Virginia  from  New  York.  But  fine- 
wooled  sheep  did  not  get  into  high  favor,  long-wooled  being  preferred. 

At  the  fair  of  the  Virginia  State  Agricultural  Society  in  1854  a  pre- 
mium was  awarded  to  Theodore  M.  Davidson,  Fauquier  County,  for  a  4- 
year  Spanish  Merino  buck,  and  one  to  Samuel  F.  Christian,  of  Augusta, 
for  a  2-year-old  Spanish  Merino,  and  also  for  the  best  pen  of  Merino 
ewes.  These  were  all  the  Merinos  shown  east  of  the  Alleghany,  but 
Dr.  W.  L.  Wight  and  J.  &  W.  Brady,  of  West  Virginia,  carried  off 
some  prizes  for  Spanish  and  French  Merino  sheep.  Though  many  full- 
blooded  Spanish  Merino  and  high  grades  were  brought  into  the  State 
from  1847  to  1852,  the  fine  wool-growing  industry  languished  and  the 
flocks  were  neglected  or  became  a  prey  to  the  dogs.  A  few  farmers 
cared  for  and  sought  to  raise  them  in  the  Piedmont  region,  among  whom 
was  S.  S.  Bradford,  of  Culpeper,  who,  in  1856,  had  a  flock  of  Spanish 
and  Silesian  Merinos  from  the  flocks  of  George  Campbell,  of  Vermont, 
and  William  Chamberlain,  of  New  York.  Mr.  Bradford  rarely  had  less 
than  1,000  fine- wools  in  a  flock,  and  had  a  German  shepherd  to  care  for 
them.  In  good  weather  they  were  hurdled  at  night  on  the  poorer 
spots  of  the  field  in  which  they  grazed  during  the  day.  In  rainy  or 
intensely  cold  weather  they  were  housed  day  and  night.  They  were 
fed  daily  about  1  bushel  of  oats  to  the  hundred  head.  In  the  grazing 
season  they  required  no  other  food  than  the  herbage. 

A  neighbor  of  Mr.  Bradford,  with  125  fine-wools,  though  never  hous- 
ing them  even  in  sleety  weather,  and  having  no  shepherd,  got  heavier 
fleeces  from  them,  and  lost  proportionately  less  than  Mr.  Bradford  by 
disease  and  causalties.  The  original  cost  of  this  flock  was  $2.50  per 


EAST    OF    THE    MISSISSIPPI    RIVER.  461 

ewe  and  $20  for  a  ram.  For  many  years  before  wool  was  admitted  free 
of  duty  the  value  of  the  annual  wool  clip  averaged  $2.02  to  the  sheep. 
That,  with  the  sale  of  mutton  to  the  neighbors,  made  the  profits  of  the 
flock  considerable.  They  were  never  fed  anything  but  grass  and  corn 
fodder,  and  grazed  on  land  which  would  not  keep  cattle  or  horses. 

William  D.  Wallach,  of  Culpeper,  also  owned  a  small  flock,  of  which, 
in  June,  1859,  he  gave  an  account.  His  sheep  cost  him  on  an  average 
£<J  per  head,  including  an  imported  Silesian  ram  and  3  Silesian  ewes, 
the  former  valued  at  $50  and  the  latter  $20  each.  Throughout  the  feed- 
ing season  he  fed  them  daily  an  average  of  2  bushels  of  oats  to  the 
hundred  head,  with  as  much  wheat  straw  and  cut  and  crushed  corn- 
stalks and  blades  as  they  could  eat.  Sometimes  cornmeal,  mixed  with 
moistened  wheat  chaff,  was  substituted  for  oats.  He  housed  them  care- 
fully at  night  in  extremely  cold  weather  and  never  permitted  them  to 
get  wet.  Early  in  May  he  commenced  folding  the  flock  in  the  open  air 
every  pleasant  night,  using  light  hurdles  made  of  pine  poles.  They 
were  permitted  to  rest  three  nights  only  on  the  same  spot.  Previous 
to  the  first  night's  folding  clover  and  orchard- grass  seed  were  sprinkled 
where  they  were  to  lie,  and  the  next  morning  a  light  covering  of  straw 
was  put  upon  the  ground  in  the  fold,  and  on  that  covering  they  rested 
two  nights  more,  saturating  it  with  their  urine  and  leaving  their  manure. 
Wherever  they  were  thus  folded  young  clover  and  orchard  grass  grew 
luxuriantly. 

The  results  were  that  Mr.  Wallach  lost  but  2  per  cent  from  his  flock, 
and  was  offered  33 J  per  cent  on  its  original  cost  for  the  lambs  of  the 
first  season,  which,  with  the  manure,  twice  repaid  their  keep  for  the 
year.  Their  fleeces  averaged  him  6J  pounds.  The  Silesian  ram 
sheared  15f  pounds,  and  some  of  the  Spanish  Merino  ewes  as  high  as 
9  pounds  unwashed  wool,  selling  for  40  to  50  cents  per  pound.  At  40 
cents  he  realized  40  per  cent  the  first  year  on  the  original  cost  of  the 
whole  flock,  or,  on  the  value  of  the  two  fields  on  which  he  grazed 
them,  at  $50  per  acre,  and  the  original  cost  of  the  flock  together,  a 
little  more  than  8  per  cent  per  annum.  All  the  wethers  and  most  of 
the  ewes  that  had  lambed  were  found  fat  enough,  on  being  sheared,  for 
the  butcher. 

A  not  less  important  result  was  that  not  a  single  blue  thistle  or  white 
daisy  bloom  was  to  be  seen  in  either  field  in  which  the  flock  pastured, 
though  the  previous  year  both  were  overrun  with  those  pests.  This 
was  also  the  case  with  the  fields  of  two  of  the  nearest  neighbors,  who 
had  likewise  each  a  flock  of  Merinos,  and  with  those  of  Mr.  Bradford, 
from  whom  Mr.  Wallach  made  his  purchase  of  sheep.  Several  others 
in  Culpeper  County  had  Spanish  Merinos,  and  some  full-blooded  Saxony 
Merinos  were  owned  near  Lynchburg. 

Although  it  was  found  that  the  Merino  would  thrive  in  every  section 
of  Virginia  and  fitted  itself  alike  to  the  mountain  regions,  the  plains 
of  middle  Virginia,  and  even  the  tide-water  region,  with  its  shorter 


462        SHEEP  INDUSTRY  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES 

grasses,  it  failed  to  attain  any  importance  in  the  farm  economy  of  the 
State,  primarily  because  of  the  depredations  committed  by  dogs,  second- 
arily that  raising  lambs  and  mutton  for  market  paid  better.  The  seces- 
sion of  the  State  in  1861,  by  throwing  the  eastern  portion  under  the 
tread  of  large  armies,  was  destructive  to  sheep  of  all  kinds,  and  the 
years  subsequent  to  the  great  war  have  seen  no  extended  revival  of 
the  fine- wool  industry.  Some  few  flocks  of  Merinos,  it  is  true,  have 
been  formed,  but  their  output  is  scarcely  appreciable.  The  largest  of 
the  kind  in  Virginia  east  of  the  Alleghanies  in  1877  was  that  of  Logan 
Osburu,  Jefferson  County,  W.  Va.  He  began  building  up  a  flock  in 
1872  from  about  100  grade  ewes  three-fourths  Merino,  breeding  them  to 
a  thoroughbred  Spanish  Merino  rani.  The  fleeces  of  the  first  year's 
clip  averaged  5  pounds  each  in  the  dirt.  But  care  and  attention  and 
crossing  with  good  rams  increased  both  the  length  and  strength  of  the 
staple  and  carried  the  fleece  to  an  average  of  6  pounds  back- washed 
wool  in  1877.  His  improvement  did  not  stop  here;  the  weight  was  car- 
ried up  to  7  pounds  and  the  wool  realized  the  very  highest  prices  and 
was  much  sought  after  by  Eastern  buyers.  In  1888  Mr.  Osb urn's  flock 
numbered  nearly  1,700,  and  the  clip  netted  the  owner  $4,000.  The  sheep 
are  at  least  one- third  larger  than  the  Spanish  Merino  from  which  they 
sprung,  and  have  increased  in  length  of  staple  and  weight  of  fleece  at 
least  one- third.  There  are  other  Merino  flocks  in  that  section  of  Vir- 
ginia, and  the  success  attending  them,  when  properly  cared  for,  dem- 
onstrates the  capability  of  the  country  for  fine-wool  culture,  as  it  has 
long  been  known  for  its  excellent  mutton.  But  Virginia  proper,  as  cir- 
cumscribed by  the  events  of  war,  is  not  a  fine- wool  growing  State. 

The  people  of  Virginia  are,  and  have  been  for  a  longer  period  than  else- 
where, great  lovers  of  choice  mutton.  They  began  its  improvement  very 
early  and  have  continued  it.  The  old  Arlington  long-wools  and  Fred- 
erick sheep  lingered  long  in  many  localities.  The  Southdowns  followed 
the  old  Leicester  and  the  new,  and  many  were  brought  into  the  State  from 
New  York  and  by  direct  importation  from  England.  Rezin  D.  Shepherd, 
of  Shepherdstown,  imported  some  Leicesters  in  1838,  and  in  1841  Hon. 
Andrew  Stevenson,  then  minister  to  England,  and  Bishop  Meade,  of  Vir- 
ginia, imported  3  Southdowns  each — a  ram  and  2  ewes.  These  were  se- 
lected from  the  stock  of  Jonas  Webb,  and  100  guineas  were  paid  for  the 
3  that  were  presented  to  the  bishop.  The  bishop's  Southdown  ram 
weighed  249  pounds;  Mr.  Stevenson's  254  pounds.  Col.  Josiah  W. 
Ware,  of  Berryville,  Clarke  County,  was  an  importer  of  the  improved 
Cotswolds  or  New  Oxfordshire  as  early  as  1848,  in  which  year  he  pur- 
chased 2  ewes  that  had  taken  the  prize  at  the  royal  show  at  York. 
In  1849  he  purchased  5  of  the  ewes  that  took  the  prize  at  Norwich,  all 
tupped  by  a  ram  weighing  420  pounds  that  had  taken  the  royal  prize 
in  1847.  He  purchased  of  Charles  Large.  Northbeach,  and  none  but 
prize  sheep.  In  giving  an  account  of  his  Cotswolds  in  1855,  Col.  Ware 
said  that  originally  he  had  a  good  flock  of  sheep,  but  found,  beside  the 


EAST    OF    THE    MISSISSIPPI   RIVER.  463 

fleece  that  each  sheep  at  4  years  old  on  grass  would  not  command 
more  tin  in  -^ -..">(),  the  best,  fed  on  grain  in  the  winter,  would  not  bring 
over  $4.  To  supply  a  butcher  each  year  a  lot  of  fat  sheep  of  a  farmer's 
own  raising  would  require  him  to  keep  four  lots  on  hand  to  sell  one, 
the  fleece  but  little  more  than  paying  for  its  keep.  To  rely  upon  the 
fleece  alone  was  too  insignificant  a  matter.  At  the  highest  price  paid 
per  pound  in  the  United  States,  it  would  require  many  sheep  to  make 
a  small  amount  of  money.  Kot  satisfied  with  this  condition  of  affairs 
he  determined  to  purchase  some  of  the  large  mutton  sheep  of  England, 
and  chose  the  improved  Cotswold  to  see  what  could  be  done  with  them. 
Believing  it  the  true  policy  to  have  the  best,  as  it  soonest  repays  out- 
lays, he  imported  each  year  the  winners  of  the  highest  prizes  of  the 
Koyal  Agricultural  Society  of  England,  confident  in  his  acquisition 
that  if  they  beat  England  he  must  surely  have  the  purest  and  best  that 
England  could  produce.  Col.  Ware  found,  after  putting  three  crosses 
of  his  imported  rams  on  his  ordinary  flock,  that  the  fleece  greatly 
increased  in  weight,  and  sold  for  as  much  per  pound  as  the  fleece  of 
ordinary  sheep  5  and  he  sold  the  mutton  from  these  crosses  readily,  the 
fall  after  1  year  old,  for  $10  on  the  farm,  so  that  he  sold  out  clean 
every  year,  keeping  none  over  the  winter  but  the  breeding  ewes  and 
the  lambs  of  the  same  spring.  The  result  of  the  improvement  was  that 
where  he  formerly  sold  one  mutton  sheep  4  years  old  for  $2.50  on  grass 
and  $4  on  grain  in  winter,  he  sold  4  of  his  improved  sheep  for  $40,  and 
realized  more  on  the  wool.  TUe  success  was  not  lost  on  the  farmers  of 
his  section,  who  procured  rams  from  him  and  improved  their  flocks, 
until,  in  the  words  of  Col.  Ware,  "this  little  county  of  Clarke  that  I  live 
in  has  now  a  reputation  for  mutton  probably  unequaled  by  any  State 
in  the  Union.  It  is  not  unusual  for  a  flock  of  40  to  50  ewes,  part  bred, 
to  yield  in  mutton  and  wool  each  year  from  $500  to  $650." 

The  improvement  in  this  county  was  emulated  in  others  and  the  whole 
State  was  showing  a  great  advance  in  sheep  husbandry,  when  the  war 
of  secession  exterminated  many  of  her  fine  flocks  and  disheartened  her 
people.  But  the  sheep  of  Clarke,  Loudoun,  and  of  the  entire  Shenan- 
doah  Valley  are  still  held  in  high  repute  and  find  good  markets.  In 
recent  years  the  interest  in  sheep  has  revived  and  many  fine  sheep 
have  been  introduced,  including  the  Cotswolds,Hampshires,and  Shrop- 
sliires.  In  1872  Neville  and  Landale,  of  Salem,  imported  a  nuihber  of 
Border  Leicester  rams  and  ewes,  selected  from  the  flock  of  Eev.  M r. 
Bosanquet,  England. 

The  valley  of  Virginia,  the  Blue  Eidge,  and  the  Piedmont,  are  all 
admirably  adapted  to  the  production  of  the  cultivated  forage  plants 
necessary  for  winter  feeding,  and  in  summer  there  is  an  abundance  of 
white  clover  and  blue  grass  pasturage.  But  with  unrivaled  advan- 
tages sheep-raising  has  not  become  a  prominent  industry  in  this  section, 
and  the  fine  mountain  pasturage  is  not  used.  Some  returns  made  to  the 
Department  of  Agriculture  in  1880  show  possibilities. 


464  SHEEP   INDUSTRY    OF    THE    UNITED    STATES 

Mr.  John  Carmichael,  of  Loudoun  County,  reported  the  value  of 
spring  Iambs  sent  to  Washington  at  $2.50  to  $5,  according  to  quality; 
that  Western  ewes,  bought  in  the  autumn  for  breeding,  cost  $2.75; 
their  lambs  averaged  $2.30  and  their  wool  $1  more.  The  ewes  were  fat- 
tened and  sold  in  the  fall  for  $4  and  $5.  This  made  the  gross  returns 
of  the  year  about  $8,  or  $5.20  above  the  cost  of  the  ewe  for  feed  and 
profits.  A  correspondent  from  Clarke  County  says : 

It  is  far  more  profitable  to  keep  the  different  varieties  of  the  mutton  breeds  than 
the  fine-wool  or  Merino  breed  in  this  portion  of  Virginia.  I  say  this  from  my  own 
experience  and  that  of  many  intelligent  gentlemen  with  whom  I  have  conversed. 
The  Cots  wold  sheep  and  its  crosses  with  the  Southdown  are  less  liable  to  lose  their 
lambs  than  the  Merino.  The  lambs  are  more  vigorous  and  hardy;  then  add  their 
early  maturity,  their  fitness  for  market  at  eighteen  months  old,  and  their  almost  dou- 
ble value  when  in  market,  and  you  have  advantages  which  far  outweigh  the  addi- 
tional amount  of  food  which  the  mutton  sheep  may  consume  in  proportion  to  his  size. 
I  have  said  nothing  about  the  difference  in  the  value  of  the  wool,  because  I  believe 
there  is  very  little  difference ;  if  there  is  any  it  is  in  favor  of  the  mutton  breed  in 
this  county.  In  January,  1869, 1  agreed  to  take  from  a  gentleman  in  this  county  100 
Spanish  Merino  ewes  to  keep  on  sharea,  he  giving  me  one-half  the  lambs  and  one- 
half  the  wool  for  keeping  them  until  the  fall  of  1869.  They  were  put  in  a  field  of  75 
acres  sod,  with  45  acres  of  woodland  attached;  the  pasture  was  good  and  they 
fattened  upon  it.  At  the  same  time  25  ewes  of  Cotswold  and  Southdown  were  put  in 
the  field ;  the  Merinos  in  the  spring  produced  56  lambs,  the  25  Cotswold  and  Southdown 
ewes  raised  24  lambs.  The  feed  was  the  same  and  the  same  care  was  bestowed  upon 
each  flock,  for  they  were  together  all  the  time.  All  the  Merino  lambs  were  sold  in 
October,  1869,  at  $2  per  head,  except  5,  which  had  the  foot-rot  so  badly  they  could 
not  be  driven  to  market;  the  Cotswold  and  Soujfchdown  would  have  brought  double 
the  money  per  head.  These  views  apply  to  this  county,  which  is  only  50  miles  from 
Washington,  D.  C.,  and  about  85  miles  from  Baltimore. 

Thomas  F.  Eives,  of  Dinwiddie,  reported  that  Captain  Shelton  had 
a  fine  flock  of  grade  Southdowns,  He  sowed  rye  and  winter  oats,  thus 
supplying  good  winter  pasture.  His  lambs  were  dropped  in  the  early 
part  of  January  and  some  in  December.  He  generally  had  a  lot  of  fat 
lambs  in  the  market  by  the  middle  of  April,  and  always  commanded  a 
good  price  for  them,  from  $5  to  $6  per  head. 

In  Northumberland  County  a  flock  of  68  ewes,  costing  $3  each,  pro- 
duced 100  lambs  the  first  year,  which  brought  $5  each  in  May,  netting 
nearly  $300  above  first  cost,  with  the  original  flock  and  the  wool  on 
hand.  They  were  turned  into  a  wheat  stubble  seeded  with  clover,  and 
had  no  other  food  and  little  attention.  A  Lunenburg  farmer  kept  48 
sheep  at  a  cost  of  $10  per  annum  for  shearing  and  feed,  exclusive  of 
pasturage  and  care,  yielding  an  average  of  $93  per  annum.  A  Ches- 
terfield County  farmer  had  a  flock  of  40  worth  $100,  and  had  sold  24  for 
$60  and  150  pounds  of  wool  for  $34.50.  The  cost  of  the  original  18  was 
$42,  and  the  cost  of  keeping  two  years  estimated  at  $30,  leaving  a  gain 
equivalent  to  $122.50,  paying  well  for  care  and  investment.  In  Orange 
County  the  cost  of  keeping  long-wooled  Cotswolds  was  estimated  at  50 
cents  a  head,  and  30  cents  per  head  for  a  flock  of  80  Merinos.  The 
profit  of  one  of  the  Cotswold  flocks  was  $6.75  per  head,  of  another  $5.90 


EAST   OF   THE   MISSISSIPPI   RIVER.  465 

per  head;  the  Merinos  $6.20.  It  was  believed  that  these  figures  could 
be  increased  by  better  attention,  as  grasses  and  herbage  rendered  the 
county  a  paradise  for  sheep.  In  Middlesex  County  100  acres  would 
graze  40  sheep,  and  by  adding  $1  to  each  sheep  for  winter  feeding  the 
following  result  was  figured  out : 

For  100  acres $600.00 

Interest  on  money 36. 00 

2  rams  and  40  ewes 100. 00 

Interest  on  same  . .  6. 00 


742.00 


From  40  ewes,  50  lambs  at  $4 200. 00 

294  ponnds  wool,  at  25  cents  per  pound 73. 50 


273.50 

A  gentleman  in  New  Kent  County,  Va.,  writes  that  he  keeps  100  com- 
mon ewes;  breeds  to  Southdown ;  sells  an  average  of  80  lambs  annually, 
at  * 4  each,  and  obtains  enough  for  wool  to  pay  all  expenses  of  keeping, 
while  the  benefit  received  by  his  land  is  equal  to  the  interest  on  its 
value,  leaving  the  receipts  for  lambs  as  interest  and  profits  on  invest- 
ment. Another,  in  Clarke  County,  Ya.,  tried  Merinos  and  Cots  wolds. 
Both  breeds  did  well,  but  while  the  .Merino  lambs  brought  $2  each,  the 
Cotswolds  were  worth  $4,  and  the  prolificacy  of  the  Cotswolds  was  far 
greater. 

In  a  system  of  mixed  husbandry  which,  sooner  or  later,  must  be  adopted 
by  every  State  of  the  South,  the  sheep  must  be  an  important  factor. 
To  them  must  be  committed  the  renovation  of  the  worn-out  lands  and 
the  sustenance  of  the  present  crop-yielding  fields.  They  are  the  only 
animals  which  do  not  exhaust  the  land  upon  which  they  feed.  Above 
all,  they  permanently  improve  it,  and  it  is  said  of  English  agriculture 
that  while  there  is  no  profit  in  growing  sheep  in  England  simply  for 
their  mutton  and  wool,  sheep  husbandry  is  still  a  necessity  as  the  sole 
means  of  keeping  up  the  laud. 

The  same  necessity  exists  in  this  country  where  some  of  the  lands 
have  been  cropped  to  death.  A  case  frequently  cited  is  that  of  Mr.  Wil- 
liam Chamberlain,  of  Red  Hook,  Dutchess  County,  N.  Y.,  the  importer 
of  the  Silesian  sheep,  who  purchased  in  1840  a  farm  in  that  place  of  380 
acres,  which  had  been  used  so  long  for  selling  hay  that  it  was  worn  out. 
The  hay  crop  in  1841  was  17  loads;  40  acres  of  rye  gave  10  bushels  to 
the  acre;  25  acres  of  corn  averaged  20  bushels  to  the  acre;  the  rest 
of  the  farm  pastured  2  horses,  4  oxen,  and  1  cow.  The  land  was  so  poor 
that  it  would  not  raise  red  clover.  By  using  sheep  as  the  producers 
and  manufacturers  of  manure,  he  made  this  worn-out  farm  surprisingly 
productive.  The  product  in  1866  was  600  tons  of  hay ;  40  acres  of  Indian 
corn,  yielding  50  bushels  to  the  acre;  30  acres  of  wheat,  averaging  15 
bushels;  30  acres  of  oats;  8  acres  of  roots,  and  the  pasturage  of  300 
sheep,  and  of  the  teams,  cows,  etc.,  necessary  to  carry  on  the  farm  and 
22990 30 


466  SHEEP    INDUSTRY    OF    THE    U1STITED    STATES 

to  supply  the  families  on  it  with  milk  and  butter.  Mr.  Chamberlain's 
plan,  when  he  first  commenced  making  manure  by  using  sheep,  was  to 
spread  it  thinly,  so  as  to  go  over  all  the  surface  he  could  and  make  clo- 
ver grow;  and  he  said  that,  when  he  had  brought  his  land  to  where  it 
would  produce  clover,  improvement  thenceforth  was  easy  and  rapid. 
The  sheep  not  only  gave  the  first  impulse,  but  were  all  the  time  depended 
upon  as  the  great  manure-producing  power. 

What  is  true  in  England,  what  is  true  in  New  York,  is  true  also  on 
some  of  the  lands  of  the  West  and  other  places.  Mr.  Eli  Stilson,  of 
Wisconsin,  by  keeping  sheep,  is  able  to  raise  24  bushels  of  wheat  to 
the  acre,  while  the  average  yield  of  wheat  in  Wisconsin  is  less  than 
half  that.  There  are  cases  in  Vermont  where  sheep  farmers  have  been 
compelled  to  abandon  one  farm  after  another  as  they  become  too  fertile 
for  profitable  sheep  growing.  Mr.  George  Geddes,  of  New  York,  who 
raised  sheep  for  many  years  in  connection  with  wheat,  said  that  with 
one  sheep  to  the  acre  of  cultivated  land,  pasture,  and  meadow,  he 
raised  more  bushels  of  grain  on  the  average  than  he  did  when  he  had  no 
sheep  to  manufacture  his  coarse  forage  into  manure,  and  to  enrich  his 
pastures  to  prepare  them  for  the  grain  crop ;  and  that,  while  producing 
crops  on  less  acres  and  at  less  cost  than  he  did  before  he  kept  sheep, 
he  had  in  addition  the  wool  and  the  mutton  produced  by  the  sheep. 

Instances  similar  to  these  can  be  multiplied  in  every  State,  and  the 
attending  success  can  be  secured  any  where  in  the  South,  and  nowhere 
to  better  advantage  than  on  the  worn-out  tobacco  fields  of  Virginia  and 
Maryland.  They  can  be  made  to  support  a  profitable  sheep  husbandry 
and  the  sheep  can  be  made  to  renew  the  fertility  of  the  lands.  In  this 
economy  the  grade  Merinos  will  find  their  proper  place  in  localities  and 
barrens  where  at  first  less  hardy  breeds  would  starve. 

In  1840  the  number  of  sheep  in  the  State  was  1,293,772;  in  1850,  it 
was  1,310,004,  and  in  1860  it  was  1,043,269.  West  Virginia  was 
detached  in  1862,  and  the  figures  for  Virginia  since  that  time  are  as 
follows : 

1870 370,145 

1875 367, 500 

1880 497;289 

1885 477,450 

444,563 

There  was  a  decline  in  the  number  of  sheep  from  1880  to  1890  of  about 
10  per  cent,  and  various  causes  are  assigned.  The  Agricultural  Report 
for  1887  gave  as  a  reason  the  low  price  of  wool  and  mutton,  and  the  con- 
sequent loss  of  interest  in  them,  though  where  attention  was  given  bet- 
ter  breeds  were  being  raised,  and  in  some  localities  farmers  were  begin- 
ning to  set  a  portion  of  their  lands  in  grasses,  intending  to  substitute  in 
part  stock-raising  for  the  grain  and  tobacco  previously  raised.  Flocks 
were  reduced  in  1888,  many  breeders  going  out  of  the  business  entirely. 
No  disease  was  reported,  and  in  1890  it  was  believed  that  the  loss  in 


EAST   OF   THE   MISSISSIPPI   RIVER.  467 

number  was  more  than  counterbalanced  by  the  improvement  in  the 
quality  by  the  use  of  better  breeds  and  by  better  care,  induced  by  the 
growth  of  opinion  in  their  favor  as  a  source  of  profit  and  as  a  valuable 
factor  in  mixed  husbandry.  At  present  sheep  are  about  holding  their 
own  as  to  numbers,  but  better  prices  and  an  increasing  demand  for  them 
have  caused  farmers  to  sell  off  closer  and  keep  up  improvement.  There 
are  many  flocks  of  good  sheep  which  are  rightly  appreciated  and  receive 
as  good  treatment  as  anywhere  shown,  and  some  of  the  old  tobacco  and 
wheat  fields  support  sheep  the  year  round  at  a  very  small  cost.  In 
general,  however,  not  much  care  is  bestowed  upon  this  valuable  stock 
in  the  State,  save  in  the  Piedmont  region,  where  the  farmers  raise  most 
excellent  mutton  and  ship  to  the  Philadelphia,  Baltimore,  and  Wash- 
ington markets  good  early  lambs.  Breeding  flocks  of  the  best  breeds 
are  successful  and  receive  good  attention.  There  is  an  abundance  of 
the  best  pasturage  for  sheep,  and  nothing  stands  in  the  way  of  the  indus- 
try but  the  destruction  caused  by  the  ever  present  dog  and  the  indiffer- 
ence of  the  people  to  that  destruction.  Here,  however,  there  is  ground 
for  hope  in  the  future.  There  is  agitation  for  legislation  on  the  dog 
question  that  promises  good  results  in  the  near  future,  for  the  question 
is  not  a  partisan  one  and  appeals  to  the  highest  and  best  interests  of 
the  entire  people — a  cheap  and  healthy  food  supply. 

WEST  VIRGINIA. 

When  this  portion  of  the  Old  Dominion  was  detached  and  set  up  as 
a  separate  State  it  carried  about  half  the  sheep  of  the  old  State  with 
it.  In  1870  it  had  552,327,  against  370,145  of  Virginia  proper.  The 
new  State  embraced  in  its  limits  nearly  all  the  fine-wool  flocks  and 
some  of  the  best  mutton  sheep.  The  pasturage  of  the  new  State  and 
its  adaptability  to  successful  sheep  husbandry  is  unequaled.  In  the 
extreme  northwest  the  finest  wool  known  in  the  United  States  has  been 
grown,  and  the  eastern  part  supplies  some  of  the  best  mutton  sold  in 
the  Philadelphia,  Washington,  and  Baltimore  markets.  In  former 
years  many  fine  Merino  flocks  were  kept  in  the  counties  bordering  on 
Pennsylvania  and  Maryland,  and  such  is  still  the  case  as  to  those  bor- 
dering Pennsylvania,  but  those  lying  adjacent  to  Maryland  now  find 
more  profit  and  advantage  in  the  mutton  breeds,  of  which  they  raise 
the  best.  Early  lambs  and  fat  mutton  are  the  specialties  of  the  industry 
and  success  crowns  the  attention  given.  There  are  many  home  flocks 
in  this  section  kept  to  supply  the  family  table  and  the  local  butcher. 
In  the  southwestern  part  of  the  State  bordering  Kentucky,  and  in  the 
central  portion,  there  are  yet  many  common  sheep,  and  many  efforts 
have  been  made  to  improve  them  by  crossing  some  of  the  imported 
varieties  on  them,  but  the  results  have  not  been  attended  with  great 
success.  The  system  of  husbandry  here  pursued  is  not  favorable  to 
success,  because  it  is  too  careless,  in  that  the  sheep  are  not  housed  in 
winter.  There  has  been  marked  improvement  in  this  respect,  however, 


468  SEEEP   INDUSTRf   OF   THE   UNITED    STATES 

within  recent  years,  and  the  opening  up  of  large  sections  of  railroads 
has  given  increased  interest  to  the  possibilities  of  the  sheep  and  with 
it  greater  attention. 

There  has  been  but  little  fluctuation  in  the  number  of  sheep  from 
1870  to  1890;  in  the  first  year  it  was  552,327;  in  the  last  it  was  508,654. 
But  there  have  been  counterbalancing  changes.  The  revision  of  the 
tariff  in  1883  caused  a  great  decrease  in  the  fine- wool  flocks  of  the 
western  counties,  and  the  growing  demand  for  good  mutton  increased 
the  mutton  flocks  in  the  eastern  counties.  In  January,  1888,  the  Agri- 
cultural Department  reported  "a  decrease  in  the  number  of  sheep  in 
the  western  portion  of  the  State,  while  in  the  eastern  part  there  has 
been  a  large  increase.  There  are  more  flock-masters  now  than  hereto- 
fore, owing  to  the  increased  number  of  small  flocks  (extremely  large 
ones  being  an  exception),  which  gives  the  sheep  better  care  and  atten- 
tion, and  increases  their  value." 

One  of  the  largest,  if  not  the  largest,  fine- wool  flocks  of  the  eastern 
part  of  the  State  was  that  of  Logan  Osburn,  of  Jefferson  County, 
briefly  noticed  elsewhere.  The  origin  of  this  flock  traces  to  the  pur- 
chase by  William  Osburn,  of  Loudoun  County,  Ya.,  of  fifteen  moun- 
tain or  open-wool  ewes  which  were  bred  to  a  thoroughbred  Ohio  Merino 
ram.  The  offspring  were  bred  in  the  same  manner,  and  in  1872  Logan 
Osburn  purchased  of  his  brother  William  three  head  for  $500,  and  in 
1873  100  half-blood  Ohio  ewes  were  added  at  a  cost  of  $800.  In  1874 
another  addition  was  made  to  the  flock  of  100  thoroughbred  Merinos, 
heavy  shearers  and  of  fine  carcass.  Each  year  the  ewe  lambs  were 
retained  and  bred  at  the  age  of  eighteen  months.  Mr.  Osb urn's  practice 
was  to  keep  the  entire  crop  of  lambs  each  season,  weeding  out  and  selling 
to  the  butcher  the  objectionable  ones,  and  with  them  the  old  sheep, 
poor  shearers,  or  broken-bagged  ewes.  After  the  wether  lambs  were 
sheared  and  attained  sufficient  age  to  fatten,  they  were  disposed  of  for 
mutton.  From  1878  to  1882  the  flock  aggregated  from  2,000  to  2,800, 
the  latter  being  the  greatest  number  it  ever  attained.  In  1880,  from 
the  sale  of  wethers,  old  ewes,  rams,  and  wool,  Mr.  Osburn  received 
$7,452,  and  in  1881  from  the  same  sources,  $8,620.  A  drought  then 
ensued  which  necessitated  the  reduction  of  the  flock  by  1,000  head, 
this  number  being  shipped  to  city  markets  and  sold  at  very  low  figures. 
From  this  time  until  his  death,  in  1890,  Mr.  Osburn  maintained  the 
flock  at  about  1,600  to  1,800  head,  giving  fleeces  of  7  to  9  pounds 
washed  wool.  The  flock  was  sold  in  August,  1891,  the  purchasers 
being  parties  living  in  the  county.  The  prices  realized  were  from  $3  to 
$10  per  head,  the  average  being  nearly  $5.  Two  hundred  head  were 
retained  by  his  son,  Logan  Osburn,  jr.,  of  Kabletown,  Jefferson  County, 
who  furnished  the  above  facts. 

The  fact  that  the  sheep  of  this  flock,  in  but  little  more  than  fifteen 
years,  averaged  nearly  one-third  larger  than  the  flocks  from  which  they 
sprung,  and  that  the  weight  of  fleece  and  length  of  staple  increased  in 


EAST    OF    THE    MISSISSIPPI    RIVER. 


469 


the  same  proportion,  and  that  the  wool  brought  top  prices  in  eastern 
markets,  gives  striking  proof  of  the  value  of  the  limestone  lands,  good 
water,  and  pure  air  of  this  section  of  country  for  sheep-breeding  and 
wool  producing.  But  the  great  wool-growing  part  of  the  State  is  that 
known  as  the  Pan  Handle  in  the  extreme  northwest,  which  has  a  history 
peculiarly  its  own,  and  which  will  be  considered  in  connection  with  that 
of  western  Pennsylvania. 

SJieep  and  wool  of  West  Virginia,  1870  to  1890. 


Tear. 

Number  of 
sheep. 

Wool. 

Average 
weight  of 
fleece  per 
head. 

1870 

552  327 

Pounds. 
1  593  541 

Pounds. 
2  88 

1880            .               

674  769 

2  681  444 

3  99 

1885 

637  665 

2  705  071 

4  25 

1887                                              

593,666 

2  443  080 

4  25 

1890  

508,  654 

2,  288,  943 

4.50 

The  States  of  Delaware,  Maryland,  Virginia,  and  the  eastern  part  of 
West  Virginia  are  likely  to  continue  their  sheep  husbandry  in  the 
direction  of  raising  early  lambs  and  mutton  for  market  and  home  flocks 
for  home  consumption,  such  a  system  as  is  so  successfully  pursued  in 
New  Jersey.  Quick  returns  coming  from  lambs  4  months  old  at  higher 
prices  than  full-grown  Merino  grades  have  an  especial  attraction  for 
the  thrifty  and  enterprising  farmer.  Half-bred  Southdown,  Hampshire, 
Cotswold,  Oxford,  and  Shropshire  lambs,  properly  cared  for,  can  be  sold 
at  a  small  profit  on  the  meat  alone,  leaving  the  wool  as  clear  gain.  The 
healthfullness  of  the  climate,  the  cheapness  of  both  fertile  and  worn-out 
lands,  and  ready  access  to  good  markets  make  this  section  peculiarly 
suitable  for  mutton  and  lamb  raising.  There-  may  be  depressions  in 
the  market  at  times,  as  there  are  and  must  be  with  every  industry,  but 
the  farmer  who  can  raise  a  4-months  lamb  and  dispose  of  it  for  $3.50  to 
$5.50  and  sell  the  wool  from  the  ewe  at  25  cents  a  pound,  and  send  her 
fattened  to  the  market  in  the  fall,  when  she  brings  $3.50  to  $5,  will  find 
the  balance  on  the  right  side  of  the  ledger  in  a  series  of  years.  The 
rapid  growth  of  our  cities  and  the  increasing  appreciation  of  mutton 
by  city  people  is  likely  to  sustain  a  large  demand,  and  there  is  not  much 
danger  of  a  continued  over  supply.  There  is  also  a  growing  disposition 
in  many  localities  in  the  country  to  discard  pork  and  use  more  mutton, 
which  gives  much  encouragement  to  the  maintenance  of  small  flocks 
for  home  consumption.  Wool  will  be  a  secondary  consideration  with 
the  farmer,  but  with  the  improvement  of  his  mutton  he  will  increase 
the  weight  of  his  fleece  and  furnish  good  combing  wool,  which  will  com- 
mand a  remunerative  price,  high  tariff  or  low  tariff. 

NORTH   CAROLINA. 

Information  regarding  the  introduction  of  the  Merino  sheep  into  the 
State  of  North  Carolina  is  very  limited.  The  earliest  notice  we  have  is 


470        SHEEP  INDUSTRY  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES 

that  on  July  4, 1810,  a  Livingston  Merino  ram  was  exhibited  at  Oamden 
Court  House,  on  which  occasion  Lemuel  Sawyer,  a  member  of  the 
National  House  of  Bepresentatives  from  North  Carolina,  made  an 
address,  in  which  he  said:  "  The  introduction  of  the  Merino  breaks  the 
last  link  in  the  chain  of  foreign  dependence,  and  is  calculated  to 
exalt  the  destinies  of  this  country  beyond  the  reach  of  accident  or  con- 
trol." 

After  a  wide  range  of  fact  and  much  metaphor  he  finally  returned  to 
the  manufacturing  interests  and  the  ram,  and  called  upon  the  ladies 
present  to  "support  with  their  smiles  this  rising  germ  of  national 
glory."  An  opposition  paper  in  commenting  upon  the  address  advised 
by  all  means  the  encouragement  of  the  "  germ  of  national  glory"  by  a 
bevy  of  ladies  drawing  themselves  up  in  a  row  and  bestowing  their 
bewitching  smiles  on  an  old  Merino  rani ! 

There  were  some  of  the  Jarvis  importations  taken  into  the  State,  and 
some  attempt  was  made  to  establish  the  manufacture  of  fine  wool.  Of 
this,  however,  and  the  success  of  the  Merino  at  this  period  we  know 
less  than  that  of  any  other  State.  There  were  some  few  Merinos  in 
various  parts  of  the  State,  but  the  stock  soon  ran  down  to  a  very  low 
grade.  In  1850  there  was  a  revival  of  wool- growing,  and  in  some  coun- 
ties the  number  of  sheep  doubled  and  wool  became  an  article  of  export. 
Granville  County  reported  that  most  of  the  winter  clothing  was  made 
at  home  and  in  the  dwellings  of  the  people  coiild  be  found  carpets  as 
nice  as  anywhere.  Sheep  needed  no  attention  in  summer  and  cost  but 
10  cents  a  head  in  winter.  Some  Merino  sheep  found  their  way  into 
the  State  about  this  time,  but  the  risk  from  dogs  was  too  great  to  buy 
fine-wooled  sheep  to  any  extent,  and  in  many  sections  the  dogs  were  so 
destructive  that  farmers  abandoned  wool-raising  and  bought  their 
woolen  goods  at  the  North.  John  A.  Young  in  1878,  in  a  communica- 
tion to  the  Department  of  Agriculture,  stated  that  twenty  years'  expe- 
rience in  manufacturing  the  wools  grown  in  the  State  had  familiarized 
him  with  the  manner  in  which  the  sheep  had  been  cared  for,  and  had 
convinced  him  that  without  great  natural  advantages  their  utter  neglect 
would  long  since  have  exterminated  them  from  the  soil.  There  were 
but  few  plantations  in  the  State  upon  which  there  was  not  to  be  found 
a  flock  of  sheep  intended  to  be  only  sufficient  to  supply  the  wool  neces- 
sary to  clothe  the  family  and  furnish  an  occasional  mutton.  These 
sheep  were  generally  the  native  breed,  rarely  improved  by  crosses  upon 
foreign  blood. 

As  a  general  rule,  these  small  flocks  never  entered  into  their  owner's  estimate  of 
his  valuable  property,  and  they  were  never  so  treated.  In  the  spring  they  were 
shorn  of  their  fleeces  and  turned  outside  their  owner's  inclosures  to  seek  their 
summer  support  in  the  forests  and  waste  lands  over  which  they  chose  to  roam,  and 
to  run  the  gauntlet  for  life  among  hungry  hounds  arid  gaunt  curs,  almost  as  numer- 
ous as  themselves.  All  that  might  escape,  and  were  able  to  find  their  homes  in  the 
fall  season,  and  would  seek  its  inhospitalities  for  the  winter,  would  be  admitted 
within  the  gates,  and  permitted  to  eke  out  a  scanty  living  in  the  denuded  fields  and 


EAST   OF   THE   MISSISSIPPI   RIVER. 


471 


corners  of  worm-fences,  which  is  supplemented  by  a  morning  and  evening  allowance 
of  corn-fodder,  which  the  compassionate  and  appreciative  owner  allows  to  be  fed  to 
them  by  a  boy  who  has  not  yet  attained  sufficient  size  to  be  otherwise  useful.  The 
only  protection  against  the  rains  and  occasional  storms  of  winter  afforded  to  a  major- 
ity of  these  flocks  being  such  as  their  instincts  lead  them  to  seek  by  hovering  on  the 
sheltering  sides  of  barns  and  outbuildings  that  may  be  accessible;  a  tumble-down  or 
waste  house  on  a  plantation  is  a  perfect  asylum  for  them.  Yet,  under  this  treatment, 
the  flocks  of  the  farmers  keep  their  numbers  full,  and  occasionally  multiply  beyond 
their  wants.  Of  necessity,  their  fleeces  are  light  and  inferior.  Whenever  an  effort 
has  been  made  to  improve  the  stock  by  crossing  upon  Merino  or  other  approved 
blood,  the  effect  is  satisfactory  and  lasting.  From  the  universal  custom  of  turning 
the  entire  stocks  into  the  common  "range"  the  impression  of  a  Merino,  Southdown, 
or  other  importation  would  manifest  itself  upon  the  flocks  of  the  entire  neighbor- 
hoods. So  apparent  is  the  improvement  thus  made  that  in  purchasing  the  surplus 
brought  to  market  there  would  be  no  difficulty  in  recognizing  the  wool  from  a  neigh- 
borhood that  had  been  favored  by  some  enterprising  farmer  having  imported  from 
Virginia  or  Pennsylvania  a  pair  of  blooded  animals.  Without  any  change  in  the 
mode  of  treatment,  these  improvements  are  known  to  be  distinctly  manifest  in 
neighborhoods  30  years  after  their  introduction.  Being  able  to  withstand  all  this 
hardship  and  neglect,  and  promptly  to  respond  to  every  effort  to  improve  their 
quality  or  condition,  it  is  evident  that  there  is  in  North  Carolina  an  adaptation  of 
natural  gifts  to  their  peculiar  wants. 

There  has  been  no  marked  improvement  since  the  above  was  written. 
In  1890  66  per  cent  of  the  sheep  were  unimproved  and  worth  on  an 
average  $1.51  per  head,  a  price  lower  than  the  sheep  of  any  other  State 
in  the  Union  with  the  single  exception  of  Alabama,  whose  sheep  were 
valued  at  seven  cents  less.  Two-thirds  of  the  wool  was  of  a  low-grade 
clothing  or  carpet,  the  latter  predominating. 

Sheep  and  wool  in  North  Carolina,  1840  to  1890. 


Tear. 

Number  of 
sheep. 

Wool. 

Average 
weight  of 
fleece  per 
head. 

1840  

538,  279 

Poundt. 
625,  044 

Poundt. 
1.16 

1850 

595  249 

970,  738 

1  80 

I860         .                                                                                            

546,  749 

883,473 

1.61 

1870 

463  435 

799,667 

1  72 

1880                                                                                              

461,638 

917,  756 

1.98 

1890 

414  819 

863,  837 

2.08 

There  is  more  in  the  possibilities  of  sheep-husbandry  in  North  Caro- 
lina than  in  the  reality.  It  possesses  a  medium  temperature  of  climate, 
free  from  the  severities  of  blighting  cold  as  well  as  from  the  debilitat- 
ing and  parching  heat.  In  the  tide- water  region  where  the  influence  of 
winter  winds  from  the  mountains  is  not  felt,  sheep  can  find  a  sustain- 
ing pasturage  the  entire  year  upon  the  wire-grass  which  grows  spon- 
taneously through  the  otherwise  barren  pine  forests.  Here  they  keep 
in  uniform  good  flesh,  grow  to  better  maturity,  and  furnish  better 
fleeces  than  in  the  higher  regions  of  the  State,  contributing  largely  to 
clothing  and  feeding  the  owner's  family  without  subjecting  him  to  any 
expense  and  to  but  little  trouble. 


472  SHEEP    INDUSTRY    OF    THE    UNITED    STATES 

North  Carolina  embraces  within  its  limits  48,000  square  miles,  of 
which  Mr.  Young,  heretofore  quoted,  says : 

Of  this  immense  territory  it  may  be  said  there  is  not  a  square  mile  of  soil  which  is 
not  susceptible  of  being  made  to  produce  a  remunerative  yield  of  tillage,  and  not  one 
upon  which  would  not  ordinarily  be  found  a  good  natural  pasturage  for  sheep ;  nor  is 
there  a  square  mile  of  it  upon  which,  when  sheep  were  introduced  and  cared  for, 
would  not,  year  by  year,  be  improved  by  their  presence  and  pasturage  upon  it. 
There  is  no  part  of  the  State  which  does  not  possess  immense  natural  advantages  in 
soil  and  climate  over  the  Southdown  hills  of  England,  the  sterility  of  which  ren- 
dered them  almost  uninhabitable  until  sheep  were  introduced  upon  them,  by  which 
they  have  been  converted  into  the  greenest  meadows  of  the  island.  In  the  moun- 
tains and  hill  country  more  winter  provisions  would  be  required  than  in  the  bal- 
ance of  the  State;  but  the  shortness  of  the  season  would  not  demand  much  expense 
nor  render  the  care  of  flocks  burdensome.  In  three-fourths  of  the  State  no  other 
winter  provision  would  be  necessary  than  the  sowing  of  grasses  and  small  grain  for 
their  pasturage,  and  the  providing  of  cheap  shelters  from  occasional  seasons  of 
inclemency.  The  farmers  have  practiced  the  habit  of  grazing  their  sheep  upon 
their  fields  of  small  grain  during  the  winter,  which,  when  judiciously  done,  rather 
contributes  to  than  detracts  from  their  yield  at  harvest.  In  the  pine  lands  and 
tide- water  portion  of  the  State  they  do  live  independent  of  the  care  of  man,  but 
certainly  would  reward  him  for  care  and  attention. 

The  mountain  portion  of  North  Carolina,  embracing  some  twenty  counties,  pos- 
sesses a  soil  unsurpassed  for  fertility  by  any  similar  extent  of  mountain  country  on 
our  continent.  Here  the  celebrated  blue-grass  is  an  indigenous  growth,  and  the 
mountain  sides  and  alluvial  valleys  alike  make  the  finest  meadows  of  this  favorite 
and  never- failing  pasturage.  The  winters  here  are  short,  and  free  from  that  intensity 
which  characterizes  more  northern  latitudes.  This  mountain  portion  of  the  State 
softens  down  eastward  into  a  hill  and  dale  plateau,  embracing  as  many  more  counties, 
and  this  is  succeeded  by  a  lovely  champaign  country,  extending  to  the  Atlantic  coast. 
The  soil  of  this  extensive  mountain  and  upland  country,  embracing  some  sixty  of  the 
ninety-one  counties  in  the  State,  is  varied  in  character.  A  large  proportion  of  it, 
having  a  rich  clay  subsoil,  yields  abundant  crops  of  the  cereals  and  of  cotton  and 
tobacco,  and  the  balance,  having  an  admixture  of  sand,  is  more  easily  cultivated, 
and,  with  light  fertilization,  yields  quite  as  abundant  harvests.  All  is  susceptible 
of  the  highest  degree  of  improvement,  and  all  produces  native  as  well  as  sown  and 
cultivated  grasses  to  a  high  degree  of  perfection. 

Upon  this  mountain  and  upland  country  there  can  be  grown  every 
valuable  breed  of  sheep  known  to  the  American  shepherd,  a-nd  efforts 
to  raise  large  flocks  have  been  unsuccessful,  not  by  any  want  of  pastur- 
age or  hostility  of  natural  surroundings,  but  by  the  inattention  of  man 
and  too  great  attention  of  the  dogs.  The  Merinos  have  been  tried  in 
the  foot-hills  and  on  the  uplands,  and  found  to  thrive  surprisingly  well, 
and  where  attention  has  been  given  improved  English  breeds  have  done 
well  on  the  uplands  and  in  some  parts  of  the  tide- water  region.  One 
of  the  most  recent  and  interesting  experiments  was  with  the  Cheviot 
sheep  in  1884.  In  the  fall  of  that  year  a  pair  of  them  were  turned  out 
on  the  mountain  range  in  the  western  part  of  the  State,  with  no  more 
care  given  them  than  the  native  sheep  had,  and  they  passed  through 
the  winter  in  good  order.  The  ram,  a  yearling,  sheared  11J  pounds  of 
fine  long  wool;  the  ewe  dropped  two  lambs,  one  of  which  was  lost. 
There  were  some  half-bred  lambs  from  a  cross  of  the  Cheviot  ram  on 


AFTER  CURTIS. 


CHEVIOT  RAM. 


EAST   OF   THE    MISSISSIPPI   RIVER.  473 

the  common  mountain  scrub  ewes  which  were  very  fine,  approaching 
in  appearance  to  the  pure-bred.  This  and  other  similar  experiments 
with  mountain  sheep  leads  to  the  conclusion  that  the  Cheviots,  the 
black-faced  sheep  of  Scotland,  and  allied  breeds,  bred  to  live  upon 
the  herbage  and  rough  growth  of  .the  elevated  moors,  would  thrive  on 
the  mountains  running  from  northern  Georgia  on  the  south,  through 
North  Carolina,  East  Tennessee,  the  two  Virginias,  and  to  Pennsylvania 
on  the  north. 

SOUTH   CAROLINA. 

Although  South  Carolina  was  the  first  State  in  which  an  effort  was 
made  to  encourage  the  importation  of  the  Merino,  it  was  not  the  most 
forward  in  availing  itself  of  the  early  arrivals  in  the  Northern  States. 
It  was  thought  by  the  planters  of  the  State  that  great  advantages 
would  be  derived  from  raising  a  wool  that  would  mix  well  with  cotton, 
and  several  trials  were  made  in  that  direction  with  the  wool  of  the 
native  sheep,  which  was  very  fine  and  considered  the  equal  of  English 
wool,  if  not  superior  to  it.  These  trials  were  so  successful  and  the  cloth 
so  produced  from  the  native  wool  so  satisfactory,  both  as  to  cost  and 
quality,  that  in  May,  1808,  Henry  Izard  purchased  from  Dr.  James 
Mease,  of  Philadelphia,  a  Merino  ram  believed  to  be  of  the  Humphreys 
flock,  descended  from  the  Humphreys  ram  owned  by  Thomas  Bulkley 
and  loaned  to  Dr.  Mease.  Immediately  following  this  other  Merinos 
were  brought  from  the  North  into  various  parts  of  the  State.  But  the 
greater  part  of  those  raised  were  mixed  bloods.  The  easy  acclimation 
of  these  sheep  at  the  northward,  and  the  great  profit  derived  from  them, 
joined  to  the  persuasion  that  they  would  thrive  equally  well  in  South 
Carolina,  induced  several  merchants  to  import  a  few  of  the  mixed  breed 
from  the  Northern  States,  and  some  full-bred  Spanish  Merinos  into 
Charleston.  The  progeny  throughout  the  State  was  superior  in  form 
and  size  to  the  parent  stock,  and  the  fleeces  were  decidedly  finer,  show- 
ing its  great  advantage  and  the  practicability  of  adapting  it  to  the 
State.  But  the  Merino  did  not  enthuse  the  South  Carolina  people.  Cot- 
ton was  their  staple  and  they  wanted  none  better.  The  importations 
of  1810  and  1811  furnished  them  a  few  of  the  full-blooded  Merino,  as 
elsewhere  stated,  but  at  no  time  did  they  display  that  avidity  for  them 
that  characterized  the  people  of  the  Eastern  and  Middle  States.  They 
were  satisfied  apparently  with  the  three  or  four  kinds  of  sheep  they  had, 
the  most  remarkable  and  the  only  one  worthy  of  observation  resembling 
the  Southdown,  described  as  having  no  horns,  its  legs  and  face  gray, 
head  and  upper  part  of  the  neck  thick,  the  pile  planted  closely  on  the 
pelt,  fleeces  unmixed  with  hairs.  An  individual  experience  with  the 
Merino  is  given  in  an  extract  from  the  address  of  Dr.  John  S.  Bellinger 
before  the  Barn  well  District  Agricultural  Society,  in  1821: 

Sheep  answer  well  on  our  pine  lands,  and  when  we  reflect  that  a  considerable  por- 
tion of  the  clothing  of  our  inhabitants  consists  of  domestic  fabrics,  the  improve- 
ments of  our  stock  by  the  Merino  breed  appears  well  worthy  the  attention  of  the 


474        SHEEP  INDUSTRY  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES 

society.  Having  nine  or  ten  years  ago  procured  a  pair  of  this  breed,  they  seem  to 
fatten  easier  than  the  common  sheep ;  and  the  wool  is  very  superior  in  quality  and 
quantity.  What  must  enhance  their  value  much,  their  wool  does  not  fall  off,  and 
this  marked  distinction  from  the  common  breed  shows  itself  even  in  the  three- 
eighth  blood.  My  breed  of  sheep  having  lately  been  further  improved  by  a  ram  of 
this  blood,  presented  me  by  a  relative  (William  Bellinger,  of  Lemmon  Island),  it 
will  afford  me  pleasure  to  extend  the  breed  further  than  I  have  done,  by  exchanging 
stock.  I  have  now  some  excellent  cloth  made  with  wool  sent  to  Newport,  R.  I., 
five  years  since;  it  proved  sound  and  good  quality. 

There  were  a  few  fine  flocks  in  the  State,  among  them  that  of  Wade 
Hampton,  father  of  the  recent  United  States  Senator  of  the  same 
name.  The  records  of  these  flocks  are  not  preserved,  and  for  causes 
operating  here  as  in  Virginia,  mostly  political,  the  Merino  did  not  gain 
an  aggressive  foothold. 

Efforts,  however,  were  made  from  time  to  time  to  stimulate  an  in- 
terest in  them,  and  the  letters  of  Henry  S.  Eandall,  in  1847,  discussed 
the  whole  subject  of  sheep  husbandry  in  the  South  and  called  particu- 
lar attention  to  the  mountain  region  in  the  western  part  of  the  State  as 
favorable  to  the  Merino,  where  large  numbers  could  subsist  during  the 
entire  winter  on  the  hardy  wild  herbage  which  continues  green  in  the 
forests  and  on  some  lowlands.  Climatic  conditions  were  favorable,  the 
cost  of  raising  them  was  very  small,  and  Mr.  Eandall  set  forth  with 
much  minuteness  how  a  flock  of  common  sheep  could  be  graded  up  to 
high-class  sheep  of  the  Merino  breed,  the  management  of  a  flock,  the 
probable  market  for  wool,  and  other  facts  necessary  for  the  wool-grower 
to  know.  About  the  same  time  a  report  was  made  to  the  agricultural 
society  of  Pendleton,  stating  that  as  far  as  latitude  was  concerned 
experiments  had  been  made  both  north  and  south  of  that  place  which 
proved  that  the  Spanish  Merino  wool  neither  degenerated  in  quality 
nor  quantity  of  fleece.  A  flock  was  known  in  Chester  County  in  1844 
that  had  been  kept  for  thirty  years  and  shown  no  diminution  of  fleece. 
They  were  a  cross  of  Escurial  and  Guadaloupe  and  had  been  bred  in- 
and-in  during  the  entire  period.  In  1845  a  flock  was  owned  by  B.  F. 
Taylor,  near  Columbia. 

In  1850,  in  almost  every  part  of  the  State,  nearly  every  farmer  had  a 
small  flock  of  sheep  to  supply  wool  for  winter  clothing ;  for  any  other 
purpose  they  were  not  raised,  except  to  a  limited  extent  near  Charles- 
ton. People  would  not  eat  mutton,  consequently  sheep  were  raised  only 
for  wool  for  domestic  use.  There  were  some  small  flocks  of  grade  Merinos 
and  in  Chester  County,  in  1850,  W.  S.  Gibbs  raised  some  full-blooded, 
quite  as  fine  as  his  original  Escurial  stock,  but  the  full-blooded  wool 
was  too  fine  for  farmer's  use.  For  twenty  years  he  raised  as  fine  wool 
as  was  raised  at  any  place  north,  judging  from  comparison  of  samples. 
In  1854  the  Charleston  Mercury  announced  that  the  experiment  of  rear- 
ing fine  breeds  of  sheep  for  wool  in  the  upper  part  of  the  State  prom- 
ised complete  success. 

It  was  generally  admitted  that  the  Merino  sheep  could  be  grown  with 


EAST    OF   THE    MISSISSIPPI    RIVER.  475 

profit,  but  the  industry  was  not  pursued.  But  again,  in  1878,  the  sub- 
ject was  revived  by  the  preparation  of  a  special  report  on  the  subject 
by  the  United  States  Department  of  Agriculture.  In  this  report  J. 
Washington  Watts,  of  Laurens  County,  who  had  been  a  breeder  of 
sheep  for  many  years,  states  that  he  found  the  Spanish  Merinos  the 
most  profitable,  the  first  of  which  he  had  from  the  Xew  York  flock  of 
Mr.  Randall.  He  had  crossed  the  Merino  with  all  the  breeds  then 
known  in  the  State,  and  said  that  if  wool-growing  was  the  primary  con- 
sideration he  would  by  all  means  raise  the  Merino.  They  did  not 
mature  as  early  as  the  other  breeds,  but  when  matured  made  as  good 
mutton  as  any  breed  he  had  ever  raised.  The  actual  cost  of  raising 
them  was  not  over  60  cents  a  head,  and  the  annual  clip  of  unwashed 
wool  per  sheep  from  full-blood  Merinos  was  7  pounds.  The  average 
number  of  lambs  raised  was  80  per  cent.  His  pasture  was  broom  sedge 
and  Japan  clover  until  after  harvest,  when  his  sheep  were  allowed  the 
run  of  the  grain  fields.  For  winter  pasturage  he  usually  sowed  rye  lots 
for  the  ewes  and  lambs  and  gave  all  the  flock  the  run  of  oats  sown  in 
August  and  September.  As  a  mixed  food  cotton  seed  was  wholesome 
and  economical. 

Although  mutton  was  not  formerly  much  eaten  in  South  Carolina, 
there  were  many  who  appreciated  it  very  highly  and  kept  fine  mutton 
flocks.  Col.  Wade  Hampton  had  a  fine  Leicester  flock  in  1845,  and  60 
lambs  dropped  from  it  that  year  produced,  in  1845,  when  14  months  old, 
11J  to  13J  pounds  of  wool  each,  and  lambs  of  1845  had  4-pound  fleeces 
in  July.  Col.  Hampton  had  Southdowns  also,  and  there  was  a  general 
dispersion  of  the  best  breeds  over  the  State. 

The  commissioner  of  agriculture  of  South  Carolina  instituted  some 
inquiries  as  to  the  condition  and  prospects  of  sheep  husbandry  and  the 
results  were  published  in  1881.  There  were  very  few  localities  in  which 
sheep  could  not  be  raised  in  sufficient  numbers,  at  least  for  home  con- 
sumption, at  a  very  moderate  cost;  and  there  were  many  favored  locali- 
ties where  they  could  be  profitably  raised  in  large  numbers.  To  be 
profitable  they  should  be  raised  with  a  view  to  what  could  be  made  both 
on  the  wool  and  mutton,  and  the  breeds  combining  these  qualities  should 
be  selected.  With  very  little  care  and  small  expenditure  every  farmer 
could  raise  annually  mutton  enough  to  supply  his  family  with  the  best 
and  most  nutritious  food,  and  sell  wool  enough  to  add  considerably  to 
his  income.  The  great  unanimity  expressed  for  the  Merino  and  its 
grades  for  crossing  is  somewhat  remarkable,  and  the  reports  from  vari- 
ous counties  of  the  State  indicate  its  general  prevalence  in  small  num- 
bers. Very  little  attention  was  paid  to  the  improvement  of  breeds ;  the 
Merino,  the  Southdown,  the  Leicester,  ETie  Cotswold,  the  Broad-tailed 
sheep  and  the  natives  had  all  been  crossed  in  various  degrees,  but  the 
Merino  grades  were  good  wool  producers,  hardy,  thrifty  and  fair  for 
mutton,  averaging  in  some  counties  4 J  to  5  pounds  of  wool  per  head. 
In  some  counties  natural  pasturage  afforded  them  their  entire  living ;  in 


476 


SHEEP  INDUSTRY  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES 


others  they  were  sometimes  fed  cotton-seed  and  oats.  The  average 
cost  of  raising  sheep  per  head  throughout  the  State  was  54  cents ;  for 
raising  a  pound  of  wool  10  cents.  The  average  yield  per  sheep  of  all 
kinds  was  3  pounds. 

While  the  average  of  wool  per  head  does  not  equal  that  from  the 
flocks  of  the  North  and  the  West;  the  cost  of  raising  sheep  is  so  low 
that  the  industry  would  be  a  paying  one  but  for  that  curse  of  sheep 
husbandry  all  over  the  country,  the  worthless  dog.  Ten  per  cent  of  the 
sheep  of  South  Carolina  are  annually  killed  by  them,  and  their  existence 
prevents  the  development  of  flocks.  Col.  Watts  kept  up  his  flock  of 
Merinos,  and  at  the  State  Fair  of  1889  showed  some  rams  and  ewes,  the 
only  Spanish  Merinos  on  the  ground.  The  show  of  Southdowns,  Cots- 
wolds,  Oxfordshires,  Shropshires,  Broad-tailed  sheep,  and  Angora  goats 
was  very  creditable. 

Sheep  and  wool  of  South  Carolina,  1840  to  1890. 


Tear. 

Number  of 
sheep. 

Wool. 

Average 
weight  of 
fleece  per 
head. 

1840 

232  981 

Pounds. 
299  170 

Poun  ds. 
1  28 

1850 

285  551 

487  233 

1.70 

I860.         ..     .                          

233,  509 

427,  102 

1.87 

1870 

124  594 

156  314 

1.25 

1880                                                                                           .               

118,  889 

272,  758 

2.29 

1890 

102  031 

293  773 

2  88 

The  advantage  of  the  sheep  as  a  renovator  of  the  land  is  shown  in 
one  instance  in  South  Carolina.  In  1866  a  planter  of  Fairneld  County 
bought  38  common  sheep  and  a  Leicester  ram.  Afterwards  he  bought 
a  Merino  ram  and  then  a  Southdown.  In  1873  his  flock  of  38  had 
increased  to  350  sheep,  worth  $1,000.  His  wool  had  netted  him  $900,  his 
mutton  $875,  beside  what  his  family  consumed.  No  care  was  taken  of 
the  sheep  except  to  salt  them  and  give  them  a  little  cotton- seed  in 
winter.  Their  manure  so  enriched  30  acres  of  land  that  it  raised  1,000 
pounds  of  seed  cotton  in  1873,  where  it  raised  but  200  pounds  in  1866. 

Upon  hilly,  poor  land  in  South  Carolina  the  Merino  thrives  best; 
upon  rich  pastures  the  Southdown,  the  Cotswold,  and  the  Shropshire, 
while  the  low,  flat  lands  are  not  fit  for  sheep  of  any  kind. 

There  has  been  a  very  decided  improvement  in  the  sheep  husbandry 
of  South  Carolina  within  the  last  five  years  by  the  introduction  of  im- 
proved breeds.  Many  Merino  rams,  Shropshires,  and  Southdowns  have 
been  crossed  on  the  flocks  throughout  the  State;  more  care  is  paid  to 
the  sheep,  and  the  business  is  found  to  pay  where  attended  to.  Any 
well  cared-for  flock  of  improved  sheep  will  pay  80  to  100  per  cent,  as 
either  the  lambs  or  wool  will  pay  all  the  expenses,  and  the  other  crop  is 
the  profit. 

There  is  not  only  a  great  indifference  to  sheep  and  their  products  in 


EAST   OP   THE   MISSISSIPPI   RIVER.  477 

South  Carolina,  but  a  deep-seated  hostility  against  them.  Some  of  this 
hostility  is  inherited  from  those  who  looked  upon  sheep  as  rivals  to  the 
cotton  plant.  A  prejudice  against  them  difficult  to  remove  is  that  as 
sheep  require  grass  the  grass  will  stop  cotton  culture.  Grass  is  con- 
sidered the  great  enemy  to  cotton  culture.  If  half  the  area  of  South 
Carolina,  now  annually  planted  in  cotton,  were  devoted  to  grass  and 
turned  into  sheep  walks,  well  stocked  with  good  sheep,  it  would  in  ten 
years  enrich  the  people  of  the  State  fourfold  that  the  same  area  of  cot- 
toii  would,  and  the  land  would  be  renovated  to  a  degree  that  it  would 
yield  double  the  amount  of  cotton  now  raised  upon  it,  and  would  main- 
tain its  fertility  far  beyond  the  time  vouchsafed  by  patent  fertilizers. 
There  is  probably  no  State  in  the  Union  that  needs  a  diversified  agri- 
culture more  than  South  Carolina,  and  in  that  diversified  agriculture 
the  sheep  should  be  a  prominent  factor,  not  only  for  its  flesh  and  wool, 
but  as  an  industrious  renovator  of  the  soil  and  a  gleaner  of  briers  and 
weeds.  There  is  no  apparent  reason  why  this  day  should  not  be  hast- 
ened, save  the  indifference  of  those  who  should  lead  public  thought. 
The  climate  of  the  State  is  congenial  to  sheep;  grasses  and  other  greeii 
and  succulent  food  can  be  cultivated  and  the  cotton-seed  that  is  an- 
nually wasted  or  but  partially  utilized  would  support  thousands.  That 
they  can  be  raised  cheaply  is  shown  by  the  reports  of  the  State  officials, 
and  with  care,  proper  management  and  protection  from  dogs  the  busi- 
ness would  be  highly  remunerative. 

GEORGIA. 

That  portion  of  Georgia  adjoining  Florida  early  received  the  Spanish 
sheep,  but  whether  of  the  Merino  breed  or  the  coarse-wooled  Churros 
is  a  question.  If  of  the  former,  it  has  become  greatly  degenerated 
through  many  years  of  neglect.  It  is,  however,  a  fact  that  in  the  pine 
woods  of  that  country  sheep  are  found  still  bearing  the  characteristics 
of  the  Merino,  yielding  a  fine  wool,  but  of  whose  origin  nothing  is  known 
save  that  tradition  says  they  were  descended  from  Spanish  sheep. 

The  first  sheep  of  undoubted  Merino  blood  known  to  have  been  intro- 
duced into  Georgia  was  in  November,  1810,  when  4  rams  were  offered 
for  sale  that  had  been  sent  from  New  York.  In  February  following  a 
ram  and  ewe,  said  to  be  Escurials,  were  offered  for  sale,  and  in  May, 

1811,  there  was  a  large  consignment  to  Mr.  Scott,  from  Massachusetts, 
of  which  but  few  were  sold,  the  remainder  being  sent  back  to  Massachu- 
setts.    Of  all  the  seacoast  States  Georgia  was  the  least  desirous  to 
accept  the  animal,  a  fact  sufficiently  accounted  for  by  the  excellence  of 
its  native  wool  and  the  great  interest  her  planters  had  in  the  cultiva- 
tion of  cotton. 

No  record  remains  of  the  purchasers  of  the  few  sheep  shipped  to 
Georgia,  or  of  their  subsequent  history;  but  at  the  close  of  the  war  of 

1812,  when  Capt.  Butt's  company  of  Hancock  County  men  were  about 
leaving  Savannah  for  their  homes,  March  1,  1815,  John  McQueen,  on 


478        SHEEP  INDUSTRY  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES 

on  whose  plantation  this  company  had  been  stationed,  gave  the  men  as 
a  present  a  full-blood  Merino  ram,  to  be  conveyed  to  the  upper  country 
for  their  mutual  benefit.  He  certified  that  it  was  of  pure  Spanish 
blood,  and  of  the  best  flock  that  ever  came  to  America. 

We  lose  all  trace  of  the  full-blooded  Merino  in  the  State  until  1847, 
when  Eichard  Peters  purchased  a  farm  in  Gordon  County  in  order  t<j 
try  sheep-raising  in  connection  with  other  stock.  He  obtained  100 
native  ewes,  and  after  a  trial  of  the  Cotswold,  Southdown,  Oxford,  and 
Leicester,  purchased,  in  1850,  a  flock  of  pure-bred  Spanish  Merinos,  and 
was  remarkably  successful  with  them.  Writing  in  1878,  he  said  that 
he  had  tested  the  Spanish  and  French  Merinos,  and  also  the  South- 
down, Oxfordshire  Down,  Leicester,  Asiatic  broad-tailed,  Tunisian,  im- 
proved Kentucky  Cotswold,  and  native  sheep.  He  had  also  crossed 
nearly  all  these  varieties,  and  those  between  the  Spanish  Merinos  and 
native,  and  the  Cotswold  and  native,  had  proved  most  profitable.  For 
general  purposes  of  wool  and  mutton  he  recommended  most  decidedly 
the  cross  from  native  ewes  and  Spanish  Merino  rams,  the  progeny 
showing  marked  improvement,  having  constitution,  fattening  proper- 
ties, thriftiness,  and  a  close,  compact  fleece.  For  long  combing-wools 
the  best  flock  that  could  be  built  up  was  by  taking  the  native  ewes  as 
a  basis,  using  the  Spanish  Merino  rams  for  the  first  cross,  and  then 
the  Cotswold,  to  give  more  size  and  longer  staple.  Mr.  Peters7  Merino 
sheep  were  very  healthy.  If  the  winters  were  mild  they  required  feed- 
ing about  thirty  days;  if  cold  and  wet,  twice  that  time.  In  1871  Mr. 
Peters  added  to  his  flock  25  Merino  ewes  purchased  in  Vermont  at  an 
expense  of  $1,000. 

In  1868  Dennis  Johnson,  of  Calhoun,  Ga.,  reported  his  experience 
with  sheep,  extending  over  many  years.  He  had  tried  all  the  breeds 
and  was  successful  only  with  the  Spanish  Merinos.  The  cross  between 
the  Spanish  Merino  and  common  ewes  proved  a  perfect  success,  the  off- 
spring being  large,  healthy,  and  strong,  very  prolific,  and  good  nurses. 
In  1853  he  sheared  250  pounds  of  wool  from  50  head.  The  flock  grazed 
upon  woods  range  in  summer  and  blue  grass  pasture  in  winter,  with  no 
extra  feed,  except  an  occasional  allowance  of  a  little  bran. 

Mr.  Eobert  C.  Humber,  of  Putnam  County,  in  middle  Georgia,  reported 
to  the  commissioner  of  agriculture  of  Georgia  that  he  kept  138  sheep 
of  a  cross  between  the  Merino  and  the  common  stock.  They  cost  him 
nothing  except  the  salt  given  them,  while  they  paid  100  per  cent  on 
the  investment  in  mutton,  lambs,  and  wool.  They  yielded  an  aver- 
age of  3  pounds  of  wool  per  head,  which  was  sold  in  1875  at  the 
very  low  price  of  25  cents.  It  cost  nothing  except  the  shearing.  His 
sheep  ranged  on  Bermuda  grass— old  fields  in  summer,  and  the  planta- 
tion at  large,  embracing  the  fields  from  which  crops  had  been  gathered 
and  the  cane  bottoms  in  winter.  They  were  never  fed  at  any  season. 


EAST   OP   THE   MISSISSIPPI   RIVER.  479 

Dr.  Thomas  P.  Janes,  in  his  Manual  of  Sheep  Husbandry  in  Georgia, 
cites  this  case: 

Mr.  David  Ayers,  of  Camilla,  Mitchell  County,  in  southwestern  Georgia,  where 
snow  never  falls,  and  the  ground  seldom  freezes,  and  where  the  original  pine  forest 
is  carpeted  with  the  native  grass,  says  his  sheep,  3,500  in  number,  cost  him  annually 

14  cents  per  head,  clip  3  pounds  of  unwashed  wool,  which  sells  at  30  cents  per  pound, 
giving  a  clear  profit  of  90  per  cent  on  the  money  and  labor  invested  in  sheep.    Land 
suited  to  sheep  raising  can  be  purchased  in  this  section  of  the  State  for  from  $1.50  to 
$10  per  acre,  according  to  location.     Mr.  Ayers  does  not  feed  his  sheep  at  any  time 
during  the  year,  neither  had  he  introduced  the  improved  breeds,  using  only  what  is 
known  as  the  native  sheep.     Of  course,  the  cross  of  the  Spanish  Merino  on  this  stock 
would  give  better  results  in  both  quantity  and  quality  of  wool.     These  sheep  receive 
little  care  except  to  be  gathered  up  once  a  year  to  be  sheared  and  marked.    Mr.  Ayers 
complains  of  the  ravages  of  dogs  on  the  sheep  and  of  hogs  and  eagles  on  the  lambs. 

The  records  of  the  United  States  Department  of  Agriculture  furnish 
an  illustration  from  Pulaski  County.  A  planter  bought  800  head  of 
sheep  in  1868,  and  furnished  this  statement : 

DR. 

Cost $750 

Cost  of  hand  to  care  for  them,  $12,  and  $15  per  month 180 

Cost  of  salting  and  incidental  expenses 20 

CR. 

2,000  pounds  of  wool,  at  30  cents  per  pound 600 

Increase,  225  lambs,  at  $1  per  lamb 225 

15  acres  of  land,  well  manured,  $10  per  acre 150 

700  sheep  on  hand,  at  $1.50  per  head 1,  050 

Total  profit 1,075 

This,  like  that  of  Mr.  Ayres,  was  the  scrub  stock  of  the  piney-wood 
counties  of  Georgia,  the  "piney- woods  sheep,"  but  it  shows  that  in 
Georgia,  where  pasturage  costs  nothing,  sheep  may  be  profitable  even 
for  their  wool  alone. 

In  a  communication  to  Mr.  John  L.  Hayes,  under  date  of  January  1, 
1878,  Mr.  Bichard  Peters,  of  Atlanta,  said  that  nature  had  given 
I  Georgia  three  marked  divisions,  middle,  lower,  and  upper  Georgia,  the 
altitude  rising  with  the  latitude.  Each  of  these  sections  has  its  own 
especial  advantages  for  wool-growing,  and  it  can  be  profitably  pursued 
in  either  section.  The  lower  part  of  the  State,  across  which  there  is  a 
belt  of  country  of  an  extent  northward  from  the  coast  and  the  Florida 
line  from  100  to  150  miles,  is  the  land  of  the  long-leaf  pine  and  the  wire 
grass,  and  the  home  of  the  piney- woods  sheep.  Flocks  of  these  native 
sheep,  as  high  as  3,500  in  number,  are  found  here  and  there  scattered  over 
the  surface,  receiving  but  little  care  or  attention  except  at  the  annual 
gathering  for  shearing  and  marking.  Very  little  can  be  said  for  the 
quantity  or  quality  of  wool  raised  here,  and  Mr.  Peters  did  not  sub- 


480  SHEEP   INDUSTRY    OF    THE    UNITED    STATES 

cribe  to  the  opinion  held  by  some  that  its  advantages  were  as  great  for 
large  flocks  as  the  ranges  in  Texas  and  California.     He  said : 

The  pasturage  of  this  section,  called  wire  grass,  affords  fine  grazing  for  sheep  in 
the  spring,  but  for  permanent  and  continuous  food  it  can  not  be  relied  on.  A  fair 
experiment  in  sheep  raising,  uniting  good  attention,  selection,  and  crossing,  with  a 
determination  to  secure  the  best  development  in  frame  and  fleece,  has  not  been  made 
in  this  section  for  many  years.  If  it  were  properly  attempted,  by  combining  Ber- 
muda with  the  wire  grass  for  spring  and  summer  pastures,  and  red  winter  oats  for 
one  or  two  months  in  winter,  for  the  ewes  and  lambs,  I  think  the  result  would  prove 
of  the  most  satisfactory  and  profitable  character. 

In  the  middle  portion  of  the  State  the  Bermuda  grass  prevails,  and 
under  the  cotton  system  of  culture  it  was  the  dread  and  bane  of  the 
planter;  but  now,  for  its  nutritious  qualities  and  compactness  of  sod, 
it  is  considered  as  valuable  and  as  reliable  as  any  grass,  not  excepting 
the  Kentucky  blue  grass.  It  affords  sheep  the  very  best  pasture  for 
six  months  of  the  year,  and  if  managed  as  on  the  pastures  of  Kentucky, 
it  would  pasture  the  entire  year. 

In  upper  Georgia  the  country  is  hill  and  valley,  the  land  changing 
very  rapidly;  the  pasturage  sedge,  crab  and  other  native  grasses.  Of 
the  cultivated,  the  orchard  grass,  red  and  white  clover  on  upland,  and 
red-top  on  lowlands,  succeed  admirably.  Lucerne  and  German  millet 
give  ample  supplies  of  good  hay.  Eed,  rust-proof  oats — a  reliable  win- 
ter variety,  if  sown  in  September — can  be  pastured  during  the  winter 
and  early  spring,  and  then  yield  a  full  crop  of  grain.  The  same  may  be 
said  of  barley,  rye,  and  wheat. 

Mr.  Peters  believed  that  the  future  sheep  husbandry  of  the  State,  if 
intelligently  pursued  in  accordance  with  its  natural  divisions,  would 
show  three  distinct  systems.  That  of  northern  Georgia  would  some- 
what resemble  the  industry  in  Ohio,  Pennsylvania,  New  York,  and  New 
England;  that  of  the  middle  of  the  State,  Kentucky;  and  that  of  the 
southern  portion  (with  shepherds  and  dogs)  Texas,  Colorado,  and  Cali- 
fornia. 

But  Georgia  has  not  yet  become  a  wool-growing  State.  The  people 
raise  neither  sheep  nor  wool  sufficient  for  their  own  use,  although  they 
have  one  of  the  finest  sheep-raising  States  of  the  country,  where  for 
nine  and  ten  months  of  the  year,  and  sometimes  the  year  round,  they 
keep  fat  on  the  native  grasses.  The  life  of  the  animal  has  no  pro- 
tection from  man  or  dogs,  and  the  latter  eat  more  mutton  than  the 
former.  Nature  does  much  for  the  sheep,  but  man  expects  more;  he 
acts  as  if  he  believed  that  the  sheep  should  care  for  itself  and  in  due 
season  lay  his  fleece  at  his  feet  clean -washed  and  free  from  burrs  and 
beggar-lice. 

But  that  sheep  raising  would  pay  as  a  factor  in  mixed  husbandry  is 
shown  by  the  experience  of  many.  The  commissioner  of  agriculture  of 
Georgia  reports  that  the  average  annual  cost  per  head  of  keeping  sheep 
did  not  exceed  54  cents.  The  average  cost  of  raising  a  pound  of  wool 
was  only  6  cents,  while  the  average  price  for  which  the  unwashed  wool 


EAST   OF   THE   MISSISSIPPI   RIVER. 


481 


sold  was  33J  cents,  or  27J  cents  net.  The  average  yield  of  unwashed 
wool  to  the  sheep  was  3.44  pounds,  which,  at  27J  cents  net,  gave  a 
clear  income  in  wool  from  such  sheep  of  94  cents.  The  average  price 
of  lambs  sold  to  the  butcher"  in  Georgia  was  $1.87.  The  average  price 
of  stock  sheep  was  $2.68  per  head,  of  mutton  sheep  $2.75  per  head. 
This  estimate  is  considered  too  favorable,  but,  allowing  considerable 
reduction,  it  shows  that  sheep  raising  will  pay  in  Georgia  for  wool 
alone,  and,  where  near  a  market,  the  profit  can  be  enhanced  by  the  sale 
of  mutton.  The  commissioner's  report  further  states  that  of  those  who 
tried  crosses,  98  per  cent  found  the  cross  of  the  Merino  and  the  native 
the  most  profitable.  The  principal,  and  in  fact  the  only,  drawback  was 
the  dog.  It  is  estimated  that  20  per  cent  of  the  sheep  of  the  State  are 
annually  killed  by  the  dogs,  and  nearly  5  per  cent  by  their  thriftless 
owners.  This  is  a  grievous  tax,  and  well  calculated  to  discourage  the 
sheep  industry. 

The  State  agent  for  the  United  States  Department  of  Agriculture 
reported  in  1887  that  the  sheep  industry  was  on  the  wane,  as  it  had 
been  for  several  years  past.  The  absence  of  any  adequate  protection 
from  dogs  and  "  old  sows"  was  sufficient  to  deter  any  new  ventures  in 
sheep  husbandry  in  middle  Georgia,  and  the  business  then,  as  it  always 
had  been,  was  conducted  in  the  most  slipshod  manner  conceivable.  No 
business  paid  better  than  growing  wool,  and  the  farmers  asked  no  pro- 
tection except  such  protection  as  they  might  demand  and  had  a  right 
to  expect  through  their  own  State  legislature.  A  decline  from  1887  to 
1888  was  attributed  to  the  same  cause,  and  again  in  1889  a  continued 
decrease  was  charged  to  dogs,  hogs,  and  eagles.  In  1890  the  interest  in 
sheep  and  wool- growing  was  still  on  the  wane,  the  number  of  sheep 
was  slowly  decreasing,  and  it  was  stated  as  a  remarkable  fact  that  a 
larger  percentage  of  losses  by  dogs  occurred  in  those  counties  and  sec- 
tions where  but  a  few  sheep  were  kept.  In  the  largest  sheep-growing 
counties  public  sentiment,  based  upon  a  common  interest,  was  death  to 
sheep-killing  dogs. 

Sheep  and  wool  in  Georgia,  1840  to  1890. 


Tear. 

Number  of 
sheep. 

Wool. 

Average 
weight  of 
fleece  per 
head. 

1840 

267,  107 

Pounds. 
371  303 

Pounds. 
1  38 

1850    

560,435 

990,019 

1.76 

1860 

512,  618 

946,  227 

1  84 

1870  

419,  465 

846,  947 

2.00 

1880 

527,  589 

1,289  560 

2  44 

1890  

411,  846 

1,  198,  379 

2.91 

482        SHEEP  INDUSTRY  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES. 

The  section  of  country  embraced  in  this  chapter  breeds  to-day  every 
variety  of  sheep  known  in  the  United  States,  and  every  breed  does 
well.  There  are  still  a  few  large  flocks  maintained,  but  in  general  the 
flocks  are  small.  We  seldom  find  a  farmer  exclusively  engaged  in  the 
business,  but  we  find  many  who  raise  a  few  small  flocks,  running  from 
15  to  50  animals,  well  cared  for  and  yielding  some  profit.  Unfortu- 
nately the  majority  of  farmers  raise  no  sheep,  and  the  reason  given  for 
the  neglect  is  the  want  of  proper  laws  against  dogs. 

Since  1870  there  has  been  a  decrease  in  the  number  of  sheep,  but  the 
improvement  in  quality  is  ample  compensation.  The  great  improve- 
ment in  Virginia,  Delaware,  and  Maryland  since  1882,  and  the  slight 
improvement  in  the  South  Atlantic  States,  has  been  almost  exclusively 
due  to  the  use  of  Shropshire  rams,  which  are  now  being  extensively 
imported  and  generally  disseminated. 


CHAPTER    VI. 

THE   SHEEP  HUSBANDRY  OF  WESTERN  PENNSYLVANIA  AND  THE  PAN- 
HANDLE OF  WEST  VIRGINIA. 

The  district  embraced  by  the  southwestern  counties  of  Pennsylvania 
and  the  counties  of  Hancock,  Brooke,  Ohio,  and  Marshall,  of  West  Vir- 
ginia, is  one  of  the  leading  sheep-breeding  sections  of  the  Union. 
Much  of  the  soil  is  limestone,  friable,  and  easily  broken  up,  cultivated 
without  difficulty,  and  containing  no  element  injurious  to  the  feet  and 
fleece  of  sheep.  Such  is  the  general  freedom  of  the  soil  from  every- 
thing that  can  destroy  the  whiteness,  pliability,  and  silken  character 
of  the  fleece,  that  after  washing  the  sheep  in  the  spring,  preparatory  to 
shearing,  they  are  turned  out  in  the  pasture  fields  with  their  fleeces 
still  wet,  without  the  slightest  injury  to  the  wool.  Water  is  abundant 
and  of  the  very  best  character — cold,  clear,  and  invigorating,  meeting 
every  requirement  of  the  shepherd.  It  is  written  by  one  of  the  leading 
breeders  that  the  whole  section  might  be  divided  into  10  or  20-acre 
lots,  each  of  which  would  have  either  a  perennial  stream  or  a  never- 
freezing  fountain. 

The  natural  fertility  of  the  soil,  taken  in  connection  with  the  genial 
climate,  makes  this  section  the  favored  home  of  the  fine-wool  industry. 
Pasture  and  winter  food  are  abundant,  and  of  the  best  kind.  Of  the 
former,  red  clover,  timothy,  and  blue  grass  are  the  principal  varieties, 
and  of  the  latter  are  the  grains,  corn,  and  oats.  Corn-fodder,  clover, 
hay,  and  timothy  make  excellent  rack  feed.  All  these  products  are 
produced  in  such  abundance  that  the  cost  of  wintering  sheep  and  other 
stock  is  much  less  than  in  most  of  the  other  sheep-breeding  States  east 
of  the  Mississippi.  The  climate,  though  much  milder  than  that  of  New 
England  and  some  parts  of  the  Middle  States,  is  sufficiently  severe  to 
cause  the  consumption  of  food  enough  to  produce  a  heavy  fleece,  rang- 
ing from  10  to  20  pounds  in  Spanish  Merino  ewes  and  15  to  28  pounds 
in  rams,  weights  which  are  increased  with  greater  care  and  shelter. 

There  is  an  advantage  in  the  diversified  nature  of  the  surface  of  the 
country,  thus  commented  upon  by  a  successful  sheep  breeder : 

In  our  deep  valleys,  watered  by  cool,  pure,  never-failing  streams,  in  the  smooth 
slopes  of  the  hills  covered  with  luxuriant  and  succulent  grass,  and  in  the  lofty 
rounded  crests  or  table-lauds  that  crown  the  summits,  the  shepherd  has  an  assem- 
blage of  all  the  good  things  that  nature  can  provide  for  him. 

This,  said  of  West  Virginia  specially,  applies  to  the  whole  country 
adjacent.  It  furnishes  in  the  warm  months  of  the  year  a  high  and  dry 

483 


484        SHEEP  INDUSTRY  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES 

range  for  flocks,  and  at  the  same  time  sheltered  valleys  and  nooks, 
where  protection  is  offered  from  storms  and  winds.  It  is  no  uncommon 
thing  to  see  sheep  fed  out  in  the  open  field  the  entire  winter,  but  the 
practice  is  less  common  than  formerly. 

The  native  sheep  of  this  region,  as  distinguished  from  more  recent 
stock,  were  from  several  sources — from  New  England,  from  New  York,: 
and  from  Virginia.  They  were  hardy,  long-legged,  and  coarse- wooled, 
with  the  speed  and  endurance  of  a  foxhound.  They  furnished  a  good 
wool,  which  answered  the  purposes  of  the  early  pioneer  industry,  and 
which  was  converted  by  the  aid  of  backwoods  fullers,  hand  looms,  and 
busy  fingers  of  the  women  into  garments  which  supplanted  buckskin, 
but  this  wool  was  not  of  a  quality  to  compete  in  the  market  with  that 
produced  in  the  older  settled  country.  Fulling-mills  were  numerous,; 
and  every  house  had  hand  cards  and  as  many  spinning-wheels  as  there 
were  females  in  the  family.  The  wool  was  carded  and  spun  in  the, 
household  and  then  sent  to  the  fulling-mill. 

The  coarse- wool  sheep  soon  gave  way  to  the  fine- wool  Merino,  and 
from  the  first  introduction  to  the  present  day  the  people  have  been,  td 
a  greater  or  less  extent,  employed  in  breeding  Merino  sheep  and  rais-l 
ing  Merino  wool.  The  industry  took  a  firm  hold  on  the  farmers  and! 
became  the  commanding  agricultural  business  of  a  large  portion  of  thej 
population.  The  business  was  suited  to  the  country  j  every  farmer  that] 
could  do  so  engaged  in  it  and  many  of  them  grew  rich.  The  product-! 
ive  acreage  of  the  country  was  not  largely  increased,  but  the  fertility 
of  the  worn-out  lands  of  some  sections  was  restored  by  sheep  husbandry. | 
Here  superfine  Saxony  wools  were  grown  to  perfection.  Saxony  flocks,! 
numbering  sheep  by  the  hundreds  and  thousands,  became  acclimated 
and  hardy  and  produced  wools  that  enriched  their  owners,  and  some  of 
these  flocks  still  exist.  The  most  of  them,  however,  were  long  since! 
superseded  by  the  heavier-wooled  Delaine,  the  Black-Top  and  other; 
Merinos.  The  Saxon,  the  French,  the  Silesian  and  the  Vermont  Span- 
ish Merino  have  all  been  tried,  but  the  general  conclusion  at  the  presenij] 
day  is  that  the  varieties  of  the  American- Spanish  Merino,  improved  ins 
stamina  and  form,  enlarged  in  carcass,  and  having  the  weight  of  fleece] 
almost  doubled  by  a  long  course  of  patient  and  careful  breeding,  are! 
for  all  purposes  the  most  valuable  descendants  and  representatives  on 
the  original  Spanish  Merino  which  can  be  obtained. 

In  1804  George  Rapp  introduced  Merino  sheep  into  Harmony,  Butled 
County,  Pa.,  where  he  also  erected  a  large  woolen  factory  and  coinl 
meuced  the  manufacture  of  broadcloth  from  the  wool  of  these  sheepj 
The  Merinos  were  special  objects  of  attention,  and  were  used  in  some 
cases  by  the  neighboring  farmers  to  improve  their  own  flocks.  It  is 
believed  that  Mr.  Rapp's  flock  was  founded  on  the  Humphreys  MerinoJ 
In  1811  it  was  said  to  consist  of  "one  thousand  sheep,  separated  in] 
three  divisions.  The  first  were  all  of  the  Merino  breed,  the  most  of 
them  full-blooded  j  the  second  about  half  Merino  and  half  common;  and 


EAST   OF   THE   MISSISSIPPI   RIVER.  485 

the  third  were  all  common,  with  some  Merino  rams  among  them.  They 
were  under  the  charge  of  three  shepherds,  who  slept  beside  them  all 
night  in  movable  tents,  and  a  watchman  from  the  town  attends  them 
during  the  day."* 

There  were  some  fine  rams  in  this  flock,  among  them  one  for  which 
$1,000  had  been  paid.  In  addition  to  the  wool  raised  from  this  flock, 
the  factory  established  by  Mr.  Eapp  worked  wool  brought  in  from  50 
miles  around,  which  gave  great  encouragement  to  the  raising  and  im- 
provement of  sheep,  and  some  full-blood  and  high-grade  flocks  were 
formed.  A  Merino  ram  from  this  flock  purchased  in  1813  for  $100  was 
the  foundation  of  the  flock  of  Gen.  Thomas  Patterson,  of  Washington 
County. 

Mr.  Eapp  manufactured  broadcloths  and  narrow  cloths  of  a  superior 
quality.  Mr.  Melish,  who  visited  the  factory  in  1811,  writes : 

In  the  wool  loft,  8  or  10  women  were  employed  in  teasing  and  sorting  the  wool  for 
the  carding  machine,  which  is  at  a  distance  on  the  creek.  From  thence  the  roves 
are  brought  to  the  spinning  house  in  the  town,  where  we  found  two  roving  hillies 
and  six  spinning  jennies  at  work.  They  were  principally  wrought  by  young  girls, 
and  they  appeared  perfectly  happy,  singing  church  music  most  melodiously.  In  the 
evening  sixteen  looms  were  at  work,  besides  several  warpers  and  winders.  We  saw 
450  pieces  of  broad  and  narrow  cloth,  part  of  it  of  Merino  wool,  and  of  as  good  a 
fabric  as  any  that  was  ever  made  in  England.  We  were  told  that  they  could  sell 
the  best  broadcloth  as  fast  as  made  at  $10  a  yard. 

Mr.  Eapp  removed  his  colony  and  the  greater  part  of  his  sheep  in 
1814  to  New  Harmony,  Ind.,  where  he  established  his  sheep  farm  and 
the  woolen  manufacture,  returning  to  Pennsylvania  in  1824  or  1825,  to 
settle  at  Economy,  Beaver  County,  where  he  laid  out  4,000  acres  in 
sheep  walks  and  bred  many  sheep,  the  wool  of  which  supported  a  pros- 
perous woolen  manufacture. 

The  largest  and  most  successful  woolen  factories  of  this  period  were 
those  whose  owners  bred  their  own  sheep  near  their  own  doors.  Where 
this  was  not  convenient  flocks  were  introduced  into  the  neighborhood 
and  let  out  to  farmers  to  be  cared  for  and  increased,  on  such  terms  as 
could  be  agreed  upon.  The  mill  operatives  were  the  daughters  and 
younger  sons  of  the  neighboring  farmers. 

A  Pittsburg  paper  of  June  22, 1810,  notices  the  arrival  of  200  Merino 
sheep  at  the  farm  of  Brintnall  Eobbins,  1  mile  from  town,  on  the  pre- 
ceding Wednesday,  from  Col.  Humphreys'  flock  in  Connecticut.  They 
were  offered  for  sale  or  exchange  for  cattle  or  flour.  Many  of  them 
were  disposed  of  in  the  vicinity  and  the  remainder  went  westward.  A 
few  descended  the  Ohio. 

In  the  great  movement  westward  from  1810  to  1820  thousands  of 
sheep  were  driven  through  Pennsylvania  on  their  way  to  Ohio  and 

*  "  Travels  through  the  United  States  of  America."    John  Melish,  1815. 


486        SHEEP  INDUSTRY  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES 


,, 

s: 


other  western  territory,  and  many  of  them  were  Merinos.    A  letter  fro 
Bobbstown,  Westmoreland  County,  published  December  4,  1811,  says 

From  October  6  to  November  6  (1811)  236  wagons  and  other  wheeled  carriages 
passed  through  this  place  to  Ohio  with  families — with  4  of  the  small  wagons  were  60 
persons — within  the  same  time  600  Merinos  passed  in  the  same  direction. 

This  gives  but  a  faint  idea  of  the  continuous  movement.    Along  its 
trail  were  left  lame  and  worn-out,  exhausted  sheep,  singly,  in  pairs,  and 
by  the  score.    Where  it  was  possible  they  were  sold  to  the  settlers  or 
the  route  5  when  they  could  not  be  sold  a  meal,  lodging  or  something 
else  was  taken  in  exchange.    Some  were  left  behind  without  recom-| 
pense;  in  any  event  many  sheep  were  thus  distributed  to  the  great  gain ] 
of  that  section  of  country. 

In  1817  several  hundred  Merinos  were  taken  to  Meadville,  Pa.,  byi 
Judge  Griffiths,  of  New  Jersey,  and  H.  J.  Huidekoper,  agent  of  thej 
Holland  Land  Company,  and  became  the  source  of  many  fine  flocks  in] 
Crawford  County. 

The  crossing  of  these  full-blood  and  high-grade  Spanish  Merinos  oil 
the  hardy,  common  sheep  of  the  pioneers  produced  an  excellent  wool-j 
growing  sheep  over  all  western  Pennsylvania,  and  farmers  made  great] 
improvement  in  them,  and  raised  many  full -blood  and  grade  flocks. 
From  1827  to  1835  the  Saxony  sheep  and  their  grades  were  introduced, 
chiefly  from  the  flocks  of  Wells  and  Dickinson,  of  Steubenville,  Ohio. 
This  cross  reduced  the  weight  of  fleece  without  a  corresponding  increase) 
in  price.  From  1845  to  1850  efforts  were  made  to  remedy  this  deficiency! 
in  the  fleece  by  the  use  of  full-blooded  Spanish  or  French  Merino  rains.] 
The  latter  were  at  first  preferred  and  in  1848  some  were  introduced.  The] 
opinion  was  entertained  by  most  breeders  that  the  French  Merino  would' 
make  a  fine  cross  with  the  Saxon  and  Spanish.  Merino  flocks.  They; 
were  heavy -boned,  rough  built  and  in  no  way  handsome,  but  of  large] 
vigorous  frames,  the  rams  weighing  at  four  years  old  150  to  175  pounds] 
gross  or  live  weight.  The  wool  was  not  fine  but  of  rather  a  harsh  char- 
acter. These  sheep  attracted  considerable  attention,  but  a  fair  trial  in! 
several  flocks  led  to  their  condemnation.  They  greatly  injured  the  wool! 
of  every  flock  into  which  they  were  introduced  and  growers  disposed  of 
the  produce  as  early  as  possible  and  eliminated  the  blood  from  their] 
flocks.  They  were  not  only  hard  to  keep  but  required  more  feed  bjj 
about  one-fourth  than  the  Saxon  or  Spanish  Merino.  The  rams  cutj 
about  8  pounds  of  wool,  when  washed  on  the  sheep,  and  the  ewes  4J 
pounds.  Among  the  very  few  who  stuck  to  a  small  flock  of  these  sheep] 
while  nearly  all  were  discarding  them  was  John  S.  Goe,  of  Fayette 
County,  who  determined  to  give  them  an  exhaustive  trial.  We  have! 
the  record  of  their  shearings  for  three  years.  In  1856  2  rams  gave  14| 
and  15  pounds  unwashed  wool  and  2  ewes  14f  and  14J  pounds.  In  1857, 
18  rams  averaged  8£  pounds  washed  wool.  In  1859,  1  ram  gave  22J 
pounds  of  unwashed  wool,  and  8  ewes  averaged  10J  pounds.  Two  ewes 
averaged  8J  pounds  washed  on  the  back.  At  this  shearing  a  Silesian 


EAST   OF   THE   MISSISSIPPI   RIVER.  487 

ram  sheared  16J  pounds  unwashed  wool,  and  3  ewes  7  pounds  each. 
Four  Silesian  ewes  averaged  3 ^  pounds  washed  wool. 

The  wool  industry  in  western  Pennsylvania  was  attended  with  the 
same  fluctuations  as  elsewhere  and  for  similar  causes.  In  1851  it  was 
slightly  on  the  decline,  and  in  1854  had  not  recovered.  In  Beaver 
County  the  fluctuations  of  price  had  discouraged  growers,  whose  sheep 
were  a  cross  with  Saxon  and  Spanish,  few  if  any  common  sheep  being 
kept.  In  Allegheny  every  farmer  had  a  small  flock  of  sheep  of  some  kind. 
The  greater  part  of  these  were  Spanish  Merinos,  though  there  were  some 
full-blood  Southdowns  and  Leicesters.  Fayette  County  had  long  been 
the  home  of  some  fine  sheep,  both  for  mutton  and  wool ;  the  Saxon  and 
Spanish  had  been  extensively  bred,  and,  from  time  to  time,  various 
coarse-wooled  sheep  had  been  introduced,  but  the  latter  never  rendered 
satisfaction.  The  Saxony  sheep  eventually  ruined  some  of  the  fine 
flocks  of  the  county,  but  by  1854  were  about  banished.  They  cost 
$1.50  a  head  a  year  and  gave  2J  pounds  of  wool,  which  sold  for  40  cents 
a  pound,  entailing  a  loss  of  50  cents  per  head,  but  the  Spanish  Merino 
yielded  from  4  to  12  pounds  of  wool  and  there  was  a  good  profit  on  a 
fleece. 

From  this  time  to  1862  the  Spanish  Merino  was  gradually  extended 
and  improved.  The  demand  made  by  the  war  for  coarse  woolens  caused 
some  coarse-wooled  sheep  to  be  raised  and  some  of  them  were  substi- 
tuted for  the  Merinos.  This  continued  until  the  close  of  the  war,  when 
wool  of  all  kinds  was  a  drug  on  the  market.  Fine-wool  sheep  were 
being  disposed  of,  but  more  began  to  cross  their  flocks  with  the  long- 
wool  sheep,  the  Cotswold  rams  being  admitted  into  old  Merino  flocks 
where  the  Saxony  and  French  had  been  excluded.  It  was  suggested, 
and  by  some  adopted,  to  preserve  an  unmixed  stock  of  Merinos  as  the 
basis  of  operations  when  the  tide  turned  in  their  favor,  and  at  the  same 
time  derive  present  revenue  from  early  lambs  and  coarse  wool  by  cross- 
ing with  long-wooled  rams.  This  practice  served  as  a  foundation  when 
the  fine  wool  was  again  in  demand  and  flocks  again  filled  up  and  were 
multiplied  from  1872  to  1882. 

A  noted  flock  of  Fayette  County,  in  the  southwestern  part  of  the 
State,  was  that  of  Gen.  John  S.  Goe,  of  Brownsville.  In  1846  he  bought 
some  Atwood  Merinos  from  several  of  the  old  breeders  of  Spanish 
Merinos,  as  descended  from  the  various  importations.  He  annually 
purchased  some  Atwoods  and  a  few  other  select  animals,  and  con- 
stantly weeded  out  such  as  did  not  meet  his  expectations.  In  April, 
1858,  .he  purchased  6  Atwood  ewes  and  a  ram  from  the  flock  of  E.  J. 
Jones  of  the  original  divide  of  Edwin  Hammond  and  E.  P.  Hall.  In 
September,  1858,  he  purchased  an  Atwood  ram  and  4  ewe  lambs  of  Mr. 
McKeever.  In  the  following  November  he  bought  of  Mr.  McKeever  17 
ewes,  12  of  which  were  from  Mr.  Hammond's  Atwoods,  and  5  from  Mr. 
Atwood's  own  flock,  these  being  in  lamb  by  his  Hammond- Atwood  ram. 


488  SHEEP   INDUSTRY    OF    THE    UNITED    STATES 

Later  in  the  month  he  purchased  9  select  ewes  from  Mr.  E.  J.  Jones' 
Atwood  flock,  and  6  ewes  from  Mr.  Cutting's  flock,  and  during  the 
winter  7  Atwood  ewes  and  a  ram  from  other  flocks.  In  1859  and  1860 
he  added  to  his  purchases  112  ewes  and  4  rams  from  Atwood  flocks, 
and  10  ewes  and  a  ram  from  the  flock  of  Mrs.  Eobinson.  This  was  a 
noble  flock,  and  he  added  to  it  by  subsequent  select  purchases.  The 
shearing  record  of  this  flock  from  1853  to  1880  is  highly  instructive. 

In  1853  Gen.  Goe  gave  the  weight  of  his  fleeces  from  40  ewes  and 
rams  as  running  from  4f  pounds  washed  wool  to  24  pounds  unwashed. 
From  2  rams  he  sheared  23  and  24  pounds  unwashed  fleeces;  from  12 
full-blood  Spanish  ewes  6,  6,  6,  6J,  6J,  7,  7,  7J,  8,  8,  10,  and  11  pounds 
of  wool  washed  on  the  back  of  the  sheep.  In  1856  4  Spanish  rams 
gave  6f ,  6^6-,  6f^,  and  7J  pounds  washed  wool,  and  14  ewes  gave  4J  to 
6J  pounds,  the  average  being  5J  pounds.  In  1857  31  Spanish  rams 
averaged  5J  pounds  washed  wool.  In  1859  4  Spanish  rams  gave 
unwashed  fleeces  averaging  12J  pounds  each,  and  8  ewes  8f6-  pounds 
each.  Fifty  Spanish  ewes,  well  washed,  gave  an  average  of  5  iff  pounds. 
In  1860  30  Spanish  ewes  averaged  each  G-?$  pounds  washed  wool.  The 
lowest  fleece  was  5  pounds,  and  the  heaviest  9J  pounds.  In  1861  5 
Spanish  Merino  rams,  unwashed,  averaged  11-^- pounds  each;  10  rams, 
washed,  averaged  8}f  pounds,  and  42  ewes  averaged  5||  each,  washed 
wool.  Passing  a  period  of  ten  years  and  we  have  in  May,  1871 : 

161  ewe  fleeces,  washed,  weighing  from 4  to  5{f  pounds. 

51  ewe  fleeces,  washed,  weighing  from 6  to  7 {§  pounds. 

5  ewe  fleeces,  washed,  weighing  from 8  to  10} f  pounds. 

2  ram  fleeces,  washed,  weighing  from 11  to  11-J  pounds. 

2  ram  fleeces,  washed,  weighing  from 12  to  12}f  pounds. 

3  ram  fleeces,  unwashed,  weighing  from 15  to  19  pounds. 

19  ewe  fleeces,  unwashed,  weighing  from 8  to  11  jf  pounds. 

14  ewe  fleeces,  unwashed,  weighing  from 12  to  14f  pounds. 

7  ewe  fleeces,  unwashed,  weighing  from 15  to  18-J-  pounds. 

At  the  shearing  of  May,  1872: 

1  ram  fleece,  unwashed,  weighed 30|  pounds. 

1  ram  fleece,  unwashed,  weighed 21£  pounds. 

1  ram  fleece,  unwashed,  weighed 21f  pounds. 

1  ram  fleece,  washed,  weighed 15-^  pounds. 

1  ram  fleece,  washed,  weighed 15|  pounds. 

1  ewe  fleece,  unwashed,  weighed 23f  pounds. 

1  ewe  fleece,  unwashed,  weighed 20^  pounds. 

9  ewe  fleeces,  unwashed,  weighed 19^  to  19|  pounds. 

5  ewe  fleeces,  unwashed,  weighed 18,\  to  18|f  pounds. 

45  ewe  fleeces,  unwashed,  weighed 13-jV  to  16f  pounds. 

68  ewe  fleeces,  unwashed,  weighed lO^V  to  12j£  pounds. 

The  average  weight  of  the  unwashed  fleeces  of  the  129  ewes  was  13f 
pounds.  A  comparison  of  1871  and  1872  with  1860  and  1861  shows 
great  increase  in  the  weigh  t  of  unwashed  fleeces.  The  rain  fleeces  from 
an  average  of  11  ^  pounds  in  1861  went  to  18  pounds  in  1871  and  24J 
pounds  in  1872. 


EAST    OF    THE    MISSISSIPPI    RIVER.  489 

The  shearing  of  1873  gave: 

1  ram  fleece,  unwashed 25}  £  pounds. 

1  ram  fleece,  unwashed 22H  pounds. 

1  ewe  fleece,  unwashed* 21^6  pounds. 

23  ewe  fleeces,  unwashed 19^  to  20,\  pounds. 

31  ewe  fleeces,  unwashed l&iV  to  18 jf  pounds. 

42  ewe  fleeces,  unwashed 11-iV  *°  15£  pounds. 

This  record  gives  but  99  fleeces;  19G  sheep  were  shorn.  They  were 
of  all  ages,  mostly  ungrowu  ewes  and  ewes  suckling  lambs,  and  the 
average  was  13  pounds  4-^  ounces  each. 

In  May,  1874,  the  shearing  was  as  follows: 

3-year-old  ram  gave 35 -^  pounds  unwashed  wool. 

3-year-old  rani  gave 21f  pounds  unwashed  wool. 

3-year-old  ram  gave 19f  pounds  unwashed  wool. 

5-year-old  ram  gave 19  pounds  unwashed  wool. 

1-year-old  ram  gave 18  H  pounds  unwashed  wool. 

2-year-old  ewe  gave 22£  pounds  unwashed  wool. 

2-year-old  ewe  gave 21£  pounds  unwashed  wool. 

2-year-old  ewe  gave 20f  pounds  unwashed  wool. 

Thirty-one  two-year-old  ewes  were  shorn  in  all,  the  lowest  fleece 
weighing  14^  pounds.  The  average  of  the  31  was  17§  pounds.  Seven 
ewe  lambs,  one  year  and  under,  sheared  14,  15,  15,  log,  16, 16f,  and 
16|f  pounds. 

At  the  shearing  in  May,  1875,  the  heaviest  ram  fleece  weighed  32J 
pounds,  2  weighed  29  pounds,  and  34  ran  from  12  to  20  pounds.  Eight 
ewes  gave  fleeces  exceeding  20  pounds,  the  heaviest  of  which  was  25J 
pounds.  Fifty-three  gave  fleeces  weighing  from  12  to  16  pounds,  and 
27  from  17  to  19^f  pounds. 

At  the  shearing  in  May,  1876, 12  rani  fleeces  averaged  21 J  pounds 
each.  The  heaviest  was  31  pounds,  the  lightest  13  ^  pounds.  Fifty 
ewes  averaged  16J  pounds  each,  the  heaviest  being  27  and  the  lightest 
12  f-9  pounds,  all  unwashed.  The  length  of  staple  was  noticeable,  all 
but  1  ewe's  being  over  2J  inches. 

At  the  shearing  of  May,  1877,  the  heaviest  fleece  was  that  of  a  ram, 
and  it  weighed  32  pounds.  Twenty-five  rams  and  109  ewes  gave  the 
following : 

7  ram  fleeces  weighed 30^  to  20^  pounds. 

18  ram  fleeces  weighed 19f£  to  15  pounds. 

7  ewe  fleeces  weighed 28  to  20  pounds. 

11  ewe  fleeces  weighed 20  to  15  pounds. 

40  ewe  fleeces  weighed 15  to  13  pounds. 

51  ewe  fleeces  weighed 13  to  12  pounds. 

In  May,  1878,  the  heaviest  ram  fleeces  were  35J,  32,  31J,  30,  and  27 
pounds,  the  heaviest  ewe  fleeces  27,  26,  23£,  21,  20J,  and  20  pounds. 

In  1880  28  rams  sheared  from  35J  down  to  16J  pounds,  the  average 
being  28^  pounds  each.  Fifty-six  ewes,  mostly  yearlings,  sheared  from 
21  pounds  down  to  14,  the  average  being  15j|  pounds  each. 


490        SHEEP  INDUSTRY  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES 

In  1853  Gen.  Goe's  heaviest  rani's  fleece  was  24  pounds;  in  1880  it  was 
35  J  pounds,  a  gain  in  twenty- seven  years  of  nearly  50  per  cent.  In  1859 
his  ewe  fleeces,  unwashed,  averaged  Sf-Q  pounds  each;  in  1880  they 
averaged  15|J  pounds,  a  gain  in  twenty-one  years  of  85.91  per  cent. 

This  flock  was  a  great  colonizer.  From  it  went  pure-blood  sheep  into 
adjoining  counties  and  States;  many  of  the  best  sheep  in  Ohio  and 
Wisconsin  trace  their  origin  to  it,  and  in  1876  two  lots  were  sold  to  go 
to  Australia,  10  rams  and  25  ewes.  Gen.  Goe  took  a  great  interest  in 
his  sheep  and  in  sheep  husbandry;  was  a  frequent  contributor  to  the 
agricultural  press,  and  persistent  in  setting  forth  the  value  of  sheep 
both  for  the  flesh  and  wool  they  gave  and  as  renovators  of  worn-out 
lands. 

But  the  most  noted  locality  for  fine  wool-growing  in  western  Penn- 
sylvania is  the  county  of  Washington,  in  the  southwestern  corner  of 
the  State.  The  Eev.  Colin  McFarquhar,  a  Scotch  minister,  who  settled 
in  Lancaster  County  in  1776,  visited  Washington  County  in  the  begin- 
ning of  the  present  century,  when  there  was  no  wheel-road  across  the 
Allegheny  Mountains,  and  when  all  transportation  was  done  by  pack 
horses.  He  often  spoke  of  the  hills  as  reminding  him  of  his  own  Scot- 
tish land  and  of  the  goodness  of  a  kind  Providence  in  placing  these 
hills  in  just  the  place  for  fine  wools,  saying  that  the  flat  lands  of  the 
east  were  not  suitable.  He  often  remarked  to  Mr.  Alexander  Eeed, 
"  I'll  ne'er  live  to  see  it;  you  may  ne'er  live  to  see  it;  but  your  children 
will  live  to  see  these  hills  white  with  sheep."  At  that  time  it  looked  as 
if  this  prophecy  would  only  be  fulfilled  in  the  most  remote  future,  if  at 
all;  the  country  was  then  a  dense  forest,  with  more  wolves  and  other 
wild  animals  than  sheep.  Asa  reason  for  his  faith  he  said,  uYour 
wheat  and  your  flour  will  not  bear  the  cost  of  transportation ;  200  pounds 
of  flour,  worth  perhaps  $5  or  $6,  will  cost  as  much  for  transportation  as 
200  pounds  of  wool,  worth  $100."  Mr.  Eeed  lived  to  see  the  prophecy 
fulfilled,  and  to  see  millions  of  pounds  of  wool  and  thousands  of  fat 
sheep  sent  every  year  to  the  Eastern  markets. 

In  1880  Washington  County  had  more  than  one-fourth  of  the  sheep, 
and  raised  more  than  one-fourth  of  all  the  wool  grown  in  the  State. 
This  county,  with  the  adjoining  counties  of  Greene  and  Allegheny  in 
the  same  State,  and  of  Hancock,  Brooke,  Ohio,  arid  Marshall  in  the 
'<  Panhandle"  of  West  Virginia,  is  justly  celebrated  as  one  of  the  best 
wool-producing  districts  of  the  United  States,  and  as  the  special  home 
of  some  of  the  finest  types  of  the  Merino  sheep.  The  tenacious  limestone 
loam  of  the  valleys,  very  productive  in  grasses  of  all  kinds,  the  hillsides 
covered  with  blue  grass  to  their  very  summits,  the  best  of  water,  and  a 
climate  not  excelled  anywhere,  have  favored  the  production  of  a  class 
of  wool  that  for  excellence  for  manufacturing  purposes  has  no  superior 
in  the  country.  For  over  fifty  years  this  section  of  country  has  been 
the  nursery  whence  many  of  the  fine-wooled  sheep  now  grazing  western 
fields  were  propagated,  and  many  as  fine  flocks  as  can  be  found  in  the 


EAST   OF   THE    MISSISSIPPI   RIVER.  491 

world  still  thrive  on  the  steep  and  rugged  but  dry  hills.  In  the  terri- 
tory here  indicated  there  are  nearly  or  quite  800,000  head  of  these  fine- 
wooled  sheep,  and  many  of  the  other  millions  of  sheep  in  different  sec- 
tions, from  Ohio  southwest  to  Texas  and  west  to  Oregon,  can  trace  their 
origin  to  this  same  territory. 

The  hardy  pioneer  who  more  than  a  century  ago  settled  in  the  west- 
ern country  had  a  little  flock  of  common  sheep  with  which  to  clothe  his 
family  with  homemade  linsey-woolseys.  The  wool  was  shorn,  scoured, 
picked,  carded,  spun,  and  woven  by  the  females  of  the  family,  and  tariff 
discussions  did  not  disturb  nor  alarm  them.  This  system  of  domestic 
manufacture  continued  for  many  years  and  was  not  broken  in  upon  until 
about  1810,  when  Merino  sheep  and  carding-mills  began  to  appear  in 
such  number  as  to  attract  attention.  The  introduction  of  the  Merino 
was  gradual.  John  C.  McNary,  in  a  recent  address,  says: 

The  farmers  discussed  the  propriety  of  buying  and  breeding  the  Merino  as  men  do 
to-day  the  Holstein  and  Jersey,  or  the  Clyde.  Many  clung  to  the  old  common,  long- 
legged  fellow  that  had  furnished  the  clothing  they  wore  and  their  fathers  before 
them.  Others,  more  conservative  perhaps,  kept  both,  at  least  as  many  coarse  sheep 
as  would  make  the  stockings  and  blankets  for  the  family.  After  the  introduction  of 
the  Merino  in  Washington  County  and  their  value  to  the  farmers  began  to  be  fully 
realized  they  became  the  staple  product,  and  it  is  safe  to  say  that  in  all  the  ups  and 
downs  in  price  and  demand  for  sheep  and  wool  since  then  the  farmer  who  persistently 
and  judiciously  stuck  to  the  Merino  is  the  one  who  prospered  and  became  wealthy. 

As  early  as  June,  1810,  James  Kelly,  of  Ten  Mile  Run,  Washington 
County,  said  that  there  were  many  Merinos  owned  by  Col.  Crooks  and 
Absalom  Hawkins,  who  had  introduced  them  at  considerable  expense, 
and  that  the  number  of  half  and  quarter  bloods  was  large,  producing 
good  wool,  which  he  was  then  making  up  into  good  cloth.  Washington 
County  had  then  47,294  sheep.  The  flocks  of  Col.  Crooks  and  Mr.  Haw- 
kins were  founded  by  purchases  from  the  son  of  Col.  David  Humphreys, 
and  the  Hawkins  family,  almost  without  exception,  have  been  promi- 
nent wool- growers  ever  since. 

In  1810  Joseph  Clark  purchased  a  few  fine- wooled  sheep,  the  first  clip 
of  which  was  sold  for  $2  per  pound.  But  the  dogs  and  wild  animals 
gave  him  so  much  trouble  and  destroyed  such  a  large  number  of  them 
that  he  sold  what  remained  at  the  rates  paid  for  native  sheep. 

In  1811  a  son  of  Col.  Humphreys  visited  Washington  County  with  a 
flock  of  his  father's  Merinos.  He  sold  a  few  of  mixed  blood  and  rented 
out  h  is  fine  rams,  one  of  them  to  Daniel  Leet  and  his  neighbor,  James 
Gilmore,  to  be  paid  for  at  the  rate  of  $4  for  each  lamb  received.  A 
German,  Baron  Bassey,  of  Bessenheim,  Butler  County,  Pa.,  brought  a 
few  sheep  to  Washington  Village  about  the  same  time,  as  did  also  a 
Mr.  Baldwin,  of  Fayette  County.  Bassey's  sheep,  7  in  number,  were 
kept  for  some  time  in  the  cellar  of  the  village  tavern.  Messrs.  William 
and  John  Hoge,  who  were  the  original  proprietors  of  the  town  of  Wash- 
ington, also  had  a  small  flock  from  Bassey's  and  Baldwin's  stock. 

In  1812  Nathaniel  P.  Atkinson  and  William  F.  Peterson  bought  at 


492        SHEEP  INDUSTRY  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES 

Washington,  D.  0.,  52  Spanish  Merino  sheep  for  $1,850,  and  took  them 
to  Washington  County.  They  stopped  with  Mr.  James  Clokey,  of  North 
Strabane  Township,  and  rented  part  of  the  adjoining  Pentecost  farm, 
where  they  remained  four  or  five  years.  Many  of  the  early  wool-grow- 
ers, Mr  James  Clokey,  James  Moore,  and  others,  started  their  flocks  at 
this  time  from  the  Atkinson  stock.  Mr.  Atkinson  subsequently  drove 
his  flock  to  Stark  County,  Ohio,  but  found  the  flat  lands  of  Ohio  not 
suitable  for  sheep,  and  removed  thence  to  the  vicinity  of  Wheeling,  W. 
Ya.,  taking  the  sheep  with  him.  Living  not  far  from  the  Steubenville 
factory,  which  made  a  discrimination  in  favor  of  line  wool,  Mr.  Atkin- 
son was  subsequently  induced  to  change  his  flock  from  Spanish  Merino 
to  Saxony,  and  found  the  latter  more  profitable.  He  afterwards  admit- 
ted the  Spanish  Merino  into  his  flock,  and  in  1864  had  3  Silesian  rams. 
He  bred  the  flock  until  his  death,  about  1868.  It  was  then  one  of  the 
best  flocks  in  that  section  of  the  country. 

One  of  the  first  to  engage  in  the  business  of  fine-wool  growing  was 
Gen.  Thomas  Patterson,  well  known  as  a  representative  in  Congress 
from  the  District  from  1816  to  1824.  In  1813  he  purchased  from  Mr. 
Eapp  a  Merino  ram  for  $100,  and  in  1815  and  1816  he  bought  from 
Wells  &  Dickinson's  flock  1  ram  and  7  ewes  at  $100  each.  From  this 
beginning  many  of  the  most  successful  wool-growers  of  the  county 
started  their  flocks,  among  whom  were  Samuel  Patterson,  Maj.  Me- 
Farland,  Joseph  Brownlee,  Samuel  Cunningham,  Hugh  Lee,  William 
and  Samuel  Cowan,  and  Col.  James  Lee. 

Other  enterprising  persons  commenced  the  business  of  wool-growing 
and  made  much  improvement  in  their  flocks,  but  the  greatest  incentive 
to  fine- woo  I  growing  was  the  establishment  at  Steubenville,  Ohio,  of 
the  woolen  factory  of  Wells  &  Dickinson.  These  gentlemen  had  large 
flocks  of  Merino  sheep,  from  which  they  sold  the  foundation  of  many 
flocks  in  the  western  part  of  Pennsylvania,  Virginia,  and  eastern 
Ohio.  Among  the  purchasers  from  Washington  County  were  Mr.  Ew- 
ing,  who  bought  600  sheep  at  $5  each,  Mr.  James  Strean,  William 
Brounlee,  Alexander  Eeed,  and  Joseph  Clark.  Mr.  Strean  bought  5, 
for  which  he  paid  $500. 

The  Steubenville  Woolen  Company  was  organized  in  1814  and  con- 
tinued in  operation  for  many  years,  commencing  the  manufacture  of 
fine  wool  in  1815  from  the  Merino  sheep  introduced  into  the  State  of 
Ohio  by  Seth  Adams,  W.E.  Dickinson,  and  others.  Some  of  the  super- 
fine cloths  made  at  this  establishment  were  sent  to  Philadelphia  and 
Baltimore  and  sold  at  prices  lower  than  imported  British  cloth,  to  which 
it  was  not  inferior.  It  was  quite  an  ordinary  circumstance  for  those 
who  had  fine  wool  in  Maryland  and  Virginia  to  send  it  across  the 
mountains  to  this  factory,  where  it  was  manufactured  into  cloth  and 
returned  to  the  owners. 

Prominent  among  breeders  of  fine-wool  sheep  was  Jesse  Edington, 
of  Hollidays  Cove,  W.  Va.  He  commenced  sheep  breeding  in  1821, 


EAST   OF   THE   MISSISSIPPI   RIVER.  493 

with  200  ewes,  descended  from  the  Humphreys  importation.  He  sub- 
sequently added  to  the  flock  by  purchases  of  sheep  from  Wells  &  Dick- 
inson, and  used  many  rams  from  that  stock,  thus  forming  the  basis  of 
what  he  considered  a  pure  Dickinson  sheep,  which  he  bred  pure  for 
many  years.  He  had  an  average  flock  of  3,000,  and  from  it  was  formed 
the  nucleus  of  many  flocks  in  his  own  section  and  in  Ohio,  and  some 
parts  of  Indiana.  He  kept  his  sheep  in  flocks  of  about  200  each,  and 
fed  them  on  hay  and  corn.  Five  tons  of  hay  and  50  bushels  of  corn  to 
the  hundred  sheep  was  the  usual  allowance.  He  housed  his  sheep  from 
the  winter  rains  and  from  extreme  cold  weather,  exposing  them  only 
for  the  purpose  of  obtaining  water.  He  raised  about  75  lambs  to  100 
ewes,  and  the  fleece  of  the  flock  did  not  average  more  than  2J  pounds 
per  head  in  1845,  which  increased,  however,  to  4J  pounds  in  1865. 

In  the  fall  of  1822  Talbot  Hammond,  of  Brooke  County,  W.  Ya.,  pur- 
chased 7  ewes  and  a  ram  of  his  brother,  Charles  Hammond,  of  Belmont 
County,  Ohio.  These  sheep  were  bred  directly  from  the  flocks  of  Wells 
&  Dickinson,  of  Steubenville.  The  ram  was  an  imported  one,  for 
which  Mr.  Dickinson  had  been  paid  $80,  and  was  quite  old  at  the  time 
of  Mr.  Hammond's  purchase.  Mr.  Hammond  subsequently  crossed  his 
sheep  with  Saxony  ranis  from  Dutchess  County,  K.  Y.,  but  the  result 
was  not  favorable,  the  average  clip  being  only  2f  to  3  pounds  per  head. 
He  continued  to  breed  the  Saxon  for  some  years.  He  sheltered  all  his 
sheep  in  the  winter  season,  believing  that  no  animals  needed  it  more,  as 
the  sudden  changes  of  weather  during  the  winter  months  were  very 
trying  to  them.  He  fed  corn  and  sheaf  oats.  The  flock  was  strongly 
Saxon  until  after  1860,  when  Vermont  Merinos  were  crossed  upon  it 
and,  subsequently,  the  Silesians,  which  were  introduced  into  that  sec- 
tion of  country  in  1860  and  1861. 

About  1820-'22  William  Brownlee,  John  H.  Ewing,  Mr.  Vliller,  Mr. 
Tannehill,  and  hundreds  of  others  began  wool-growing.  William  Davis 
and  John  McDowell  afterwards  took  the  Brownlee  stock,  and  neither  of 
them  suffered  the  sheep  to  deteriorate  on  their  hands,  and  their  wool 
has  always  been  regarded  as  among  the  fancy  clips  and  commanded  the 
highest  prices.  James  Strean  had  some  of  the  same  stock  and  he  took 
the  medal  at  the  World's  Fair  in  London  in  1851  for  the  best  fine  wool, 
For  many  years  his  flock  held  its  place  as  one  of  the  finest  in  the 
country.  When  ordinary  wools  were  selling  at  25  to  30  cents  his  wool 
sold  at  Lowell,  Mass.,  for  $1  per  pound. 

In  1821  William  Berry  purchased  one  choice  ram  and  a  small  number 
of  ewes  from  the  flock  of  W.  K.  Dickinson,  and  placed  them  on  his  farm 
in  Cecil  Township,  Washington  County,  where  he  undertook  the  raising 
of  a  flock.  These  sheep  were  represented  when  purchased  as  pure- 
blooded  descendants  of  the  Humphreys  importation,  and  Mr.  Berry  was 
cautioned  against  crossing  and  mixing  the  blood.  His  sheep  wore 
cultivated  with  great  care  and  were  not  contaminated  by  any  infusion 
of  the  Saxon  blood,  subsequently  so  fatal  to  many  fine  flocks  of  this 


494        SHEEP  INDUSTRY  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES 

section,  and  in  time  developed  into  the  well-known  Black-Top  Spanish 
Merino,  so  called  in  reference  to  their  dark  coats  in  contrast  with  the 
lighter-colored  Saxons  and  their  progeny.  The  flock  was  bred  in  fam- 
ilies at  first,  and  afterwards  crossed  from  one  family  to  another  5  and  in 
that  way  the  evils  of  direct  continuous  in-and-in  breeding  were  avoided. 
At  the  time  this  flock  was  formed,  throughout  the  greater  portion  of 
the  country  the  attention  of  breeders  was  principally  given  to  wool  cul- 
ture $  but  by  reason  of  a  fancy  for  large  sheep,  as  well  as  the  growing 
demand  for  mutton  in  his  neighborhood,  Mr.  Berry  endeavored  to  pro- 
duce a  larger  sheep,  and  to  that  end  gave  much  of  his  attention,  deter- 
mined, if  possible,  to  secure  a  good  mutton  sheep  that  would  retain  all 
the  excellencies  of  the  fine-wooled  Merino.  By  careful  and  judicious 
selection,  with  a  view  to  strong,  healthy  body,  hardy  constitution,  and 
active  animal  vigor,  he  not  only  increased  the  size  of  his  Merinos  but 
added  to  the  quantity  and  quality  of  their  wool,  and  as  the  result  of  his 
years  of  care  and  patient  labor  he  had  the  satisfaction  of  securing  a 
sheep  fully  up  to  his  ideas  of  size,  of  strong,  healthy,  well-rounded  and 
compact  body,  which  possessed  superior  qualities  as  a  mutton  producer, 
and  bore  a  heavy  fleece  of  the  finest  delaine  wool.  During  his  experi- 
ments Mr.  Berry  found  that  the  darker  sheep  were  the  larger,  and  made 
the  best  records  as  breeders  and  wool  producers.  This  was  especially 
noticeable  in  the  rams.  It  was  also  observed  that  the  darker  sheep  had 
the  hardiest  constitutions  and  greatest  animal  vigor,  were  less  affected 
by  the  severe  changes  of  the  climate,  and  could  endure  the  winters  and 
rough  weather  much  better  than  those  of  a  lighter  color. 

This  flock  was  bred  by  Mr.  Berry  until  in  1847  it  numbered  about  500, 
when  it  was  equally  divided  between  his  two  sons,  and  the  one-half 
going  to  Matthew  Berry  still  survives  at  Houstonville,  Pa.  Eegarding 
these  sheep  it  is  said  they  have  never  been  closely  housed  or  protected 
from  summer  rains,  but  have  received  only  good  care  throughout  the 
season.  The  aim  was,  and  still  is,  to  produce  a  sheep  with  a  fine,  long 
staple  of  nice,  white  wool;  of  good  style  and  covering  the  sheep  quite 
well,  but  not  so  low  down  on  the  legs  as  some  other  families  of  Merinos. 
It  is  not  claimed  by  the  breeders  that  this  is  a  new  family  or  breed  of 
sheep,  but  on  the  other  hand  that  it  is  the  oldest  pure-bred  family  in  the 
country  of  its  adoption.  It  is,  however,  given  a  separate  class,  and 
thus  recognized  as  a  distinct  family,  and  the  Black-Top  Spanish  Merino 
has  a  Register,  and  its  breeders  have  adopted  a  standard  by  which  it 
shall  be  judged. 


Standard  or  scale  of  points  of  the  Black-Top  Spanish  Merino. 


Points. 

Constitution 15 

Size 12 

General  appearance 3 


Points. 


Covering  ..........................  8 

Quality  of  fleece  ...................  7 

Density  of  fleece  ...................  7 

Length  of  staple 


Body 15 

Head 5  |  Oil  6 

Neck 4 


Legs  and  feet  . . , , ; . , , , , . .     10 


Perfection  ...,,,,,. ,,,,,,   100 


EAST    OP    THE    MISSISSIPPI    RIVER.  495 

Iu  connection  with  this  standard  the  blood  must  be  pure  from  the 
importation  of  Merino  sheep  by  Col.  Humphreys,  as  bred  by  William 
R.  Dickinson,  with  a  constitution  as  indicated  by  physical  develop- 
ment; deep  and  large  in  the  breast  and  through  the  heart,  broad  back, 
very  heavy  square  quarters,  skin  of  fine  texture  and  pinkish  in  color, 
expansive  nostrils,  brilliant  eye,  healthful  countenance,  and  good  feed- 
ers. As  to  size  when  in  good  condition,  with  fleece  of  five  months7 
growth,  full-grown  ranis  should  weigh  not  less  than  175  pounds,  and 
ewes  not  less  than  125  pounds.  In  general  appearance  the  head  should 
be. carried  well  up,  and  the  sheep  stand  squarely  on  feet  and  legs;  the 
body  should  be  well  rounded,  showing  in  all  points  symmetry  of  form; 
heavy  boned  throughout  and  well  proportioned  in  length ;  smooth  joints, 
ribs  starting  horizontally  from  the  backbone  and  well  around  to  breast- 
bone ;  breast-bone  wide,  strong  and  prominent  in  front;  strong,  straight, 
and  heavy  back  bone;  heavy,  muscular  quarters;  shoulders  broad 
and  flat,  muscles  firm  and  heavy,  and  body  entirely  free  from  folds. 
There  may  be  a  slight  throatiness,  and  a  small  dewlap — smaller  on 
the  ewes  than  on  the  rams.  The  head  should  be  wide,  with  clear, 
bright  eyes  and  prominent  ears.  Ewes  should  give  no  appearance  of 
horns,  while  upon  the  rams  the  horns  should  be  well  developed,  clear 
in  color,  and  symmetrically  curved.  The  neck  should  be  very  heavy, 
especially  with  the  rams,  deepening  towards  the  shoulder;  legs  me- 
dium in  length,  set  well  apart,  with  well-shaped,  medium-sized  feet; 
the  body  and  legs  to  the  knees  covered  with  medium  or  fine  wool, 
extending  well  forward  between  the  eyes.  Fleece  should  be  compact, 
but  should  open  freely,  showing  a  length  (at  twelve  months'  growth)  of 
not  less  than  3  inches,  and  the  oil  must  be  white,  flowing  free  from  skin 
to  surface,  and  form  on  the  exterior  a  uniform  dark  coating. 

The  part  of  the  original  William  Berry  flock  which,  in  the  division  of 
1847,  fell  to  the  son  of  William  Berry,  was  further  divided.  In  1851  45 
ewes  and  1  ram  were  sold  to  John  Berry,  another  brother,  of  Cecil 
Township,  Washington  County.  John  Berry  added  to  the  flock  a  year- 
ling ram  bred  by  William  Berry.  In  1858  he  purchased  of  John  Gal- 
laher,  of  Fayette  County,  a  yearling  ram  said  to  have  been  sired  by  a 
full-blooded  Vermont  Merino  ram  out  of  a  Black-Top  Merino  ewe.  This 
ram  was  used  on  part  of  the  flock,  but  the  progeny  was  not  satisfactory, 
partaking  more  of  the  qualities  of  the  Saxony  Merino,  having  a  light 
top  and  light  fleece.  Other  tests  of  crosses  with  Vermont  rams  were 
made,  but  not  to  his  satisfaction.  While  they  give  weight  to  the  fleece 
and  in  some  instances  longer  wool,  they  lacked  top,  and  the  wool  had 
not  the  clear  white  bottom  that  the  pure  bred  Black-Top  had.  The 
cross-bred  sheep  were  rejected  as  being  inferior  to  his  own  stock,  and 
he  bred  rams  on  his  flock  from  that  of  his  brother,  Matthew  Berry.  In 
1867  the  flock  was  sold  to  his  two  sons,  J.  M.  and  C.  M.  Berry. 

Previous  to  this  sale,  however,  another  brother,  William  Berry,  pur- 
chased of  his  father  in  October ?  1863,  55  ewes?  which  laid  the  founda- 


496  SHEEP   INDUSTRY    OF    THE    UNITED    STATES 

tion  of  a  flock  which  was  added  to  by  subsequent  purchases  from  his 
brothers  and  others  of  choice  Black-Top  sheep.  In  breeding  his  sheep 
it  was  the  aim  to  produce  a  large,  well  formed  animal,  with  a  dense 
fleece  of  long  white  wool,  carrying  the  oil  well  to  the  surface  and  avoid- 
ing the  sacrifice  of  the  natural  fineness  of  fleece  for  any  other  point. 
He  especially  endeavored  to  improve  their  feet,  his  constant  aim  in  that 
direction  being  to  propagate  a  Merino  sheep  with  feet  equal  to  those  of 
the  mutton  breeds.  Two  noted  stock  rams  of  this  flock  were  Success 
and  Walter. 

The  flock  of  John  Berry,  purchased  by  his  sons  C.  M.  and  John  M. 
Berry,  April  1,  1867,  contained  about  265  head.  These  were  kept  to- 
gether and  bred  as  one  flock,  using  only  the  rams  from  the  original 
purchase,  or  those  bred  from  the  original  purchase,  up  to  April  1,  1872, 
when  the  flock  was  divided  equally  between  the  two  brothers,  C.  M. 
Berry  taking  his  part  to  his  farm  in  Strabane  Township,  while  John  M. 
Berry  retained  his  on  the  homestead  farm.  The  course  of  breeding 
followed  by  the  two  brothers  was  similar.  They  always  reserved  the 
best  sheep  of  both  sexes  for  their  own  breeding,  and  never  allowed 
selections  from  their  flocks.  They  avoided  extremes  on  any  one  point, 
aiming  to  propagate  the  sheep  that  would  make  the  highest  average  on 
all  points.  They  believed  that  the  most  valuable  sheep  was  the  one 
that  would  give  the  greatest  return  in  dollars  and  cents  in  a  given  time 
from  both  wool  and  mutton,  and  to  this  end  they  aimed  to  breed  sheep 
that  would  produce  the  greatest  number  of  pounds  of  clean,  fine  delaine 
wool  on  the  largest  and  best  mutton  carcass.  Each  flock  did  the  great- 
est amount  of  breeding  within  itself,  but  close  in-and-in  breeding  was 
avoided  by  the  use  of  rams  bred  in  other  pure-bred  Black-Top  flocks, 
besides  using  rams  at  different  times  from  each  flock,  one  on  the  other. 
The  wool  from  these  flocks  grades  very  high,  that  of  John  M.  Berry  in 
1884  marking  100  per  cent  fine  delaine. 

The  sheep  from  the  original  William  Berry  flock  had  a  wide  dissem- 
ination in  Washington  County  before  their  excellence  was  generally 
recognized,  but  unfortunately  many  were  crossed  with  inferior  Vermont 
and  Saxon  rams  and  their  characteristic  points  eliminated.  One  of  the 
purchasers  from  Matthew  Berry  was  Tappan  W.  Wylie,  who  in  turn 
sold  some  of  his  sheep  to  Thomas  N.  Ealston.  In  the  early  days  of 
wool-growing  in  Washington  County  John  Ealston,  who  possessed  a 
large  tract  of  land  especially  adapted  to  the  business,  began  sheep  rais- 
ing, increasing  his  flocks  from  time  to  time  until  they  numbered  from 
1,000  to  1,400.  His  first  object  was  wool-growing,  and  his  flocks  were 
composed  of  the  best  breeds  of  fine  wool  sheep,  not  confining  himself  to 
any  particular  breed,  but  always  striving  for  the  best  wool  producers. 
In  1860  his  son,  Thomas  N.  Ealston,  assumed  charge  of  the  sheep,  and 
in  1866,  desiring  to  improve  and  increase  his  flock,  took  a  trip  through 
Washington  County  and  was  attracted  by  the  peculiar,  dark  colored, 
large  sized  sheep  owned  by  Mr.  Wylie.  Upon  examination  of  them 


NC8,   DEL. 


MERINO  RAM  "SUCCESS." 

FROM  "  BLACK  TOP  SPANISH  MERINO  SHEEP  BREEDERS'  REGISTER. 


EAST    OF    THE    MISSISSIPPI    RIVER.  497 

he  discovered  that  they  were  covered  with  a  very  heavy  coat  of  long 
and  unusually  fine  wool,  and  he  purchased  20  of  them.  During  that 
and  the  two  years  succeeding  he  purchased  quite  a  number  of  sheep 
from  prominent  breeders  of  Vermont  and  New  York,  but  found  that  his 
sheep  purchased  in  Washington  County  were  superior  in  many  respects, 
such  as  their  feet,  wool,  and  carcass.  In  1876  he  purchased  15  descend- 
ants of  the  Wylie  flock,  and  in  1879  2  rams  and  6  ewes  of  the  Berry 
flock,  represented  as  pure-blood  descendants  of  the  Dickinson  sheep. 
They  were  from  the  Humphreys  importation  of  1802.  The  Kalston  flock 
is  owned  in  Armstrong  County,  Pa. 

In  1821  Alexander  Reed,  of  Washington  County,  was  the  possessor 
of  some  farms  that  were  not  paying  him  3  per  cent  interest  on  their 
cost,  so  he  was  driven  into  sheep  husbandry  and  bought  sheep  to  make 
up  flocks.  The  average  cost  of  his  flock  was  $4.55  per  head.  The 
highest  price  paid  was  $25,  the  lowest  $2.50,  and  among  the  purchases 
was  a  flock  of  134  full-blood  Merinos  from  Alexander  Wilson,  near 
Philadelphia.  They  were  superior  in  smallness  of  bone  and  form  to 
any  Merino  that  Mr.  Reed  had  seen.  In  form  they  were  but  little 
inferior  to  the  Dishley.  Many  of  the  wethers,  bred  in  1824,  weighed 
from  110  to  120  pounds  on  foot,  and  this  'without  any  extra  feeding. 
Mr.  Reed  increased  his  flock  to  about  3,000  and  was  a  very  successful 
wool-grower,  and  is  believed  to  have  been  the  first  to  test  the  Eastern 
market  with  Washington  County  wool.  The  failure  of  the  Steuben- 
ville  factory  in  1829,  and  the  cessation  of  manufacture  by  Mr.  Rapp's 
colony  at  Economy,  Butler  County,  ruined  the  home  market,  and  the 
Washington  County  wool  followed  the  market  opened  by  Mr.  Reed, 
and  has  ever  since  done  so. 

Collin  M.  Reed,  sr.,  in  a  paper  on  the  history  of  fine- wool  growing  in 
Washington  County,  says : 

In  1819  the  late  Alexander  Reed,  of  Washington,  father  of  the  writer,  brought 
from  Philadelphia  a  flock  of  134  Spanish  Merinos,  and  soon  after  the  celebrated  flock 
of  Richard  W.  Meade  (father  of  the  late  Gen.  George  G.  Meade),  our  then  consul  in 
Spain.  The  flocks  of  pure  blood,  good  size  and  form,  greatly  improved  the  stock  of 
Washington  County. 

The  Victor-Beall  Delaine  Merino  Register  fixes  the  importation  of 
these  sheep  at  about  the  year  1820,  and  says  they  were  kept  for  some 
time  on  the  farm  of  Alexander  Wilson,  near  Philadelphia. 

They  did  not  do  well  there,  and  were  subsequently  sent  to  Washington  County. 
A  part  of  them  were  placed  on  the  farm  of  Alexander  Reed,  near  the  town  of  Wash- 
ington, and  the  rest  on  the  farm  of  Wilson  Cunningham.  These  two  flocks  were 
among  the  pioneer  Merino  flocks  of  Washington  County,  and  from  them  sprung  very 
many  of  the  fine-wool  flocks  that  afterwards  gave  to  Washington  County  the  popu- 
larity it  has  long  enjoyed  as  the  banner  fine-wool  growing  county. 

There  is  an  evident  mistake  in  the  date  assigned  by  Mr.  C.  M.  Reed 
to  the  purchase  of  the  134  Spanish  Merinos  at  Philadelphia,  for  Alex- 
ander Reed  in  March,  1824,  fixed  that  date  at  1821  and  not  1819,  and 
the  Delaine  Register  in  fixing  the  importation  at  about  1820,  and  then 
22990 32 


408  SHEEP    INDUSTRY    OF    THE    UNITED    STATES 

stating  that  tliey  were  kept  some  time  on  the  farm  of  Mr.  Wilson, 
seem  to  invalidate  both  the  statement  of  Alexander  Eeed  and  0.  M. 
Reed.  Alexander  Eeed,  March  20,  1824,  says:  "  It  is  not  quite  three 
years  since  I  commenced  sheep  husbandry,'7  and  continues  the  state- 
ment by  noting-  the  purchase  of  "  a  flock  of  134  full-bloods  from  Mr. 
Wilson,  near  Philadelphia."  The  date  as  indicated  by  Mr.  Alexander 
Eeed  is  undoubtedly  correct,  and  there  is  but  little  doubt  that  these 
Spanish  Merinos  were  not  imported  in  1820,  but  in  1810  and  1811,  and 
were  part  of  the  Infantado  flock  or  flocks  in  charge  of  David  Eose,  W. 
J.  Miller,  and  others  from  1810  to  1823,  belonging  to  E.  W.  Meade,  and 
of  which  mention  has  been  made  on  a  preceding  page. 

The  introduction  of  the  Meade  importation  laid,  in  part,  the  founda- 
tion of  the  Delaine  Merino  sheep  through  the  flocks  of  George  Murray, 
William  Brownlee,  George  Craighead,  Ebenezer  McClelland,  and  John 
McNary.  George  Murray,  George  Craighead,  and  Ebenezer  McClel- 
land bought  of  Alexander  Eeed  the  sheep  that  were  the  foundation  of 
their  flocks.  These  were  small  and  well  fed,  and  being  always  fat,  soon 
developed  into  large  black-topped  and  heavy-shearing  sheep,  and  were 
spoken  of  as  the  Big  Merinos.  At  first  these  sheep  were  of  medium 
size,  with  a  fleece  weighing  about  2  J  pounds,  and  of  very  fine  staple. 

In  1824,  at  the  request  of  J.  Hare  Powell,  of  Philadelphia,  Mr.  Alex- 
ander Eeed  gave  some  facts  concerning  his  flock  and  its  management, 
which,  before  proceeding  to  the  branches  from  it,  we  condense.  From 
his  own  observation  and  information  from  more  experienced  sheep 
farmers  he  was  fully  convinced  that  the  half  and  three-fourths  blood 
Merinos  would  produce  more  good  mutton  in  proportion  to  the  food 
than  the  common  sheep  of  the  country.  Their  small  bone  and  compact 
form  gave  them  a  decided  advantage.  With  the  western  growers  the 
weight  and  fineness  of  fleece  were  the  only  objects.  His  belief  was 
that  in  situations  where  mutton  commanded  a  good  price,  taking  in 
view  the  amount  of  capital  required,  from  half  to  three-fourths  bred 
would  prove  as  profitable  as  any  other  kind.  By  a  little  care  in  select- 
ing good-sized  Merino  rams  and  large  well-formed  common  ewes,  a  race 
would  be  produced  combining,  in  a  great  degree,  valuable  wool  arid 
heavy  carcasses.  The  fact  was  unquestioned  that  such  a  cross  pro- 
duced more  wool  than  the  unmixed  on  either  side.  That  they  were 
more  active  and  stronger  than  the  common  sheep  was  also  a  fact  well 
known  to  all  who  had  been  in  the  habit  of  handling  them,  and  in  wash- 
ing  them  it  required  nearly  double  the  strength  to  manage  them  in  the 
water. 

The  management  of  the  sheep  was  similar  throughout  the  county. 
Pasture  ground  was  so  arranged  as  to  take  a  piece  of  woodland  into 
every  field  to  shade  them  from  the  sun.  This  was  considered  essential 
to  their  health  and  comfort,  particularly  after  shearing.  Four  to  0 
sheep  were  kept  on  an  acre  and  frequent  changes  made  from  field  to  field 
when  practicable.  During  the  winter  the  feed  was  almost  entirely  a 


EAST   OF   THE    MISSISSIPPI   RIVEK.  499 

mixture  of  clover  and  timothy  hay,  with  about  8  pounds  of  salt  on 
every  ton.  Five  tons  for  a  hundred  sheep  was  a  fair  allowance  where 
some  provision  had  been"  made  for  winter  pasture.  In  this  way  they 
obtained  a  mixture  of  succulent  and  dry  food,  which  conduced  to  good 
health.  The  wethers  required  no  grain.  About  three  or  four  weeks 
before  lambing  time  heavy  ewes  were  fed  with  a  little  oats  in  the  straw 
or  thrashed,  and  a  little  grain  was  given  during  the  winter  to  the  last 
year's  lambs.  When  grain  was  cheap  an  increased  quantity  of  wool 
paid  for  extra-good  keeping.  Some  successful  sheep  farmers  fed  their 
flocks  almost  entirely  on  oat  straw.  The  oats  were  cut  before  they 
became  ripe— were  exposed  to  but  little  sun  and  no  rain.  Chopped  rye 
about  yeaning  time  greatly  increased  the  quantity  of  milk.  Sowing  a 
field  of  early  rye  as  spring  pasture  for  old  sheep  was  a  paying  practice. 
From  the  low  price  of  mutton  and  the  anxiety  to  increase  the  fine- 
wooled  sheep  they  were  never  fattened  for  the  butcher.  Sheds  were 
considered  indispensable,  especially  for  breeding  ewes  and  lambs.  It 
was  generally  believed  that  early  lambs  made  the  hardiest  sheep,  but 
experience  did  not  always  confirm  this  opinion.  Rams  were  not  per- 
mitted to  remain  more  than  about  one  month  with  the  ewes.  Those 
who  desired  early  lambs  bred  from  strong  ewes,  as  old  and  weak  ones 
could  not  support  their  lambs  through  the  winter  months  without  more 
trouble  than  they  were  worth.  In  large  flocks  it  was  almost  impossible, 
and  most  farmers  soon  gave  up  the  practice  of  having  early  lambs. 
No  ewes  under  18  months  old  were  permitted  to  remain  with  the  rams  5 
to  extend  the  time  to  2J  years  was  thought  to  be  more  profitable  in  the 
end  and  was  sometimes  practiced.  Although  in  the  latter  case  the 
flocks  did  not  increase  so  fast,  compensation  was  gained  in  the  improved 
size  and  quality  of  the  stock.  Diseases  were  rare;  old  age  and  the  dogs 
were  the  only  foes  dreaded. 

The  excellent  care  vouchsafed  the  sheep,  the  strong  healthy  stock 
from  which  they  sprung,  the  climate  and  fine  herbage,  all  combined  to 
produce  a  large  sheep  with  fine  wool,  such  as  have  been  the  glory  of 
Washington  County,  and  which  have  enriched  it  beyond  that  of  any 
similar  section  of  the  United  States.  In  1824  more  than  10,000  sheep 
were  sent  from  this  county  to  found  flocks  in  Ohio.  In  1825  there  were 
110,451  sheep  in  the  county  shearing  over  400,000  pounds  of  wool. 
Between  one-third  and  one-fourth  of  the  wool  was  Merino  of  different 
grades  from  full  down  to  quarter-bred.  About  three-fourths  of  the 
whole  was  manufactured  in  a  domestic  way  into  narrow  cloths,  blankets, 
linseys,  flannels,  and  stockings.  Considerable  linsey  was  sent  down 
the  Ohio.  Wells  &  Co.,  at  Steubenville,  consumed  one-third  of  the 
remaining  100,000  pounds,  the  small  manufacturing  establishments  one- 
third,  and  the  remainder,  or  about  33,000  pounds,  was  sent  eastward. 
In  1836  there  were  225,000  sheep,  shearing  over  000,000  pounds  of  the 
finest  wool.  One-eighth  of  the  number  raised  in  the  entire  State  were 
in  Washington  County,  and  this  with  Fayette,  Beaver,  and  Allegheny 


500        SHEEP  INDUSTRY  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES 

furnished  nearly  all  the  fine  wool  that  was  grown,  the  location  being 
favorable,  the  land  well  cleared,  and  the  pastures  clean,  hilly,  and 
healthy. 

In  1822  John  McNary,  of  North  Strabane  Township,  bought  of  W. 
E.  Dickinson  1  rain  and  20  ewes,  selected  from  a  flock  then  on  their 
way  from  the  East  to  Mr.  Dickinson's  farm  in  Ohio.  These  were  the 
first  Merino  sheep  introduced  into  that  neighborhood.  They  were  good 
sized  and  healthy,  with  very  fine  wool,  and  were  bred  by  Mr.  McNary 
with  great  care.  As  the  flock  increased  other  rams  were  used  from  the 
flock  of  William  Brownlee,  which  were  descendants  of  the  Dickinson 
stock,  and  afterwards  from  the  flock  of  George  Murray,  of  the  Meade 
importation.  In  1828  the  flock  was  divided,  part  of  it  passing  to  W.  H. 
McNary,  and  the  remainder  to  James  S.  McNary.  The  latter  added  to 
his  flock  selections  from  those  of  George  Murray,  William  Brownlee, 
and  William  Davis,  all  being  descendants  of  the  Meade  importation, 
through  the  Alexander  Eeed  flock.  No  other  blood  was  introduced 
until  18GO,  when  a  Spanish  Merino  ram  was  used,  having  been  selected 
with  reference  to  fineness  and  length  of  wool.  In  1870  another  Spanish 
ram  was  selected  from  the  flock  of  J.  M.  Miller,  and  another  from  the 
Black-Top  flock  of  J.  M.  Berry.  But  the  principal  part  of  all  breeding- 
done  outside  the  flock  has  been  from  the  flocks  of  R.  H.  Russell  and 
John  C.  McNary. 

William  H.  McNary,  who,  in  the  division  of  John  McNary's  flock, 
received  part  of  it,  added  to  it  the  same  year  20  ewes  and  a  ram  from 
the  flock  of  George  Murray,  his  father-in-law,  these  being  direct 
descendants  from  the  Meade  importation.  W.  H.  McNary  was  an 
excellent  shepherd,  and  when  it  was  first  proposed  to  introduce  the 
Vermont  Merinos  looked  with  much  disfavor  upon  them,  preferring  the 
old  smooth-bodied,  black- topped,  and  fine-wooled  sheep.  To  a  certain 
extent,  however,  he  yielded.  In  1860,  from  this  flock  of  300  sheep,  J. 
0.  McNary  selected  50  ewes  for  the  foundation  of  a  new  flock.  To  20 
of  these  ewes  he  bred  a  Yermont  ram  of  oily  wool  and  large  frame,  the 
other  30  ewes  being  bred  to  a  long-wooled  ram.  The  cross  with  the 
Vermont  ram  was  satisfactory,  especially  as  the  war  so  stimulated  the 
wool  trade  that  coarse  and  fine  wool  brought  the  same  price,  making 
weight  more  necessary  to  profit  than  fineness  of  quality. 

The  union  of  the  Dickinson  and  Meade  sheep  in  the  flock  of  John 
McNary  was  the  first  step  leading  to  the  formation  of  the  comparatively 
new  Delaine  Merino.  It  is  claimed  by  the  breeders  of  this  sheep  that 
no  deep  interbreeding  has  been  practiced,  and  that  the  sheep  are,  there- 
fore, free  from  all  taint  of  weakness  so  frequently  traced  to  incestuous 
breeding.  No  pretense  is  made  of  line-pure  descent  from  a  single  sheep 
or  a  single  flock,  but  on  the  contrary  the  breeders  pride  themselves  in 
having  secured  in  combination  the  blood  of  the  best  flocks  in  America 
and  Spain,  but  at  the  bottom  of  which  is  the  R.  W.  Meade  importation. 

About  1827  Ebenezer  McClelland  purchased  of  Alexander  Eeed,  of 


I-: AST    OF    THE  MISSISSIPPI   RIVER.  501 

Washington,  Pa.,  a  lot  of  line-wool  sheep,  descendants  of  the  Meade 
importation.  They  were  of  medium  size,  with  a  fleece  weighing  about 
1U  pounds,  but  the  staple  was  very  fine.  About  1830  he  purchased  a 
lot  of  fine-wool  sheep  of  Greorge  Murray,  being  also  descendants  of  the 
Meade  importation.  These  sheep  were  medium  size  with  fine  staple. 
About  1840  he  purchased  of  James  and  Thomas  Kalston  their  entire 
flock,  which  they  called  the  Dickinson  stock,  having  a  weight  of  fleece 
of  about  3  pounds.  In  1844  or  1845  he  purchased  of  Mr.  Edington  two 
rains,  which  were  of  medium  size,  with  a  long,  fine  staple,  but  thin  on 
the  sheep,  and  weighed  about  5  pounds.  The  introduction  of  these 
rains  into  the  flock  increased  the  weight  of  fleeces  to  about  3  pounds, 
which  was  of  very  fine  quality  of  long,  white  wool.  The  flock  was  then 
bred  in  line  until  about  1857,  when  Mr.  McClelland's  sons,  who  had  suc- 
ceeded to  the  possession,  purchased  of  Rockwell  &  Jones,  of  Vermont, 
two  Spanish  rams  of  good  size,  smooth  body,  with  a  good  dewlap  and 
a  white  fleece,  weighing  about  10  pounds  each.  This  cross  made  quite 
an  improvement  in  the  flock,  and  brought  the  weight  of  fleece  to  4  pounds, 
with  a  good  form  of  sheep.  In  1858  a  ram  was  introduced  from  the 
Henry  S.  Eandall  stock,  of  New  York.  This  Spanish  ram  was  large, 
with  smooth  body,  a  heavy  neck,  and  a  fleece  of  long,  white  wool,  weigh- 
ing about  12  pounds.  This  cross  produced  very  satisfactory  results, 
increasing  the  weight  of  fleece  to  about  5  pounds,  with  a  good  form  of 
sheep,  such  as  is  needed  to  make  good  feeding  wethers.  In  1862  a  year- 
ling ram  was  purchased  of  C.  H.  Beall,  of  Brooke  County,  W.  Va.,  claimed 
as  the  corner  stone  in  the  foundation  of  the  present  flock  of  the  McClel- 
land Brothers.  He  sheared  about  17  pounds  of  long,  white,  exceedingly 
stylish,  crimpy  wool.  He  was  a  cross  from  a  Spanish  and  Black-Top. 
In  1867  a  rain  belonging  to  C.  H.  Beall  was  used.  He  was  a  large,  well- 
formed  sheep,  with  smooth  body,  and  good,  heavy  dewlap,  and  with 
fleece  at  maturity  weighing  18  pounds.  In  1867  a  Spanish  ram  belong- 
ing to  Robert  Perrine,  of  Patterson's  Mills,  Pa.,  was  used;  fleece  weigh- 
ing 20  pounds.  In  1872  one  of  William  Thompson's  stock  ranis  was 
purchased.  He  was  strong  Spanish,  with  a  fleece  weighing  18  pounds. 
In  1879  the  well-known  stock  ram  Success  was  used.  This  rani  had 
been  exhibited  many  times,  and  was  nearly  always  a  winner.  The 
results  of  these  crosses  were  very  satisfactory.  Of  this  flock,  consisting 
in  1882  of  1,700  sheep,  74  ewes  were  admitted  to  the  Delaine  Register, 
at  the  head  of  which  stands  the  stock'ram,  Old  John  No.  1,  sired  by  the 
old  Beall  ram,  whose  name  forms,  in  part,  the  designation  Victor-Beall 
Delaine  Merino.* 

All  the  breeding  of  this  flock  was  with  the  view  to  a  large,  bulky  white 
fleece  of  wool,  and  at  the  same  time  being  careful  not  to  lose  sight  of 
good  feeding  wethers,  such  as  were  produced  from  this  flock  and  sold 
in  1882.  One  hundred  3-year-old  wethers,  after  shearing  11  pounds  of 

*  Victor-Beall  Delaine  Merino  Register. 


O02  SHEEP   INDUSTRY    OF    THE    UNITED  '  STATES 

white  Delaine  wool,  had  a  carcass  averaging  110J  pounds.     The  fleece 
of  Old  John,  No.  1,  weighed  17  pounds. 

At  the  sale  of  the  Dickinson  flock  in  1829,  John  H.  Ewiug  bought 
1,000  head,  which  was  the  foundation  of  his  flock.  They  were  origi- 
nally from  the  best  imported  stock  and  he  gave  the  greatest  care  and 
attention  to  their  improvement  for  many  years,  making  such  selections 
for  breeding  as  would  produce  wool  desirable  to  the  manufacturer  and 
at  the  same  time  profitable  to  the  wool-grower.  And  in  the  selection  of 
breeders,  the  peculiar  character  of  the  stock  being  carried  down  for 
generations,  he  chose  always  the  best  rams,  allowing  3  to  every  100 
ewes.  In  the  summer  Mr.  Ewing  grazed  Iris  flock  on  the  mountains, 
covered  with  timber  and  underbrush,  and  whenever  they  had  suffi- 
cient scope  they  did  well  and  were  healthy.  A  variety  of  herbage  and 
frequent  change  of  pasture  are  necessities  to  the  sheep.  The  fodder- 
ing season  lasted  five  to  six  months,  but  not  more  than  three  or  four 
weeks  of  bad  weather,  during  which  time  the  sheep  were  fed  on  hay, 
oats,  corn,  and  corn  fodder.  They  were  given  what  hay  they  would 
eat  up  clean,  and  the  ewes  and  weaker  ones  were  provided  with  a  bushel 
of  oats  per  100  daily,  or  half  that  quantity  of  corn ;  in  bad  weather  it 
was  found  best  to  fodder  three  times  a  day.  The  less  grain,  however, 
they  had  the  better,  as  long  as  they  remained  in  good  order,  which  alone 
could  be  done  by  the  use  of  roots  or  an  extensive  range,  which  was 
permitted  to  grow  up  during  the  summer,  and  a  blue-grass  range  was 
the  best,  as  it  is  less  liable  to  be  affected  with  frost  than  any  other,  and 
one  of  the  best  for  pasturage.  Mr.  Swing's  flock  in  1845  exceeded 
2,000  and  then  partook  more  of  the  Saxon  than  Spanish  Merino  charac- 
ter, as  well  as  most  of  the  flocks  in  his  section  of  country,  and  yet  most 
of  the  original  stock  was  of  Merino  blood.  But  many  of  the  flock  had 
been  formed  by  crossing  with  the  native  sheep,  and  by  close  attention 
for  a  series  of  years  had  become  very  good,  and  generally  passed  for 
full  blood  Merino. 

About  the  year  1830  George  Craighead  started  a  flock  of  sheep,  get- 
ting part  of  his  stock  from  George  Murray,  Black-Top  Merino,  and  get- 
ting stock  rams  at  different  times  for  a  number  of  years  from  the  same 
flock.  He  afterwards  purchased  a  ram  from  Samuel  Kerr,  and  subse- 
quently 2  rams  from  William  Moore.  In  1850  the  greater  part  of  the 
flock  passed  into  the  hands  of  the  present  owners,  W.  R.  Craighead  & 
Son.  A  change  was  again  made;  a  stock  ram  of  the  old  Black-Top 
stock  was  bought  of  James  McOonnell.  In  1863  a  thoroughbred  Span- 
ish ram  was  purchased  of  Mr.  Dunaway,  of  Fayette  County,  Pa.,  bred 
from  stock  that  he  had  brought  from  Vermont.  This  improved  the 
flock  very  much  in  every  way.  In  18G8  a  full-blood  Spanish  ram  from 
the  flock  of  Robert  Perrine  was  used.  He  had  long,  white,  and  very 
fine  wool.  In  1871  a  thoroughbred  Spanish  ram  was  purchased  of  Wil- 
liam Thompson,  producing  a  good  cross.  From  1874  to  1877  the  ewes 
were  bred  to  rams  from  the  flock  of  the  Beall  stock,  owned  by  the  McClel- 


MERINO  EWE  "EMMA,"  No.  31. 
PROM  "DICKINSON  MERINO  SHEEP  REGISTER,"  VOL.  i,  1884. 


I  AST    OF    TTTK    MISSISSIPPI   KIVER.  503 

land  Brothers,  producing  a  great  improvement  in  length  of  staple  and 
form  of  sheep.  In  1878  a  ram  from  the  flock  of  John  B.  Craighead  was 
introduced,  being  a  cross  of  the  Spanish  and  Black-Top,  which  added 
to  the  size  of  sheep  and  whiteness  of  fleece.  In  1879  and  1880  two 
rams  from  the  old  Black-Top  flock  of  Eobert  Johnson  were  added.  Out 
of  150  ewes  from  all  these  crosses  only  14  were  admitted  to  registry  by 
the  examining  committee  when  the  Delaine  Merino  Eegistry  was  organ- 
ized in  1882.  At  the  head  of  the  flock  stook  Black-Top  II,  1  year  old, 
with  a  14-pound  fleece.* 

A  brief  sketch  of  a  few  leading  flocks  that  have  come  down  to  the 
present  day  gives  but.  an  imperfect  idea  of  the  early  sheep  of  this  sec- 
tion of  country  as  raised  by  the  ordinary  farmer  and  wool- grower. 
Founded  upon  the  early  importations  of  Humphreys,  Jarvis,  E.  W. 
Meade,  and  others,  but  principally  upon  what  was  known  as  the  Wells 
and  Dickinson  sheep,  there  were  at  an  early  day  many  varieties  formed 
bv  crosses  on  the  common  sheep  of  the  country,  the  cross  of  the  Meade 
sheep  upon  the  Dickinson,  and  crosses  in  every  direction.  The  grower 
was  not  particular  as  to  the  name  or  pedigree  of  the  sheep,  provided  it 
displayed  a  good  fleece  and  had  a  good  constitution.  Looking  to  tbese 
two  requisites  the  early  Merinos  attained  great  excellence  and  yielded 
a  tine  wool.  The  wool  industry  was  in  a  prosperous  condition  from  the 
time  it  became  an  industry  until  1820.  During  the  war  with  England 
wool  brought  high  prices,  and  the  Wells  and  Dickinson  woolen  mills  at 
Steubenville  afforded  a  market.  The  disaster  that  overtook  the  manu- 
facturer in  1815  at  the  East  did  not  so  seriously  affect  the  wool-grower 
at  the  West,  for  he  found  a  factory  that  did  not  immediately  succumb 
to  the  general  depression,  and  he  could  dispose  of  his  wool  at  prices 
that  were  fairly  remunerative  if  not  highly  profitable.  He  did  not 
abandon  his  flocks,  nor  did  he  seriously  neglect  them.  New  settlers 
bought  sheep  and  there  was  a  steady  increase.  The  tariff  of  1824  gave 
a  stimulus  to  the  industry,  which  was  further  increased  by  the  tariff  of 
1  si»s.  Wells  and  Dickinson,  who  had  large  flocks  of  sheep,  encouraged 
the  growth  of  a  very  fine  wool,  and  from  1827  until  the  suspension  of 
their  factory  in  1829  brought  many  Saxony  Merinos  into  the  country 
which  they  added  to  their  own  large  flocks  and  sold  to  the  neighboring 
growers.  Others  bought  Saxonies  in  Massachusetts,  Connecticut,  and 
»w  York,  and  nearly  all  the  fine  flocks  of  western  Pennsylvania,  West 
Virginia,  and  southeastern  Ohio  were  crossed  with  them,  and  they  were 
bred  in  that  direction  for  many  years,  during  which  period  the  wools 
of  the  section  were  acknowledged  to  be  the  finest  grown  in  the  United 
States  and  not  excelled  in  Germany. 

The  Steubenville  factory,  after  sinking  over  $200,000,  was  obliged  to 
close  in  1829,  and  the  home  market  was  lost.  Wool  ran  down  in  price, 
the  flocks  diminished  rapidly  in  numbers  and  quality,  and  the  char- 
aeter  of  the  wool  has  not  been  equaled  since.  At  this  crisis  full-blood 

*  Victor-Beall  Delaine  Merino  Register. 


501  SHEEP   INDUSTRY   OF   THE    UNITED    STATES 

Merino  sheep  sold  as  low  as  $1  per  head  with  the  fleece  on,  and  300 
full-blooded  Merino  wethers  of  Mr.  Alexander  Reed's  flock  were  dis- 
posed of  at  87  J  cents  each,  scarcity  of  pasture  making  it  necessary  to 
reduce  the  flock. 

In  West  Virginia,  at  this  time,  there  were  flocks  of  as  fine  Saxony 
sheep  as  Saxony  or  Silesia  could  show,  and  some  of  these  flocks  were 
maintained  to  1883,  when  most  of  them  suffered  deterioration.  Some 
still  exist  and  shall  be  noticed  elsewhere. 

The  development  of  the  fine- wool  industry  of  this  section  was  won- 
derful. Washington  County  increased  its  sheep  from  47,294  in  1810  to 
over  100,000  in  1825,  and  over  200,000  in  1836,  of  the  finest  breeds,  pro- 
ducing each  on  an  average  2f  pounds  of  wool.  Year  by  year  the  Saxon 
blood  increased  in  the  flocks  and  nothing  else  was  sought  for  until  about 
1847,  when  breeders  and  growers  awakened  to  the  fact  that  generally 
the  Saxons  lacked  constitution  and  hardiness.  They  were  a  fine-boned, 
w^ell-forrned  sheep,  and  gave  an  average  fleece  of  2.76  pounds,  and  the 
wool  was  of  the  most  desirable  character,  fine  in  fiber  and  fair  length 
of  staple,  and  nearly  free  from  yolk  or  oil.  But  this  fineness  of  fleece 
did  not  command  the  price  that  would  make  it  more  profitable  than  the 
heavier  Spanish  fleece  at  a  lower  figure.  The  Spanish  Merinos  were 
more  hardy  and  a  cross  on  the  Saxons  enhanced  the  weight  of  the  sheep 
as  well  as  the  fleece.  It  was  a  great  era  for  fine- wool  growing  and  many 
had  purchased  more  sheep  than  they  could  properly  attend  to,  which 
was  an  additional  reason  why  the  animals  became  weak,  the  yield  of 
wool  light,  and  the  constitution  of  the  sheep  greatly  impaired.  The 
crossing  of  Spanish  rams  on  Saxon  ewes  soon  effected  a  discernible 
improvement,  not  only  in  the  quality  of  wool,  but  in  weight  of  fleece 
and  constitution  of  the  sheep.  From  2f  pounds  per  head  in  1847  the 
wool  rose  to  over  3  pounds  in  1856,  to  3.17  in  1860,  and  to  4.36  pounds 
in  1870.  A  part  of  this  increase  is  attributed  to  the  fact  of  keeping 
smaller  flocks,  but  more  is  due  to  judicious  crossing,  constant  attention, 
and  liberal  feeding.  The  Spanish  wool  was  not  worth  as  much  as  the 
pure  Saxon,  but  the  wool-grower  gained  in  the  decreased  loss  of  his 
sheep,  the  improvement  of  their  constitution,  and  the  less  attention  they 
required.  Some  flocks  in  1861  sheared  largely  over  the  average  of  3.16 
pounds,  notably  that  of  William  Berry,  jr.,  who  from  147  sheep  sheared 
891  pounds  of  wool  washed  on  the  sheep's  back,  an  average  of  over  6 
pounds,  and  in  every  respect  a  fine  wool,  from  strong  healthy  sheep. 
Many,  however,  stuck  to  the  Saxony  sheep,  and  there  were  thousands 
of  full-blooded  ones  in  Washington  County  alone  in  1860,  and  hundreds 
in  adjoining  counties  of  Pennsylvania  and  Virginia.  The  flocks  of  full- 
blooded  Saxonies  yielded  2J  pounds  of  wool  per  head.  There  was  in 
many  quarters  an  indisposition  to  get  clear  of  thorn,  and  they  lingered 
here  when  in  other  sections  of  the  country  they  had  long  since  be^n 
abandoned.  It  was  a  matter  of  pride  with  their  owners  to  have  a  fine, 
clean  clip  of  wool  even  long  after  it  paid  to  raise  it.  But  as  the  demand 


EAST   OF   THE   MISSISSIPPI   RIVER.  505 

for  tine  wool  diminished  and  half-blood  or  medium  became  more  market- 
able more  Saxony  flocks  were  crossed. 

The  Saxonies  of  western  Pennsylvania  and  West  Virginia  were  not 
the  delicate  sheep  they  were  found  to  be  in  the  East,  but  were  as  hardy 
as  any  introduced  there  and  remarkable  for  the  quality  of  their  wool. 
In  1870  there  were  still  left  in  Brooke  and  Ohio  counties,  W.  Va., 
."»o,000  to  60,000  Saxony  sheep,  producing  each  2J  to  3  pounds  of  wool, 
and  nearly  all  the  fine-wool  growers  who  had  abandoned  the  Saxony 
some-  years  previous,  to  introduce  into  their  flocks  the  Vermont  Span- 
ish sheep,  discontinued  the  use  of  the  latter.  They  decided  that  the 
increased  weight  of  fleece  did  not  compensate  them  for  foot-rot  and 
other  drawbacks,  which  were  not  known  among  the  Saxonies  and  the 
old  Black-Top  Merino,  or  by  what  was  better  known  as  the  Wells  and 
Dickinson  sheep.  But  the  low  price  of  Saxony  wool  was  discouraging 
to  the  growers  and  a  gradual  change  came  about,  by  which  the  Delaine 
Merinos  were  substituted  for  both  the  Saxony  and  the  more  objection- 
able strains  of  the  Spanish  Merino. 

A  few  Silesian  sheep  were  introduced  into  the  county  about  1858,  a 
smooth,  well  formed  and  handsome  sheep,  about  the  weight  of  the 
Saxon,  the  rams  weighing  100  to  120  pounds  gross.  The  wool  was  fine 
and  well  set  on  the  animal,  containing  as  many  fibers  to  the  square 
inch  as  the  Saxon  or  any  of  the  finer  breeds,  and  at  one  time  when 
fine  wool  with  a  short  staple  was  much  sought  for  they  would  have  been 
esteemed  as  a  valuable  acquisition,  but  in  1858  to  1860,  when  a  longer 
staple  was  in  demand  without  so  much  regard  to  fineness,  they  did  not 
receive  much  attention  and  their  introduction  was  limited  to  a  few 
flocks  and  in  small  number.  In  West  Virginia  they  were  more  popular, 
and  many  flocks  were  crossed  with  them  about  1860  and  a  few  succeed- 
ing years.  An  argument  against  the  Silesian  was  that  it  was  inferior 
to  the  Vermont  Atwood  Merino.  In  1864  W.  P.  Atkinson,  of  Elm 
Grove,  W.  Va.,  had  three  Silesian  rams.  Two  of  them  were  sheared  in 
May  without  being  washed.  One  weighed  after  the  fleece  was  off  143 
pounds.  His  wool  in  the  dirt  weighed  10  pounds,  which  after  scouring 
weighed  3^-  pounds.  The  other  one  weighed  121  pounds,  the  unwashed 
fleece  9  pounds,  and  when  scoured  3 J  pounds.  An  Atwood  ram,  at  the 
same  time,  weighing  79  pounds,  gave  10£  pounds,  unwashed,  and  3J 
pounds  of  scoured  wool,  or,  considering  the  weight  of  carcass,  50  per 
cent  more  wool  than  the  Silesian. 

The  war  of  the  rebellion  made  a  demand  for  all  kinds  of  wool,  coarse 
and  fine;  all  sold  alike,  but  the  grower  of  superfine  wool  made  the  least 
money.  The  demand  for  the  greasy,  heavy-shearing  rams  of  Vermont 
and  Xew  York  became  a  rage,  and  most  of  the  wool-growers  went  with 
the  current  in  that  direction ;  few,  indeed,  made  any  effort  to  resist  it. 
The  breeding  of  the  Spanish  Merino  became  very  profitable,  and  gave 
a  great  impetus  to  the  production  of  a  heavy  fleece  producing  sheep. 
The  result  was  a  decided  increase  of  wool  per  head,  from  3.17  pounds 


SHEEP   INDUSTRY    OF    THE    UNITED    STATES 

in  18GO  to  4.36  pounds  in  1870,  and  to  5.2l  pounds  in  1880.     Some  pedi- 
greed flocks  founded  before  and  at  this  time  may  be  noted. 

Mr.  Eobert  Perdue,  of  Patterson's  Mills,  Washington  County,  laid 
the  foundation  of  a  Vermont  Merino  flock  in  1856  by  the  purchase  of 
13  ewes  and  3  rams  from  Edwin  Hammond,  and  in  1858  8  ewes  from 
W.  E.  Eemele,  and  subsequent  purchases  of  ewes  from  H.  W.  Hammond, 
E.  S.  Stowell,  Victor  Wright  and  others,  of  same  blood.  He  used  rams 
bred  by  E.  Hammond,  V.  Wright,  and  others,  of  Vermont.  This  became 
a  first-class  flock  and  was  liberally  drawn  upon  to  lay  the  foundation  of 
and  improve  flocks  in  Pennsylvania,  Virginia,  and  Ohio. 

Mr.  W.  L.  Archer,  of  Burgettstown,  Washington  County,  laid  the 
foundation  of  his  flock  in  1857  and  three  years  succeeding,  by  purchases 
of  Stephen  and  Chauncey  Atwood,  and  others  breeding  the  Atwood 
blood,  of  19  ewes.  From  1860  to  1871  39  ewes  and  some  rams  were  pur- 
chased of  the  Messrs.  Hammond,  of  Middlebury,  Vt.  This  flock  made  a 
good  reputation  and  was  largely  instrumental  in  disseminating  the  pure 
Atwood  blood  in  western  Pennsylvania  and  Ohio.  The  best  commen- 
tary upon  the  efforts  of  Mr.  Archer  to  preserve  the  purity  of  his  strain 
lies  in  the  fact  that  at  the  annual  fair  of  the  Pennsylvania  Agricultural 
Society,  held  at  Philadelphia  in  1880,  he  took  six  of  the  premiums  offered 
for  fine- wool  sheep,  and  the  other  six  premiums  were  awarded  to  S.  C. 
Work,  of  Buffalo  Township;  James  Glass,  of  Burgettstown,-  and  William 
A.  Herriott,  of  Oakdale,  all  of  whom  obtained  their  stock  from  Mr. 
Archer. 

Mr.  J.  C.  Gist,  of  Brooke  County,  W.  Va.,  began  a  flock  in  1862  by 
purchase  of  ewes  and  rams  of  Eli  Keller,  Newark,  Ohio,  bred  from 
stock  purchased  of  Edwin  Hammond,  Middlebury,  Vt.,  and  by  purchases 
of  Henry  Thorp,  Charlotte,  Vt.,  and  others  breeding  Atwood  blood. 

Mr.  C.  H.  Beall,  of  Brooke  County,  laid  the  foundation  of  a  Spanish 
Merino  flock  in  1863-'64  in  purchases  of  ewes  from  S.  G.  Holyoke,  St. 
Albans,  Vt.;  W.  E.  Eemele,  Middlebury,  Vt,  and  from  the  Hammond 
and  Elitharp  flocks,  and  by  subsequent  purchases  of  the  same  blood. 
This  flock  sustained  a  high  reputation  and  its  owner  was  one  of  the 
most  skillful  breeders  of  that  section  of  the  county. 

Mr.  Francis  Cunningham,  of  Cross  Creek  village,  Washington  County, 
founded  a  Spanish  Merino  flock  in  1863  by  a  purchase  of  3  Penn- 
sylvania and  4  Vermont  bred  ewes  from  Eobert  Perrine.  He  then 
took  several  ewes  from  Mr.  Perrine  on  shares  for  part  of  the  increase. 

All  were  of  pure  Atwood  blood.  In  1864  Mr.  James  Glass,  of  Bur- 
gettstown, began  a  flock  by  the  purchase  of  2  ewes  of  S.  G.  Holyoke, 
of  Vermont.  In  1866  he  added  ewes  from  the  flocks  of  S.  G.  Holyoke 
and  W.  L.  Archer,  and  used  rams  from  the  Hammond  flock.  Mr.  John 
P.  Wood,  of  the  same  place,  also  founded  a  flock  in  1864  by  the  pur- 
chase of  2  ewes  from  F.  H.  Dean,  West  Cornwall,  Vt.,  and  breeding 
them  and  their  descendants  to  Dean's  ram,  Little  Wrinkley,  Gold  Drop, 
and  other  rams  of  same  blood. 


EAST    OF    THE    MISSISSIPPI    "RIVET?.  OU  < 

In  1SUS  Messrs.  l>.  M.  r.ailcy  liros.,  of  Washington  County,  foiindnl 
a  tlork  by  owes  purchased  of  »I.  A.  M.  Evans,  executor  of  tlie  estate  of 
Samuel  McFarland,  of  the  same  county,  and  in  a  subsequent  purchase 
of  John  M.  Miller,  and  using  rams  bred  by  W.  L.  Archer.  Mr.  John 
M.  Miller,  of  Hickory,  began  his  flock  in  1868  by  the  purchase  of 
i'.")  ewes  from  W.  L.  Archer,  which  were  bred  to  Archer's  ram  and  those 
bred  by  Edwin  Hammond  and  James  Glass.  Mr.  Alexander  McCal- 
niont,  of  Hickory,  also  laid  the  foundation  of  a  flock  in  1868  by  the 
purchase  of  25  ewes  from  W.  L.  Archer,  and  used  rams  from  Mr.  Archer's 
flock  and  those  bred  by  Edwin  Hammond,  James  Glass,  and  others 
of  Atwood  blood. 

There  were  many  other  flocks  of  Spanish  Merinos  founded  from  1856 
to  1870,  in  various  parts  of  western  Pennsylvania  and  West  Virginia, 
which  the  vicissitudes  of  the  woolen  industry  have  driven  from  the 
field,  or  which  have  become  mixed  in  character.  Many  fine  flocks  still 
exist  which  do  not  find  notice  in  the  various  registers,  but  which,  nev- 
ertheless, furnish  superior  fleeces  and  assist  in  maintaining  the  high 
standard  of  wools  in  this  section. 

The  protection  given  the  wool  industry  by  the  tariff  of  1867  was  sen- 
sibly felt  by  the  growers  in  Washington  County,  and,  in  fact,  through- 
out all  the  western  country.  Of  Washington  County  it  is  said : 

Stately  sheep-barns  were  built,  sheep-troughs  were  made,  good  hay-racks  provided, 
more  attention  paid  to  cutting  and  curing  good  green  hayj  sheep  were  kept  in 
smaller  flocks,  the  culls  were  fattened  and  sold  for  the  shambles,  and  wool-growing 
became  profitable,  even  although  the  price  of  such  wool  had  fallen  to  35  cents  a  pound. 

What  was  true  of  Washington  County  was  also  true  of  W^est  Vir- 
ginia. The  business  of  wool-growing  was  good  and  continued  to  ex- 
pand constantly,  taking  in  new  territory  and  employing  new  men.  Mr. 
C.  H.  Beall,  writing  in  1876,  said : 

The  grade  of  our  flocks,  the  quantity  and  quality  of  their  wool,  have  of  late  years 
greatly  improved.  Our  breeders  are  beginning  to  realize  the  fact  that  if  sheep  are 
profitable  at  all. those  are  most  so  that  yield  the  greatest  number  of  pounds  of  wool 
of  the  required  degree  of  fineness.  This  has  induced  sheep-breeders  to  exercise  more 
cue  in  the  selection  of  stock  rams,  and  to  breed  with  special  reference  both  to 
quantity  and  quality.  The  more  wealthy  and  enterprising  stock-owners  are,  for  this 
purpose,  led  to  get  their  stock  rams  directly  from  Vermont.  Here,  by  a  long  course 
of  careful  and  systematic  breeding  and  by  the  continued  crossing,  of  sheep  of  the 
pun;  Spanish  blood,  the  Merino  has  been  brought  to  a  state  of  perfection  higher 
than  anywhere  else  in  the  world.  Some  of  our  leading  breeders  have  recently  also 
imported  considerable  flocks  of  pure-bred  Merino  ewes  from  Vermont.  The  result 
of  the  increased  care  in  breeding  is  that  the  character  of  the  sheep  generally  in  rhe 
Si  ate  has  been  elevated  with  a  decided  improvement  in  the  quality  and  increase  in 
the  quantity  of  their  wool.  Besides,  we  have  to-day  flocks  of  pure  Merino  ewes, 
which,  in  their  forms  and  fleeces,  rival  the  finest  products  of  Vermont. 

About  1880  the  sheep-breeders  of  Washington  County  began  to  ques- 
tion the  profit  and  propriety  of  the  large  wrinkles  of  the  Vermont 
Merino,  and  to  breed  them  out,  retaining  the  increased  size  of  the 
animal  and  the  lengthened  staple  of  the  wool.  The  direction  of  breed- 


508        SHEEP  INDUSTRY  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES 

ing  was  toward  a  delaine  wool.  The  foundation  of  a  branch  of  textile 
industry,  that  of  combing,  spinning,  and  weaving  wool  into  fine  worsted 
goods,  was  laid  by  Mr.  E.  K.  Mudge,  of  Boston.  This  process  of 
combing,  instead  of  carding,  is  one  in  which  the  fibers  or  strands  of 
wool  are  laid  parallel  with  each  other  and  spun  at  full  length  in  the 
yarn,  thus  getting  all  the  strength  of  fiber.  It  is  thereby  susceptible 
of  being  made  the  finest  as  well  as  the  strongest  and  most  durable  of 
any  fabric  of  woolen  production,  and,  moreover,  it  became  very  fash- 
ionable. Hence  the  utility  of  growing  a  wool  that  would  meet  this 
demand.  The  breeders  of  the  Meade  and  Dickinson  sheep  thought 
they  could  supply  the  desired  article  and  bred  in  that  direction,  for 
what  was  then  termed  a  Delaine  Merino. 

The  foundation  of  this  Merino  was  found  in  many  of  the  Washington 
County  flocks,  and  particularly  in  those  of  John  McNary,  William 
MeNary,  Ebeuezer  McClelland,  George  Craighead,  and  others  already 
noticed.  To  these  must  be  added  the  flock  of  E.  H.  Eussell,  of  Houston- 
ville.  The  foundation  of  this  flock  was  the  purchase  of  50  Bh\ck-Top 
Merino  ewes  from  William  Davis,  of  North  Strabane,  in  1852.  The 
William  Davis  flock  was  made  from  selections  from  the  flock  of  William 
Brownlee.  On  these  50  ewes  and  their  descendants  were  bred  rams  of 
the  old  Black-Top  flocks,  purchased  of  well-known  breeders,  always 
keeping  in  view  a  large,  well-developed  sheep,  and  never  keeping  a  ewe 
for  breeding  purposes  unless  she  was  such  as  combined  a  healthy,  vig- 
orous constitution  and  large  form  with  a*  big  fleece.  Thus  within  itself, 
more  than  by  additions  from  purchase,  were  many  of  the  best  charac- 
teristics of  the  flock  attained.  An  oily,  large,  and  in  many  respects  a 
very  popular  Vermont  ram  was  bought  about  1860,  and  used  for  three 
years.  In  1871  the  Spanish  ram  Victor  was  purchased  of  John  M. 
Miller.  He  was  a  sheep  of  uncommon  individual  merit  as  to  constitu- 
tion, form^  size  of  body,  as  also  to  covering,  length  and  thickness  of 
wool,  and  impressed  his  characteristics  upon  the  flock  for  many  genera- 
tions. His  wool  was  long  and  strong  in  fiber.  Although  from  14  pounds 
when  he  was  a  lamb  to  20  pounds  weight  at  maturity,  the  fleece  was  so 
large  and  white  that  it  was  always  regarded  even  at  that  weight  as 
merchantable  wool.  This  ram,  Victor,  and  the  ram  purchased  from  Mr. 
0.  H.  Beall  and  added  to  the  McClelland  flock,  known  as  the  Beall  ram, 
gave  name  to  the  Victor-Beall  Delaine  Merino,  now  known  as  the 
Delaine  Merino. 

To  encourage  the  future  line  breeding  of  this  sheep  an  association 
was  formed  in  1882  "to  combine  in  one  prepotent  animal  all  the  excel- 
lencies of  the  different  classes  of  the  Merino  family  of  sheep  on  a  mutton 
carcass,  which  is  to  compete  sharply  with  the  so-called  mutton  breeds 
for  supremacy  in  the  mutton  markets  of  the  country."  In  the  preface 
to  the  first  volume  of  its  register  the  association  claims  that  the  family 
of  sheep  designated  as  the  Victor-Beall  Delaine  Merino  has,  by  years  of 
careful  breeding,  assumed  certain  characteristics  so  well  established 


EAST   OF    THE   MISSISSIPPI   RIVER.  509 

and  defined  as  to  entitle  it  to  a  place  among  the  pure-blooded  varieties 
of  the  country,  and  that  the  different  flocks  from  which  selections  were 
made  as  foundations  for  future  breeding  were  such  as  traced  back  to 
early  importations  of  Spanish  Merino.  Additional  blood  has  been  com- 
bined with  the  Spanish  Merino  blood  by  judicious  selections  from  the 
best  and  purest  Merino  blood  to  be  obtained  in  the  United  States.  The 
association  makes  no  claim  to  line  breeding,  as  the  Spanish  Merino  has 
been  bred,  and  while  not  disclaiming  any  Introduction  of  Spanish  blood, 
they  make  the  legitimate  deduction  that,  as  the  Spanish  Merino  is  the 
parent  stock  of  all  families  of  the  American  Merino,  therefore  a  cross  of 
any  of  the  pure-bred  families  of  Merinos  with  any  other  flock  of  the 
same  blood  in  nowise  vitiates  the  purity  of  the  blood  of  the  progeny 
of  such  a  cross.  Thus  a  cross  between  the  Black-Tops,  so  called,  and 
Spanish  Merino  but  brings  together  like  blood  and  secures  a  cross  as 
opposed  to  in-and-in  breeding,  which  sooner  or  later  impairs  the  vitality 
and  leads  to  degeneracy  and  decay.  Victor-Beall  Delaine  Merino  is 
claimed  as  such  a  selection  from  Black- Top  and  Spanish  Merino  as 
secures  the  desirable  characteristics  of  each  family,  and,  as  far  as  pos- 
sible, avoids  that  which  is  objectionable  in  either.  Moreover,  this 
family  of  sheep  has  been  bred  and  kept  in  large  flocks  without  housing 
in  summer,  and  bred  also  to  produce  a  straight  sheep  foot  in  order 
thereby  to  avoid  one  of  the  most  perplexing  evils  with  which  the  breeder 
has  to  contend — a  spongy,  clubby  foot,  predisposed  to  disease.* 

The  special  characteristics  of  the  Delaine  Merino  may  be  gathered 
from  the  established  scale  of  points  as  given  by  the  Delaine  Merino 
Sheep  Breeders'  Association,  in  their  Register : 

No.  points. 

(1)  Constitution 10 

(2)  Heavy  round  the  heart 6 

(3)  Short,  heavy  neck 6 

(4)  Good  dewlap 5 

(5)  Broad  back 8 

(6)  Well  sprung  ribs 5 

(7)  Short  legs 6 

(8)  Heavy  bone 8 

(9)  Small,  sharp  foot 10 

(10)  Length  of  staple  one  year's  growth,  3  inches   8 

(11)  Density  of  fleece 8 

(12)  Darkish  coat  on  top 5 

(13)  Opening  up  white 5 

(14)  Good  flow  of  white  oil 5 

(15)  Good  crimp  in  staple 5 

Perfection 100 

The  weight  of  rams  at  maturity  is  not  less  than  150  pounds,  and  the 
ewes  not  less  than  100  pounds.  As  to  details,  the  constitution  must 
be  robust,  the  eyes  bright,  the  body  compactly  built,  head  and  neck  on 

*  National  Delaine  Register,  Vol.  in,  p.  19. 


510        SHEEP  INDUSTRY  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES 

Hue  with  the  back ;  the  entire  chest  tmiforra  in  size,  deep,  and  rounding; 
the  neck  straight  and  short  from  top  of  head  to  shoulder,  deep  and 
folded.  The  dewlap  should  start  on  top  of  neck  near  the  shoulder, 
widening  on  each  side  and  hanging  deep  in  front  of  the  forelegs,  with 
small  folds  at  intervals  to  back  of  head.  The  back  straight  and  flat 
from  shoulder  to  tail.  The  ribs  starting  at  right  angles  from  the  back- 
bone, curving,  and  deep;  as  long  before  as  behind,  making  a  barrel- 
like  chest.  The  legs  straight,  short,  and  flat-boned ;  standing  fair  under 
the  body.  Flat,  broad  limbs;  strong  ribs;  heavy  shoulder  blade.  A 
neat,  small  foot,  well  under  the  leg  and  wide  at  the  heel.  The  wool 
should  be  uniform  in  length  all  over  the  body,  belly,  and  limbs  to  the  ; 
knees,  and  covering  the  face  square  to  the  eyes,  and  the  fleece  should 
present  a  smooth,  uniform  surface  over  the  animal  and  be  uniformly 
dark  on  its  outer  end.  A  pure,  soluble, white  oil  should  be  evenly  dis- 
tributed along  the  fiber,  enough  to  protect  the  fleece,  giving  it  a  healthy 
and  rich  appearance.  There  should  be  a  short  spiral  crimp  to  the  wool, 
evidence  of  it  being  pure  Merino. 

In  1887  the  flocks  of  registered  Delaine  sheep  averaged  110  pounds  to 
the  head  for  ewes,  100  to  110  pounds  for  yearling  rams,  and  180  pounds 
for  two-year-old  rams.  The  ewes  sheared  a  fleece  of  No.  1  Delaine 
wool  of  8  pounds,  brook-washed,  on  the  average,  rams  12  to  18 
pounds.  Of  unwashed  wool  the  ewes  would  furnish  10  to  15  pounds, 
the  rams  16  to  22  pounds,  all  white. 

The  characteristics,  history,  and  improvements  of  the  Washington 
County  Delaine  Merinos  are  briefly  set  forth  in  a  communication  from 
James  McClelland,  of  Canonsburg,  one  of  their  most  successful  breed-  • 
ers: 

The  different  flocks  of  the  county  being  in  a  groat  measure  similar  at  first,  in  after 
years  of  breeding  took  shape  and  character  from  the  caprice  of  the  breeder.     Sheep 
kept  in  large  flocks  on  bare  pastures  and  without  being  fed  grain  will  develop  a  finer 
wool,  but  a  smaller,  less  vigorous  animal;  while  in  smaller  flocks  on  rich  pasture 
and  grain  fed  will  develop  into  a  larger  animal,  more  wool,  but  of  coarse  quality. 
This  was  perhaps  about  the  only  difference  in  the  flocks  of  the  county  up  to  about 
1850.     But  so  marked  had  that  difference  become  at  that  time  that  the  leading  flocks 
of  the  county  each  had  a  character  especially  its  own,  and  every  one  knew  what 
was  meant  by  the  Brownlee,  the  McClelland,  the  Berry,  the  Craighead,  the  McNary, 
the  Beall,  and  other  breeders'  flocks  of  the  county.     Yet  in  all  this  difference  there 
was  this  similarity  of  the  original  that  had  now  been  much  changed — there  were  no 
wrinkles,  or  completely  covered,  or  dense  wool  sheep,  such  as  had  been  developed 
among  the  Spanish  breeders  of  Vermont  and  other  Eastern  States;  but  a  bare-faced,  i 
bare-legged,  and  short  wool  on  lower  part  of  sides  and  belly  of  the  sheep;  and  4  j 
pounds  of  wool  per  head  was  a  high  average  for  any  flock,  and  3  pounds  was  perhaps  i 
above  the  average  of  the  flocks  of  the  county.     From  1850  to  1860  large  numbers  of  J 
the  Vermont  or  registered  Spanish  Merinos  were  brought  to  the  county.     A  fc\v 
thoroughbred  Spanish  flocks  were  started,  and  the  use  of  heavy  wooled,  wrinkled  ; 
rams  on  the  old  flocks  of  the  county  was  a  subject  largely  discussed,  with  a  great  j 
difference  of  opinion  and  of  practice  in  the  matter. 

The  war  of  the  rebellion  made  an  unusual  demand  for  wool,  and  as  very  little  dis- 
crimination was  made  between  the  different  classes  of  wool,  quantity  rather  than  • 
quality  was  the  measure  of  proiit.     This  made  the  Spanish  Merino  very  popular,  and 


>.•#&£ 


MERINO  RAM  "WALL  STREET." 
AT  Two  YEARS  OLD.     (REGISTER  No.  373.) 
FROM  "NATIONAL  DELAINE  REGISTER,"  VOL.  in. 


DELAINE  MERINO  EWE. 

REGISTER  No.  408. 
FROM  "NATIONAL  DELAINE  REGISTER,"  VOL.  in.  « 


0* 


EAST    OF    THE    MISSISSIPPI    RIVER.  511 

there  were  but  few,  if  any,  flock  masters  of  the  county  that  withstood  the  temptation 
to  increase  the  weight  of  their  fleece  by  using  the  Spanish  rams  on  their  flocks.  The 
result  was  to  nearly  all  breeders  a  satisfactory  one.  It  was  not  a  cross  as  between 
different  breeds,  which  sometimes  is  only  disastrous,  but  an  infusion  of  new  blood  of 
the  same  species,  which  has  always  been  regarded  as  legitimate  and  proper  in  the 
breeding  of  any  of  our  domestic  animals,  and  when  done  judiciously  is  attended  with 
the  best  results.  So  it  proved  in  this  case.  A  large  vigorous  body,  well  covered 
from  nose  to  hoof,  with  a  very  desirable  class  of  wool,  and  thickly  set,  differing  from 
the  old  Washington  County  sheep  in  covering  and  quantity  of  wool;  and  from  the 
Spanish,  on  a  larger,  smoother,  and  more  vigorous  body,  and  a  better  mutton,  mak- 
ing a  sheep  that  has  no  equal  in  its  suitableness  to  all  the  best  interests  and  varied 
cin •umstances  of  the  American  shepherd.  Another  important  circumstance  in  this 
connection  was  the  invention  of  machinery  for  the  combing  of  fine  wool.  Before  the 
invention  of  E.  R.  Mudge,  now  deceased,  of  Boston,  Mass.,  only  coarse,  long  wool  was 
combed;  fine  wool  was  carded.  But  by  this  invention  fine  wool  of  a  given  length 
and  strength  is  successfully  combed,  by  which  process  the  finest,  most  fashionable, 
durable,  and  comfortable  clothing  is  manfactured.  This  placed  Delaine  wool  at  a 
premium  in  the  market,  and  turned  the  attention  of  wool-growers  to  the  production 
of  such  wool.  The  best  sheep  to  produce  such  wool  was  just  such  a  sheep  as  had 
been  developed  by  the  use  of  the  Spanish  or  Vermont  rams  on  the  Washington  County 
large-bodied  sheep,  as  it  required  a  vigorous  constitution  to  give  strength. 

The  men  Avho  organized  the  National  Delaine  Association  were  the  first  to  ever 
advertise  as  a  distinct  breed  the  Delaine  Merino  sheep.  This  was  in  1878,  and  they 
were  shown  as  such  at  agricultural  fairs  of  the  county  in  that  year.  The  flocks  from 
which  the  original  selections  were  made  ran  back  with  some  degree  of  purity  to  the 
imported  flock  of  Alexander  Reed  in  1819.  The  use  of  Spanish  rams  on  these  flocks, 
made  in  1860  to  1870,  was  made  with  the  view  of  producing  Delaine  wool  as  a 
specialty.  The  rams  for  such  breeding  purposes  were  selected  with  a  view  to  size, 
covering,  quality  and  quantity  of  wool.  No  very  small  or  excessively  wrinkled 
sheep  with  very  oily  or  gummy  wool  was  used.  *  *  *  The  Delaines  differ  from 
all  other  families  of  the  Merino  in  that  they  combine  length,  strength,  density,  and 
covering  of  wool  on  the  largest  and  most  vigorous  body  of  any  family.  Others  may 
be  equal  in  one  or  other  of  the  above  qualities,  but  no  other  is  their  equal  in  all  com- 
bined. This  difference  is  the  improvement  that  is  claimed  as  the  result  of  most 
careful  and  judicious  breeding,  and  so  well  have  these  qualities  been  established 
that  they  will  transmit  them  with  almost  unerring  certainty,  and  are  therefore  very 
valuable  for  the  purpose  of  breeding  on  other  families  that  are  wanting  in  this 
regard.  They  also  excel  all  other  families  as  a  mutton  sheep.  The  manner  of  breed- 
ing these  sheep  has  developed  a  tendency  to  early  maturity.  Easily  fattened  and 
large  bodied,  they  are  rivals  of  any  of  the  famous  mutton  breeds  themselves.  If 
fattened  on  oat  and  root  crops,  as  the  famous  English  mutton  is  in  England, 
they  would  excel  any  large  gross  mutton  breed  in  the  production  of  tender,  juicy, 
delicious,  healthful  meat,  as  the  co-relation  existing  between  different  parts  of  the 
animal  give  similarity,  and  the  fine-wooled  sheep  will  give  the  fine  texture  of  muscle 
and  flesh. 

Some  breeders  of  the  Delaine  sheep,  believing  that  individual  merit 
should  be  the  test  admitting  sheep  to  registry,  formed  the  Standard 
Delaine  Spanish  Merino  Sheep  Breeders'  Association,  in  February, 
1890.  The  greatest  difference  between  this  and  the  old  Delaine  Asso- 
ciation is  that  it  requires  more  individual  merit  to  be  admitted  to  regis- 
try than  in  the  old  association,  more  density  of  fleece,  better  surface, 
better  quarters,  and  shorter  legs.  Tlu>  slice] >  must  stand  a  close  inspec- 
tion by  a  competent  judge,  and  where  it  falls  short  of  60  per  cent  in 


512        SHEEP  1NDUSTEY  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES 

any  one  point  it  can  not  be  admitted,  even  though  the  sire  and  dam 
are  recorded.  In  this  way  the  association  hopes  to  dispose  of  all  the 
culls  which  are  said  to  be  burdensome  to  all  other  registers.  The  mem- 
bership of  this  association  embraces  breeders  of  (the  States  of  Penn- 
sylvania, West  Virginia,  Ohio,  and  Michigan.  Mr.  S.  M.  Cleaver,  of 
East  Bethlehem,  Washington  County,  the  secretary  of  this  association, 
made  a  show  of  the  Standard  Delaine  sheep  at  the  Washington  County 
fair,  in  September,  1891,  and  carried  off  all  the  first  premiums  offered 
for  lambs. 

The  improvement  looked  for  by  the  Standard  Delaine  Spanish  Merino 
Association  may  be  stated  in  the  words  of  its  secretary,  in  a  circular 
letter  of  April  2,  1890 : 

We  want  to  encourage  the  improvement  of  the  Delaine  type  of  the  Merinos,  giving 
them  a  better  surface,  more  density,  more  weight  of  fleece,  and  better  quarters  than 
we  find  in  the  Delaine  type.  We  think  this  can  be  done  by  breeding  from  the  deep- 
bodied,  plain  ram,  having  a  long  staple  of  wool;  or  if  the  ewes  are  very  wrinkly,  a 
Delaine  ram  from  a  plain-bred  flock  would  better  meet  the  wants  of  breeders  in  pro- 
ducing this  type.  Any  pure  Merino  blood,  descendants  of  the  blood-line  registers, 
are  recognized  where  they  have  individual  merit  that  will  scale  in  accordance  with 
our  rules.  The  demand  of  the  times  calls  for  a  plain  body  growing  a  Delaine  staple. 
Long  experience  teaches  us  that  it  is  almost  impossible  to  keep  up  density  and 
weight  of  fleece  to  give  the  best  results  when  wrinkles  are  entirely  done  away  with; 
for  this  reason  it  is  important  to  stay  in  the  blood  of  wrinkly  sheep  in  selecting  the 
sires,  yet  striving  to  keep  the  body  clear  of  wrinkles  and  the  neck  nearly  so.  It  is 
proposed  to  pay  more  attention  to  a  good,  broad  back,  and  deep,  round  quarters, 
making  a  type  easily  kept  in  order.  While  the  fleece  will  not  be  as  heavy  as  in  the 
wrinkly  type,  it  should  weigh  from  7  to  9  pounds,  and  sell  without  any  reduction. 
This  will  equal  an  oily  fleece  of  12  to  14  pounds,  with  a  third  taken  off  by  the  wool 
buyer.  Plain  sheep,  as  a  rule,  are  better  milkers,  more  careful  mothers,  have  better 
feet,  are  easier  to  prepare  for  the  butcher's  block.  By  having  access  to  the  different 
types  of  the  Merino  sheep  we  think  we  will  be  able  to  produce  a  more  profitable 
wool  and  mutton  Merino  than  can  be  found  at  the  present  time.  But  it  will  require 
careful  scaling  of  all  sheep  admitted,  and  then  we  must  scale  the  increase  to  keep 
out  all  culls.  In  this  way  we  will  be  able  to  raise  the  merit. 

Scale  of  points  adopted  by  the  Standard  Delaine  Spanish  Merino  Register. 

(1)  Pure  Merino  blood,  which  must  be  established  by  certificate. 

(2)  Constitution,  indicated  by  a  deep  chest,  long  rib  well  arched,  giving  heart 

and  lung  room,  with  great  digestive  capacity 20 

(3)  Fleece  XX  and  Delaine  wool.     This  includes  the  quantity  and  quality  as 

shown  by  weight  of  fleece,  the  length  and  strength  of  staple,  crimp,  fine- 
ness and  trueness  of  fiber 10 

(4)  Density  of  fleece 3 

(5)  Evenness  of  surface 3 

(6)  Evenness  of  crimp 3 

(7)  Length  of  fiber 2 

(8)  Free  flowing  oil  of  the  best  quality  and  the  right  quantity  to  protect  the 

sheep  and  preserve  the  fleece 9 

(9)  Head,  medium  size.     Ewes  showing  a  feminine  appearance;  rums,  a  mascu- 

line, with  properly  turned  horns 4 

(10)  Eyes  bright,  prominent,  and  well  set  apart,  with  a  thick,  soft  eyelid 3 

(11)  Nose  short,  broad,  with  well-expanded  nostrils,  skin    thick,  and  covered 

with  a  thick  furry  coating,  joining  the  wool  1  inch  below  the  eyes 4 


EAST    OF    THE    MISSISSIPPI    RIVER.  513 

,  12)  Ears,  medium  size,  set  well  apart,  thickly  coated 2 

(13)  Neck,  short  on  top,  deep  and  strongly  attached  to  the  shoulders,  tapering 

to  head ;  rams  with  a  fold  across  the  breast,  and  deep  neck 4 

(14)  Fleece  covering   over  the  entire  body,  head,  and  legs;    skin  thick  and 

spongy  4 

(15)  Legs,  short,  strong,  and  well  apart 2 

(16)  Feet,  neatly  shaped,  thin  hoof,  well  set  uuaer  the  leg 4 

(17)  Quarters,  deep   and  well  rounded;  back,    broad,   straight,    and  strongly 

coupled  to  quarters 10 

(18)  Weight  of  ewes  at  maturity,  100  pounds  and  abo\v ;  rams,  150  aud  above  ..       8 

(19)  General  appearance,  good  carriage,  bold  and  vigorous  style,  symmetrical 

form 5 

Perfection 100 

There  has  been  an  increasing  demand  for  Delaine  sheep  from  various 
parts  of  the  United  States,  and  in  many  places  the  Washington  County 
sheep  are  taking  possession  of  the  ground  formerly  occupied  by  the 
Vermont  and  New  York  Merinos.  They  are  steadily  gaining  ground  in 
western  Pennsylvania  and  in  Ohio,  particularly  in  the  southern  part  of 
the  latter  State,  and  have  some  favor  in  northern  Ohio,  where  the  sheep 
husbandry  was  founded  on  the  eastern  Merino.  A  factor  in  the  popular- 
ity of  this  sheep,  as  well  as  the  Dickinson  Merino  and  the  Black-Top, 
to  which  it  is  closely  allied,  is  that  it  has  mutton  capacity.  Pittsburg 
is  regarded  as  one  of  the  best  mutton  markets  in  the  country,  and  no 
better  mutton  gets  to  it  than  some  which  come  from  under  the  fleeces 
of  the  Delaine  and  Black-Top  sheep  of  Washington  County. 

lu  1883,  a  year  following  the  formation  of  the  Delaine  Association, 
the  Black-Top  Spanish  Merino  breeders  also  formed  an  association  to 
perpetuate  their  family,  claimed  by  them  as  the  "  oldest  pure-bred  fam- 
ily in  the  community."  The  formation  of  this  association  and  the  scale 
of  points  adopted  have  been  noted.  The  Black-Top  Merinos  tend  more 
toward  the  Saxony  quality  in  their  staple  than  some  of  the  other  Merino 
families  bred  in  the  county,  where  the  length  of  staple  has  been  sought 
for  without  so  much  regard  to  fineness. 

A  measurement  of  a  three -year  old  wether  from  the  flock  of  Matthew 
Berry  is  given : 

Ft.  In. 

Along  the  side 3  10 

On  back  from  tip  of  nose  to  base  of  tail 4  9 

Height 2  4 

Girth 4  2 

Width 1  7 

This  wether  weighed  182  pounds,  aud«on  May  28,  1885,  was  shorn  of 
a  17-pound  fleece.  Breeding  ewes  from  the  same  flock  sheared  7  to  9 
pounds  of  washed  wool. 

There  is  a  great  similarity  in  the  Black-Top  and  the  Delaine  Merino, 
and  an  inexperienced  eye  would  find  some  difficulty  in  selection.  The 
Black-Tops  are  about  the  same  size  as  the  Delaines,  with  slightly  less 
wool  on  the  face  and  legs,  and  are  of  a  darker  caste.  They  agree  iu 


514        SHEEP  INDUSTRY  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES 

being  perfectly  plain-bodied,  very  vigorous,  with  an  even  fleece,  the 
staple  of  which  is  3  to  4  inches  long,  with  white  oil  well  distributed 
throughout,  and  shearing  13  to  20  pounds  of  Delaine  wool  to  the  ram 
and  7  to  12  pounds  to  the  ewe,  brook-washed. 

In  1885  some  skillful  and  ambitious  breeders  of  Washington  County, 
believing  that  they  had  made  a  great  improvement  on  the  Black-Top 
Merino,  organized  an  association  known  as  the  Improved  Black-Top 
Merino,  and  grounded  their  claims  to  excellence  and  merit  on  what 
their  sheep  were  at  the  present  "  rather  than  on  what  they  were  in  the 
misty  past."  The  high  standard  of  their  sheep  is  largely  due  to  careful 
and  judicious  breeding,  followed  by  the  vigorous  weeding  out  of  all 
inferior  animals.  The  foundation  of  this  sheep,  or  rather  of  the  leading- 
flock,  was  laid  by  a  purchase  of  10  ewes  by  Eobert  Johnston  of  George 
Craighead  in  1844.  These  ewes  were  bred  to  Mr.  Craighead's  rams 
until  1847,  and  from  that  time  until  1853  rams  were 'used  from  the  flock 
of  Alexander  McConnell.  The  foundation  of  Mr.  McConnelFs  flock  was 
purchased  from  W.  R.  Dickinson.  From  1853  to  1867  rams  were  used 
from  pure-bred  Black-Top  flocks,  and  from  1867  to  1884  these. breeding- 
rams  were  purchased  of  Matthew  Berry.  Since  1884  Mr.  Johnston  has 
used  rams  from  his  own  flock.  George  Black's  flock  was  commenced 
in  1850  by  a  purchase  of  25  Black-Top  ewes  of  Herman  Haines,  who 
bought  his  foundation  of  W.  E.  Dickinson,  the  sheep  of  this  purchase 
being  bred  directly  from  Hunii>hreys  sheep.  The  ewes  selected  from 
Mr.  Haines's  flock  were  "  above  the  average  size  of  fine- wool  sheep  in 
the  county,  having  a  good  frame,  but  not  long  in  the  legs,  and  with 
clean  faces — the  growth  of  wool  stopping  abruptly  on  the  cheeks,  with 
little  or  no  wool  below  the  knee,  the  wool  being  soft,  crimpy,  and  white 
underneath,  the  outer  ends  dark  and  tipped  slightly  with  a  tarry-like 
substance."  These  ewes  were  bred  for  six  years  to  rams  from  the  Wil- 
liam Berry  flock,  and  afterwards  to  rams  from  the  flocks  of  Robert 
Manifold,  Joseph  Willison,  Eobert  Johnston,  and  Matthew  Berry. 

The  improved  Black-Top  Merino  Association  began  with  a  registry 
of  nine  flocks,  aggregating  660  sheep.  No  flock  was  eligible  to  registry 
that  had  not  been  bred  pure  for  thirty  years  or  longer,  and  an  advance 
was  made  on  the  weight  of  sheep  as  required  by  the  Delaine  Registry 
and  the  Black-Top.  The  Delaine  Association  requires  150  pounds  for 
the  rams  and  100  pounds  for  the  ewes  5  the  Black-Top  Association,  175 
pounds  for  the  ranis  and  125  pounds  for  the  ewes,  while  the  Improved 
Black-Top  Association  demands  a  weight  of  180  pounds  for  rams  and 
130  pounds  for  ewes. 


EAST    OF    THE    MISSISSIPPI    RIVER. 

Scale  of  points  adopted  by  the  association. 


515 


Points. 

Remarks. 

Constitution  

16 
14 
3 
16 
4 

3 
9 

8 

7 
6 
8 
6 

100 

Earns  should  weigh  at  maturity  180  pounds,  ewes  130  pounds. 

Large,  well  proportioned,  and  symmetrical  in  all  its  parts. 
Medium  in  size,  well  carried  up,  wool  extending  forward  between 
the  eyes. 
Short  and  well  shaped. 
Short,  set  well  apart,  with  smooth  points,  and  small,  thin,  shelly  feet. 
An  even  fleece,  beautifully  crimped,  coveriug  the  body  and  legs  to 
the  knees,  and  extending  well  forward  between  the  eyes. 
Medium  or  fine  delaine. 
A  compact  fleece,  without  tendency  to  be  stringy  or  knotty. 
A  year's  growth  should  not  be  less  than  3£  inches. 
Evenly  distributed,  flowing  to  the  surface  and  forming  a  uniform 
dark  or  black  top. 

Size 

General  appearance  
P.odv 

Head         ..          

Xeck                   

Coverin<T            

Quality  of  wool  

Length  of  staple  
Oil                               .   -  - 

Perfection     .     .  . 

These  families  of  sheep  and  their  crosses  are  very  popular  in  western 
Pennsylvania,  Virginia,  and  southeastern  Ohio,  and  for  a  general-pur- 
pose sheep  are  attracting  considerable  attention.  They  are  a  large, 
long,  and  plain  sheep,  with  good  feet  and  great  vigor.  They  are  very 
healthy  and  full  of  vitality.  By  some  they  are  likened  to  the  South- 
down in  size  and  symmetry,  with  a  Merino  fleece  covering  them.  By 
others  they  are  found  to  resemble  the  French  Merino  in  size  and  sym- 
metry, early  maturity,  feeding  qualities,  and  in  fleece  products.  They 
bear  a  fine  wool  of  a  longer  staple  than  the  Merinos  of  Vermont,  west- 
ern i^ew  York,  and  northern  Ohio,  wool  that  sells  for  2  or  3  cents  per 
pound  more  than  the  wool  from  these  States.  By  many  they  are  held 
to  be  the  truest  representatives  of  the  American  Merino.  That  which 
now  particularly  recommends  them  is  their  capacity  to  produce  a  good 
fleece  and  good  mutton.  Their  modification  from  a  solely  wool-bearing 
sheep  to  the  mutton  type  has  been  going  on  for  many  years  in  the 
hands  of  careful,  thinking,  and  progressive  breeders.  Merinos  that 
showed  mutton  characteristics  of  a  high  order  have  been  seized  upon 
and  by  careful  selection  those  characteristics  have  been  perpetuated 
and  made  permanent. 

There  still  lingers  in  Washington  County  another  family  of  sheep 
which  holds  a  place  peculiarly  its  own — the  Saxony — and  it  is  repre- 
sented by  a  register.  The  breeders  of  this  improved  Saxony,  so  called, 
base  their  claims  to  merit  more  on  what  their  sheep  are  since  they  have 
become  Americanized  than  on  what  they  were  in  Saxony.  Singularly 
enough  the  foundation  of  many  of  these  flocks,  and  the  leading  one  of 
the  Improved  Saxony  Kegister,  traces  to  the  E.  W.  Meade  importation 
of  the  Spanish  Merino. 

When  the  Meade  importation,  or  some  of  the  flocks  descended  from 
it.  were  being  driven  from  the  vicinity  of  Philadelphia  westward,  Jo- 
seph Clark,  who  had  purchased  Merinos  as  early  as  1810,  went,  in  com- 
pany with  William  Brownlee,  as  far  as  Uniontown,  Fayette  County,  and 
purchased  from  the  .Meade  flock  1  ram  and  10  ewes,  paying  for  the  ram 


516        SHEEP  INDUSTRY  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES 

$150,  and  a  proportionate  sum  for  the  ewes.  About  1836  he  purchased 
some  imported  Saxonies,  both  rams  and  ewes,  which  were  bred  and 
crossed  on  the  Spanish  Merino  flock  that  he  had  bred  since  the  Meade 
purchase.  His  purchases  of  breeding  rams  embraced  such  as  were 
chosen  from  the  leading  flocks  of  his  day,  such  as  William  Brownlee, 
Peabody  Atkinson,  and  others,  derived  from  various  sources.  About 
1841  Mr.  Clark  purchased  a  ram  from  the  Saxony  flock  of  Charles  B. 
Smith,  of  Connecticut.  This  ram  was  large  and  of  strong  constitution, 
and  proved  a  most  excellent  breeder.  The  style  and  character  of  his 
wool  is  very  plainly  marked  in  the  greater  part  of  the  flock  at  this  day. 
In  1856  the  flock  passed  into  the  possession  of  John  G.  Clark.  It  had 
been  bred  in  line  for  a  long  time,  always  with  regard  to  the  size  and 
form  of  the  sheep,  as  well  as  the  fleece,  which  system  was  continued, 
and  in  1884  the  flock  consisted  of  lineal  descendants  of  those  pur- 
chased by  Joseph  Clark  in  1820. 

William  Brownlee,  who  purchased  at  the  same  time  with  Mr.  Clark, 
from  the  same  flock,  crossed  his  Merinos  with  the  long-wooled  Saxons 
received  from  Dutchess  County,  N.  Y.  In  1844  he  said  that  his  flock 
was  chiefly  Saxon  blood  and  averaged  about  3  pounds  of  clean-washed 
wool.  He  gave  the  preference  to  the  Saxons,  as  their  wool  was  rather 
the  finest  and  free  of  yolk.  Mr.  Brownlee  housed  his  sheep  in  the  win- 
ter, during  which  time  they  ate  from  6  to  8  tons  of  hay  to  the  hundred, 
good  clover  hay  agreeing  best  with  them.  In  summer  they  fed  on  the 
blue  grass  of  the  hills  and  the  clover  and  timothy  in  the  valley. 

William  Davis,  who  commenced  keeping  the  Saxony  sheep  about 
1835,  was  a  shepherd  in  the  employ  of  Mr.  Brownlee  and  obtained  his 
first  sheep  from  him.  John  McDowell  was  also  a  shepherd  in  the 
employ  of  Mr.  Brownlee,  and  in  1849,  when  the  latter  disposed  of  his 
entire  flock  of  1,200  head,  selected  227  of  the  best  ewes  and  3  rams  as 
the  foundation  of  a  flock  which  he  subsequently  bred  pure,  only  cross- 
ing on  the  flocks  of  William  Davis,  Joseph  Clark,  Col.  James  Lee,  and 
some  others.  Some  of  these  crosses  were  from  imported  stock.  Asbury 
Struble  commenced  a  flock  about  1840  from  some  sheep  from  the  flock 
of  Robert  Hawkins,  of  Washington  County,  said  to  have  been  imported 
Saxons.  From  that  time  he  introduced  changes  of  blood  from  about 
thirty  diiferent  flocks,  all  claiming  origin  from  imported  stock,  and 
largely  drawn  from  Washington  County.  His  manner  of  breeding  was 
to  keep  a  certain  number  of  his  flock  pure  with  undoubted  Saxony 
blood. 

To  enumerate  the  Saxony  flocks  would  be  impossible.  At  one  period 
of  time,  from  1835  to  1845,  there  were  but  few  flocks  that  were  not 
Saxon  in  full  or  in  part.  Those  who  bred  the  purest  Saxon  were  Gen. 
Thomas  Patterson,  William  Brownlee,  Jesse  Edington,  James  G. 
Stream,  Col.  James  Lee,  Samuel  Clokey,  John  H.  Ewing,  Samuel  Pat- 
terson, and  many  others.  The  Saxony  flocks  of  this  section  were  more 
hardy  than  those  of  New  York  and  New  England  at  that  time,  and  in 


EAST    OF    THE    MISSISSIPPI    RIVER.  517 

size,  form,  and  symmetry  wholly  unlike  those  of  the  present  day.  In 
most  flocks,  from  1840  to  1850,  everything  was  sacrificed  in  order  to 
gain  the  finest  and  highest  priced  staple  without  regard  to  constitution, 
size,  or  form  of  the  animal,  and  some  of  the  very  best  flocks  under  this 
system  of  treatment  became  worthless.  When  the  craze  for  extremely 
fine  wool  had  run  its  course,  the  tide  then  set  in  the  opposite  direction 
and  carried  everything  with  it,  and  heavy,  greasy  fleeces  were  the  idols 
of  the  hour.  The  flocks  were  nearly  ruined  and  the  wools  fell  in  value. 

A  few  breeders,  not  carried  away  in  either  direction,  continued  to 
breed  in  line  from  their  best  stock,  producing  a  large,  well-formed, 
vigorous  sheep,  retaining  at  the  same  time  the  beautiful,  white  crimpy 
wool  of  the  Saxony.  They  have  bred  away  the  leggy  characteristics  of 
the  old  Saxony,  and  now  present  a  shorter,  with  a  more  compact  and 
square  build  to  the  carcass,  and  with  more  vigor  and  constitution.  By 
long  perseverance  the  breeders  claim  to  have  attained  their  object,  and 
consider  their  improved  Saxony  an  established  breed,  producing  with 
great  regularity  lambs  of  the  highest  order,  both  in  regard  to  fleece  and 
body.  An  average  yearling  ram  of  this  family  measures  3  feet  8  inches 
in  length  and  2  feet  3  inches  in  width  across  the  shoulders. 

The  model  Saxon  ram  of  the  Washington  County  breeders  of  1855  is 
thus  described: 

He  should  be  of  medium  size,  3  feet  9  inches  from  nose  to  root  of  tail ;  3  feet  2 
inches  around  the  body;  around  the  flank  3  feet;  in  height  2  feet  3  inches,  a  little 
longer  than  the  Spanish  Merino,  and  not  quite  so  heavily  built.  The  back  almost 
straight,  broad  over  the  kidneys ;  body  round ;  the  neck  starting  almost  level  with 
the  top  of  the  shoulders,  tapering  and  becoming  round  towards  the  head;  the  head 
small  and  neatly  set  on ;  no  loose  skin  on  the  tipper  part  of  the  neck,  or  very  little; 
the  hoof  short  and  pointed;  his  eye  bright;  pleasant  countenance,  and  tame;  the 
skin  smooth  and  healthy  looking.  When  walking  with  his  side  to  you  he  should 
look  finished  and  gay.  He  should  look  and  feel  wooly,  not  stiff  or  hard,  but  soft. 
The  same  for  ewes.  Fine  wool  on  the  forehead;  wool  on  his  crown  fine;  short, 
downy-looking  wool  on  his  cheeks;  the  under  part  of  the  neck  as  fine  as  possible 
and  crimped.  The  wool  on  the  body  to  be  as  even  as  possible  all  over,  and  should 
be  crimped  24  to  28  crimps  to  the  inch.  It  should  be  fine,  soft,  thickset  or  compact 
on  the  sheep,  and  should  stand  straight  out ;  the  body  well  covered,  the  hip  wool 
soft  and  crimped.  The  wool  clear  white  or  cream  color,  moderately  yolky,  and  the 
surface  of  fleece  a  little  dark. 

The  standard  description  of  the  Improved  Saxony  and  the  scale  of 
points  adopted  by  the  association  in  1884  are  as  follows :  The  sheep 
should  be  strong,  heavy  boned,  well  proportioned,  compactly  built, 
free  from  wrinkles  or  folds,  short,  well-set  neck  with  only  slight  dewlap ; 
good  carriage,  stylish,  large  girt  around  the  heart,  and  well-shaped 
feet.  The  wool  must  grade  XXX  or  above,  long,  white,  dense,  crimpy, 
free  from  curly  spots  on  top  of  shoulders  or  back,  and  evenly  over  the 
whole  body.  Sheep  only  producing  the  three  highest  grades  of  wool — 
Picknic,  Picklock,  and  XXX — are  admitted  to  registry. 


518  SHEEP    INDUSTRY    OF    THE    UNITED    STATES 

Scale  of  points. 

(1)  Blood — tracing  through  some  of  the  Lest  flocks  to  imported  stock,  and  the 

wool  must  grade  XXX  or  above 1 

(2)  Constitution— indicated  by  general  appearance 15 

(3)  Size 10 

(4)  Body — well  proportioned  and  free  from  wrinkles 12 

(5)  Head 5 

(6)  Neck — short,  well  set,  only  si ight  dewlap 5 

(7)  Legs  and  feet — legs  short  and  heavy  boned , 5 

(8)  Evenness  of  fleece— well  covered  on  belly,  face,  and  legs 15 

(9)  Density  of  fleece 12 

(10)  Length  of  staple  and  fine  crimp 10 

(11)  Oil — wool  opening  white 10 

Perfection 100 

There  is  not  at  the  present  day  that  demand  for  the  superior  wool  of 
the  Saxony  sheep  that  renders  the  multiplication  of  flocks  profitable, 
but  it  is  believed  if  larger  nocks  were  formed  and  a  specialty  made  of 
superfine  wool  production  of  the  highest  excellence,  buyers  would  be 
attracted,  competition  engendered,  and  the  value  of  each  clip  enhanced. 
As  it  is,  however,  the  Saxonies  are  on  the  decline,  their  breeders  are 
gradually  losing  interest  in  them  and  quitting  them  for  the  medium 
wools. 

And  yet,  notwithstanding  times  of  depression  when  low  prices  of 
wool  were  discouraging,  the  Washington  County  farmers  have  kept  up 
their  flocks  better  than  in  any  other  section  of  the  country,  increased 
and  improved  them.  In  1825  there  were  110,000  sheep;  in  1836,  about 
225,000.  The  number  of  sheep  and  pounds  of  wool  for  the  years  I860, 
1870,  and  1880  are  thus  given  by  the  United  States  census: 


Tear. 

Number  of 
sheep. 

Wool. 

Average 
weight  of 
wool  per 
head. 

1SCO  

351  252 

Pounds. 
1  115  868 

Pounds. 
3  17 

1870  

426  621 

1  862  752 

4.36 

1881)  

4G1  120 

2  416  866 

5  24 

The  increase  in  the  weight  of  fleece  from  1800  to  1870  was  caused  by 
the  general  substitution  of  the  Spanish  Merino  in  place  of  the  Saxony. 
From  1870  to  1880  great  care  in  selecting  breeding  stock  takes  credit 
for  the  increase  of  nearly  1  pound  per  fleece.  The  number  of  sheep  for 
1890  and  the  amount  of  wool  is  not  at  this  writing  available,  but  careful 
estimates  from  several  sources  indicate  an  average  of  over  6  pounds 
per  head.  And  the  decade  from  1880  to  1890  has  not  been  without  its 
drawbacks.  The  tariff  of  1883  was  discouraging  to  the  wool-grower; 
many  flocks  were  sent  out  of  the  county  in  1885,  some  of  them  across 
the  Missouri  Kiver,  and  many  were  sacrificed  to  the  butcher.  It  is  esti- 
mated that  the  loss  this  one  year  in  the  county,  on  wool  alone,  was 


SAXONY  MERINO  RAM. 
FROM  "AMERICAN  CULTIVATOR,"  1886. 


EAST   OF   THE   MISSISSIPPI   RIVER.  519 

*  100,000.  Many  who  bad  flocks  sold  them  and  purchased  cattle,  but 
when  prices  revived,  in  1887,  sheep  again  came  into  favor,  and  farmers 
who  had  sold  their  flocks  at  a  low  price  paid  high  figures  to  get  stocked 
again,  but  the  tendency  was  towards  mutton  sheep  to  the  neglect  of 
the  Merinos.  The  high  price  of  land,  the  development  of  natural  gas 
and  oil,  and  the  increase  of  dogs,  have  operated  to  retire  many  from 
the  special  business  of  wool-growing. 

A  veteran  wool- buyer  made  this  statement  in  1888 :  In  1847  he  bought 
1,700,000  pounds  of  wool  at  an  average  price  of  29 £  cents.  In  1848 
he  bought  859,000  pounds  at  28J  cents.  At  that  time  there  was  not  a 
clip  in  twenty  that  made  3  pounds  to  the  fleece.  In  1888  the  entire  clip 
of  Washington  County  averaged  over  5  pounds.  Take  it  at  30  cents 
and  we  have  more  than  $1.50  per  head,  almost  double  the  amount 
received  forty  years  before.  In  1840  he  bought  1,400  wethers  at  $1.12 
per  head.  In  1888  the  same  grades  sold  at  $4.  He  had  been  a  wool 
buyer  forty-one  years,  and  when  he  looked  over  the  list  of  men  who  went 
into  wool- growing  early  and  gave  it  close  attention  he  found  that  they 
had  all  been  successful.  For  the  last  few  years  ewes  that  could  be 
bought  for  $3  per  head  were  safe  for  5  pounds  of  wool  at  30  cents.  This 
was  a  return  of  $1.50,  while  a  lamb  produced  by  the  ewe  would  bring 
an  additional  $1.50.  It  cost  $1  to  keep  the  sheep.  So  for  $4,  the  cost 
of  ewe  and  keep,  there  was  a  return  of  $3  cash,  and  an  old  ewe  was  on 
hand,  worth  $3. 

The  Panhandle  counties  of  West  Virginia  from  1860  to  the  present 
day  have  shown  no  decrease  in  their  wool  product,  but,  upon  the  whole, 
a  gratifying  increase.  Hardly  as  large  flocks  are  now  kept  by  indi- 
viduals as  a  few  years  ago,  it  being  found  that  an  appropriate  admix- 
ture of  grain  growing,  owing  to  the  increased  fertility  of  the  soil,  is  more 
profitable.  The  flocks  range  from  100  to  1,000,  and  there  are  more  of 
them. 

Up  to  within  a  few  years  the  raising  of  sheep  for  wool  alone  monopo- 
lized the  attention  of  breeders,  but  now  all  the  mutton  breeds  are  rep- 
resented in  Washington  County  and  in  West  Virginia.  These  have 
increased,  and  the  demand  is  greater  than  the  supply,  while  the  fine- 
wool  sheep  have  correspondingly  decreased.  The  easy  access  to  good 
markets  afforded  by  railroads  has  encouraged  the  raising  of  early  lambs, 
and  many  shepherds  are  crossing  their  Merinos  with  the  downs.  The 
Leicesters  and  the  Southdowns  have  long  been  known  in  the  county, 
and  have  been  represented  by  some  good  flocks,  but  of  the  former  few, 
if  any,  now  exist  in  the  pure  state.  '  The  Cotswolds  were  introduced 
prior  to  1876,  but  they  are  not  particularly  well  adapted  to  the  climate, 
and  are  found  not  to  stand  the  changeable  weather  as  well  as  some  of 
the  short- wooled  breeds.  Experience,  however,  proves  that  for  crossing 
on  the  Merinos  they  are  equal  to  any  of  the  breeds.  There  are  but  4 
or  5  flocks  in  Washington  County,  and  about  the  same  number  in  the 
four  Panhandle  counties  of  West  Virginia.  These  flocks  are  small, 


520        SHEEP  INDUSTRY  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES 

but  choice  full-bloods.  The  Shropshires  had  quite  a  run  for  some  time. 
Like  some  other  English  breeds  they  require  abundant,  luxurious  feed, 
and  careful  attention  for  best  results.  There  are  10  or  12  flocks  of  pure- 
bloods  in  Washington  County,  and  a  less  number  in  the  adjacent  coun- 
ties of  West  Virginia. 

The  Cheviots  were  introduced  into  Washington  County  in  1889,  when 
Thomas'  M.  Patterson,  of  Patterson's  Mills,  bought  a  few  in  Otsego 
County,  IS".  Y.,  since  which  time  three  small  flocks  have  been  brought 
into  the  county.  The  limited  experience  shows  that  the  climate  and 
forage  agree  with  them.  Mr.  Patterson's  flock  of  50  head  in  the 
spring  of  1891  averaged  8  pounds  of  wool  per  head,  the  wool  8  inches 
in  length.  A  ewe,  three  years  old,  weighing  196  pounds,  clipped  10£ 
pounds  of  wool.  Twenty  ewes  dropped  32  lambs.  Mr.  Patterson 
reports  that  they  are  not  liable  to  foot-rot,  an  exemption  which  gives 
them  a  very  great  advantage  over  any  other  breed  of  sheep. 

The  latest  acquisition  to  the  mutton  sheep  of  Washington  County 
are  the  Dorset  Horns.  The  first  introduction  of  these  sheep  was  by 
M.  A.  Cooper  in  1890,  and  consisted  of  two  ewes.  In  the  summer  of 
1891  Mr.  Cooper  made  another  importation,  and  Joseph  B.  Henderson 
and  H.  S.  Buchanan  sailed  for  England  to  make  purchases.  After 
spending  considerable  time  among  the  different  breeders  of  the  best 
English  sheep  Messrs.  Henderson  and  Buchanan  decided  that  the  Dor- 
sets  possessed  some  very  desirable  qualities  not  found  among  other 
breeds  of  sheep,  particularly  their  great  fecundity  and  their  habit  of 
breeding  at  any  season.  Beside  this  they  were  found  to  be  hardy  and 
robust,  not  a  single  diseased  or  unhealthy  sheep  being  seen  of  the  sev- 
eral thousand  coming  under  their  observation.  They  selected  66  head 
from  the  flocks  of  Thomas  Chick,  Bernard  Kendall  and  Hale  Bros., 
Dorset,  England,  and  landed  (55  at  Baltimore;  one  died  on  the  vessel 
from  suffocation.  These  sheep  were  distributed  among  the  following 
persons  in  Washington  County:  M.  A.  Cooper,  Dr.  W.  S.  McCleary, 
Joseph  B.  Wylie,  William  White,  J.  S.  Buchanan  &  Son,  and  James  L. 
Henderson.  They  are  all  doing  remarkably  well,  and  Mr.  Henderson's 
flock  of  20  clipped  about  10  pounds  each  of  unwashed  wool.  Some  of 
the  ewes  will  weigh  as  high  as  240  pounds.  The  object  of  the  importers 
is  to  cross  the  Dorsets  upon  the  Merinos  for  the  raising  of  early  lambs. 
They  are  not  yet  well  enough  known  in  the  county  to  become  popular, 
but  they  are  attracting  considerable  attention. 

As  a  rule  in  Washington  and  adjoining  counties,  where  cereal  agri- 
culture alone  is  pursued,  the  land  is  less  fertile,  and  for  agricultural 
purposes  less  valuable,  than  formerly;  while  lands  devoted  to  the  rais- 
ing of  sheep  have  increased  at  least  50  per  cent  in  fertility  and  pro- 
ductive power,  all  of  which  is  laid  to  the  credit  of  the  sheep. 


CHAPTER   VII. 

THE  SHEEP  HUSBANDRY  OF  OHIO,  INDIANA,  ILLINOIS,  MICHIGAN,  AND 

WISCONSIN. 

OHIO. 

The  pioneer  sheep  of  Ohio  came  from  Connecticut,  ^N"ew  Jersey,  and 
Virginia,  and  were  the  common  or  so-called  native  sheep  raised  in  those 
States  and  generally  in  the  East  before  the  introduction  of  the  Spanish 
Merino  and  the  improved  English  breeds.  Those  from  Virginia  were 
the  best,  and  were  of  the  Leicester  type.  These  early  sheep  were  raised 
almost  entirely  for  their  wool,  which  was  worked  up  around  the  family 
hearth  into  the  strong  and  durable  raiment  of  the  pioneer  settler. 

The  first  Merino  sheep  taken  into  Ohio  were  those  imported  by  Seth 
Adams  in  1801  and  their  descendants,  numbering  about  25  or  30  in 
1807,  at  which  time  they  were  taken  from  Massachusetts  to  Muskingum 
County,  Ohio.  Subsequently  some  of  these  were  sold  to  parties  in  the 
State  and  in  Kentucky.  They  received  much  attention,  and,  as  else- 
where stated,  were  the  cause  of  a  newspaper  proposition  that  the  banks 
should  be  taxed  to  assist  in  procuring  improved  breeds  and  to  provide 
for  their  care  and  increase.  In  1809  Israel  Putnam,  of  Marietta,  bought 
of  Mr.  Adams  some  full-blood  Merinos  and  founded  a  flock,  which  was 
continued  by  his  son,  L.  J.  P.  Putnam.  Whether  these  were  from  the 
Massachusetts  flocks  can  not  be  determined,  for,  in  1809  and  1810,  Mr. 
Adams,  as  agent  for  Col.  Humphreys,  disposed  of  many  of  the  latter's 
sheep  throughout  Ohio,  Kentucky,  Tennessee,  and  other  parts  of  the 
South  and  West,  and  the  Putnam  purchase  may  have  been  Humphreys 
sheep.  Most  of  these,  however,  were  half-bloods.  These  sheep,  as  far 
as  known,  laid  the  foundation  of  no  flocks,  although  they  are  credited 
with  making  an  improvement  in  some  localities.  Israel  Putnam,  who 
bought  some  full-bloods  of  Mr.  Adams  in  1809,  was  an  extensive  pur- 
chaser of  Humphreys  sheep  in  1810.  With  Capt.  Paul  Fearing  he 
introduced  many  of  these  into  southern  Ohio,  paying  as  high  as  $300 
for  a  ram;  and  it  is  said  that  Col.  Humphreys,  in  1811,  sold  a  ram  for 
1,600  acres  of  Ohio  land  to  Capt.  Fearing  and  B.  I.  Gilmau,  of  Mari- 
etta, and  this  ram  laid  the  foundation  for  a  flock  which  was  kept  up 
many  years. 

On  June  13,  1811,  Dr.  Increase  Matthews,  of  Putnam,  Ohio,  bought 
an  Infautado  rani  and  two  ewes,  just  imported  into  Alexandria,  Va.,  and 
had  them  taken  in  a  wagon  to  his  farm  in  Ohio,  where  he  kept  up  a  pure 

flock  until  about  1850. 

621 


522        SHEEP  INDUSTRY  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES 

Most  of  the  fine  flocks  of  Ohio  trace  their  origin  to  William  E.  Dick- 
inson. He  had  sheep  that  produced  as  line  wool  as  any  of  the  imported 
Saxons,  while  their  fleeces  were  heavier.  He  was  not  entirely  carried 
away  by  the  Saxon  craze,  nor  was  he  discouraged  by  the  earlier  indif- 
ference to  the  Spanish  Merino  when  the  failure  of  manufactures  injured 
their  value  and  their  standing.  When  they  were  at  their  lowest  ebb 
and  perfectly  degraded  in  the  estimation  of  the  public,  and  suffered  to 
be  adulterated  and  destroyed  in  every  manner,  he  gave  to  them  the 
strictest  attention,  and  retained  them  entirely  pure.  For  many  years 
he  supplied  all  the  flocks  of  the  West  with  full-bred  rams,  and  it  was 
believed  by  competent  judges  that,  in  1825,  Mr.  Dickinson  could  select 
from  his  flock  individual  rams  and  ewes  in  as  great  number  and  with 
fleeces  as  fine  as  could  be  found  in  any  flock  of  liko  extent  in  the  coun- 
try, and  he  obtained  this  gratifying  result  principally  by  his  own  good 
management.  His  ambition  was  to  produce  an  animal  of  a  remarkably 
fine  fleece,  combining  to  a  good  degree  weight  and  length  of  fiber. 

William  R.  Dickinson  was  born  in  Virginia  in  1779,  and  in  1807 
removed  to  Steubenville,  Ohio,  where,  in  1816,  he  entered  into  the  firm 
established  in  1814  by  Mr.  Bezaleel  Wellsfor  the  manufacture  of  woolens, 
subsequently  known  as  the  Wells  &  Dickinson  factory.  Previous  to 
this  copartnership,  or  about  1812,  for  Mr.  Dickinson  said,  in  1826,  that 
he  had  "for  the  last  fourteen  years  been  zealously  rearing  and  improv- 
ing,77 he  founded  a  flock  of  sheep  which  became  very  noted,  furnished 
beginnings  for  many  Ohio  flocks,  but  whose  early  history  is  imperfectly 
known.  In  a  letter  written  in  May,  1826,  he  said  that  the  foundation 
of  his  flocks  came  from  a  purchase  made  of  James  Caldwell,  an  exten- 
sive breeder  of  Merinos  in  New  Jersey,  who  purchased  "the  cream  of 
almost  every  importation  from  Spain  during  the  invasion  of  that  coun- 
try by  the  French,"  and  again  that  this  flock,  "as  long  ago  as  1806,  on 
the  male  side,  was  selected  from  one  of  the  finest  flocks  in  Saxony  (the 
Mnller  ram),  crossed  upon  the  finest  Spanish  ewes  of  Col.  Humphreys." 
There  is  evidence  that  before  the  Caldwell  flock  came  into  Mr.  Dickin- 
son's possession  he  owned  other  sheep,  which,  however,  for  the  present, 
we  pass  by  until  we  follow  the  disposition  of  the  Caldwell  flock,  as 
shown  by  undoubted  facts.  Caldwell  turned  his  flock  over  to  Samuel 
L.  Howell,  in  New  Jersey,  in  1815,  and  between  that  time  and  the  sum- 
mer of  1821  it  was  removed  from  New  Jersey  to  Ohio.  That  it  was 
taken  to  Ohio  before  1822  or  1823  will  appear  from  a  sale  made  from  it 
which  was  published  in  the  American  Farmer  in  1826. 

In  the  summer  of  1821  John  McDowell  and  his  brother  Alexander 
purchased  of  Mr.  Dickinson  100  Merino  ewes  for  $1,500,  and  1  ram  for 
$25.  This  ram  was  the  product  of  Columbus,  who  was  the  product  of 
the  ram  imported  by  Mr.  Muller,  and  one  of  Col.  Humphreys'  ewes.  In 
1826  this  flock  had  increased  to  400,  and  was  valued  at  $6;000. 

In  1825  Mr.  Dickinson  had  2,000  sheep,  admitted  to  be  equal  to  any 
in  the  United  States,  of  which  10  Merino  rams,  wintered  by  Adam  Hil- 


EAST    OF    THE    MISSISSIPPI   RIVER.  523 

dmbrand,  in  his  employ,  yielded  in  June  of  that  year  75  pounds  of  wool, 
whicli  \\as  sold  for  so  cents  a  pound,  or  an  average  of  $6  the  fleece. 
Among1  these  10  rains  was  Bolivar,  Avho  carried  off  a  prize  next  year  at 
Baltimore,  Md.  At  the  Maryland  Cattle  Show  held  on  June  1  and  2, 
1826,  Jose  Sylvester  Robello,  the  Brazilian  minister,  placed  at  the  dis- 
posal of  the  committee  having  charge  of  the  awards  a  silver  cup  "  for 
the  ram  which,  being  shorn  upon  the  ground,  yielded  the  greatest  weight 
of  pick-lock  wool."  Mr.  Dickinson  was  conscious  that  his  neighborhood 
could  then  furnish  as  fine  stock  of  Merinos  as  Saxony  could  produce, 
and  seeing  that  a  mania  was  about  to  set  in  for  Saxony  sheep  and  the 
country  about  to  be  laid  under  contribution,  determined  to  show  that 
the  importation  of  these  sheep  was  unnecessary,  selected  Bolivar  from 
his  flock  and  entered  him  for  the  Baltimore  show.  William  Patterson, 
of  Baltimore,  entered  a  fine  Saxon  ram  that  he  had  recently  imported, 
and  among  other  entries  was  a  superior  Merino  ram  from  the  flock  of 
Gen.  John  Mason,  Analostan  Island.  Bolivar  secured  the  prize,  the 
second  prize  going  to  Mr.  Patterson's  Saxon  rani,  whose  wool  was  judged 
by  the  committee  to  be  a  shade  finer  than  Bolivar's,  but  fell  consider- 
ably short  in  quantity.  Bolivar  was  taken  back  to  Steubenville  in  a 
wagon,  and  on  July  4  following  was  one  of  the  principal  features  of  the 
celebration.  In  the  same  year  Mr.  Dickinson  sold  him,  with  a  number 
of  the  purest  and  finest  Merino  ewes,  to  Dike  and  Duncan,  who  began 
sheep  husbandry  in  Stark  County.  The  price  Avas  $100,  and  he  was 
stated  by  Mr.  Dickinson  to  have  been  a  Merino  of  pure  American  growth, 
and  standing  unrivaled,  taking  him  all  and  all,  by  any  Merino  or  Saxony 
rain  in  the  United  States.  The  description  of  Bolivar,  as  given  by  Mr. 
James  McDowell,  is  that  he  was  a  ram  of  commanding  appearance,  pos- 
sessing marked  individual  character,  weighed  140  pounds,  broad  chest, 
wide  back  and  shoulders,  round  body,  dewlap  and  apron,  no  wrinkles 
on  body,  wool  3  inches  long,  white  with  a  brownish-black  surface, 
wooled  to  the  hoofs,  short  neck,  large  horns,  could  be  led  by  the  horns, 
was  extremely  gentle,  was  born  in  1820,  and  died  in  1834.  He  was  a 
pure  Humphreys  Merino,  his  granddams  having  been  imported  by 
Humphreys  as  well  as  grandsires.  Mr.  McDowell  does  not  concede  that 
this  ram  came  from  the  Caldwell  flock,  but  contends  that  it  descended 
from  what  he  terms  Mr.  Humphreys'  reserve  flock  of  pure  Humphreys 
thoroughbred  Spanish  Merino  sheep. 

Mr.  Dickinson  continued  to  breed  and  sell  sheep  until  1829  or  1830, 
when  reverses  in  business  caused  the  sale  and  dispersion  of  his  flocks, 
as  well  as  those  of  Mr.  B.  Wells,  his  partner  in  the  woolen  factory. 
The  sale  of  the  Dickinson  flock  took  place  September  10, 1830,  and  was 
thus  reported : 

Bids  were  quick  and  spirited,  manifesting  on  the  part  of  all  an  eagerness  to  obtain 
a  share  of  these  valuable  animals,  and  though  the  prices  obtained  were  low,  it  must 
be  recollected  that  a  year  ago  it  would  have  been  impossible  to  effect  a  cash  sale  of 
that  number  and  quality  at  almost  any  price.  The  late  advance,  however,  in  the 
price  of  wool  has  given  an  impetus  to  the  business  of  wool-growing  which  promises 


524        SHEEP  INDUSTRY  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES 

a  handsome  profit  to  those  engaged  in  it,  and  it  is  yet  to  be  hoped  that  this  branch 
of  American  enterprise  will  not  be  allowed  to  languish  away  for  want  of  Govern- 
ment protection.  About  1,  200  ewes  and  wethers  of  the  first  and  second  qualities, 
two-fifths  of  which  were  wethers,  sold  for  an  average  of  $3.16  per  head.  Another  lot 
of  about  the  same  number  of  third  and  fourth  qualities  brought  on  an  average  of, 
for  ewes,  $3.25,  and  for  wethers,  $1.63.  Five  ewes  and  5  bucks  of  the  first  quality 
sold  for  $22.50  per  head;  45  bucks  (principally  yearlings,  small  and  poor)  sold  at 
from  $5  to  $40;  the  best  averaged  $22.50. 

The  sale  of  this  flock  was  chronicled  at  the  time  as  a  national  disaster, 
but  according  to  Mr.  James  McDowell  it  was  an  inferior  flock  of 
grade  sheep,  which  had  been  previously  bought  for  62J  cents  per  head, 
and  which  were  "  levied  upon  by  the  United  States  marshal  to  make 
the  money  on  for  the  Government." 

The  sheep  Mr.  Dickinson  prized  were  placed  in  the  hands  of  Michael  Hildeubrand, 
of  Stark  County,  long  before  the  trouble  arose  with  the  Government.  All  his  high- 
bred sheep,  which  he  had  been  breeding  for  many  years,  were  put  in  the  care  of 
Adam  Hildeubrand.  These  sheep  were  beyond  the  reach  of  the  Government  in  any 
event,  but  the  public  did  not  know  it.  Mr.  Dickinson  had  intended  to  remove  these 
sheep  to  Texas;  was  at  Houston  in  July,  1.831,  taken  sick  with  yellow  fever,  and  died 
there  July  28,  1831.  *  *  *  He  might  have  lived  to  see  the  blood  of  his  flocks  dis- 
seminated throughout  the  nation,  as  the  sheep  bred  by  him  have,  since  his  death, 
been  scattered,  and  lost  their  identity,  by  being  crossed  with  many  other  breeds  or 
families  of  Merinos.  They  have  been  rendered  almost  worthless  for  stock  purposes, 
except  such  as  have  been  kept  pure  and  correctly  bred  to  fix  the  high  orginal  type 
for  future  breeding  purposes.* 

Mr.  McDowell  further  asserts  that  as  the  flock  belonging-  originally 
to  James  Caldwell  was  sent  by  Samuel  L.  Howell  to  Mr.  Dickinson  to  be 
bred  upon  shares,  Mr.  Dickinson  taking  half  the  increase,  it  was  not 
sacrificed  under  the  hammer,  but  was  sent  to  a  distant  county,  where 
it  suffered  much  deterioration  and  fell  below  its  former  high  estate,  but 
it  had  done  much  to  improve  the  character  of  many  Ohio  flocks. 

Adam  Hildenbrand,  in  a  statement  made  in  1861,  says  that  Mr. 
Dickinson  received  on  shares  200  very  fine  and  heavy  shearers  from 
Dr.  Howell,  and — 

this  was  considered  the  best  improvement  on  Mr.  Dickinson's  flock.  I  superin- 
tended his  flock  from  1820  until  1830,  when  Mr.  Dickinson  failed.  Being  thoroughly 
acquainted  with  his  entire  flock,  I  selected,  with  the  best  of  my  skill,  600  of  the  best 
of  his  flock.  In  1831 1  again  purchased  600  of  the  best  of  his  original  flock,  retaining 
on  shares  Dr.  Howell's  flock  for  two  years,  which  is  the  true  basis  of  my  flock.  It 
remained  thus  as  founded  by  Mr.  Dickinson  until  1850,  Avheii  I  purchased  a  small 
flock  of  full-blooded  Spanish  Merinos. 

A  scientific  and  successful  breeder,  who  saw  the  Hildenbrand  flock 
in  1844,  said :  "  It  has  much  of  the  old  Merino  character  about  it — wool 
thick  and  close  on  the  pelt,  rather  short  in  staple,  full  of  yolk,  dark  on 
the  outside ;  a  heavy  fleece." 

In  1854  Mr.  T.  S.  Humrickhouse,  a  successful  and  intelligent  breeder 
of  Merino  sheep  in  Coshocton  County,  Ohio,  asserted  that  Americus,  of 
the  Caldwell  flock,  was  undoubtedly  the  ancestor  and,  so  to  speak,  the 

*  Dickinson  Spanish  Merino  Sheep  Register,  Vol.  I. 


EAST    OF    THE    MISSISSIPPI    RIVER.  525 

founder  of  the  Wells  and  Dickinson  flock,  considered  as  a  distinct 
family  or  stock.  Columbus,  the  sire  of  Americus,  was  half  Muller- 
German- Spanish  and  half  .Humphreys-Spanish.  The  dam  of  Americus 
not  being  given,  it  could  not  be  determined  whether  his  blood  contained 
any  other  element  than  those  derived  from  the  Muller  and  Humphreys 
stock.  Most  likely  this  dam,  as  well  as  the  dam  of  Columbus,  was  an 
Humphreys  ewe;  and,  if  so,  then  Americus  would  have  been  three- 
fourths  Humphreys-Spanish  and  one-fourth  Muller-Gerinan-Spanish, 
and  thus  we  would  be  led  to  the  conclusion  that  the  chief  excellence 
of  the  Wells  and  Dickinson  sheep  was  derived  from  the  Humphreys 
importation  coming  through  the  Caldwell  flock  of  New  Jersey. 

Mr.  Humrickhouse  admitted  without  reserve  the  excellence  of  the 
Dickinson  sheep.  It  was  still  discernible  when  he  wrote,  especially 
in  the  wool,  in  most  of  the  Western  flocks  of  any  pretensions  which 
partook  of  the  blood.  But  the  system  of  breeding  of  Mr.  Dickinson, 
who  is  understood  toward  the  last  to  have  partially  admitted  the  Saxon 
cross,  was  such  as,  while  the  sheep  remained  in  his  hands,  to  prevent 
the  differentiation  of  them  into  a  distinct  variety.  And  when  the  flock 
was  broken  up  and  they  became  scattered,  most  of  the  persons  who 
obtained  them  either  continued  the  Saxon  cross  or  introduced  other 
elements  of  diversity;  so  that,  being  continually  bred  toward  diversity? 
the  rams  could  not  be  relied  on  for  possessing  the  habit  of  constancy 
in  the  reproduction  of  their  like.  The  most  that  could  be  said  of  them 
was  that  the  ewes  furnished  a  good  foundation,  cheaply  attainable,  upon 
which  to  build  a  flock  by  the  use  of  Atwood-Huinphreys  rams.  The 
cross  proved  congenial  to  them,  in  consequence  of  their  having  originally 
possessed  so  large  an  infusion  of  the  Humphreys  blood.* 

The  presence  of  the  Saxon  cross  in  the  Dickinson  flock  is  not  admit- 
ted by  all,  and  an  extensive  breeder  of  Wellsburg,  W.  Va.,  writing 
to  the  Cultivator,  under  date  of  November  23,  1847,  asserts  that 
the  remarkable  Saxon  fineness  of  wool  for  which  the  flock  became 
noted  was  due  entirely  to  Mr.  Dickinson's  own  good  management,  and 
that  with  the  exception  of  the  descendants  of  the  Muller- Hesse  Cassel 
ram,  his  floi'k  originated  from  Spanish  sheep  of  various  importations. 
This  view  is  adopted  by  another  correspondent  of  the  same  publica- 
tion, in  March,  1850,  in  these  words: 

It  does  not,  therefore,  necessarily  follow  that  because  sheep  produce  wool  which 
is  finer  than  ordinary  Merino  that  they  are  Saxons,  or  that  any  of  their  ances- 
tors came  from  Saxony.  .  We  might  refer,  by  way  of  illustration,  to  examples  in 
our  own  country,  such  as  the  flock  of  the  late  W.  R.  Dickinson,  of  Steubenville, 
Ohio,  and  other  flocks  in  Ohio.  Virginia,  and  Pennsylvania  which  were  derived  from 
this.  The  great  fact  to  be  kept  in  view  is  that  the  properties  of  the  animals  (includ- 
ing wool)  are  modified  by  the  influences  which  are  brought  to  bear  on  them.  These 
influences  may  be  classed  as  food,  climate,  shelter,  and  especially  the  rules  observed 
in  the  selection  of  stock  for  breeding.  Thus  the  Merino  sheep,  in  the  course  of  sev- 
eral generations,  may  be  made  to  produce  either  finer  or  coarser,  longer  or  shorter 
wool  than  the  original  stock. 

*  Ohio  Agricultural  Report,  1854, 


526        SHEEP  INDUSTRY  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES 

The  fact  is  established,  however,  by  numerous  authorities,  that  Mr. 
Dickinson  did  in  the  later  years  of  his  breeding  largely  use  Saxon 
blood,  and  hence  the  Saxon-Spanish-Merino  cross  became  the  predomi- 
nant stock  of  the  country  through  which  his  sheep  were  disseminated. 
And  Mr.  Dickinson  having  infused  into  the  minds  of  those  who  pur- 
chased from  him  the  importance  of  cultivating,  to  use  his  own  language, 
"  transcendently  fine  wool,"  the  great  ambition  of  wool-growers  was  to 
have  the  finest  fiber,  regardless  in  a  great  measure  of  weight  of  fleece. 
Hence  the  stock  of  the  country  became  so  very  much  refined  that  many 
flocks  averaged  but  2  pounds  to  the  fleece.  The  French  Merino  was 
then  introduced  to  increase  weight  of  fleece,  and  eventually  almost  all 
the  good  flocks  of  eastern  Ohio,  western  Pennsylvania,  and  West  Vir- 
ginia, originally  based  on  the  justly  celebrated  flocks  of  Wells  and 
Dickinson,  had  been  crossed  and  recrossed  and  crossed  again  with 
Saxon,  and  almost  everything  else,  until  it  was  doubted  very  much 
whether  in  1861  there  was  a  pure-bred  Wells  and  Dickinson  sheep  in 
the  United  States  or  in  the  world.  There  is,  however,  reason  to  believe 
that  such  a  sheep  does  still  exist.  An  illustration  is  given  herewith  of 
a  two-year-old  Dickinson  ewe  that  was  presented  to  the  Michigan  Agri- 
cultural College  in  18G5.  She  weighed  75  pounds;  her  fleece  6  pounds 
3  ounces. 

The  reserve  thoroughbred  flock  spoken  of  by  Mr.  James  McDowell 
must  now  be  noticed,  and  the  material  used,  as  drawn  from  the  state- 
ment made  by  Adam  Hildeiibrand  in  1861,  and  by  Mr.  McDowell,  as  ] 
published  in  the  Dickinson  Merino  Sheep  Register  of  1888.  Mr.  Hil- 
denbrand's  statement  appears  on  a  preceding  page.  That  of  Mr.  James 
McDowell  is  to  the  effect  that  about  1807  or  1808  Thomas  Eotch,  a 
Quaker,  removed  from  Connecticut  to  Stark  County,  Ohio,  taking  with 
him  a  small  flock  of  .Merino  sheep.  They  were  superior  sheep,  and  a 
few  of  them  were  of  the  flock  and  number  imported  by  Col.  Humphreys. 
They  were  accompanied  to  Ohio  by  John  Hall,  who  testified  to  the  sale 
from  Humphreys  to  Eotch.  In  1809  Mr.  Dickinson  became  the  owner 
of  a  few  of  the  Humphreys  sheep  by  purchase  from  Thomas  Eotch,  and 
this  small  flock,  closely  guarded,  was  separately  marked  and  continu- 
ally bred  within  the  importation  of  1802,  or  their  descendants,  until 
1831,  when  Adam  Hildenbrand  became  the  owner  of  the  choice  of  the 
flock.  Mr.  McDowell  further  says  that  Mr.  Dickinson  stated,  in  the 
latter  years  of  his  life,  that  he  never  sold  any  of  the  ewes  descended 
from  his  own  pure-bred  flock,  his  sales  being  of  ewes  purehaseu 
throughout  the  country,  of  grade  or  well-bred  Merino  flocks  or  those 
descended  therefrom,  in  which  he  dealt  extensively,  and  that  the  culls 
of  the  flock  of  Merinos  which  he  kept  on  the  shares  for  Samuel  L.  Howell 
(the  C  aid  well  flock)  were  annually  sold. 

These  last  statements  must  be  noticed  in  connection  with  other  facts 
which  seem  to  antagonize  them.  When  Mr.  Dickinson  sold  his  sheep 
to  wool-growers  in  eastern  Ohio,  West  Virginia,  and  western  Pennsyl- 


«*,«., 


A  WELLS  AND  DICKINSON  MERINO  EWE,  OF  1865. 

FROM  "  MICHIGAN  BOARD  OF  AGRICULTURE,"  1866. 


EAST   OF    THE    MISSISSIPPI    RIVER.  527 

vania  he  represented  them  as  pure-bred  sheep,  and  it  would  seem  in- 
credible  to  believe  that  intelligent  men  could  have  been  imposed  upon 
by  grades  and  culls,  or  that  Mr.  Dickinson  could  have  been  guilty  of 
such  deception.  ISTor  could  Mr.  Dickinson  truthfully  have  said  that  he 
never  sold  any  of  the  ewes  descended  from  his  own  pure  bred  flock,  for, 
when  writing  to  a  friend  that  in  1826  he  had  sold  Bolivar  to  Dike  and 
Duncan,  he  also  said  that  with  him  he  had  sold  a  number  of  the  pur- 
est and  finest  Merino  ewes,  and  such  sales  by  him  were  frequent. 

In  1823  James  McDowell  became  an  employe  of  Mr.  Dickinson,  and 
there  was  still  in  the  flock  one  ewe  of  the  original  Humphreys  importa- 
tion from  Spain,  which  was  the  subject  of  Mr.  Dickinson's  frequent 
solicitation  and  of  his  conversation,  and  he  assured  Mr.  McDowell  that 
the  descendants  of  that  and  the  other  ewes  had  been  bred  pure,  and 
were  superior  to  his  other  flocks  and  to  the  C  aid  well  sheep,  both  in 
quality  and  smoothness  of  body.  James  McDowell  remained  with  Mr. 
Dickinson  until  the •  la-tier's  misfortunes,  after  which,  and  the  passing 
of  the  Merino  flock  to  Adam  Hildenbrand,  he  went  into  the  employ  of 
the  latter,  still  caring  for  the  sheep.  A  part  of  the  consideration  given 
by  Mr.  Hildenbrand  to  continue  in  his  employ  was  a  selection  of  the 
best  two  ewe  lambs  and  the  second  best  ram  lamb  of  the  last  crop  of 
lambs  bred  by  Mr.  Dickinson,  descended  from  the  marked  Humphreys 
flock,  and  sired  by  Bolivar,  the  winner  of  the  silver  cup  in  1826.  This 
was  in  1831,  and  the  three  choice  spring  lambs  were  then  at  the  side  of 
their  dams,  and  sired  by  Bolivar.  Bolivar  was  sold  in  1826,  as  we  have 
seen,  but  being  in  the  same  county  could  have  been  used  by  Mr.  Dick- 
inson on  the  flock. 

These  three  lambs,  one  ram  and  two  ewes,  were  the  progenitors  of 
Jaines  McDowell's  flock,  which  he  affirms  has  been  bred  pure  to  the 
present  day,  and  is  known  as  the  Dickinson  Spanish  Merino,  and 
claimed  as  the  purest  Humphreys  sheep  known.  It  has  a  registry  and 
the  breeders  have  adopted  a  scale  of  points : 

Dickinson-Merino  slieep  standard  of  excellence. 

[Standard  of  breeding.  Purity  of  blood.  Tracing  tbeir  descent  to  the  standard  bred  flock  of  James 
McDowell,  of  Canton,  Stark  County, Ohio  (without  admixture  of  impure  blood),  which  flock  descends 
directly  from  the  thoroughbred  flock  of  W.  R.  Dickinson,  of  Ohio,  which  were  purely  bred  from  Merino 
sheep  imported  from  Spain  to  the  United  States  by  Col.  David  Humphreys,  of  Derby,  Xew  Haven 
County,  Conn.,  in  the  year  1802.] 


Scale  of 
points. 


Deep,  round,  wide  and  lone,  showing  mutton  capacity,  good  feeding  and  thriving  qualities, 
heavy,  thick  flesh,  straight  under  and  top  lines,  well  proportioned,  filling  every  pait  of  its 
skin  when  fully  matured 


Skin  thick,  soft,  not  raised  in  corrugations,  pink  red 

Head  small,  carried  high;  quiet-,  placid  eye 

Nose  white,  not  mottled,  covered  with  fine,  soft  white  hair,  wide  and  slightly  arched 

Ears  short,  thick,  covered  with  fine,  glossy  hair 

Horns  small,  neatly  curved,  light  yellow  color,  better  without  any  horns 

Xeck  short,  arched  in  under  and  o'n  top,  the  base  very  strong  . 


;op,  t 
it  boi 


Shoulders  wide,  deep,  rounded,  breast  bone  projecting  forward  of  front  limbs 

Back  straight,  wide,  ribs  extending  out  horizontal  irom  spinal  column,  rounding  in  line  with 
shoulders,  extending  close  back  to  hips 


528        SHEEP  INDUSTRY  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES 

Dickinson-Merino  slteep  standard  of  excellence — Continued. 


BODY, 


Scale  of 
points. 


Loins  strong,  wide 

Hips  wide,  long 

Thighs  wide,  thick  flesh  extending  close  down  to  hock  joints 

Limbs  short,  bone  heavy,  joints  smooth  and  flat.     The  contour  of,  to  show  perpend  Vulnr  lines 
from  elbow  and  stifle  joints  to  center  of  hoofs,  and  from  base  of  tail  to  center  of  ;i  straight 


line  drawn  horizontally  from  caps  of  hook  joints,  Avhen  standing  erect  on  limbs. 


Hoofs  deep,  thin  white  texture,  tough  and  clastic 
Size  of  full  grown  rams  2(<0,  and  ewes  15J  pounds 
Internal  organs  stronc; 


Mature  early,  2\  y 


rears 


Smooth,  even,  dense,  soft  to  the  touch 

Staple  3  to  5  inches,  libers  glossy,  crimped 

Quality  XX,  XXX  or  above,  fine  delaine  combing 

Quantity,  rams,  ]5  to  25  pounds.    Ewes,  10  to  15  pounds  unwashed  wool 

Covering  entire  body  with  even  length  and  »rade  of  wool  except  parts  injuring  thrift  and  com- 
fort of  sheep,  entirely  free  from  gum  and  liair 

Oil  very  fluid,  white  or  nearly  so,  enough  to  preserve  the  wool  raising  to  outer  ends  of  fibers. 


Perfection 


5 

100 


The  Dickinson  Merino  rams  attain  a  good  age  and  are  strong,  active, 
and  healthy.  They  shear  from  15  to  26  pounds  of  clear,  fine,  oily  wool, 
with  a  crimp  staple,  and  with  but  little  or  no  difference  of  grade  on  the 
roughest  part  of  the  hips.  Bolivar  Seventh,  one  of  the  present  stock 
rams  of  the  McDowell  flock,  gave  20  pounds  at  his  second  and  third 
shearing.  Wonderful,  a  2-year-old  ram,  weighed  about  200  pounds. 
His  first  fleece,  at  fourteen  months7  growth,  was  25  pounds;  the  second 
one,  of  one  year's  growth,  26  pounds.  The  staple  was  3f  inches  long, 
with  a  soft,  silken  fiber.  This  length  of  staple  was  exceeded  by  Snow- 
flake,  another  stock  ram  of  the  McDowell  flock.  Snowflake's  staple  at 
the  best  growth  was  5  inches  long  and  had  a  beautiful  crimp. 

The  leading  breeders  of  the  Dickinson  Merino  follow  the  standard 
here  laid  down,  and  are  producing  sheep  that  are  growing  in  popular- 
ity and  commanding  extensive  sales  not  only  in  Ohio,  but  in  various 
sections  of  the  Union.  They  are  already  a  good  mutton  sheep,  and 
their  breeders  think  it  entirely  possible  to  increase  their  mutton  qual- 
ity while  increasing  the  yield  and  refining  the  quality  of  the  fleece. 
While  not  equaling  the  French  Merino  in  size,  it  is  claimed  that  these 
sheep  have  better  mutton  qualities  and  better  wool.  They  have  early 
maturity,  so  essential  to  a  mutton  sheep,  and  are  free  from  the  rank 
smell  so  liable  to  accompany  the  carcass  of  the  Spanish  Merino.  The 
wool  competes  with  any  wool  in  the  market  for  fine  delaine  purposes, 
and  generally  finds  ready  sale.  They  can  be  raised  in  large  flocks  or 
in  small  ones,  and  are  equally  adapted  to  range  feedings  or  to  a  system 
of  mixed  husbandry,  and  are  able  to  maintain  themselves  under  various 
conditions  of  soil  and  climate.  In  a  system  of  mixed  agriculture  such 
as  is  now  diffusing  itself  over  the  whole  country,  particularly  east  of 
the  Mississippi,  these  sheep  will  find  a  favored  place. 

Bezaleel  Wells  was  from  Maryland^  and  was  early  employed  in  the 


EAST    OF    THE    MISSISSIPPI    RIVER.  529 

survey  of  the  public  lands  in  Ohio.  In  1795  he  located  and  purchased 
1,100  acres  of  land  on  the  Ohio  River,  where  the  city  of  Steubenville  now 
stands.  In  1800  he  removed  with  his  family  from  Maryland  to  Steu- 
benville, where  he  occupied  himself  in  clearing  his  lands  and  preparing 
his  farm.  Li  1814  he  formed  a  partnership  with  three  other  gentlemen 
and  erected  an  extensive  woolen  manufactory  in  Steubenville.  W.  E. 
Dickinson  became  a  member  of  the  firm  in  1816.  The  enterprise  proved 
a  great  source  of  revenue  to  the  breeders  of  sheep,  by  creating  a 
good  market  and  a  home  manufacture  of  the  wool  grown  in  that  part 
of  Ohio  and  in  western  Pensylvania  and  the  adjoining  counties  of  West 
Virginia.  The  firm  made  a  most  excellent  quality  of  broadcloth,  which 
was  well  known  and  highly  appreciated  in  eastern  cities.  In  1814  or 
1815  Mr.  Wells  purchased  from  William  Jarvis  a  large  number  of  sheep, 
said  to  have  been  several  hundred,  and  placed  them  on  his  farm  near 
Steubenville,  where  they  were  kept  until  1 824,  at  which  time  the  flock 
numbered  3,500  head,  said  to  have  been  pure  Spanish  Merinos.  In  1824 
a  large  tract  of  land  was  purchased  in  Stark  County,  about  5  miles  west 
of  Canton,  where  a  great  part  of  the  flock  was  summered,  being  driven 
back  to  Steubenville  to  be  wintered.  This  migratory  system  was  quite 
successful,  the  flock  in  its  summer  feeding  ground  and  in  its  transit 
being  watched  by  shepherds  who  made  their  headquarters  in  a  cart 
drawn  by  oxen.  Wolves  were  most  to  be  feared. 

Occasional  sales  were  made  from  this  flock,  and  the  wool  was  used 
in  the  Steubenville  factory.  In  1825  Alexander  Wells,  son  of  Bezaleel 
W»'lls,  received  from  W.  J.  Miller,  of  Philadelphia,  240  ewes,  and  in 
182G  bought  of  Mr.  Miller  260  more  ewes.  These  Miller  sheep  were 
from  the  R.  W.  Meade  importation  of  Infantados  of  1810,  and  had  been 
raised  by  Mr.  Miller  for  Mr.  Meade.  They  had  been  crossed  with  the 
Saxony  sheep,  of  which  Mr.  Miller  had  made,  with  Col.  Shephard,  of 
Massachusetts,  the  first  importation  into  the  country.  These  sheep 
were  kept  separate  un til  1829,%  when  they  were  commingled  with  the 
flock  of  Bezaleel  Wells  established  in  1814-'15.  The  best  rams  of  the 
Dickinson  flock  were  used  on  that  of  Mr.  Wells,  and  the  best  rams  of 
the  Wells  flocks  were  used  by  Mr.  Dickinson.  In  1829  the  flock  num- 
bered about  3,000  head.  It  presented  a  grand  appearance,  and  was 
supposed  to  be  unequaled  in  number,  form,  and  weight  of  fleece.  The 
flock  would  clip  about  5  pounds  of  washed  wool  per  head.  The  flock 
was  sold  in  1829  or  1830  at  public  sale,  many  of  the  purchasers  being 
from  Pennsylvania  and  western  Virginia,  but  the  greater  part  from 
Ohio.  It  is  believed,  however,  that  the  choice  sheep  found  their  way 
into  Washington  County,  Pa.,  to  enrich  the  flocks  of  Alexander  Reed, 
William  Brownlee,  John  H.  Ewing,  C.  H.  Beall,  and  others. 

Most  of  the  fine-wooled  flocks  in  the  eastern  part  of  Ohio  had  a  sim- 
ilar origin.  Previous  to  the  introduction  of  the  Spanish  Merino  by  B. 
Wells  and  W.  R.  Dickinson,  the  sheep  were  of  the  common  variety, 
coarse- wooled,  leggy,  with  good  constitution,  and  excellent  nurses; 
22990 34  * 


530        SHEEP  INDUSTRY  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES 

they  could  run  like  deer,  were  very  prolific,  and,  for  the  attention  which 
was  then  given  them,  were  perhaps  better  suited  to  the  people  at  that 
time  than  any  other  breed  of  sheep.  When  the  country  became  more 
thickly  settled  and  farms  were  opened  in  the  forests,  the  Dickinson 
sheep  came  to  the  very  doors  of  the  farmers ;  rains  were  purchased  by 
them  to  cross  on  the  native  ewes,  constituting  the  first  cross,  and  the 
whole  system  of  breeding  since  that  time,  with  but  few  exceptions,  has 
been  crossing  and  recrossing  in  every  direction.  First  came  the  Saxon 
mania,  and  the  wool- growers  added  very  much  to  the  fineness,  crimp, 
beauty,  and  silky  character  of  the  wool,  but  found  themselves  deficient 
in  quality.  This  prepared  the  way  for  the  reception  of  the  heavy 
fleeced  French  Merino,  but  only  a  few  were  led  away,  and  the  current 
again  flowed  in  the  direction  of  the  Spanish  Merino.  But  by  this  time 
the  original  blood  of  the  Dickinson  and  Wells  sheep  had  been  practi- 
cally obliterated  from  the  whole  country,  and  the  disappearance  of  the 
Saxony  and  the  French  Merino  followed  in  order.  The  history  of  some 
of  the  early  flocks  and  the  changes  which  they  have  undergone  will  be 
given. 

In  1822  James  Moores,  of  Jefferson  County,  purchased  a  few  ewes  from 
either  the  Wells  or  Dickinson  flock,  which,  says  the  Ohio  Eegister, 
proved  to  be  a  source  of  profit.  His  family  spun  and  carded  the  wool  by 
hand,  and  wove  the  cloth  from  which  the  garments  were  made  which 
clothed  them.  In  1825  he  sold  his  clip  of  wool  at  Steubenville  for  $1 
per  pound.  In  1834  this  flock  numbered  nearly  100  head,  from  which 
time  frequent  additions  were  made.  In  1843  the  flock  averaged  4 
pounds  of  washed  wool.  Mr.  Moores  died  in  1848,  and  his  son,  James 
Moores,  took  about  40  head  of  the  flock,  adding  by  purchase,  in  1850, 
5  ewes  descended  from  the  W.  E.  Dickinson  flock.  In  1856  Mr.  Moores 
began  shipping  rams  and  ewes  to  Texas,  and  in  1860  the  flock  which 
had  been  kept  on  the  farm  for  thirty- eight  years  was  shipped  to  Texas. 

In  1830  Robert  Hervey,  of  Washington  County,  Pa.,  purchased  at 
the  sale  of  either  Wells  or  Dickinson,  probably  the  latter,  about  200 
head  of  sheep,  and  in  October,  1832,  took  in  partnership  with  him  his 
nephew,  Eobert  Hervey,  of  Unionport,  Jefferson  County,  Ohio.  Their 
business  was  that  of  buying  and  selling  Merino  sheep.  This  partner- 
ship was  dissolved  in  1834,  and  Eobert  Hervey,  the  nephew,  received 
as  his  share  of  the  flock  remaining  34  lambs.  These  lambs,  with  32 
ewes  and  a  ram  purchased  from  Eobert  Hervey,  and  of  the  same  blood, 
were  taken  to  the  lands  controlled  by  William  H.  Hervey,  1J  miles 
from  Bloomfield,  Jefferson  County,  Ohio.  The  flock  was  kept  on  these 
lands  for  about  fifteen  years.  In  1849  it  numbered  500  head  of  round- 
bodied,  healthy  sheep,  having  a  dark,  well-covered  surface  on  the 
fleece,  a  white  crimpy  wool,  and  good  length  of  staple,  the  fleeces  weigh- 
ing from  3J  to  5  pounds  of  washed  wool.  In  1854  French  blood  was 
introduced  into  the  flock,  but  the  result  was  unsatisfactory,  and  Span- 
ish ranis  were  thereafter  used  on  the  flock  until  1864,  when  G.  W. 


EAST    OF    THE    MISSISSIPPI    RIVER.  531 

Hervey  became  owner  of  and  assumed  management  of  the  flock.  Pur- 
<•  liases  of  slice] »  were  made  from  the  then  acknowledged  best  flock  of 
Spanish  Merino  sheep  in.  the  country,  and  all  the  original  flock  which 
had  been  bred  on  the  farm  and  in  possession  of  William  H.  Hervey  for 
over  thirty  years  were  disposed  of  and  replaced  by  other  sheep. 

There  were  many  flocks  formed  from  1840  to  1860  and  from  every 
variety  of  sheep,  the  Dickinson,  the  western  Pennsylvania,  and  the  Ver- 
mont Merino,  and  grades  of  Saxon,  French,  and  Silesians,  the  flocks  in 
181)1'  running  from  60  to  1,200  animals  in  number.  The  average  of  the 
blood  was  about  three-fourths  Merino,  and  the  wool  had  a  high  reputa- 
tion for  fineness  of  fiber,  strength,  and  elasticity. 

The  adjoining  counties  of  Columbia,  Belmont,  and  Monroe  had  flocks 
of  the  same  general  character  as  Jefferson,  beginning  with  the  coarse 
wood  rangers,  then  improved  from  the  Wells  and  Dickinson  flocks, 
mixed  with  the  Saxon  and  French  Merinos,  which  in  time  gave  way  to 
the  Spanish  Merino  and  its  later  development,  the  Black-Top  Merino. 

The  counties  of  the  Muskingum  Yalley,  directly  west  of  the  pre- 
ceeding  four  river  counties,  derived  their  fine-wooled  sheep  from  the 
latter,  and  were  mostly  "of  the  Wells  and  Dickinson  flocks,  with  addi- 
tions from  Washington  and  Beaver  counties,  Pa.,  and  Brooke  and 
Hancock  counties,  Va. 

The  earliest  fine-wooled  flocks  of  Stark  County  were  those  of  Thomas 
Botch.  W.  B.  Dickinson,  Adam  Hildenbrand,  and  James  McDowell, 
already  noticed.  These  determined  the  character  of  the  early  sheep  of 
the  county,  for  nearly  all  subsequent  flocks  owed  their  foundation  to 
them  and  to  additions  from  the  flocks  of  western  Pennsylvania.  In 
1832  Henry  Everhard  bought  some  ewes  from  Adam  Hildenbrand, 
which  were  raised  from  the  Dickinson  flock,  and  for  the  next  twelve 
years  he  used  rams  from  Hildenbrand's  flock;  then,  in  1844,  he  bought 
a  few  Saxon  ewes  and  one  ram.  He  bred  a  few  pure  Saxons  and  crossed 
some  of  the  Dickinson  sheep  with  them;  but  finding  that  his  flock  was 
growing  uneven,  and  seeing  no  great  improvement,  he  sold  out  the 
Saxon  blood,  including  the  crosses.  In  1846  he  bought  a  pure-bred 
Dickinson  ram  from  Thomas  Noble,  and  continued  to  use  his  own 
and  other  pure-bred  Dickinson  sheep  to  1863,  at  which  time  he  had  a 
full-blood  flock  of  22  rams  and  300  ewes.  Some  of  the  best  flocks  of 
the  county  have  been  improved  by  sheep  from  his  flock.  From  1837 
to  1850  not  a  great  many  new  flocks  were  formed,  but  at  the  latter 
date,  when  the  flocks  of  the  county  were  about  half-blood  Spanish 
Merino  and  some  Saxony,  there  began  an  improvement  in  the  flocks 
and  an  increase  in  their  number,  and  many  Vermont  Merinos  were 
brought  into  the  county.  In  1851  W.  M.  Cunningham  obtained  from 
the  flock  of  Thomas  Xoble  130  head,  60  of  which  were  choice  breeding 
ewes.  In  the  same  year  he  purchased  of  James  Patterson,  of  Tusca- 
rawas  County.  15.S  head,  and  about  the  same  time  he  bought  of  Henry 
O.  Gifibrd,  of  Vermont,  10  ewes  and  2  rams  of  the  Hammond  stock, 


532  SHEEP    INDUSTRY    OF    THE    UNITED    STATES 

raised  by  Charles  Cook.  Soon  afterward  lie  bought  the  celebrated  ram 
Little  Brownlee  from  the  estate  of  Thomas  Noble.  Mr.  Noble  was  an 
extensive  wool-grower  of  the  county,  who  formed  his  flock  in  1834  by 
the  purchase  of  Dickinson  sheep  from  Adam  Hildenbrand,  and  added 
to  it  two  celebrated  rams  from  the  flock  of  William  Brownlee,  of  Wash- 
ington County,  Pa.  In  1844  his  flock  numbered  over  1,500,  and  aver- 
aged 3  pounds  of  wool  per  head.  Jacob  Dager  in  1853  purchased  from 
Mr.  Brownlee  and  Mr.  Eankin  a  ram  and  a  few  ewes,  the  predominant 
blood  being  Saxon.  He  bred  them  two  years,  but  the  wool  being  too 
light  he  went  back  to  the  pure  Dickinson  Spanish  and  bred  in  that 
line  until  1860,  when  he  introduced  the  Atwood  blood.  Ames  D.  Baker, 
in  1851,  and  Samuel  Boyd,  in  1852,  formed  flocks  from  the  Washington 
County,  Pa.,  sheep;  from  1852  to  1860  many  large  flocks  were  formed, 
full-blood  and  grades,  mostly  from  the  flocks  above  named,  reinforced 
by  Vermont  rams.  In  1860  H.  E.  Wise  had  185  Atwood  Merinos,  from 
which  he  sheared  1,028  pounds  of  wool. 

The  oldest  recorded  flock  of  Carroll  County  is  that  of  Joshua  Leggett, 
which  was  started  in  1833  from  Pennsylvania  Merinos.  In  1839  Mr. 
Leggett  purchased  a  half-blood  Saxon  ram  brought  from  New  York, 
and  in  1845  a  full-blood  Saxon  ram  from  Samuel  Patterson,  of  WTash- 
ington  County,  Pa.,  which  was  said  to  have  been  bred  from  a  New 
Jersey  flock.  This  reduced  the  weight  of  his  clip,  but  added  to  its 
fineness.  In  1849  he  purchased  a  half-blood  Black-Top,  which  added  to 
the  weight  of  the  fleece,  and  in  1856  a  Spanish  Merino  ram  from  Ver- 
mont was  added,  which  increased  the  length  of  fiber  and  weight.  From 
this  ram  he  bred  others  that  clipped  10£  pounds,  and  ewes  that  clipped 
from  5  to  7  pounds,  washed  clean  on  the  sheep.  There  were  very  few 
large  flocks  in  this  county  until  after  1850,  and  these  had  for  their 
foundation  the  sheep  of  the  neighboring  counties,  and  from  the  border 
counties  of  Pennsylvania  and  Virginia,  graded  up  by  the  use  of  Ver- 
mont rams. 

Harrison  County  received  its  fiue-wooled  sheep  from  Jefferson  and 
Stark,  and  from  western  Pennsylvania,  and  went  through  the  same 
early  experience  of  crossing.  The  Saxons  were  early  introduced  and 
ran  the  yield  of  wool  to  a  low  figure,  and  they  held  their  ground  and 
were  preferred  on  account  of  the  fineness  and  cleanness  of  their  wool 
as  late  as  1850,  at  about  which  time  the  tide  set  in  for  the  Silesian  and 
the  Vermont  Merino.  The  experience  of  most  wool-growers  of  the  county 
can  be  told  in  that  of  one  of  them.  William  Eagleson,  of  Cadiz,  bred 
an  excellent  flock  at  an  early  day.  In  1853  his  flock  was  composed 
entirely  of  Saxon  blood  and  sheared  2f  pounds  per  head.  Mr.  Eagleson 
then  made  two  successive  crosses  with  Silesian  rams,  making  his  flock 
run  three-fourths  Silesian  and  one-fourth  Saxon,  raising  the  weight  per 
fleece  up  to  the  minimum  of  4  pounds,  a  gain  by  crossing  with  the  Sile- 
sian of  1J  pounds  per  fleece.  In  1857  he  disposed  of  that  portion  of  the 
flock  composed  of  pure  Saxon  blood,  and  crossed  the  grades  above  men- 


EAST   OF   THE   MISSISSIPPI   RIVER.  533 

tioncd  with  a  Spanish  Merino  ram  bred  by  Edwin  Hammond,  of  Vermont. 
After  this  he  made  his  crosses  entirely  with  Spanish  Merinos,  making 
his  grade  flock  run  three-fourths  Spanish  Merino,  one-sixteenth  Saxon, 
with  the  remaining  three-sixteenths  Silesian.  This  cross  brought  the 
weight  of  his  fleeces  up  to  5^  pounds  in  1861,  making  an  increase  of  2J 
pounds  per  fleece  in  eight  years,  and  he  had  hopes  of  reaching  7  pounds 
by  1865.  Besides  this  Mr.  Eagleson  had  a  thoroughbred  flock  of  pure 
Atwood  Spanish  Merino  blood,  bred  by  Hammond  and  others  of  Ver- 
mont. Of  this  variety  he  had  150  ewes,  which  averaged  6 J  pounds. 

The  early  flocks  of  Guernsey  County  were  like  those  of  the  neigh- 
boring counties:  first,  the  common  sheep  crossed  by  the  Dickinson 
Merino,  then  the  Saxon,  and  finally  the  Spanish  Merino,  as  represented 
by  the  Vermont  variety.  But  few  records  a*re  available  concerning 
these  early  days.  E.  H.  Wilson  began  his  flock  about  1840,  with  the 
fine  wooled  sheep  of  western  Virginia,  probable  descendents  in  great 
part  of  the  Wells  and  Dickinson  flocks.  About  1845  he  procured  rams 
from  Henry  D.  Grove's  pure  Saxon  flock,  and  used  them  three  or  four 
years.  Next  he  used  Saxon  rams  bred  by  Dr.  Ohapline,  and  in  1854 
bought  a  pure  Silesian  ram  and  used  him  two  seasons.  In  1856  he  sold 
his  sheep  and  began  again  soon  after  to  breed  from  some  Silesian s  arid 
some  ewes  bred  direct  from  the  flock  of  William  Brownlee,  of  Wash- 
ington County,  Pa.  Then  he  introduced  Silesian  Spanish,  bought  of 
William  Chamberlain,  of  New  York,  and  an  American  Merino  bought 
of  George  Campbell,  of  Vermont.  Both  were  heavy- wooled  sheep,  and 
his  clip  of  1861  averaged  3|  pounds,  but  was  too  fine  for  the  prevailing 
market.  He  had  that  year  over  300  sheep.  John  Moore,  of  this  county, 
had  an  earlier  flock,  founded  in  1832  from  a  purchase  made  of  William 
Brownlee,  of  Washington  County,  Pa.,  and  he  had  the  same  stock  of 
ewes  in  1861,  with  a  cross  by  a  ram  of  the  Atwood  stock,  obtained  from 
Judge  McKeever,  of  western  Pennsylvania.  These  flocks  represent  the 
character  of  the  Merinos  of  Guernsey  County:  the  Wells  and  Dickin- 
son sheep;  Saxons,  Silesians,  and  their  crosses  from  western  Virginia 
and  Pennsylvania,  and  thoroughbred  Spanish  Merinos  from  Vermont. 

Noble  and  Washington  counties,  in  the  lower  part  of  the  Muskingum 
Valley,  have  not  been  noted  as  large  fine-wool-growing  counties.  Their 
early  sheep  were  of  the  common  kind  and  their  improvement  was  of 
slow  growth.  An  early  Washington  flock  was  that  of  Col.  John  Stone, 
of  Belpre,  founded  in  1826,  by  pure  Merinos  from  the  Wells  flock  and 
kept  pure  for  over  half  a  century. 

The  first  Spanish  Merino  sheep  of  Mnskingum  County  were  those  of 
the  Wells  and  Dickinson  flocks  and  some  from  Washington  County,  Pa. 
These,  however,  were  soon  supplanted  by  the  many  Saxony  crosses,  and 
not  until  1850  did  the  Spanish  Merino  regain  favor,  since  which  time  a 
majority  of  the  best  sheep  in  the  county  trace  their  descent  from  100 
Jarvis  ewes,  brought  from  Vermont  by  Barnum  Sanford,  who  settled 
near  Newark,  Licking  County,  in  1852,  bringing  the  100  ewes  and  2 
rams.  The  descendants  of  these  ewes,  crossed  by  Atwood  rams,  were 


534        SHEEP  INDUSTRY  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES 

much  sought  for  and  improved  neighboring  flocks.  Most  of  the  full- 
blood  flocks  formed  since  1855  were  from  Vermont  stock. 

A  majority  of  the  flocks  of  Licking  County  owe  their  origin  to  the 
Wells  and  Dickinson  flock  and  to  Washington  County,  Pa.,  crossed  at 
a  later  day  with  the  Vermont  Merino.  The  tariff  of  1824  and  1828  stim- 
ulated a  great  demand  for  fine  wool,  and  the  farmers  of  the  county  en- 
gaged extensively  in  growing  it,  forming  tine  flocks  for  the  purpose. 
The  compromise  tariff  of  1832  lessened  the  demand  for  wool  and  many 
went  out  of  business,  and  the  flocks  as  well  as  the  quality  of  the  wool 
deteriorated.  Upon  the  revival  of  manufactures  sheep  increased  and 
many  new  flocks  were  formed.  S.  S.  Matthews  began  a  flock  from  the 
Wells  and  Dickinson  sheep,  crossing  them  with  Atwood  rams,  and  had 
in  1862  the  only  recorded  full-blood  flock  in  the  county.  There  were 
many  flocks  formed  between  1832  and  1850,  among  them  those  of  James 
and  J.  C.  Alward,  Lucius  Case,  Jacob  Winter,  and  John  Gurney.  Mr. 
Gurney  was  a  native  of  Massachusetts,  and  in  1832  removed  to  Ohio, 
where  in  1840  he  became  identified  with  the  pure  Merino  sheep  indus- 
try of  the  State,  in  which  he  took  much  interest.  He  made  frequent 
purchases  from  the  Vermont  breeders,  particularly  of  Edwin  Ham- 
mond, having  purchased  in  company  with  Eli  Kellar,  Newark,  Ohio, 
the  entire  raising  of  ram  lambs  of  Mr.  Hammond,  with  few  exceptions, 
for  four  successive  years.  In  1833  his  flock  passed  to  his  son,  P.  P.  Gur- 
ney. It  is  now  principally  Humphreys  and  Heaton  blood,  and  is  one  of 
the  very  few  early  flocks  that  appear  in  the  Ohio  Eegister.  For  many 
years  Licking  County  was  the  first  in  wool-growing  in  the  Muskingum 
Valley  and  in  the  State,  and  the  quality  of  its  fine- wool  sheep  was  excel- 
lent. In  1862  three-fourths  of  the  wool  raised  was  Merino. 

Coshocton  County  received  its  first  Merinos  from  Stark  County,  and 
its  experience  with  the  Saxons  was  similar  to  that  of  other  sections  of 
eastern  Ohio.  Of  its  later  breeders  Mr.  T.  S.  Humrickhouse  was  well 
known.  He  began  his  flock  with  Ohio  Merinos,  which  he  gradually 
abandoned,  and  then  bred  entirely  from  the  Connecticut  and  Vermont 
Atwood  Merinos.  The  foundation  of  his  Atwood  stock  was  laid  in 
1852  by  the  purchase  of  3  ewes  from  Edwin  Hammond,  one  in  1854 
and  one  in  1856,  and  one  ewe  from  Stephen  Atwood  in  1854.  He 
used  rams  bred  by  Stephen  Atwood  and  Edwin  Hammond,  and  others 
of  the  same  blood  and  also  those  of  his  own  breeding.  In  1876  the 
flock  was  still  in  existence,  bred  in  the  pure  At  wood-Hammond  line, 
and  contained  6  rams  and  21  ewes. 

Kichland,  Ashland,  and  Wayne  counties,  at  the  head  of  the  Mus- 
kingum Valley,  had  many  superior  sheep  at  an  early  day,  and  the  vicis- 
situdes in  the  breeding  and  in  the  varieties  bred  have  been  similar  to 
those  in  other  parts  of  the  State.  Wool-growing  was  generally  profitable. 
The  native  sheep  were  improved  by  a  cross  with  the  Spanish  Merino. 
The  small  or  ordinary  sized  sheep,  of  fine  wool  and  long  staple,  were 
thought  to  be  the  most  profitable,  such  as  a  cross  between  the  Saxon 
and  the  Spanish  Merino,  and  later  with  the  French  Merino. 


EAST    OF    THE    MISSISSIPPI    RIVER.  535 

Iflorth  of  the  river  counties  and  Muskingum  Valley,  from  the  eastern 
border  of  the  State,  halfway  westward  across  it,  lies  the  Western 
Reserve,  settled  principally  by  New  England  people,  who  brought  with 
them  eastern  stock  and  eastern  modes  of  husbandry.  The  first  improve- 
ment on  their  sheep  was  made  by  Che  Wells  and  Dickinson  sheep  and 
those  from  Washington  County,  Pa. 

Mahoning  County,  on  the  Pennsylvania  border,  has  had  a  good  repu- 
tation as  a  wool-growing  county.  Its  early  sheep  were  those  from  Penn- 
sylvania and  from  the  Wells  and  Dickinson  flocks.  In  1832  John  Bing- 
ham  began  a  flock  by  purchases  of  sheep  from  Enoch  Marvin  and  John 
Marshall,  of  Beaver,  Pa.  When  he  commenced  the  average  weight  of 
fleeces  was  3  pounds;  by  judicious  crossings  with  rams  of  pure  blood, 
he  increased  the  average  to  4  pounds.  In  1856  he  bought  a  yearling 
ram  of  Merrill  Bingham,  of  Vermont.  His  fleece,  of  one  year's  growth, 
weighed  20 J  pounds.  In  1862  his  flock  of  300  averaged  6  pounds  per 
head  washed  wool.  John  Brownlee  commenced  a  flock  in  1837,  from 
Black  Top  Merino  and  Saxony  sheep,  and  some  common  or  native  sheep. 
They  were  then  crossed  with  Saxon  rams  till  the  fleeces  became  very 
light,  say  2J  to  3  pounds.  He  then  bought  2  Spanish  Merino  rams  and 
12  ewes  from  Vermont,  and  for  five  years  bred  from  Spanish  Merino 
rams.  The  result  of  this  cross  increased  the  fleeces  to  4  pounds  through- 
out the  whole  flock.  Asa  W.  Allen,  of  Ellsworth,  had  a  Vermont  flock 
in  1855,  which  he  substituted  for  sheep  then  general  in  his  vicinity, 
brought  from  Columbiana  County,  Ohio,  and  western  Pennsylvania. 
In  1859  E.  M.  Montgomery  purchased  thoroughbred  Vermont  Merinos 
and  introduced  them  into  the  county.  Previous  to  1855  the  Saxons 
were  very  numerous  in  the  county,  but  from  that  date  they  declined. 

The  sheep  of  Trumbull  were  similar  to  those  of  Mahoning,  the  com- 
mon improved  by  the  Ohio  and  Pennsylvania  Merinos,  then  crossed  by 
the  Saxon  and  then  again  by  the  Spanish  Merino  of  Vermont  and  New 
York.  The  history  of  two  full-blood  flocks  may  be  given  to  illustrate 
the  formation  of  most  of  them.  In  1834  Aaron  Griffith  bought  31  ewes 
of  Adam  Hildenbrand,  and  in  the  year  following  60  in  Washington 
County,  Pa.,  of  the  McKeever  stock,  or  the  Black-Top  Merino.  As  the 
flock  increased  from  year  to  year  he  selected  as  breeders  those  which  he 
considered  as  the  most  perfect  animals,  retaining  as  much  as  possible 
fineness  of  fiber,  and  seeking  to  increase  the  length  of  staple  and  weight 
of  fleece,  always  upon  a  good-sized  and  well-formed  sheep.  Believing 
that  the  Spanish  Merino  was  the  most  profitable  sheep  for  central  Ohio, 
in  the  purchase  of  rams  he  sought  to  breed  his  sheep  to  conform  to  that 
type.  N.  E.  Austin  obtained,  in  1846,  about  500  sheep,  the  average  ot 
Gen.  James  S.  Wadsworth's  flock  in  Livingston  County,  N.  Y.,  and 
brought  them  to  his  form  in  Trumbull  County.  They  were  all  fine-wooled 
sheep.  He  crossed  with  the  Saxons  and  got  very  fine,  light  fleeces 
of  2J  pounds.  As  that  could  not  be  made  profitable,  he  used  Spanish 
Merino  rams  and  brought  the  average  up  to  4J  pounds  of  wool  per 
head. 


536  SHEEP   INDUSTRY    OF    THE    UNITED    STATES 

Lake  and  Geauga  counties  had  similar  foundations  for  their  fine- wool 
industry.  In  the  latter,  in  1825,  Philander  Thompson,  of  Middlefield, 
began  a  flock  by  the  purchase  of  sheep  from  Stephen  Atwood,  of  Con- 
necticut, which  in  1861  numbered  4  rams  and  100  full-blooded  ewes;  and 
in  the  same  year,  1825,  L.  H.  Bassett,  of  the  same  county,  began  a  flock 
founded  on  Vermont  stock  and  the  Wells  and  Dickinson  sheep.  In  1827 
F.  G.  Brown  commenced  with  a  small  lot  of  the  Wells  and  Dickinson 
ewes  and  a  Black-Top  ram,  and  bred  in  the  same  flock  until  he  crossed 
with  the  French  Merino,  about  1855.  In  1830  William  and  Eeuben  Munn , 
of  dewberry,  began  flocks  from  full  blooded  Ohio  and  Vermont  Spanish 
Merinos,  which  in  1862  numbered  over  560  head,  and  had  done  much  to 
distribute  superior  sheep  throughout  this  fine  wool-growing  country. 
Up  to  the  introduction  of  Thompson's  Atwood  Merinos  the  few  sheep 
that  were  in  the  county  were  descendants  from  the  Wells  and  Dickin- 
son flocks.  They  were  kept  as  pure  as  possible  for  some  years  and  pur- 
chases were  made  in  Beaver,  Lawrence,  and  Washington  counties, 
Pa.,  and  Columbiana  and  Stark,  in  Ohio,  of  the  choicest  sheep  to 
be  had,  by  which  the  style  of  wool  was  improved  by  the  addition  of  a 
most  beautiful  crimp  peculiar  to  the  best  fine- wool  flocks  of  western 
Pennsylvania. 

In  Portage  County  the  fine- wool  industry  was  built  up  on  the  common 
ewes  of  the  country.  These  were  purchased  as  they  could  be  obtained 
and  crossed  with  the  Dickinson  sheep  and  then  with  the  Saxon,  and 
when  the  tide  turned  in  favor  of  the  Spanish  Merino  the  flocks  were 
generally  one-fourth  to  one-half  Ohio  Merino  and  Saxon,  the  other  part 
of  blood  being  mixed.  Vermont  rams  were  used  for  breeding,  carefully 
selected  in  regard  to  health  and  endurance  and  in  reference  to  weight 
and  fineness  of  fleece.  The  sheep  were  generally  housed  in  winter  and 
fed  all  the  hay  they  would  eat,  with  a  little  grain.  They  were  allowed 
to  run  out  in  small  lots  during  the  day,  with  free  access  to  water,  and 
when  well  taken  care  of  they  improved  in  build  and  weight  of  fleece. 
The  fine  wool  stock  of  Summit  County  came  from  Washington  County, 
Pa.,  and  from  Jefferson  County,  Ohio.  Vermont  Merinos  were  after- 
wards introduced,  and  these  grades,  in  their  purity  and  in  their  crosses 
with  some  of  the  native  blood,  formed  nearly  the  entire  stock  of  the 
county  about  1860.  Cuyahoga  was  also  a  fine-wool  growing  county  at 
an  early  day,  and  among  its  flocks  was  one  of  50  rams  and  75  ewes  de- 
scended from  the  Montarco  importation  of  Jonathan  Allen,  of  Massachu- 
setts, in  October,  1810.  Wool  was  the  principal  source  of  income  of  the 
farmers,and  so  continued  until  about  1855  to  1860,  when  the  coarse-wool ed 
mutton  sheep  supplanted  many  of  the  fine-wooled  flocks.  Loraine 
County  owes  its  first  fine-wooled  sheep  to  the  neighboring  counties,  and 
the  renovation  of  the  flocks  after  the  Saxon  crosses  is  due  to  Joseph 
W.  Worcester,  who,  in  1847,  imported  the  first  Connecticut  and  Vermont 
Merinos  into  the  county  and  bred  them  for  many  years,  making  yearly 
importations.  In  1863  nearly  all  the  fine-wooled  flocks  of  the  county 


EAST   OF   THE   MISSISSIPPI   RIVER.  537 

traced  their  foundation  to  the  Worcester  flock.  Most  of  the  Merino 
flocks  of  Medina  County  were  started  on  the  coarse- wooled  sheep  by 
Dickinson  and  Saxon  rams  and  then  crossed  by  Vermont  rams  at  a  later 
day.  There  was  a  great  variety  in  the  sheep,  but  the  wool  was  supe- 
rior, due  in  a  measure  to  the  introduction  into  the  county  of  a  portion 
of  the  Saxon  flock  of  Henry  D.  Grove,  of  New  York.  Erie  County 
derived  its  fine-wooled  sheep  from  Vermont,  principally,  Vermont  rams 
being  extensively  used  after  1847  to  cross  on  the  mixed  grades  then 
known  to  the  growers.  In  1850  the  wool  ranged  about  one-quarter 
blood  and  averaged  about  3  pounds  per  head.  From  that  time  great  im- 
provement was  made.  Vermont  rams  were  brought  in  extensively  and 
many  purchases  were  made  of  Mr.  Worcester,  of  Loraine  County.  The 
leading  improver  on  the  sheep  of  Huron  County  was  D.  C.  Jefferson. 
In  1849  he  purchased  of  Erastus  Robinson,  of  Shoreham,  Vermont,  14 
Spanish  Merino  ewes  and  2  rams,  from  which  he  bred  a  flock  by  cross- 
ing with  the  best  Spanish  Merino  rams  he  could  get  from  the  Hammond 
and  other  flocks.  In  1855  and  1856  he  introduced  a  French  Merino  ram 
into  his  flock,  very  sparingly,  however,  for  he  had  but  little  faith.  The 
result  was  13  ewe  lambs,  half  French,  averaged  first  fleece,  4jV  pounds, 
and  28  Spanish  ewe  lambs,  thoroughbred,  averaged  per  head,  the  first 
fleece,  5  pounds  and  a  small  fraction,  showing  15  ounces  in  favor  of  the 
Spanish.  He  tried  other  varieties,  but  without  success,  and  came  to 
the  conclusion  that  the  nearer  he  could  arrive  at  thoroughbred  Spanish 
Merino  sheep  the  more  pounds  of  wool  he  could  get  and  of  a  better 
quality.  Between  1855  and  1861  his  flock  of  100  breeding  ewes  paid 
him  annually  $800  to  $1,000,  and  his  testimony  was  that  the  best  rams 
for  Ohio  were  those  from  Vermont  blood.  Owen  Jefferson  formed  a 
flock  in  1850,  from  the  Eobinson  Vermont  stock,  and  other  flocks  suc- 
ceeded, founded  on  Vermont  purchases  or  those  made  from  the  Jeffer- 
son flocks.  In  1860  the  average  amount  of  wool  per  head  of  the  Erie 
and  Huron  sheep  was  3  pounds.  The  great  improvement  made  in  20 
years  is  shown  in  the  increased  weight  of  fleeces.  In  1845  the  average 
weight  of  the  fleeces  on  the  Western  Eeserve  was  2J  pounds;  in  1865  it 
was  4£  to  4|  pounds,  some  counties  running  up  to  nearly  6  pounds. 

In  1864  S.  W.  Thomas,  of  Greenwich,  Huron  County,  laid  the  foun- 
dation of  his  celebrated  flock  by  purchasing  2  ewes  bred  by  C.  W. 
Mason,  of  Vermont,  to  which  addition  was  made  in  1865-'66  of  12  ewes 
bred  by  C.  D.  Lane,  Vermont;  in  1866  11  ewes  from  Horace  Phinney, 
who  purchased  from  S.  S.  Andrews,  Vermont,  and  in  1871  6  ewes  bred 
by  L.  P.  Clark.  He  made  many  other  purchases  of  Vermont  ewes  and 
rams  and  constantly  added  the  best  to  be  found  until  in  1884  he  had  a 
choice  flock  of  91  rams  and  320  ewes.  The  sales  from  this  flock  were 
large,  both  of  rams  and  ewes,  and  found  purchasers  in  many  parts  of 
the  State. 

The  Hocking  Valley,  though  not  large  in  extent,  is  an  excellent  sheep 
country  and  has  had  some  fine  flocks.  The  range  of  hills  or  highlands, 


538        SHEEP  INDUSTRY  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES 

running  parallel  with  the  Ohio  Kiver  on  the  southern  border,  compris- 
ing some  6,000,000  acres,  presents  as  inviting  a  field  for  sheep  hus- 
bandry as  any  in  the  Union,  and  the  southern  part  of  this  valley  lies 
in  this  favored  district.  Athens  County,  on  the  Ohio,  is  among  the 
first  in  the  State  for  the  quality  of  its  sheep,  and  much  attention  has 
been  paid  to  the  growth  of  wool.  About  1822  Abel  Glazier  and  others 
obtained  some  Spanish  Merinos  of  William  Skinner,  of  Marietta,  Wash- 
ington County,  and  the  stock  from  these  flocks  had  a  wide  dissemina- 
tion. All  the  flocks  of  the  county  up  to  1850  had  an  admixture  of  the 
Wells  and  Dickinson  stock.  In  1850  there  was  a  movement  in  favor  of 
the  Vermont  Merinos,  and  many  of  them  were  introduced  and  new  flocks 
formed.  Gallia  County  owes  its  first  fine-wool  sheep  to  a  ram  brought 
from  the  East  in  1818  by  Samuel  Barlow.  From  this  ram  and  the 
common  sheep  of  the  country  many  flocks  were  formed,  some  of  which 
were  in  existence  at  a  late  day.  In  1845  the  sheep  of  the  country  were 
generally  a  cross  of  Merino  and  Saxon.  The  business  of  wool-growing 
then  declined,  and  in  1852  but  few  were  engaged  strictly  in  it.  Every 
farmer  had  his  flock,  and  many  had  those  of  the  best  crosses  of  the 
Merinos  and  Southdowns  and  other  good  stocks,  and  all  sold  wool. 
Some  extensive  woolen  factories  in  the  vicinity  made  fabrics  for  home 
consumption,  for  which  much  of  the  wool  was  exchanged.  The  sheep 
of  Perry  County  were  those  of  other  parts  of  Ohio  and  of  Western 
Pennsylvania,  the  earliest  recorded  Merino  flock  being  that  of  Aaron 
Johnson,  founded  in  1823,  from  Western  Pennsylvania  and  Virginia 
stock.  In  1850  about  one-third  the  wool  was  of  good  quality,  and 
improvement  began  by  the  introduction  of  some  Saxon  and  Spanish 
Merinos.  Hocking  County  got  its  fine  wool  almost  entirely  from  Penn- 
sylvania and  the  Vermont  Merino  came  in  about  1849.  Eairfield  County 
owes  its  first  fine-wooled  sheep  to  the  Wells  and  Dickinson  flocks.  In 
1847  Samuel  Low,  of  East  Eushville,  purchased  of  Adam  Hildenbrand, 
of  Stark  County,  some  of  his  best  sheep  and  began  a  full-blood  flock, 
which  in  1862  numbered  110,  giving  on  an  average  4f  pounds  well- 
washed  wool.  In  a  great  part  of  this  valley  half  the  wool  grown  is 
manufactured  at  home  or  exchanged  for  cloth,  and  for  this  purpose  the 
long  wool  has  been  preferred  as  being  more  readily  spun  than  the  Merino 
grades. 

The  sheep  of  the  Scioto  Valley  were  driven  from  the  eastern  counties 
and  from  Pennsylvania,  and  were  of  all  grades  of  Dickinson,  Merino, 
Saxon,  French,  and  common  sheep.  Wool-growing  was  a  good  busi- 
ness, yet  not  enough  was  raised  for  home  use  and  to  supply  some  of  the 
early  woolen  factories.  All  the  farmers  kept  a  few  sheep,  and  system- 
atic improvement  did  not  begin  until  about  1850,  when  some  Vermont 
Merinos  were  used  to  increase  the  weight  of  fleece  of  the  prevalent 
Saxon  grades.  One  of  the  best  pure-blood  flocks,  though  of  a  late  date, 
was  that  of  Minor  Tone,  of  Delaware  County,  who,  in  1861,  went  to  the 
farm  of  Stephen  Atwood,  in  Connecticut,  and  purchased  20  ewes  from 


EAST   OF   THE   MISSISSIPPI   RIVER.  539 

his  celebrated  flock  and  took  them  to  his  farm,  forming  the  basis  of  his 
flock.  Mr.  Tone  was  among  the  first  to  engage  in  this  industry  in  the 
State  of  that  strain  of  blood,  and  the  first  in  the  part  of  the  State  where 
he  lived.  At  a  later  day  he  added  other  Atwood  sheep  to  his  flock 
from  the  flocks  of  Henry  Lane,  W.  E.  Sanford,  and  Henry  W.  Ham- 
mond, of  Vermont.  This  flock  became  noted  throughout  the  larger 
portion  of  the  State,  and  still  exists,  the  property  of  E.  K.  Willis,  to 
whom  it  descended  upon  Mr.  Tone's  death  in  1877.  In  1850  the  wool  of 
Marion  County  averaged  2J  pounds  per  sheep,  and  the  Merino  blood 
constituted  three-fourths  of  that  grown. 

The  Western  Eeserve  and  the  valleys  of  the  Muskingum,  the  Hocking, 
and  the  Scioto  comprise  a  little  more  than  the  eastern  half  of  the  State, 
carry  more  than  three-fourths  of  the  sheep,  and  raise  the  best  wool. 
The  wool  grown  in  the  hilly  regions  of  eastern  Ohio  was  found  at  an 
early  day  livelier  and  possessing  the  felting  qualities  necessary  for 
forming  good  cloth  in  a  higher  degree  than  that  produced  in  other 
parts  of  the  United  States,  and  experience  proved  that  fleeces  grown 
upon  the  identical  sheep  brought  from  the  seaboard  improved  in  qual- 
ity at  least  one  grade.  This  was  accounted  for  by  the  sheep  feeding  on 
the  sweet  grasses  grown  on  the  limestone  soil  of  the  hills,  yielding  a 
superior  article  of  wool.  While  the  northeast  and  river  counties  raise 
the  best  wool  and  had  the  earlier  sheep,  the  southern  and  middle  coun- 
ties and  some  of  the  western  contain  many  sheep  of  great  excellence 
and  grow  wool  of  fine  quality. 

The  fine-wooled  sheep  of  Adams  and  Brown  came  from  Washing- 
ton County,  Pa.  In  1849,  some  500  or  600  Spanish  Merino  grades 
were  driven  into  Adams,  and  in  the  same  year  many  of  these  were 
taken  into  the  adjoining  county  of  Brown,  where  some  full-blood  flocks 
were  formed,  first  of  which  was  that  of  J.  E.  and  A.  J.  Patterson, 
owned  in  1873  by  John  L.  Summers.  Clinton  County  was  noted  for 
many  years  for  fine  sheep,  and  William  Linton  was  the  pioneer  in  rais- 
ing them  from  the  selections  he  made  at  an  early  day  from  the  Wells 
and  Dickinson  flocks.  He  maintained  his  flock  at  a  high  standard,  and 
from  it  many  more  were  formed.  In  1850  there  were  mixed  and  unmixed 
flocks  of  Saxons,  Spanish  Merinos,  French  Merinos,  and  Southdowns, 
and  the  wool  of  the  county  was  rated  as  fair.  Warren  County,  imme- 
diately on  the  west,  presents  a  counterpart  to  Clinton.  The  early  fine- 
wool  sheep  were  those  of  the  Wells  and  Dickinson  flocks  and  of  Wash- 
ington County,  Pa.,  and  in  1848  there  were  Merinos  of  all  grades  and 
Southdowns  in  the  county.  The  French  Merino  was  introduced  by  L. 
G.  Collins,  but  was  not  popular.  In  1850  the  wool  averaged  3J  pounds 
per  head.  The  Shakers,  at  Lebanon,  had  the  most  valuable  Spanish 
and  Saxony  Merinos  in  1854,  which  they  improved  with  great  care. 
Butler  County  had  one  or  two  Merino  flocks  prior  to  1820,  but  the  fine- 
wool  industry  never  prospered.  A  few,  and  but  a  few,  appreciated  the 
value  of  having  a  better  grade  of  wool  than  that  furnished  by  the 


540  SHEEP   INDUSTRY   OF   THE    UNITED    STATES 

common  sheep,  and  hence  the  introduction  of  the  Merino  blood  was 
very  limited.  New  breeds  of  sheep  were  sparingly  introduced,  some 
Southdowus  as  early  as  1830,  and  subsequently  Leicesters,  Cotswolds, 
and  their  crosses  were  seen.  The  nearness  to  the  Cincinnati  market 
induced  farmers  to  give  more  attention  to  sheep  esteemed  to  be  best 
for  mutton,  quality  and  quantity  considered.  Green  County  had  but 
few  of  the  early  fine-wooled  sheep,  the  great  mass  of  the  sheep,  as  late 
as  1850,  being  the  common  stock  of  the  country,  with  slight  crossing  of 
Saxon  and  Spanish  Merinos,  the  wool  clipping  about  3  pounds.  In 
1812  or  1813,  when  the  cross  on  the  native  ewe  by  the  Spanish  ram  was 
the  almost  universal  way  of  forming  a  fine- wool  flock,  such  a  flock  was 
started  in  Clark  County,  which  was  owned  by  Seth  Smith  in  1862. 
The  first  cross  was  the  Spanish  Merino,  then  after  several  year's  crosses 
in-and-in  with  the  Saxony,  then  with  the  Vermont  Merino.  W.  N. 
Chamberlin  formed  a  pure  Vermont  flock  in  1855.  At  that  time  wool- 
growing  was  an  extensive  industry  in  the  county,  and  the  flocks  were 
about  one-third  Saxon  and  grades,  one-third  Spanish  Merino  and 
grades,  and  one-third  common  sheep.  The  wool  clip  averaged  3J  pounds 
per  head.  Miami  County  had  one  of  the  early  Spanish  flocks.  In  1813 
Zimri  Heald  brought  some  Merinos  from  Vermont,  and  the  flock 
founded  thus  was  kept  up  for  more  than  half  a  century,  and  gave  its 
blood  to  a  great  extent  of  country.  In  1831  B.  F.  Brown,  of  Piqua, 
began  a  flock,  the  original  blood  of  which  was  said  to  have  come  from 
Kentucky.  The  subsequent  flocks  of  the  county  were  from  all  sources, 
Ohio,  Pennsylvania,  and  Vermont,  and  in  1854  presented  a  great  mix- 
ture. There  were  many  small  flocks  of  fine  Saxony  and  Spanish 
Merinos  worth  $2.50  to  $3  per  head;  wool  was  worth  50  cents,  and  the 
French  Merino  had  just  been  introduced.  Darke  County,  as  late  as 
1862,  had  but  few  sheep  of  any  kind.  Half  of  the  farmers  kept  no 
sheep;  the  other  half  kept  from  5  or  10  to  20  head  of  the  common  stock 
of  coarse-wooled,  a  little  mixed  with  Merino  blood.  Logan  County, 
prior  to  1842,  paid  but  little  attention  to  the  growing  of  wool,  as  that 
article  was  not  exported  from  the  county.  About  that  time,  or  in  1843, 
Joseph  Lawrence  brought  to  the  county  the  first  and  only  flock  of  any 
considerable  size  of  Merino  sheep,  mostly  of  the  first  quality.  This 
flock  was  brought  from  Jeiferson  County,  where  the  wool  industry  had 
been  carried  on  for  many  years  with  great  success.  Shortly  after  this 
many  flocks  were  brought  from  Washington  County,  Pa.  About  the 
same  time  some  Vermont  Merinos  were  brought  into  the  county,  and  in 
after  years  the  French  Merino  was  crossed  to  some  extent.  But  the 
greatest  part  of  the  Merino  stock  was  the  "  Black-Top."  That  sheep  was 
found  the  most  profitable  that  could  be  raised  and  the  best  for  the  cli- 
mate. It  was  more  hardy  than  the  common  Merino,  a  sheep  that  could 
not  endure  the  winter  so  well  nor  rear  lambs  so  successfully  in  that 
climate.  The  wool  of  the  Black-Top  was  equally  fine,  more  abundant, 
and  presented  a  black  gummy  appearance  on  the  exterior  of  the  fleece; 


EAST   OF   THE   MISSISSIPPI   RIVER.  541 

hence  the  name.  In  1856  the  sheep  of  the  county  were  rated  at  one- 
third  Mi-blood  Merino,  one-third  half  blood,  and  one-third  quarter- 
blood,  and  common  coarse- wooled,  including  a  few  Saxony  and  Leices- 
ter sheep. 

The  sheep  of  that  northwestern  part  of  the  State  and  in  the  central 
counties  embraced  in  the  Maumee  Yalley  have  a  varied  origin.  The 
fine  wools  of  Shelby  were  built  up  on  the  coarse-wooled  sheep.  The 
first  improvement  came  from  the  eastern  counties  of  the  State  and 
from  Peunslyvania.  In  1845  Curtis  Kelsey  introduced  the  Yermont 
Merino  and  began  the  formation  of  a  flock  that  continued  many  years, 
and  in  1847  Isaac  Fulton  introduced  Vermont  Merinos  from  the  flock 
of  Sheldon  and  Law.  From  1848  to  1860  the  formation  of  full-blood 
flocks  from  Yermont  stock  was  continuous  and  woolgrowing  on  the 
increase.  In  Hardin  County  but  little  wool  was  generally  grown  beyond 
what  was  needed  for  domestic  purposes,  and  its  sheep,  as  well  as  those 
of  Allen  on  the  west,  were  derived  from  the  eastern  counties.  The  com- 
mon breeds  in  1850  were  the  Saxony  and  the  Spanish  Merino  and  a 
cross  between  these  two  and  crosses  on  the  common  sheep.  About  1860 
some  Black-Top  Merinos  were  introduced  from  Logan  County.  Han- 
cock, Putnam,  and  Paulding  can  be  classed  with  Hardin  and  Allen, 
the  wool  in  1850  averaging  about  half-blood  Merino.  Defiance  County, 
in  the  northwest  corner  of  the  State,  did  not  give  early  attention  to 
wool-growing  for  market.  The  sheep  up  to  1840  were  of  the  common 
kind,  natives  and  low  grades  of  all  kinds,  furnishing  coarse  wool  for 
domestic  use.  A  little  later,  when  a  better  article  was  needed  for 
domestic  use,  an  occasional  farmer  would  buy  as  full-blooded  a  Merino 
ram  as  he  could  find  and  his  purse  allow  and  put  him  with  the  flock 
and  hire  him  to  his  neighbor,  and  in  this  way  the  flocks  were  gradually 
improved.  In  1852  some  Yermont  ranis  were  brought  in,  and  in  1856 
and  1857  Stephen  Benton  brought  in  some  more  Yermont  rams,  from 
which  came  a  class  of  sheep  the  rams  of  which  sheared  8  to  12  pounds 
aud  the  ewes  4  to  6  pounds  washed  wool.  In  1863  there  was  but  one 
full  blood  breeding  flock  in  the  county,  but  there  were  many  fine- wooled 
sheep. 

Seneca  County,  in  the  middle  upper  part  of  the  Maumee  Yalley,  had 
some  of  the  choicest  flocks  of  the  State  at  an  early  day.  The  earliest  was 
that  of  Thomas  J.  Baker,  brought  from  New  York  in  1826.  This  flock 
was  originated  in  1809  and  1810  by  a  purchase  made  by  Samuel  Baker, 
of  Steuben  County,  N.  Y.,  of  some  sheep  from  Judge  Hopkins,  of  Liv- 
ingston County,  these  sheep  being  direct  and  immediate  descendants 
of  the  Humphreys  importation.  In  1863  the  flock  was  still  in  existence, 
numbering  over  300,  and  had  for  the  few  years  preceding  been  bred  to 
Hammond  Yermont  rams.  A  branch  of  this  flock  was  that  of  A.  C. 
Baker,  Keed,  Seneca  County.  William  Baker,  his  father,  son  of  the 
Samuel  Baker  above  mentioned,  had  some  of  the  Humphreys  Merinos, 
and  in  1828  purchased  of  a  Mr.  Marsh,  of  Cayuga  County,  N.  Y.,  several 


542        SHEEP  INDUSTRY  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES 

imported  Saxony  rams.  These  rams  they  bred  from  for  a  number  of 
years  until  they  had  nearly  ruined  his  flock,  which  meanwhile  had 
been  removed  to  Ohio.  More  than  thirty  years'  careful  breeding  with 
the  best  Spanish  Merino  rams  failed  to  entirely  eradicate  the  Saxon 
blood,  a  streak  of  that  cross  occasionally  cropping  out  in  the  flock.  C. 
G.  Brundage,  in  1847,  started  a  flock  by  the  use  of  ewes  brought  from 
the  Baker  flock  in  New  York  and  rams  from  the  Ohio  flock  of  A.  C. 
Baker.  William  Randall  formed  a  fine-wooled  flock  in  1835,  E.  Jones, 
jr.,  in  1827,  E.  Dorsey  in  1837,  Daniel  Brown  in  1839,  and  Basil  Morris, 
William  Amory,  and  Eobert  Phaw  in  1840.  From  this  time  to  1860 
there  were  many  flocks  formed  from  these  already  established  in  the 
county  and  by  importations  from  New  York  and  Vermont.  Of  the 
latter  it  was  said  that  many  were  sold  from  1857  to  1862,  some  of  them 
good  sheep,  but  most  of  them  no  improvement  on  the  old  stock  and  in 
many  instances  decidedly  not  so  good. 

Wyandot  County  lies  directly  south  of  Seneca,  and  its  flocks  were 
originally  made  up  of  sheep  driven  in  from  Huron,  Seneca,  Lorain, 
Medina,  Portage,  Stark,  Richlaud,  and  Knox  counties,  of  all  grades, 
from  the  line  Spanish  Merino  down  to  the  long,  coarse  wools,  and  they 
so  continued  until  the  Pennsylvania,  New  York,  and  Vermont  Merinos 
came  in  from.  1850  to  1856,  and  in  1860  the  wool  was  classed  as  mostly 
Merino  and  mixed.  Crawford  County  adjoins  Wyandot  on  the  east, 
and  began  its  fine- wool  growing  by  the  improvement  of  the  common 
sheep.  Dickinson  rams  and  those  from  western  Pennsylvania,  called 
"  Fairtop  "  Merinos  and  Saxon  grades,  were  used  until  1850,  when  a 
great  deterioration  of  the  fleece  was  seen,  to  correct  which  the  Vermont 
Merino  came  in,  followed  in  1852  to  1854  by  the  French  Merino.  The 
French  Merino  was  soon  abandoned ;  they  were  too  tall  and  too  lengthy, 
and  too  hard  to  keep.  Wood  County,  northwest  of  Seneca  and  Wyan- 
dot, gave  an  average  yield  per  head  in  1850  of  but  2£  pounds  of  wool. 

Fulton  County  adjoins  the  State  of  Michigan.  The  first  sheep  came 
into  the  county  about  1840,  a  few  bony-legged  natives  and  grades  of 
Saxony  and  Spanish  Merinos,  from  the  interior  counties  of  the  State. 
About  1850  William  Sutton  introduced  some  Spanish  Merino  rains  from 
New  York,  and  about  1852  or  1853  several  lots  of  French  and  Spanish 
Merinos  were  brought  in,  which  improved  the  quality  of  wool  to  a  great 
extent.  The  increase  in  the  number  of  sheep  was  not  rapid  until  1860, 
at  which  time  there  were  but  few  flocks  of  fine-wool  sheep  in  the  county, 
and  in  1863,  though  the  number  had  doubled  since  1858,  but  few  flocks 
numbered  more  than  100  and  but  four  exceeded  400.  But  a  fourth  of 
the  farmers  kept  sheep,  and  most  of  these  not  over  25  to  40  in  a  flock. 
But  from  1863  greater  interest  was  excited  not  only  here,  but  in  every 
part  of  the  State. 

But  two  of  the  flocks  herein  mentioned  find  notice  in  the  Ohio  Register. 
Previous  to  1860  there  was  not  much  attention  paid  to  the  pedigree,  and, 
we  may  add,  to  the  purity  of  the  sheep.  New  flocks  were  now  formed 
and  some  of  them  have  preserved  their  record. 


"  KING,  JR.,"  OR  "F.  8.  HIGBEE,"  No.  118  (No.  630). 

FROM    "  REGISTER  OF  THE  OHIO  SPANISH  MERINO  SHEEP  BREEDERS1  ASSOCIATION,"  VOL.1,  1885. 


EAST   OF    THE    MISSISSIPPI    RIVER.  543 

In  September,  I860,  J.  G.  Armstrong,  of  Licking  County,  commenced 
a  flock  by  the  purchase  of  4  ewes  from  W.  B.  Beinele,  Vermont,  and 
in  November  of  12  ewes  from  Henry  Giddings,  Fairfax,  Vt.  He  used 
rams  from  the  flocks  of  Edwin  Hammond,  Eli  Keller,  and  one  bred 
in  his  own  flock,  and  added  ewes  to  the  flock  by  purchases  of  the  best 
Vermont  and  Ohio  blood.  In  1861  Columbus  Delano,  of  Knox  County, 
founded  a  flock  by  purchasing  a  number  of  ewes  from  J.  T.  and  Virtulan 
Bich,  E.  Sanford,  N.  A.  Saxton,  and  EdAvin  Hammond,  of  Vermont,  and 
rams  from  the  flocks  of  W.  B.  Sanford  and  S.  S.  Bock  well,  of  Vermont. 
Additions  were  made  by  other  ewes  from  Vermont,  and  the  use  of  the 
best  rams  of  Vermont,  Ohio,  and  those  bred  in  the  flock  until  it  is  now 
one  of  the  best  flocks  of  the  State.  Of  the  same  county  is  the  flock  of 
James  M.  Bebout,  founded  in  1864  by  E.  S.  Bebout,  who  purchased  23 
ewes  from  J.  E.  Parker,  of  Whiting,  Vt.,  and  5  more  of  the  same 
blood.  Other  ewes  were  added  and  a  ram  bred  by  Victor  Wright, 
Vermont,  used  on  the  flock,  and  also  rams  raised  by  Mr.  Delano.  The 
flock  is  of  Humphreys,  Heaton,  and  Jar  vis  blood.  In  1887  it  numbered 
27  rams  and  65  ewes.  Another  Knox  County  flock  is  that  owned  by 
Giddings  and  Dally,  which  was  commenced  by  Mr.  Giddings  in  1857 
by  the  purchase  of  5  ewes  from  Victor  Wright,  Vermont.  In  1858  13 
ewes  were  purchased  from  Mr.  Wright,  and  again  in  1859  5  more,  for 
which  it  was  said  Mr.  Wright  had  paid  the  sum  of  $5,500.  From  1860 
to  1874  other  ewes  were  purchased  from  the  very  best  flocks,  and  rams 
were  used  well  known  as  the  best  Vermont  has  produced,  embracing 
such  names  as  Blacktop,  Wrinkley,  Long  Wool,  Patrick  Henry,  and 
Fremont.  During  the  years  1874  and  1875  the  flock  was  moved  to  Ohio, 
and  an  interest  in  it  purchased  by  John  Ogilvie,  of  Croton.  Two  of 
the  celebrated  J.  T.  Stickney  Centennial  ewes  were  purchased  in  1878. 
In  1880  the  partnership  between  Giddings  and  Ogilvie  was  dissolved 
by  an  equal  division  of  the  flock  and  Mr.  Giddings  went  into  partner- 
ship with  Mr.  E.  Dally,  to  whom  had  been  sold  17  ewes  in  1875.  In 
1884  the  flock  consisted  of  91  rams  and  397  ewes.  These  three  flocks 
mf  Mr.  Delano,  Mr.  Bebout,  and  Messrs.  Giddings  and  Dally  have  done 
very  much  to  improve  the  sheep  of  Knox  and  adjoining  counties. 

In  1863  S.  S.  Campbell,  of  Harrison  County,  laid  the  foundation  of  a 
flock  by  the  purchase  of  3  young  ewes  of  S.  G.  Holyoke  &  Sons,  St. 
Albans,  Vt.,  and  2  ewes  of  James  Slocum,  Brownsville,  Pa.  In  1864 
2  ewes,  and  in  1865  1  ewe,  of  Edwin  Hammond  were  bought.  Bams 
were  used  that  were  bred  by  Mr.  Hammond  and  their  descendants. 
The  flock  became  one  of  the  most  noted  of  Ohio. 

In  1863  F.  S.  Higbee,  of  Licking  County,  founded  a  flock  by  pur- 
chasing 1  ewe  from  Almon  Lawrence  and  1  ewe  from  William  Gage,  of 
Vermont.  In  1866  10  ewes  were  purchased  from  Almon  Lawrence,  who 
had  founded  his  flock  by  purchasing  17  ewes  from  Edwin  Hammond. 
In  succeeding  years  Mr.  Higbee  made  purchases  from  German  Cutting, 
Lyinan  P.  Clark,  Henry  C.  Burwell,  George  Hammond,  and  others,  of 


544        SHEEP  INDUSTRY  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES 

Vermont,  and  used  Vermont  rams  and  those  bred  within  the  flock. 
This  flock  is  still  in  existence.  John  J.  Deeds,  also  of  Licking  County, 
commenced  a  flock  in  1864  by  purchasing  4  ewes  of  John  T.  Evans,  of 
Newark,  Ohio,  which  ewes  were  direct  descendants  from  rams  and  ewes 
purchased  by  Mr.  Evans  from  F.  H.  Dean,  Vermont,  in  1860.  In  1864 

D.  H.  Peters,  of  the  same  county,  began  a  flock  by  the  purchase  of  2 
ewes  from  F.  and  L.  E.  Moore  and  2  from  Dr.  Ketchum.    In  1866  4 
were  purchased  from  D.  Giddings.    The  rams  used  were  from  the  Vic- 
tor Wright  flock.    All  were  choice  Vermont  Merinos.     H.  E.  Purnphrey 
laid  the  foundation  of  another  Licking  County  flock  in  1865,  by  the 
purchase  of  ewes  bred  by  Victor  Wright  and  Edwin  Hammond,  of 
Vermont,  and  using  Mr.  Wright's  celebrated  ram  Long  Wool.    The 
flock  of  C.  Newell  Alward,  of  Licking  County,  was  commenced  October, 
1866,  by  a  purchase  of  3  ewes  of  Atwood  and  Jarvis  blood  of  S.  S. 
Matthews,  that  were  bred  by  George  Campbell,  of  Westminster,  Vt. 
On  the  Campbell  ewes  was  used  a  ram  that  was  sired  by  E.  Keller's 
Nub.     His  dam  was  bred  by  Edwin  Hammond.    The  best  Vermont 
Merino  blood  was  introduced  iiito  Licking  County  by  these  five  flocks, 
and  still  exists  there. 

In  1863  Erastus  Campbell,  of  Lorain  County,  purchased  of  J.  T.  and 
V.  Eich,  Vermont,  8  pure- bred  Merino  ewes,  and  of  C.  S.  Eumsey,  of 
Vermont,  2  pure-bred  Atwood  rams.  In  1864  he  purchased  5  ewes  bred 
by  S.  Fields,  of  Castleton,  Vt.,  of  Eich  blood.  In  1865  he  purchased  1 
ewe  of  J.  S.  Benedict,  of  Vermont,  and  of  C.  S.  Eumsey  10  ewes,  for 
which  he  paid  $1,025.  At  the  same  time  he  purchased  a  ram  bred  by 
Mr.  Benedict  and  a  pure-bred  Atwood  rani  of  Lyman  Webster.  In  1871 
he  still  further  increased  his  stock  of  Vermont  Merinos  by  other  pur- 
chases of  Mr.  Benedict  of  rams  and  ewes,  23  pure-bred  Atwood  ewes  of 
William  Eoot,  and  15  pure-bred  ewes  of  Dewitt  Taylor.  Subsequent 
additions  were  made  and  a  first-class  flock  established.  In  1863  Mr.  F. 
French,  of  Wellington,  purchased  of  Zebulon  Jones,  of  East  Hubbard- 
ton,  Vt.,  2  ewes,  for  which  he  paid  $100.  These  ewes  were  descendants 
of  a  purchase  made  by  Nazaro  Northrop,  of  Eoyal  Turrill,  and  were 
bred  in  the  fall  of  1862  to  a  rani  owned  by  Mr.  Hinds,  of  Vermont.  Mr. 

E.  M.  Close,  of  Oberlin,  Ohio,  purchased  his  choice  of  these  ewes,  from 
which  he  continued  to  breed  and  founded  his  flock.    The  rams  used 
were  Campbell's  Vermont  Chief  and  others  of  Vermont  blood. 

In  1865  E.  J.  Condit,  of  Delaware  County,  laid  the  foundation  of  a 
flock  from  purchases  of  Henry  Lane,  Cornwall,  Vt.,  and  Eli  Keller, 
Newark,  Ohio,  and  subsequent  purchases  from  Mrs.  Keller  and  Jacob 
H.  Keller,  and  also  including  a  small  number  of  ewes  in  1875  of  L.  J. 
Orcutt,  Cummington,  Mass.,  of  the  Hammond  flock,  and  using  rams  of  i 
Edwin  Hammond,  Eli  Keller,  and  those  of  his  own  breeding.  In  1876 
the  flock  had  grown  to  3  ranis  and  19  ewes  of  pure  Humphreys  sheep, 
and  3  rams  and  13  ewes  descendants  of  and  bred  to  combine  the  blood 
of  the  Cockj  Jarvis,  and  Humphreys  flocks. 


EAST    OF    THE    MISSISSIPPI    RIVER.  545 


G.  W.  Sandborne,  of  Guernsey  County,  founded  a  flock  in  1865  by 
purchasing-  a  few  ewes  from  James  E.  Daniels,  of  Antrim,  Ohio,  5  of 
which,  were  bred  by  Charles  Lane,  and  sold  for  $350  each;  2  were  bred 
by  Milo  Ellsworth.  In  December,  1866,  5  ewes  were  purchased,  bred 
by  S.  S.  Brigham,  Vermont.  These  were  Humphreys  and  Heaton 
blood.  Other  purchases  were  made  of  Humphreys  and  Heaton  blood, 
which  largely  predominates  in  the  flock. 

The  flock  of  Zimri  H.  French,  of  Shelby  County,  was  commenced 
in  1867  by  purchasing  2  ewes  bred  by  R.  P.  Hall,  of  Vermont.  The 
sum  of  8100  each  was  paid  for  these  ewes.  They  were  traceable  to  the 
Humphreys  and  Heaton  importations.  The  rams  used  were  first  from 
Vermont  and  then  those  bred  in  Ohio  from  Vermont  stock. 

Elza  H.  Palmer,  of  Washington  County,  founded  his  flock  in  1866 
by  the  purchase  of  15  ewes  from  John  Skinner,  of  Perry  County. 
Three  of  these  ewes  were  sired  by  a  ram  bred  by  H.  Hall  and  sired  by 
Hammond's  celebrated  Sweepstakes;  12  were  sired  by  "the  $500  ram," 
which  in  turn  was  sired  by  Dean's  Little  Wrinkley,  whose  sire  was 
Sweepstakes.  Mr.  Skinner  purchased  the  foundation  of  his  flock  in 
1857,  consisting  of  10  ewes  from  the  flock  ot  David  and  German  Cut- 
ting, of  Vermont,  and  1  ram,  bred  by  F.  H.  Dean  and  sired  by  the 
noted  Wrinkly.  In  the  fall  of  1862  Mr.  Skinner  added  to  his  purchase 
8  ewes  from  the  flock  of  S.  S.  Rockwell,  of  Vermont.  Mr.  Palmer's 
flock  descended  from  these  purchases  of  Mr.  Skinner,  and  contained  a 
mixture  of  Humphreys,  Jarvis,  and  Heaton  blood. 

One  of  the  oldest  pure-bred  flocks  of  Ohio  is  that  of  Daniel  C.  Boyer, 
of  Crawford  County,  commenced  in  February,  1863,  by  a  purchase  of 
6  ewes  bred  by  F.  L.  TJpham,  Weathersfield,  Vt.  About  the  same 
time  20  ewes  were  purchased  in  Vermont,  mostly  of  Humphreys  blood; 
13  ewes  were  then  purchased  from  H.  C.  Sessions;  1  ewe  from  F.  D. 
Barton,  and  1  ewe  from  Hubbard  Potter.  All  were  of  Humphreys  and 
Heaton  stock.  In  the  same  month  16  ewes  were  purchased  of  the  Rich 
blood,  and  later  in  the  year  10  ewes,  the  selection  of  the  flocks  of  Victor 
Wright,  Deacon  James,  and  Jerome  Benedict,  of  Vermont.  Early  in 
1864  10  ewes  were  purchased  from  R.  R.  Wright,  of  Vermont,  descend- 
ants direct  from  the  flocks  of  Deacon  Gregory  and  Victor  Wright. 
In  September,  1863,  StowelFs  Sweepstakes  was  purchased.  The  price 
paid  for  this  ram  was  $1,200.  He  was  of  Humphreys  and  Heaton  blood, 
and  was  awarded  the  first  premium  at  the  Vermont  State  fair  of  1863. 
He  was  used  on  the  flock  for  many  years,  together  with  rams  bred 
within  the  flock,  until  about  1873,  when  a  purchase  was  made  of  2 
rams  from  Wesley  Robinson,  Havana,  Ohio.  One  ot  these  rams  was 
bred  by  L.  P.  Clark,  Vermont;  the  other  by  J.  T.  and  V.  Rich.  These, 
with  rams  bred  within  the  flock,  were  used  until  1881,  when  a  purchase 
of  the  ram  Nobby  Tom  was  made.  From  the  flock  of  Mr.  Boyer  a  pur- 
chase was  made  of  5  ewes  in  November,  1869,  by  Joseph  H.  Beard, 
which  was  the  foundation  of  his  flock.  Mr.  Beard  was  a  partner  in  the 
purchase  of  Nobby  Tom,  and  he  used  the  same  in  his  flock, 
22990 35 


546  SHEEP    INDUSTRY    OF    THE    UNITED    STATES 

In  1869  Jacob  Morrow,  of  Licking  County,  founded  a  flock  by  the 
purchase  of  9  ewes  from  Jacob  Winter,  of  the  same  county.  These 
ewes  were  bred  in  Vermont ;  8  by  George  Campbell  and  1  by  Edwin 
Hammond.  The  ram  used  was  bred  by  Edwin  Hammond. 

Many  other  flocks  were  formed  from  1863  to  1869;  some  of  them  were 
dispersed  after  the  fall  in  wool  in  1865;  some  held  on  a  short  time  after- 
wards, while  others  became  so  mixed  with  baser  blood  that  they  lost 
their  distinctive  character  of  Spanish  Merino  sheep.  The  many  pure- 
bred flocks,  raised  almost  exclusively  for  breeding  purposes,  served  as 
the  foundation  for  many  high-grade  flocks  of  great  excellence.  A  supe- 
rior class  of  grades  was  raised  by  taking  the  common  old-fashioned  ewes 
of  the  country  of  no  particular  breed  or  characteristics,  and  crossing 
with  the  oily,  heavy-shearing,  well-developed  Yermont  Merino  ram,  and 
following  up  the  offspring  with  a  cross  of  the  same  character.  By  two 
or  three  such  crosses  a  good,  square  built,  heavy  shearing  sheep  was 
produced  about  as  profitable  for  the  average  fanner  as  the  full-blooded 
Merino. 

The  introd  action  of  the  full-blooded  Saxony  Merino  into  Ohio  is  not 
definitely  known,  but  it  was  soon  after  their  first  importation  into  the 
United  States  in  1825-'26,  and  their  dissemination  was  rapid,  especially 
after  the  tariff  act  of  1828.  Wells  and  Dickinson  finally  encouraged 
the  breeding  of  them,  and  nearly  all  the  Spanish  Merino  and  common 
flocks  of  the  State  were  crossed  by  them  or  their  grade  descendants. 
The  stocks  were  obtained  from  Vermont,  Connecticut,  New  York,  and 
western  Pennsylvania,  and  in  a  few  cases  from  the  flock  of  Mark  R. 
Cockrell,  of  Tennessee.  The  breaking  up  of  the  Wells  and  Dickinson 
flocks  in  1829-730  scattered  some  of  the  high  grades  throughout  eastern 
and  northern  Ohio.  In  1830  William  Anway,  of  Seneca  County,  intro- 
duced some  full-bloods  from  the  flock  of  Henry  D.  Grove,  Hoosick,  N. 
Y.,  which  was  bred  nearly  pure  as  late  as  1860,  when  it  numbered 
nearly  700.  J.  Baker,  of  the  same  county,  and  at  about  the  same  time, 
introduced  them  from  New  York,  and  in  1836  E.  Y.  Stickney  intro- 
duced them  from  Vermont,  Many  large  flocks  in  Seneca  and  adjoining 
counties  owed  their  foundation  to  these  flocks.  In  1830  W,  R.  Putnam, 
of  Marietta,  Washington  County,  began  a  flock  by  purchases  in  western 
Pennsylvania,  and  in  the  same  year  B.  Dana,  of  the  same  county,  started 
a  flock  from  the  western  Pennsylvania  stock,  which  flock  was  bred 
entirely  from  Saxon  rams  until  1859,  when  it  was  crossed  with  the  Sile- 
sian  Merino.  These  flocks  and  other  direct  purchases  from  western 
Pennsylvania  and  Jefferson  County  laid  the  foundation  of  numerous 
full-blood  and  grade  flocks  in  southeastern  Ohio.  In  1883  T.  Ealey,  of 
Columbiaua  County,  brought  a  small  flock  from  New  York  and  added 
to  it  by  purchases  of  the  Washington  County,  Pa.,  stock.  Joseph 
Rogers,  of  the  same  county,  introduced  some  from  New  York,  and  in 
1838  N.  H.  Armstrong,  also  of  Columbiana,  started  a  flock  by  purchases 
in  Dutchess  County,  N.  Y.  But  the  choicest  flock  of  Columbiana  was 
that  of  John  Hisey,  started  in  1850,  They  were  imported  from  Baron 


EAST   OF   THE    MISSISSIPPI   RIVER.  54-7 

Spreck's  flock  of  Saxonies  in  1849,  by  Charles  B.  Smith,  of  Wolcottvilk\ 
Conn.,  and  were  bred  in-.ind-in  for  ten  years,  and  were  then  considered 
better  than  the  original  sheep  when  imported.  This  flock  and  that  of 
31  r.  Armstrong  were  still  pure-bred  sheep  in  1863,  and  from  them  the 
flocks  of  Columbiana  were  freely  and  generously  crossed.  In  1834  a 
full-blooded  flock  was  founded  by  Henry  T.  Kirtland,  of  Mahoning 
County.  The  foundation  was  2  rams  and  12  ewes  brought  from  Dutchess 
County,  N.  Y.,  by  Cope  and  Marsh,  of  Columbiana  County.  Frequent 
additions  were  made  from  the  flocks  of  Henry  D.  Grove,  of  New  York; 
Samuel  Patterson  and  Samuel  Cole,  Washington  County,  Pa. ;  Mark 
E.  Cockrell,  Tennessee;  Charles  B.  Smith,  of  Connecticut;  Perkins  and 
Brown,  Akron,  Ohio,  and  from  other  Ohio  flocks.  Perkins  and  Brown 
obtained  their  Saxons  from  the  flocks  of  Samuel  Whitman,  Connecti- 
cut; Col.  Jenison,  Walpole,  ]ST.  H.;  and  of  Frederick  Brandt,  Carroll 
County,  Ohio,  who  brought  over  his  sheep  in  company  with  Henry  D. 
Grove.  Their  mixed-blooded  Saxons  were  selected  from  the  best  flocks 
of  Washington  and  Beaver,  in  Pennsylvania,  from  the  counties  of  Brooke 
and  Ohio,  in  Virginia,  and  from  Columbiana  and  Stark,  in  Ohio.  In 
1845  the  full-blooded  and  mixed  Saxon  flocks  numbered  1,300  head. 
At  that  time  no  more  than  59  pounds  of  wool  had  ever  been  taken  from 
20  head  of  the  flock.  In  1840  Hugh  Elliott,  of  Auglaize,  formed  a  flock 
from  the  Saxons  of  western  Pennsylvania,  and  in  1843  Isaac  C.  Hull, 
of  Perry  County,  founded  a  flock  from  Pennsylvania  ewes  and  used 
full-blood  rams  from  New  York.  John  S.  Hull  formed  a  full-blood  flock 
four  years  later.  In  1848  Alva  Udall,  of  Portage  County,  obtained 
from  S.  B.  Crocker,  Oneida  County,  N.  Y.,  the  foundation  of  a  full- 
blooded  flock,  which  he  continued  to  breed  pure  and  in  such  manner  as 
to  secure  a  good  constitution,  short  legs,  round  compact  body,  full 
breast,  and  in  time  they  became  a  hardy  sheep.  Mr.  Udall  sheared  of 
clean  washed  wool,  on  the  average,  3  pounds,  the  flock  through.  In 
1862  he  crossed  the  ewes  with  Silesian  rams,  obtained  from  W,  H,  Ladd, 
of  Jefferson  County,  with  a  view  of  increasing  weight  of  fleece,  without 
essentially  increasing  the  size  of  fiber,  In  Harrison  County  Samuel  P. 
Johnson  formed  a  Saxon  flock  which,  in  1851,  numbered  over  400.  In 
the  year  named  he  moved  from  Harrison  to  Logan,  taking  with  him  100 
of  the  choicest  ewes  of  the  flock.  To  these  he  added  30  ewes  from  the 
flock  of  Samuel  Patterson,  Washington  County,  Pa.  Up  to  1856  he 
bred  chiefly  from  rams  he  had  brought  with  him  from  Harrison  County. 
Convinced  from  his  experience  that  the  Spanish  Merinos  were  the  best, 
he  obtained  a  Hammond  ram  from  Vermont  and  changed  his  flock  to 
Spanish  Merinos,  averaging  in  1862  4J  pounds  well- washed  wool.  A 
later  Saxon  flock  was  that  of  William  Croskey,  also  of  Harrison  County. 
Mr.  Croskey  considered  his  sheep  the  hardiest  that  were  bred  in  Ohio, 
Pennsylvania,  and  the  West  Virginia  region,  and  the  wool  paying  as 
well  as  any  other.  His  fleeces  averaged  3J  pounds,  and  sold  straight 
through  in  1876  for  65  cents  a  pound.  One  of  his  rams  died  at  the 
age  of  22  years.  He  did  not  house  his  sheep;  some  of  them  had 


548        SHEEP  INDUSTRY  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES 

access  to  sheds,  but  they  were  just  as  apt  to  select  the  highest  knoll  of 
a  cold  night  as  any  other  place.  He  thought  there  were  no  hardier 
sheep — no  sheep  better  adapted  to  the  climate  where  the  thermometer 
gets  down  as  low  as  25  degrees  below  zero  and  up  to  100  degrees  in 
the  shade  nearly  every  year.  He  had  not  so  much  trouble  in  yeaning 
time  as  some  of  his  neighbors  who  raised  Spanish  or  American  Merinos. 
A  portion  of  Henry  D.  Grove's  New  York  flock  was  taken  to  Medina  in 
1837. 

The  few  flocks  here  mentioned  indicate  only  the  Avide  distribution  of 
the  Saxon ;  to  enumerate  more  Avould  be  superfluous.  From  1835  to 
1845  they  overran  the  State  and  became  the  predominant  sheep,  and 
they  held  their  position  for  many  years,  and  flocks  were  still  formed  as 
late  as  1860.  From  1845  to  1850  a  reaction  set  in  and  breeders  and 
wool-growers  crossed  with  the  Spanish  and  the  French  Merino.  The 
Saxons  had  reduced  the  fleece  of  most  flocks  to  3  and  3J  pounds,  fine 
Avool  it  is  true,  but  the  difference  in  price  did  not  compensate  for  the 
loss  of  weight.  The  French  Merino  was  imported  into  the  United 
States  as  early  as  1840,  and  shortly  after  some  specimens  found  their 
way  into  Ohio,  and  there  was  a  great  rush  to  cross  these  large,  heavy- 
fleeced  sheep  on  the  smaller  Saxon  to  increase  the  AVOO!.  These  crosses 
Avere  common  all  over  the  State  as  soon  as  full-blooded  French  Merinos 
or  high  grades  could  be  obtained.  Consequently,  several  varieties  of 
Merinos  were  knoAvn ;  the  French  and  Saxon  cross,  French  and  Spanish 
cross,  Saxon  and  Spanish  cross,  and  everything  intermediate  and  of 
every  conceivable  grade.  The  French  Merino  Avas  also  crossed  on  the 
common  sheep,  and  the  result  was  thought  by  some  to  produce  the 
most  profit.  They  had  little  or  no  foot-rot,  gave  a  medium  grade  of 
Avool,  A\dth  heavy  fleece,  say  from  5  to  8  pounds,  and  were  excellent  for 
fattening.  The  AVOO!  was  not  quite  as  fine  as  the  full-blood  French  or 
Spanish,  but  for  domestic  use  it  was  better,  and  the  sheep  were  very 
hardy  and  stood  the  winter  better  than  the  common  sheep. 

The  French  cross  on  the  Pennsylvania  Black-Top  Merino  was  very 
successful,  and  the  few  flocks  where  it  was  carefully  pursued  showed 
some  fine  sheep  and  excellent  wool,  and  the  wool  Avas  preferred  by  pur- 
chasers because  it  showed  less  shrinkage.  It  was  found,  however,  that 
the  Spanish  Merino  was,  upon  the  whole,  superior  to  the  French,  and 
the  latter  was  soon  abandoned.  For  a  Avhile  the  Silesians  met  with 
some  encouragement,  but  they,  too,  were  found  inferior  to  the  Spanish 
Merino. 

William  H.  Ladd,  of  Jefferson  County,  imported  some  pure-bred  Si- 
lesians or  Infantado-Negretti  in  1854,  which  he  disposed  of  but  sparingly 
at  $250  to  $300  each.  In  1865  he  sold  the  original  importation  and 
their  descendants,  and  a  few  crosses  with  other  families  of  Spanish 
sheep.  The  ewes  averaged  $100  each. 

In  1870  there  was  a  general  feeling  that  for  fine  wool-groAving  pur- 
poses there  was  no  animal  that  excelled  the  Spanish  Merino  and  its 
outcome,  the  American  Merino;  and  from  that  time  they  have  been  the 


EAST   OF   THE   MISSISSIPPI   RIVER.  549 

fine  wool  sheep  of  the  State.  The  Saxony,  French,  and  Silesian  Merinos 
have  yielded  to  them.  In  the  northern  part  oft  he  State  the  Vermont- 
Atwood  more  generally  prevails;  in  the  southeastern  the  Delaine  type, 
as  represented  by  the  Dickinson  sheep,  and  the  Black-Top  and  Delaine 
flocks  of  western  Pennsylvania. 

The  tariff  acts  of  1824  and  1828  were  great  incentives  to  wool-grow- 
ing in  Ohio.  These  measures,  passed  at  a  time  when  emigration  to  the 
State  was  very  large,  decided  the  occupation  of  many  new  settlers,  who 
took  their  flocks  with  them.  For  many  years  the  business  was  a  good 
one,  though  prices  of  wool  fluctuated.  Whenever  wool  reaches  a  cer- 
tain minimum  price,  the  pelt,  carcass,  and  tallow  are  worth  more  for 
slaughtering  than  the  animal  is  for  its  fleece;  and  this  condition  existed 
among  the  Ohio  and  other  western  wool- growers  in  1842,  1843,  1844, 
and  1845,  and  up  to  1853.  For  more  than  ten  years  wool  was  extremely 
low.  Fine  Ohio  wool  that  brought  in  New  York  markets  70  cents 
per  pound  in  1831,  70  cents  in  1837,  56  cents  in  1839,  and  52  cents  in 
1841,  fell  to  48  cents  in  1842,  and  35  cents  in  1843.  In  the  same  period 
medium  wool  declined  from  60  to  30  cents  and  coarse  wool  from  48  to 
25  cents.  The  average  of  fine,  medium,  and  coarse  was  30  cents  in 
New  York  and  not  to  exceed  26  cents  on  the  Ohio  farm.  With  an 
average  of  3  pounds  of  wool  per  head  the  grower  realized  but  78  cents 
for  his  fleece.  In  1841  some  firms  at  Cleveland,  Ohio,  began  the  manu- 
facture of  oil,  tallow,  and  stearine  candles  from  the  carcasses  of  hogs 
and  cattle,  and  sheep  were  used  in  considerable  numbers.  In  1845  a 
firm  at  Sandusky  slaughtered  5,100  sheep,  which  yielded  an  average 
of  about  9  pounds  of  tallow  each.  The  whole  carcass  was  boiled  up 
except  the  hams.  The  tallow  sold  at  6  cents  a  pound,  and  the  pelts, 
mostly  of  wethers,  with  3J  pounds  of  wool  each,  were  sold  for  the  East- 
ern market  at  $1.15.  The  same  year  Mr.  Charles  Hollister,  of  Huron, 
slaughtered  3,800  sheep,  averaging  about  7J  pounds  of  tallow  each.  At 
Cleveland  about  50,000  sheep  were  slaughtered  for  tallow  in  1845, 
although  wool  was  then  worth  33  cents  per  pound,  on  an  average.  The 
temporary  advance  in  wool  for  1845  checked  the  slaughter  of  sheep  for 
tallow,  but  not  until  many  thousands  had  been  so  disposed  of  and  their 
carcasses  fed  to  the  hogs,  which  in  turn  went  through  the  same  process 
to  furnish  lard. 

The  slaughter  of  sheep  for  their  tallow  was  a  great  blessing  to  Ohio. 
Those  which  were  sent  to  the  rendering  vat  were  the  culls,  wethers, 
and  most  worthless  sheep  of  the  country,  nearly  all  of  them  suffering 
with  foot-rot  or  other  diseases.  There  was  a  thorough  weeding  out  of 
flocks  and  a  renovation.  At  the  same  time  there  was  a  steady  increase 
from  the  East  and  from  Pennsylvania.  New  flocks  were  formed  and 
the  number  of  sheep  increased  very  rapidly. 

The  United  States  census  for  1840  reported  Ohio  as  having  2,028,401 
sheep,  yielding  3,685,315  pounds  of  wool.  In  1847  the  sheep  numbered 
3,677,171,  an  increase  of  over  80  per  cent.  The  average  amount  of 


550        SHEEP  INDUSTRY  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES 

wool  per  head  was  2J  pounds,  well  washed.  There  was  an  increase  to 
3,942,929  sheep  in  1850,  yielding  10,196,371  pounds  of  wool.  The 
increase  continued  until  the  maximum  was  reached  in  1854,  when  the 
number  of  sheep  registered  4,845,189.  Various  causes  have  been 
assigned  for  the  rapid  decline  that  now  began.  In  many  sections  of 
the  State  it  was  the  dogs.  In  other  sections  wool  was  so  low  that  the 
sheep  were  slaughtered  by  the  thousands  for  their  pelts  and  tallow, 
and  breeding  was  suspended.  In  Knox  County  alone  30,000  were 
slaughtered  in  one  autumn  for  their  tallow  and  pelts,  and  the  same 
practice  prevailed  throughout  the  State.  That  wool  was  low  there 
was  no  question,  for  the  political  and  commercial  revulsions  of  Europe 
in  1847  and  1848,  and  subsequent  depression  in  manufactures  and 
stringency  in  money,  had  thrown  immense  quantities  of  woolens  upon 
the  American  market  and  crushed  the  life  out  of  the  American  manu- 
facturer. It  operated  for  many  years  in  that  direction,  and  the  revival 
was  slow.  In  1854  the  price  of  mutton  and  the  growing  demand  for  it 
led  many  in  the  vicinity  of  cities  to  cross  their  common  sheep  and  their 
Merino  ewes  with  Leicester  or  Southdown  rams  for  the  purpose  of 
obtaining  good  sized  lambs  for  the  butcher. 

But  most  of  the  Merino  breeders  held  on  to  their  choice  flocks  and 
made  improvements  upon  them.  Crosses  with  the  Saxons  had  been 
very  common  from  1835,  and  in  the  eastern  counties  bordering  the  Ohio 
Eiver  full-blood  Saxons  could  be  found  in  great  abundance,  and  the  fine- 
ness of  their  wool  was  not  excelled  by  any  other  portion  of  the  Union. 
The  farmers  of  Jefferson,  Harrison,  Belmont,  and  other  eastern  coun- 
ties realized  large  fortunes  from  their  extensive  flocks  of  fine-wooled 
sheep,  and  they  had  no  trouble  in  finding  a  market.  For  months  before 
the  wool  was  shorn  agents  for  Eastern  manufacturers  invaded  the  coun- 
try to  secure  the  clip.  Here,  where  good  wool  was  raised,  the  market 
found  the  grower;  in  other  sections  it  was  with  difficulty  that  the  grower 
could  find  a  market.  In  the  differences  realized  lie  all  the  profits. 

The  weight  of  the  Ohio  Saxons  and  their  yield  of  wool  is  given  in 
the  result  of  a  shearing  of  these  sheep  at  the  Ohio  State  fair  of  1854 : 

Pounds. 

1  ram  2  years  old  weighed  95  pounds ;  fleece 3i 

1  ewe  2  years  old  weighed  52  pounds ;  fleece 2| 

1  ewe  2  years  old  weighed  50  pounds ;  fleece 3 

1  ewe  "2  years  old  weighed  54  pounds ;  fleece 3 

1  ewe  2  years  old  weighed  55  pounds ;  fleece 3 

1  ewe  3  years  old  weighed  55  pounds ;  fleece 3 

H.  S.  Mannon  had  5  Saxons  whose  gross  weight  of  carcass  before 
being  shorn  and  weight  of  fleece  are  thus  given: 

Pounds, 

8* 

4 

3± 


Carcass  

Pounds. 
72     Fleece 

Carcass  . 

66     Fleece 

Carcass  

61     Fleece 

Carcass  

58     Fleece  

Carcass  

57     Fleece  .. 

EAST    OF    THE   MISSISSIPPI    RIVER.  551 

Twenty-three  Saxon  fleeces  were  put  in  the  hands  of  a  woolen  manu- 
facturer at  Fall  River,  Mass.,  for  scouring,  with  this  result: 

One  ram  fleece  before  cleaning  weighed  3£  pounds ;  cleaned,  If  pounds ;  value, 
$1.20  per  pound. 

Five  ewes'  fleeces  before  cleaning  weighed  15  pounds;  cleaned  &$  pounds;  value, 
$1.14  per  pound. 

Five  ewes'  fleeces  before  cleaning  weighed  19£  pounds ;  cleaned,  11  pounds ;  value, 
97  cents  per  pound. 

One  ram  fleece  before  cleaning  weighed  6£  pounds;  cleaned,  3£  pounds;  value,  85 
cents  per  pound. 

Five  ewes'  fleece,  before  cleaning,  weighed  17f  pounds;  cleaned,  11  pounds;  value, 
83  cents  per  pound. 

One  ewe's  fleece,  before  cleaning,  weighed  12  pounds ;  cleaned,  4£  pounds ;  value, 
74  cents  per  pound. 

Five  ewes'  fleeces,  before  cleaning,  weighed  23^  pounds;  cleaned,  13J  pounds; 
value,  74  cents  per  pound. 

By  1860  the  Saxons  had  practically  run  their  course  in  Ohio,  and 
were  generally  superseded  by  the  Spanish  Merino.  There  was  some 
crossing  with  the  French  Merino,  as  also  with  the  Silesian,  introduced 
by  William  H.  Ladd  into  Jefferson  County  in  1854,  and  which  prom- 
ised well. 

While  the  eastern  counties  excelled  in  fine  wool,  sheep  throughout 
the  State  could  be  shown  yielding  4  pounds  each  of  prime  wool  that 
sold  at  45  to  60  cents  a  pound,  and  flocks  were  numerous  that  would 
yield  as  much  wool  per  head  of  first  quality  as  was  formerly  obtained 
of  quarter  and  half  blood  Merino  of  the  old  Wells  and  Dickinson  sheep. 
But,  upon  the  whole,  the  number  of  fine-wooled  sheep  greatly  dimin- 
ished froin  1854  to  1860. 

Long-wooled  sheep  began  to  attract  more  notice,  and  were  more  pop- 
ular for  the  small  farms  of  the  country  near  the  cities,  particularly  on 
the  rich  bottom  lands.  The  common,  or  so-called  native,  sheep  went 
into  Ohio  with  the  early  settlers,  but  were  eventually  crossed  out  by 
the  Merino.  The  improved  English  breeds  were  taken  into  the  State 
as  early  as  1830.  Mr.  T.  S.  Humrickhouse  says  that  the  first  South- 
downs,  New  Leicester,  Lincolnshire,  and  Cotswold  sheep  he  ever  saw 
were  brought  into  Coshocton  County,  from  England,  by  Isaac  Maynard 
in  1834.  There  were  about  ten  Southdowns,  and  a  trio  of  each  of  the 
other  kinds.  Mr.  Maynard  was  offered  1500  for  his  Lincoln  ram  as  he 
passed  through  Buffalo,  but  refused  to  part  with  him.  In  about  three 
\vars  most  of  these  sheep  had  perished.  On  the  contrary,  Henry  Par- 
sons, of  Massilloii,  succeeded  admirably  with  imported  sheep,  which 
he  had  for  sale.  He  had  a  flock  of  Leicesters  in  1840,  of  which  he  thus 
speaks : 

My  sheep  you  would  scarcely  know  again,  they  have  so  increased  in  size.  This 
climate  suits  them  far  better  than  their  native  one.  They  have,  since  they  have  been 
put  up,  had  little  more  than  oat  straw  to  eat,  and  are  greatly  too  fat  for  breeding 
sheep  or  even  the  butcher.  I  can  keep  five  Leicesters  where  I  can  keep  three  common 
ones,  and  the  former  shall  be  fat. 


552  SHEEP    INDUSTRY    OF    THE    UNITED    STATES 

An  early  Southdown  flock  was  that  of  J.  F.  King,  of  Warren,  who 
commenced  breeding  Southdown  sheep  in  1844  with  stock  from  the 
flocks  of  Jonas  Webb,  Babraham,  England,  imported  by  J .  M.  Hesless, 
of  Trumbull  County,  Ohio.  In  1848  Mr.  King  bought  of  L.  G.  Morris, 
of  New  York,  a  ram  bred  from  imported  stock  and  known  as  the  Mor- 
ris ram.  Descendants  of  this  flock  are  found  in  some  of  the  best  Ohio 
flocks  of  the  present  day.  The  mutton  sheep  rapidly  increased  through- 
out the  State  and  furnished  the  markets  not  only  of  the  State,  but 
those  to  the  eastward.  The  Ohio  mutton  sheep  was  a  common  Merino 
crossed  by  a  Down  or  Leicester  ram. 

The  trade  to  the  east  received  its  greatest  impetus  in  the  low  prices 
of  wool  from  1842  to  1845.  When  flocks  were  culled  and  sometimes 
sacrificed,  drovers  went  through  the  country,  bought  up  all  the  sheep 
that  they  could  get  at  a  low  price,  and  drove  them  eastward,  where 
they  were  sold  to  eastern  Pennsylvania  and  New  Jersey  farmers  to  be 
fattened  for  the  Philadelphia  and  New  York  markets.  This  business 
increased  from  1845  to  1860,  and  the  surplus  and  increase  of  flocks  were 
thus  disposed  of. 

The  census  of  1860  showed  Ohio  to  have  3,546,767  sheep,  shearing 
10,608,972  pounds  of  wool.  This  was  a  loss  of  396,162  sheep  since  1850, 
and  of  1,300,000  since  1854.  But  notwithstanding  the  decrease  of  sheep 
from  1850,  the  amount  of  wool  increased  over  400,000  pounds.  The  yield 
of  wool  per  head  increased  from  2.58  pounds  in  1850  to  2.98  pounds  in 
1860.  This  increase  indicated  an  advance  in  the  system  of  breeding 
and  better  management  of  flocks. 

The  war  of  the  rebellion  gave  a  great  impetus  to  wool-growing.  At 
first  the  wool  market  was  depressed,  fine  wool  falling  from  60  cents  in 
January,  1860,  to  38  cents  in  July,  1861,  and  medium  wool  from  50  cents 
to  30  cents  in  the  same  period.  In  1862  the  demand  for  woolen  goods 
was  large  and  imperative,  and  in  the  spring  of  1863  wool  advanced  50 
per  cent  over  the  winter  price,  and  sheep  doubled  in  value.  At  no  time 
in  the  previous  history  of  the  State  was  the  demand  for  wool  so  great. 
It  advanced  from  48  cents  in  July,  1862,  to  85  cents  in  October,  1863, 
and  $1  in  July,  1864.  Every  farmer  increased  the  number  of  sheep  on 
his  farm,  and  men  of  all  classes,  not  farmers,  were  attracted  to  wool- 
growing — all  intent  on  obtaining  a  sheep  that  would  shear  the  greatest 
number  of  pounds  of  wool.  Ohio,  New  York,  and  New  England  breed- 
ers could  scarcely  meet  the  demand  made  upon  them  for  thoroughbred 
Merino  rams,  and  they  gathered  in  a  fine  pecuniary  harvest.  The  Ohio 
Agricultural  Eeport  for  1862  gives  a  list  of  over  1,200  flocks  of  half, 
three-quarters,  and  full-blood  Merinos,  numbering  over  230,000  sheep  in 
flocks  from  6  up  to  6,000.  Many  counties  were  not  included  in  the 
enumeration,  and  the  counties  enumerated  were  far  from  being  fully 
represented.  From  these  flocks  and  from  Vermont  and  other  blood  a 
new  era  in  Merino- sheep  industry  set  in,  and  the  march  of  improvement 


EAST    OF    THE    MISSISSIPPI    RIVER. 


553 


was  recorded  in  sheep-shearing  shows,  county  and  State  fairs,  and 
other  exhibitions. 

At  the  annual  Ohio  shearing  of  1861,  figures  of  6  rams  and  4  ewes 
were  given: 


Sex. 

Age. 

Weight  of 
carcass. 

Weight  of 
fleece. 

Years. 
2 

Pounds. 
101 

Lbs.  oz. 
18     8 

Do                                                 

2 

83} 

13    12 

Do                                   

5 

117 

14      8 

Do                                                               

3 

120 

11    12 

Do                                                                                           

3 

134 

14 

Do                                                      

1 

81 

11      4 

Ewe                                                  

4 

67A 

10 

Do                                                                     

2 

69 

9    10 

Do                                       

1 

65 

12      4 

Do                                                                   

3 

80 

8    10 

At  the  Ohio  State  shearing  at  Newark,  May  10  and  11,  1865,  there 
were  shorn  53  rams  and  ewes  of  different  ages,  giving  an  average  of 
13_9g_  pounds  per  head.  The  sheep  after  shearing  weighed  about  75 
pounds  per  head  on  an  average.  Thirteen  of  these  fleeces  were  from 
rams  and  averaged  17f^  pounds.  The  40  ewe  fleeces  averaged  12J 
pounds  each.  Six  of  the  13  rams  were  yearlings,  whose  fleeces  ran 
from  9|f  to  16|J  pounds  each.  One  of  these  was  the  property  of  Paul 
Gurney,  of  Licking  County.  It  weighed  82J  pounds  and  sheared  16ff 
pounds.  Eli  Keller's  ram  Hibbard,  2  years  old,  weighing  111  pounds, 
sheared  25 |-f  pounds  of  wool.  This  was  a  Vermont  ram  and  had  taken 
the  premium  the  year  preceding  at  the  Ohio  State  fair  as  the  best  year- 
ling.  Hamburg,  a  3-year  ram,  weighing  144J  pounds,  gave  a  28  J- 
pounds  fleece.  Princess,  a  4-year  old  ewe,  owned  by  Mr.  Keller,  weighed 
65J  pounds  and  gave  a  fleece  weighing  14  pounds  3J  ounces. 

At  the  Wyandot  County  shearing  of  1865, 15  rams,  whose  average 
weight  per  head  was  102  pounds,  sheared  an  average  of  15^£  pounds  ot 
wool.  The  heaviest  fleece  was  22^6-  pounds.  Twenty-six  ewes  sheared 
on  an  average  10 f|  pounds.  The  amount  of  wool  shorn  from  41  sheep 
was  515  pounds,  an  average  weight  per  head  of  12t%  pounds. 

The  shearing  in  Columbiana  County  did  not  come  up  to  the  ordinary 
standard  of  the  year.  There  was  a  heavy  rani  fleece  of  25  pounds  from 
a  4- year  old  ram  weighing  118  pounds,  but  the  average  of  21,  including 
this  ram,  was  but  14^-  pounds.  The  Pittsfield  wool-growers7  shearing 
showed  an  average  weight  of  carcass  of  65  fine-wooled  sheep,  of  82 J 
pounds;  average  weight  of  fleece,  13  pounds  8f  ounces;  average 
per  cent  of  wool  to  carcass,  16^-.  Greatest  per  cent,  263%.  Shearings 
in  Morrow,  Portage,  Geauga,  and  Huron  averaged  about  that  of 
Wyandot. 

In  1865  the  Ohio  State  Board  of  Agriculture  offered  premiums  "  for 


554 


SHEEP  INDUSTRY  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES 


the  heaviest  and  best  fleeces  of  cleaned  wool."    The  gross  and  scoured 
weight  of  the  fleeces  presented  are  given: 


Sex. 

Fleeces 
as 
sheared. 

Fleeces 
scoured. 

Ram            ...     -             

Lbs.  oz. 
24        4 

Lbs.  oz. 

8        2 

Do 

20        8 

6      10 

Do                                                        

21      11 

6      13* 

Do 

23        1 

8        3 

E-WB                                               .                                        ...... 

10      12 

4         9 

Do            

14      15 

6        0 

Do 

14        6 

5        OJ 

During  this  year  17  Merino  fleeces  were  scoured.  Before  scouring 
they  averaged  each  16.89  pounds  of  wool.  When  scoured  they  aver- 
aged 5.61,  showing  a  loss  of  65.5  per  cent.  This  was  a  heavier  shrink- 
age than  shown  in  New  York,  Michigan,  and  Indiana  wools.  The  com- 
parison can  be  made  by  reference  to  this  table: 


State. 

Fleeces. 

Average. 

Scoured 
wool. 

Loss. 

10 

Pounds. 
12  40 

Pounds. 
4  70 

Per  cent. 
61  5 

New  York 

14 

12  63 

4  61 

62  7 

Indiana/                                           -   -          -               

10 

11.1 

3.14 

65.3 

Ohio  

17 

16.89 

5.61 

65.5 

At  the  Ohio  State  Fair  of  1866  prizes  were  given  for  the  best  fleece 
of  wool.  There  were  six  entries,  and  the  weight  of  fleece  as  sheared 
and  then  scoured  are  given : 


No.  of 
entry. 

Name  and  sex. 

Fleeces  as 
sheared. 

Scoured. 

Loss. 

1 

Thomas  Aston  Elyria  ewe 

Lbs.  oz. 
11      5 

Lbs.  oz. 
1      5 

Lbs.  oz. 
4       0 

2 

Tlmmfls  Aston,  "Klyria,  rs\n\ 

13    13 

9      4 

4      9 

3 

J.  Buckingham,  Zanesville,  ram  

15      1£ 

4      0 

11       H 

4 

do  

15      1£ 

4     12 

10      5V 

5 

T.  F.  Joy,  Delaware,  ram  

10    13 

7      9 

3       4 

6 

T.  F.  Joy,  Delaware,  ewe 

7    14 

4    15 

2    15 

Mr.  Buckingham's  fleeces  were  Merinos 5  those  of  Messrs.  Aston  and 
Joy  were  long-wool,  the  former  being  Cotswold  and  the  latter  Leicester. 
The  premium  was  awarded  to  Mr.  Aston  for  the  best  ram  and  ewe  fleece. 

The  Ohio  State  shearing  for  1866  took  place  at  Wellington.  Thirty- 
four  ram  fleeces  averaged  13||  pounds ;  the  weight  of  carcass  averaged 
98  pounds.  The  heaviest  fleece  was  22-J-f-  pounds  from  a  4-year-old 
116  pounds  sheep.  Twenty-nine  ewes  whose  average  weight  per  head 
was  61  pounds  sheared  9J  pounds. 

At  the  Licking  County  shearing,  May  17,  1866,  five  entries  were  made 
of  3-year-old  rams.  One  fleece  was  not  weighed.  The  four  that  were 
weighed  turned  the  scales  at  22^,  14£,  26f ,  and  19 J  pounds— an  average 


EAST   OF   THE   MISSISSIPPI   RIVER.  555 

of  20J  pounds.  Three  2-year-old  rams  averaged  18§  pounds,  and  3 
yearling  rams  13  pounds.  Spanish  ewes  at  3  years  old  gave  15J  and  8-J 
pounds;  2  years  old  10,  11,  and  12J  pounds,  and  yearlings  from  7f  to 
15  pounds,  the  average  of  8  being  10 1  pounds. 

At  the  Wyandot  County  exhibition  74  sheep  were  on  the  ground,  but 
only  34  were  shorn.  Four  yearling  rams,  whose  average  weight  was  82 
pounds,  sheared  12J  pounds  of  wool  each.  Five  2  years  old  and  over, 
whose  average  weight  was  106  f  pounds,  sheared  18|£  pounds  each. 
Ten  yearling  ewes  averaged  58^  pounds  of  carcass  and  10  pounds  3j 
ounces  of  wool.  Fifteen  ewes  2  years  old  and  over  averaged  76  pounds 
to  the  carcass  and  11  pounds  14  J  ounces  of  wool.  The  general  average 
of  the  34  sheep  was  76J  pounds  of  carcass  and  12  pounds  S^  ounces  of 
wool. 

The  Geauga  County  shearing  took  place  May  23.  The  Merinos  receiv- 
ing the  premiums  are  presented  in  this  table : 


Weight. 

Fleece. 

Pounds. 
106 

Lbs.  oz. 
18        5 

20        0 

Three-years-old  ram.  

136J 

11        5 

Yearling  '••am 

75i 

10      12 

Do  

65 

8      11 

The  yearling  ewes  receiving  premiums  weighed  48j,  54£,  and  53 
pounds  and  gave  fleeces  of  7ff,  8ff,  and  7f§-  pounds.  The  2-years-old 
ewes  weighed  63  J,  55  J,  and  70  J  pounds  and  their  fleeces  11,  9,  lOf^ 
pounds. 

Shearings  were  also  held  in  the  counties  of  Seneca,  Portage,  Lake, 
Lucas,  Wood,  Morrow,  Clarke,  Media,  Warren,  Cuyahoga,  Huron, 
Ashtabula,  Colurnbiana,  Ashland,  Trumbull,  and  Tuscarawas,  and  all 
bore  witness  to  a  great  improvement  in  the  Ohio  Merinos.  It  was 
observed  also  that  the  climate  and  food  of  Ohio  being  different  from 
that  of  Vermont  caused  a  gradual  change  in  the  fleece — producing  apti- 
tude of  the  Merinos  brought  from  Vermont.  Less  knowledge  of  the 
laws  of  breeding,  feeding,  and  less  shelter  caused  the  descendants  of 
the  Vermont  sheep  to  fall  below  the  original  standard,  except  in  some 
few  cases  where  the  Vermont  practice  was  intelligently  and  closely 
followed. 

But  a  new  era  had  dawned  on  Ohio  sheep  husbandry.  The  number 
of  sheep  increased  from  1862  to  1868,  but  their  value  declined  from 
$3.50  per  head  in  1865  to  $1.90  per  head  in  1868.  There  were  causes 
for  this  in  the  falling  off  in  the  demand  for  wool  after  the  close  of  the 
war,  and  the  substitution  of  the  coarse-wooled  mutton  sheep  for  the 
fine-wooled  Merino.  This  change  began  in  1862  and  1863.  Previous 
to  this  the  longest  and  most  lustrous  combing  wool  grown  in  the  coun- 
try was  used  for  the  manufacture  of  carpets,  and  was  compelled  to 


556        SHEEP  INDUSTRY  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES 

compete  in  the  markets  with  the  low  priced  foreign  wools.  The  demand 
for  coarse  army  woolens  and  the  introduction  of  machinery  for  the  man- 
ufacture of  long  wools  into  all  the  fabrics  made  from  them  in  England, 
and  the  deficiency  of  these  wools  in  our  own  markets,  caused  the  prices 
of  them  to  rule  high  and  encouraged  the  wool-grower  to  discard  his 
Merino  and  adopt  the  long-wooled  as  the  most  profitable  sheep.  The 
movement  in  that  direction  was  emphasized  by  the  action  of  some 
prominent  members  of  the  Wool- growers7  Association,  who  called 
attention  to  the  fact  in  1866  that  not  more  than  1,000,000  pounds  of 
first-class  combing  wool  was  annually  produced  in  the  United  States, 
while  more  than  10,000,000  pounds  were  used,  and  twice  the  amount 
manufactured  was  imported  in  the  form  of  worsted  goods.  There  was 
also  suggested  the  propriety  of  changing  from  growing  wool  to  raising 
mutton,  not  with  the  understanding  that  fine-wool  sheep-growing  was 
to  be  entirely  abandoned,  but  every  flockinaster  who  was  properly  sit- 
uated should  dispose  of  some  of  his  fine  wools  and  replace  with  long- 
wools  or  mutton  sheep.  The  suggestion  was  followed  where  it  was  not 
anticipated. 

In  1865  and  1866  there  was  scarcely  a  county  in  Ohio  that  could  not 
lay  claim  to  the  possession  of  a  $1,000  Merino  ram.  But  wool  fell  from 
$1  to  60  cents  and  so  on  down  to  40  cents  in  1867,  and  a  great  change 
came  over  the  sheep  husbandry  of  the  State  and  the  whole  country. 
Many  Western  farmers  and  wool-growers  gave  up  wool-raising  and 
sent  their  sheep  to  be  slaughtered  for  pelts  and  tallow.  In  Ohio  many 
slaughtering  establishments  were  put  up  with  a  capacity  for  20,000  to 
50,000  sheep,  and  thousands  of  good  Merinos  were  sold  them  at  $1  to  $2 
per  head  that  had  ready  sale  twelve  months  before  at  ten  times  the 
amount.  They  even  sold  as  low  as  60  cents ;  their  pelts  were  removed, 
their  carcasses  thrown  into  rendering  vats,  and  the  refuse  fed  to  the 
hogs.  The  slaughter  continued,  and  during  the  autumn  of  1867  and 
early  winter  of  1868  many  more  thousands  were  disposed  of  for  their 
pelts  alone  and  their  carcasses  thrown  to  the  hogs.  Bef erring  to  this 
disposition  of  so  many  sheep  a  paper  of  February,  1869,  remarked : 

It  seemed  at  the  time  a  great  waste  of  sheep  life,  but  when  we  recollect  that  there 
was  scarcely  a  single  flock  with  Vermont  blood  in  it  that  was  not  at  the  same  time 
affected  with  foot-rot,  we  may  be  glad  to  know  that  there  are  thousands  if  not  mil- 
lions less  to  disseminate  this  plague.  In  1868  the  number  of  sheep  in  the  State  was 
7,688,845,  nearly  all  Merinos  of  various  grades.  The  great  depression  in  wool  and 
its  fabrics  still  continued,  and  thousands  of  sheep  went  to  the  rendering  establish- 
ments, and  during  the  year  there  was  a  reduction  in  the  number  of  nearly  20  per 
cent,  and  in  1869  of  nearly  25  per  cent,  being  4,928,635  in  1870  against  7,688,845  in 
1868.  Every  one  seemed  ready  to  abandon  sheep.  Huge  flocks  were  undergoing 
depletion  and  many  flock-owners  were  crossing  their  Merino  ewes  by  long-wooled 
rams  to  engage  in  growing  combing  wool  instead  of  the  carding  and  cloth  wool. 
Particularly  was  this  the  case  in  the  vicinity  of  the  cities  of  Cleveland,  Toledo, 
Columbus,  Dayton,  and  Cincinnati,  where  Southdowns  and  Leicesters  as  well  as 
Cotswolds  and  their  crosses,  mostly  imported  from  Canada,  were  bred  more  especi- 
ally for  mutton  than  wool.  Still,  of  the  less  than  5,000,000  sheep  in  1870  the  Merinos 


EAST   OF   THE   MISSISSIPPI   RIVER.  557 

were  largely  in  the  majority,  but  from  the  failure  to  breed  them  for  three  years  back 
there  were  but  few  ewes  under  4  years  old,  a  state  of  things  which,  if  continued 
much  longer,  would  cause  the  final  extinction  of  the  fine-wooled  sheep.  But  the 
summer  of  1871  brought  a  revival  in  the  wool  market  just  in  time  to  check  the 
general  disposition  to  discard  the  Merino  altogether  in  favor  of  long-wooled  sheep. 

The  wool-growers  of  Ohio  are  an  intelligent  and  influential  body  of 
men,  and  have  among  them  some  astute  politicians.  In  the  depressed 
condition  of  their  industry  they  were  not  slow  in  divining  the  cause — 
in  fact  they  had  anticipated  it.  For  a  long  series  of  years  the  tariff 
system  of  the  country  had  been  in  the  interest  of  the  manufacturer  and 
not  that  of  the  producer  and  consumer.  The  woolen  manufacturer  had 
protection  on  his  manufactured  goods,  but  the  wool-grower  had  none 
against  the  cheap  wools  of  Asia,  Europe,  and  South  America.  In  1861 
a  duty  of  5  per  cent  ad  valorem  was  placed  on  all  wools  costiug  less 
than  18  cents  per  pound  at  place  of  export.  This  duty  was  less  than  1 
cent  a  pound  upon  Mestiza  or  Buenos  Ayres  wools.  The  war  of  1861-'65, 
with  the  resulting  scarcity  of  cotton,  vastly  increased  the  use  of  wool 
in  the  North  and  stimulated  its  production.  The  increase  of  production 
was  not  confined  to  the  North,  but  extended  in  other  portions  of  the 
world.  Under  our  nominal  tariff  duties  the  influx  of  foreign  wools  into 
the  country  was  greatly  increased.  The  annual  imports  of  the  Mestiza 
wools  of  Buenos  Ayres  increased  from  less  than  6,000,000  pounds  in 
1862  to  over  17,000,000  pounds  in  1863  and  24,000,000  pounds  in  1864. 
In  1866  the  importation  from  Buenos  Ayres  was  36,915,794  pounds.  In 
1862  we  imported  about  4,500,000  pounds  of  wool  from  Africa ;  in  1864 
the  importation  was  over  16,000,000  pounds.  Before  the  year  1861 
these  wools  had  averaged  at  place  of  export  but  13  cents  per  pound, 
and  the  highest  average  of  cost  of  the  Buenos  Ayres  wools  was  in  1864, 
when  it  was  15.1  cents  per  pound.  Thus  when  these  wools  were  15 
cents  at  Buenos  Ayres  they  could  be  delivered  at  New  York  or  Phila- 
delphia, all  freight  charges  and  tariff  paid,  at  about  21  cents  a  pound. 
But  there  were  some  disadvantages  in  the  use  of  this  wool.  It  was 
imported  in  the  dirt,  often  filled  with  burrs,  and,  owing  to  the  weakness 
of  its  fiber,  lost  much  in  the  processes  of  manufacture;  so  that  2  pounds 
as  imported  made  only  as  much  as  1^  pounds  of  American  clothing 
wool  in  average  condition.  When  put  in  the  same  condition  with  the 
American  wool  it  cost  the  manufacturer  about  38  cents  a  pound.  Let 
the  cost  of  wool  in  the  United  States  markets  be  compared  with  this. 
From  1827  to  1861  the  average  price  was  50.3  cents  per  pound  for  fine, 
42.8  cents  for  medium,  and  35.5  cents  for  coarse.  The  fine  and  medium 
qualities,  corresponding  to  Buenos  Ayres  or  Mestiza  wools,  averaged 
46£  cents.  In  1864  a  wool  and  woolen  tariff  was  framed  which  imposed 
a  duty  of  3  cents  a  pound  on  wools  costing  12  cents  and  under  at  place 
of  export,  and  6  cents  per  pound  on  those  costing  more  than  12  cents  and 
not  exceedin  g  24  cents.  This  tariff  would  not  brin  g  the  price  of  imported 
wools  up  to  the  average  American  wool  by  at  least  2  cents  a  poum]. 


558        SHEEP  INDUSTRY  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES 

even  when  honestly  administered.  But  it  was  not  honestly  adminis- 
tered, or,  perhaps,  to  speak  more  properly,  fraudulent  practices  brought 
most  of  the  wool  in  under  the  3-cent  duty,  when  it  should  have  paid  G 
cents.  This,  of  course,  was  a  great  gain  to  the  manufacturer,  but  of 
no  benefit  to  the  farmer.  It  was  the  first  time  since  1828  that  duties 
were  put  on  manufactured  wool  over  and  above  the  amount  of  protec- 
tion required  by  the  manufacturer,  sufficient  to  compensate  for  the  duty 
upon  the  raw  material.  The  total  amount  of  imports  of  raw  wool  from 
1861  to  1864,  both  years  inclusive,  is  shown  in  this  table: 

Pounds. 

In  1861 31,638,533 

In  1862 43, 698, 138 

In  1863 74,412,878 

In  1864 91,026,639 

Notwithstanding  this  large  importation  of  wool,  three  times  as  much 
in  1864  as  it  was  in  1861,  and  a  continued  large  importation  of  manu- 
factured woolens,  the  number  of  sheep  and  the  product  of  wool  increased 
very  rapidly,  sheep  advanced  in  price  and  everything  looked  prosperous- 
From  1861  to  1865  Ohio  fleeced  wool  averaged  at  New  York,  in  currency 
66  J  cents  per  pound,  23.64  cents  higher  than  the  average  of  the  thirty- 
five  preceding  years.  The  large  importations  of  raw  wool  did  not  dis- 
turb the  wool-grower  whose  receipts  were  so  bountiful,  and  the  increas- 
ing demand  for  wool,  and  the  flourishing  condition  and  rapid  extension 
of  manufactures  excited  his  mind  to  a  degree  beyond  any  former  period. 
It  was  believed  that  the  consumption  of  wool  would  be  permanent,  and 
that  woolen  goods  would  supersede  those  of  cotton.  There  were  others 
who  looked  further  into  the  future.  These  were  perfectly  aware  that 
wool  had  practically  no  protection,  but  anticipated  that  the  war  debt 
would  demand  for  years  an  amount  of  revenue  which  would,  under  the 
adopted  theory  of  discrimination,  insure  the  speedy  and  adequate  pro- 
tection of  wool.  Nowhere  was  the  mania  for  fine- wool  growing  so  prev- 
alent as  in  Ohio,  and  nowhere  are  wool-growers  so  mercurial  and  prone 
to  run  from  one  extreme  to  the  other. 

The  Ohio  growers  saw,  when  peace  was  about  to  come  upon  the  war- 
ring sections,  that  the  great  demand  for  wool  would  measurably  cease, 
and  that  with  the  overproduction  of  our  manufactories  and  heavy  im- 
portations of  raw  wool  under  a  low  tariff,  wool-growing  would  receive  a 
deadly  blow.  They  joined  in  a  movement  looking  to  the  union  of  the 
wool- grower  and  the  woolen  manufacturer  in  the  demand  for  a  tariff 
that  would  protect  both  interests.  The  result  was  a  convention  of  the 
wool-growers  and  the  wool  manufacturers  at  Syracuse,  N.  Y.?  December 
13, 1865. 

One  of  the  prominent  members  of  the  convention,  in  a  report  some 
years  later,  says  of  it : 

The  convention  of  1865  is  memorable  among  other  things  for  the  conflicting  senti- 
ment in  the  woolen  industry  which  preceded  and  was  the  cause  for  invoking  it.  A 
difference  of  opinion,  amounting  to  actual  hostility  between  the  two  interests  sun- 


EAST   OF   THE   MISSISSIPPI   RIVER.  559 


plying  and  manipulating  the  raw  material  of  our  woolen-mills,  had  been  gaining 
strength  for  fifty  years,  and  had  assumed  the  phase  of  sectional  animosity  between 
the  East  and  West.  On  the  one  hand,  the  West,  representing  the  wool-growing 
interest,  exaggerated  the  profits  of  the  Eastern  manufacturers;  claimed  that  it  bore 
without  compensation  the  burdens  of  the  duties  which  promoted  their  profits ;  ig- 
nored the  fact  that  the  specific  duties  on  foreign  goods  competing  with  our  own  were 
but  the  equivalents  for  duties  on  the  raw  material  which  the  wool-grower  received ; 
and  demanded  the  miscalled  equality,  so  obnoxious  to  the  manufacturing  interest, 
under  the  horizontal  tariif  of  1846.  The  manufacturers,  on  the  other  hand,  repre- 
senting a  growing  sentiment  in  the  East,  were  becoming  more  and  more  disposed  to 
look  abroad  for  the  chief  supply  of  raw  material.  They  were  not  unwilling  to  avail 
themselves  of  such  commercial  practices  as  would  diminish  the  duties  intended  to 
be  given  for  the  protection  of  the  American  wool- grower,  and  were  inclined  to  advo- 
cate the  British  policy  of  free  trade  in  raw  material,  including  wool,  as  the  wisest 
system  of  protection  to  manufacturers.  They  overlooked  the  fact,  which  they  have 
since  acknowledged  with  returning  magnanimity,  that  it  has  been  the  experience 
of  all  nations  that  the  domestic  supply  of  raw  material  has  been  the  first  and  always 
chief  dependence  of  its  manufacturers.  They  failed  also  to  consider  that,  while  aim- 
ing at  the  largest  and  cheapest  supply  of  foreign  wool,  they  would  render  American 
sheep  husbandry  unprofitable,  and  inevitably  destroy  domestic  production,  thus 
reducing  themselves  to  a  sole  dependence  upon  sources  liable  to  be  cut  off  by  foreign 
wars  or  political  revolutions.  The  inevitable  result  of  such  diverging  views  must 
have  been  perpetual  strife  and  legislative  action,  which,  favoring  each  interest  exclu- 
sively, as  its  influence  might  preponderate,  must  alternately  ruin  both.  From  this 
explanation  of  the  old  differences  which  formerly  distracted  the  woolen  industry,  it 
can  hardly  be  doubted  that  the  disaffection  toward  the  prevailing  policy,  exhibited 
by  a  limited  number  of  the  older  manufacturers  and  wool-growers,  is  but  the  expres- 
sion of  the  traditional  hostility  in  which  they  were  nurtured. 

The  convention  of  1865  is  chiefly  memorable  for  its  influence  in  reconciling  this 
disastrous  feud.  This  influence  was  the  result  of  the  simplest  means — nothing  more 
than  bringing  for  the  first  time,  face  to  face,  the  interests  which  had  been  prejudiced 
and  hostile  only  because  they  misunderstood  each  other.  A  conference  of  but  a  day 
between  the  rival  interests  was  sufficient  to  establish  a  basis  of  adjustment.  This 
basis  was  the  recognition  of  mutuality  of  interest,  and  a  right  to  equality  of  protec- 
tion. The  principles  upon  which  harmony  might  be  established  were  expressed  in 
the  resolutions  unanimously  adopted  by  the  convention,  which  have  an  historical 
value  as  the  first  joint  expression  of  the  two  branches  of  the  wool  industry  of  the 
country.  They  are  as  follows : 

Resolved,  That  the  mutuality  of  the  interests  of  the  wool  producers  and  wool  manu- 
facturers of  the  United  States  is  established  by  the  closest  of  commercial  bonds,  that 
of  demand  and  supply ;  it  having  been  demonstrated  that  the  American  grower  sup- 
plies more  than  70  per  cent  of  all  the  wool  consumed  by  American  mills,  and,  with 
equal  encouragement,  would  soon  supply  all  which  is  properly  adapted  to  production 
here;  and,  further,  it  is  confirmed  by  the  experience  of  half  a  century  that  the  periods 
of  prosperity  and  depression  in  the  two  branches  of  woolen  industry  have  been 
identical  in  time  and  induced  by  the  same  general  causes. 

Resolved,  That  as  the  two  branches  of  agricultural  and  manufacturing  industry 
represented  by  the  woolen  interest  involve  largely  the  labor  of  the  country,  whose 
productiveness  is  the  basis  of  national  prosperity,  sound  policy  requires  such  legis- 
lative action  as  shall  place  them  on  an  equal  footing,  and  give  them  equal  encourage- 
ment and  protection  in  competing  with  the  accumulated  capital  and  low  wages  of 
other  countries. 

Upon  this  as  a  basis  the  committees  appointed  by  the  two  interests  after  many 
conferences  agreed  upon  the  draft  of  a  bill  proposing  the  duties  on  wool  and  woolens, 
which  was  substantially  adopted  in  the  tarifi'  law  of  1867.  In  these  conferences  it 


560        SHEEP  INDUSTRY  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES 

was  conceded  by  the  wool-growers  that  this  business  could  not  flourish  unless  the 
manufacturers  were  fully  established  and  sustained;  that  capitalists  would  not 
invest  adequate  sums  in  buildings  and  materials  without  good  prospects  of  profit  and 
permanency  in  the  business ;  that  without  permanency  the  needful  skill  and  experi- 
ence in  the  operatives  could  not  be  maintained ;  that,  taking  into  view  the  price  of 
labor  in  Europe  and  the  price  of  wool  here,  the  manufacture  of  woolens  could  not 
be  established  here  in  competition,  unless  some  favor  on  public  ground  could  be 
accorded  to  the  manufacturer,  and  both  parties  insisted  that  the  importance  of  the 
industry  in  every  point  of  view,  besides  its  magnitude,  made  claim  for  favorable 
legislation  valid.  It  was  shown  by  ample  proof  that  wool  could  not  be  grown  here 
unless  the  manufacturers  of  wool  could  be  permanently  established;  and  that  the 
consumption  of  Avoolens  could  never  reach  the  adequate  figure  of  $10  per  head  of 
the  increasing  population,  unless  wool-growing  and  the  manufacture  of  wool  both 
take  their  place  among  the  established  and  successful  industries  of  the  country. 

The  manufacturers  claimed  that,  until  similar  wools  shall  be  supplied  at  home,  a 
considerable  proportion  of  the  fine  but  inferior  and  very  cheap  wools  of  South 
Africa  and  other  countries  Avould  be  required  to  give  variety,  special  qualities,  and 
cheapness  to  certain  descriptions  of  their  woolen  goods;  but  did  not  resist  the  claim 
of  the  wool-growers  to  have  such  a  duty  imposed  on  these  wools  as  would  encourage 
their  growth,  and  in  time  supply  their  place,  at  least  in  part,  by  home-grown  wool. 

The  manufacturers,  on  their  part,  claimed  as  these  cheap  wools  entered  English  ports 
free  of  duty,  and  as  the  cost  of  labor  entering  into  the  production  of  woolen  goods 
in  Europe  was  less  than  half  the  rates  paid  in  this  country,  that  such  duties  should 
be  asked  of  our  Government  as  would  place  them  in  fair  competition  with  foregu 
manufacturers  in  our  own  market. 

The  lesson  learned  by  the  wool-grower  was  that  his  market  for  wool  was  at  home, 
and  that  in  securing  a  duty  upon  his  wool  he  must  make  some  compensation  to  the 
manufacturer.  The  aim  of  the  framers  of  the  tariff*  of  1867  was,  "  while  protecting 
the  wool-grower,  to  place  the  manufacturer  in  the  same  position  as  if  his  raw  mate- 
rials were  free  of  duty.  For  this  end  a  careful  calculation  was  made  of  the  sum 
which  would  be  paid  by  the  manufacturers  for  the  duties  on  the  wool,  drugs,  dye- 
stuffs,  and  other  materials  for  each  pound  or  square  yard  of  fabric  made  by  him,  and 
a  specific  duty  per  pound  or  square  yard  was  placed  upon  corresponding  foreign 
fabrics.  The  specific  duty  on  the  foreign  fabric  was  intended  to  exactly  neutralize 
the  duty  imposed  on  the  raw  material.  To  this  specific  duty  an  ad  valorem  duty 
was  added  for  revenue  and  the  protection  of  the  manufacturers.  By  the  theory  of 
the  tariff,  the  only  protection  which  the  manufacturer  received  is  this  ad  valorem 
du,txy.  And  it  was  intended  that  his  protection  should  be  equal  to  the  full  amount 
of  fhe  ad  valorem  duty.  But  the  protective  effect  of  the  ad  valorem  duty  is  partially 
modified  by  the  duties  on  other  materials  used  in  manufacturing  processes,  and  by 
local  taxes  from  which  our  foreign  rivals  are  exempt,  as  well  as  by  undervaluation 
of  imported  goods. 

The  wool  was  classified  into  three  kinds — clothing,  combing,  and  car- 
pet and  other  similar  wools.  Clothing  wool  costing  less  than  32  cents 
per  pound  was  charged  with  a  duty  of  10  cents  per  pound  and  1  per 
cent  ad  valorem;  if  valued  over  32  cents  per  pound,  the  duty  was  12 
cents  and  10  per  cent  ad  valorem.  The  same  rates  were  applied  to 
combing  wools,  hair  of  the  alpaca,  goat,  or  other  like  animals.  On  car- 
pet wools  and  other  similar  wools,  valued  at  12  cents  or  less  per  pound, 
the  duty  was  fixed  at  3  cents  a  pound,  and  6  cents  if  the  value  was 
over  12  cents  a  pound.  Sheepskins  and  Angora  goatskins,  raw  or 
unmanufactured,  imported  with  the  wool  on?  washed  or  unwashed,  30 
per  cent  ad  yalorein. 


EAST    OF    THE    MISSISSIPPI    RIVER. 


561 


The  woolen  tariff  act  was  passed  March  3,  1867,  and  great  results 
were  promised  and  anticipated.  There  was  a  slight  increase  in  the  num- 
ber of  Ohio  sheep  for  1808,  but  a  tall  in  their  value  of  30  per  cent,  and 
from  1867  to  1877,  a  period  of  ten  years,  the  number  of  sheep  declined 
one-half,  from  7,555,507  in  1867  to  3,724.040  in  1877.  Ohio  fleece  wool 
declined  from  1866  to  1871  as  follows: 


Year. 

Fine 
wool. 

Medium 
wool. 

Coarse 
wool. 

Average. 

1866 

Cents. 
67 

Cents. 
63 

Cents. 

Cents. 
61  16 

1867 

5ya 

501 

IRi 

Isf,- 

48 

46 

4of 

44  75: 

49 

49 

471 

48  41 

47i 

461 

4ii 

46  08 

55 

54 

53! 

54  08 

The  decline  from  1866  to  the  summer  of  1871  is  attributed  to  over- 
production in  our  own  country,  the  immense  quantity  of  woolen  goods 
thrown  upon  the  markets  at  the  close  of  the  civil  war,  and  excessive 
importations  from  abroad.  The  tariff  bill  failed  to  pass  in  the  session 
of  1865-1866,  and  in  anticipation  of  its  passage  the  ensuing  session, 
71,000,000  pounds  of  wool,  and  woolens  of  the  value  of  $57,115,000 — 
almost  equaling  the  entire  imports  of  the  four  preceding  years — were 
imported  under  the  existing  low  duties.  It  was  not  until  1871  that 
there  was  a  revival.  It  took  the  intervening  time  to  work  off  the  ex- 
cessive stock  of  1865  and  1866.  In  1872  Ohio  wool  averaged  69J  cents 
a  pound.  It  is  the  belief  of  the  Ohio  wool-growers  that  the  tariff  of 
1867  saved  the  woolen  industry  of  the  whole  country  from  destruction, 
and  that  the  revival  of  1871  was  just  in  time  to  save  Ohio  flocks.  But 
the  prospective  protection  on  wool  in  1865  and  1866  and  the  passage  of 
the  act  of  1867  led  to  the  extension  of  wool-growing  beyond  the  Mis- 
sissippi on  lands  costing  little  or  nothing,  and  the  competition  on  these 
new  fields  was  more  severe  than  with  foreign  countries,  and  the  imme- 
diate result  was  the  removal  of  many  flocks  from  the  high-priced  lands 
of  Ohio  and  a  steady  diminution  in  the  number  of  sheep  until  1877. 


Tear. 

j  Number  of  ji 
sheep. 

j 

Tear. 

Number  of 
sheep. 

1868 

i    7  688  845  i 

1873                  

4,  596,  864 

1869 

'    6  272  640  ' 

1874                                           .     - 

4,  333,  868 

1870 

1    4  998  635 

1S75 

4  100  288 

1871 

|     4  30^  904 

1H76                                           

3,  854,  528 

1872 

1    4  464  898 

1877 

3,  724,  040 

Ohio  fleece  wool  touched  its  highest  price  in  1872,  and  then  steadily 
declined  until  1880,  when  it  made  a  slight  recovery  and  again  declined. 
The  market  prices  from  January,  1871,  to  December,  1890,  are  shown  in 
the  following  table : 
22990 36 


562 


SHEEP  INDUSTRY  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES 


Prices  of  fine,  medium,  and  coarse  washed  clothing  Ohio  fleece  ivool  in  the  Eastern  markets 
for  the  months  of  January,  April,  July,  and  October  of  each  year  from  1871  to  1890, 
'inclusive. 


Year. 

January. 

April. 

July. 

October. 

Fine. 

Medi- 
um. 

Coarse. 

Fine. 

Medi- 
um. 

Coarse. 

Fine. 

Medi- 
um. 

Coarse. 

Fine. 

Medi- 
um. 

Coarse. 

1  871     

Cents. 
47 
70 
70 
58 
55 
48 
46 
44 
34 
50 
47 
44 
40 
40 
34 
35 
33 
31 
34 
33 

Cents. 
46 
72 
68 
54 
56 
52 
43 
45 
35 
55 
49 
46 
43 
40 
33 
36 
38 
35 
38 
37 

Cents. 
43 
66 
65 
47 
47 
42 
36 
38 
32 
48 
43 
47 
33 
34 
29 
32 
34 
33 
33 
29 

Cents. 
50 
80 
56 
56 
54 
46 
45 
40 
34 
55 
40 
42 
44 
38 
32 
33 
33 
31 
33 
33 

Cents. 
52 
80 
53 
56 
52 
49 
40 
43 
34 
60 
44 
45 
44 
38 
32 
34 
37 
34 
37 
36 

Cents. 
47 
76 
48 
47 
46 
40 
33 
35 
31 
52 
37 
34 
37 
34 
28 
30 
33 
33 
31 
29 

Cents. 
62 
72 
50 
53 
52 
38 
50 
36 
37 
46 
42 
42 
39 
35 
32 
33 
34 
29 
35 
33 

Cents. 
60 
70 
48 
53 
49 
35 
44 
36 
38 
48 
44 
45 
41 
34 
31 
33 
37 
33 
39 
37 

Cents. 
55 
65 
44 
46 
46 
31 
37 
32 
34 
42 
36 
34 
33 
30 
28 
29 
34 
31 
32 
29 

Cents. 
63 
66 
54 
54 
48 
45 
48 
35 
41 
46 
43 
42 
39 
35 
33 
35 
32 
31 
33 
33 

Cents. 
62 
60 
53 
54 
50 
40 
44 
37 
43 
48 
46 
45 
40 
34 
35 
38 
36 
34 
37 
37 

Cents. 
58 
57 
47 
47 
42 
33 
36 
32 
38 
42 
36 
34 
34 
30 
32 
34 
34 
31 
31 
31 

1872 

1873       -  - 

1874  

1875 

1876  

1877 

1878   

1879 

1880  

1881 

1882    

1883 

1884  
1885  

1886 

1887  

1888 

1889  

1890 

With  the  revival  in  prices  in  1871-772  came  also  publications  of  sheep- 
shearings  and  yield  of  fleeces.  In  1871  Messrs.  E.  J.  Hiatt  &  Co.,  of 
Morgan  County,  sheared  15  rams  and  30  ewes  of  660J  pounds  of  wool. 

Fifteen  rams  sheared  234  pounds,  an  average  of  15j95-  pounds,  unwashed  wool. 
Twenty-three  ewes  sheared  322  pounds,  an  average  of  14  pounds,  unwashed  wool. 
Seven  ewes  sheared  104£  pounds,  an  average  of  14] f  pounds,  unwashed  wool. 

In  1872  the  same  parties  sheared  20  rams  and  60  ewes  of  1,080  pounds 
of  wool.  The  heaviest  ram  fleece  was  24.J  pounds,  the  heaviest  ewe 
fleece  21J  pounds.  The  ram  fleeces  generally  ran  from  15  to  18  pounds 
and  the  ewe  fleeces  from  12  to  17  pounds.  Three  rams  showed  an  aver- 
age weight  of  carcass  of  151  pounds  each,  and  17  ewes  averaged  120  J 
pounds  each. 

The  Hiatt  Brothers,  Chester  Hill,  Morgan  County,  laid  the  founda- 
tion of  their  flock  in  1868,  by  the  purchase  of  4  ewes  from  J.  T.  and  V. 
Bich;  4  ewes  of  W.E.  Sanford,  and  3  ewes  from  C.  D.  Lane,  all  of  Ver- 
mont. The  ram  Old  Grant,  bred  by  Milo  J.  Ellsworth,  Middlebury,  Vt., 
was  first  used.  This  ram  was  a  descendant  of  the  Humphreys,  Cock, 
and  Jar  vis  flocks.  There  were  subsequent  purchases  of  rams  and  ewes 
bred  by  the  Messrs.  Hammond,  E.  S.  Stowell,  F.  D.  Barton,  and  others, 
of  the  same  blood,  including  1  ram  bred  by  W.  E.  Sanford,  1  bred  by  E. 
S.  Stowell,  and  1  bred  by  S.  G.  Holyoke.  Earns  of  their  own  breeding 
were  also  used.  In  April,  1876,  this  flock  consisted  of  60  ewes  and  21 
rams,  descendants  of  and  bred  to  combine  the  blood  of  the  Cock,  Jarvis, 
and  Humyhreys  flocks,  and  of  14  ewes  and  9  rams  pure  Humphreys 
sheep  as  bred  by  Atwood  and  Hammond. 

In  1875,  Jacob  H.  Keller's  flock  was  shorn  and  50  ewes  yielded  a  total 
of  740|f  pounds,  an  average  of  14|f  pounds  each.  The  heaviest  fleece 


EAST   OF   THE  MISSISSIPPI   RIVER.  563 

was  ISf  pounds,  and  the  uniformity  of  the  weights  in  the  entire  lot  was 
very  remarkable,  the  variation  from  the  average  being  very  slight.  Mr. 
J.  H.  Keller's  flock  was  laid  in  purchases  of  ewes  from  the  estate  of  his 
father,  Eli  Keller,  who  had  one  of  the  best  flocks  of  Licking  County. 
At  this  time  it  consisted  of  40  ewes  and  9  rams,  pure  Atwood  blood, 
and  27  ewes  and  6  ranis  descendants  of  and  bred  to  combine  the  blood 
of  the  Humphreys,  Cock,  and  Jarvis  flocks. 

Shearings  in  various  parts  of  the  State  from  1871  to  1875  showed  a 
marked  advance  on  those  from  1861  to  1865  in  the  weight  of  fleece,  but 
the  interest  was  a  languishing  one  after  prices  of  wool  a  gala  declined  in 
1873,  and  there  was  a  disposition  to  abandon  the  fine-wool  sheep  and 
raise  the  mutton  sheep.  From  1868  to  1872  a  large  number  of  flocks  of 
good  Merino  sheep  were  allowed  to  run  down  by  breeding  to  rams  of 
unknown  and  inferior  blood,  and  from  1873  there  was  a  crossing  with 
the  long- wool  rams,  and  in  1875  and  1876  there  was  a  perceptible  decline 
of  pure-blood  Merino  flocks  throughout  the  State,  particularly  in  the 
southern  and  western  parts  and  near  the  cities  on  the  lakes.  Many  of 
the  lake  townships  have  almost  ceased  to  raise  sheep.  The  long- wools 
have  fleeces  too  open  and  thin  for  the  sudden  and  severe  changes  of 
the  winters,  and  do  not  thrive  in  flocks  of  any  considerable  number. 
Nor  are  they  needed  to  any  large  extent  to  supply  the  demand  for 
combing  wool,  which  was  formerly  in  great  demand.  The  improved 
machinery  of  the  day  combs  a  shorter  staple  than  formerly.  Wool  2J 
to  3  inches  long  can  now  be  combed  with  ease,  and  there  are  many 
breeders  in  Ohio,  West  Virginia,  and  Washington  County,  Pa.,  as 
shown  in  preceding  pages,  that  now  grow  fleeces  from  unhoused  Merinos 
with  a  length  of  wool  from  2£  to  4  inches.  The  Black-Tops  produce  a 
staple  4  to  5  inches  long. 

The  great  change  in  the  sheep  husbandry  of  the  State  is  attributed 
to  the  low  prices  of  wool  since  1872.  Merino  flocks  are  not  now  as  large, 
and  the  mutton  sheep  have  been  more  looked  to,  and  in  general  have 
proven  to  be  the  most  profitable.  Fine  Leicesters,  Lincolns,  Cotswolds, 
Oxfords,  Hampshires,  Southdowns,  and  Shropshires  have  found  their 
way  into  all  parts  of  the  State,  and  are  increasing,  while  the  Merinos 
are  decreasing.  In  1865  90  per  cent  of  the  sheep  of  the  State  were 
Merinos  and  their  grades,  while  in  1886  but  52  J  per  cent  were  Merinos, 
and  the  remainder  Shropshires,  Oxfords,  Cotswolds,  and  other  mingled 
blood.  The  proportion  of  each  is  shown  as  follows : 

Per  cent. 

Pure  Merinos 13. 0 

Grade  Merinos 39. 5 

Pure  Shropshire  Downs 2. 3 

Grade  Shropshire  Downs 4. 3 

Pore  Oxford  Downs 0. 9 

Grade  Oxford  Downs 1. 4 

Pure  Cotswolds 3. 9 

Grade  Cotswolds 9. 0 

Mixed  blood  ..  .25.7 


564        SHEEP  INDUSTRY  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES 

The  mixed  blood  includes  Southdowns,  Leicesters,  Lincolnshire^  and 
grades,  and  are  most  numerous  in  Ashland,  Ashtabula,  Fulton,  High- 
land, Lucas,  Pickaway,  Scioto,  Stark,  and  Van  Wert  counties.  The 
Cotswolds  predominate  in  Preble,  Mahoning,  Clermont,  and  Auglaize; 
the  Oxfords  are  confined  to  few  counties,  and  the  Shrop  shires  are  gen- 
erally diffused  and  are  in  greater  proportion  in  Auglaize,  Columbiana, 
Hamilton,  Montgomery,  Trumbull,  and  Wayne.  Those  counties  having 
over  70  per  cent  of  Merino  and  Merino  grades  are  Adams,  Athens, 
Brown,  Belmont,  Carroll,  Clinton,  Crawford,  Erie,  Guernsey,  Harrison, 
Henry,  Holmes,  Jefferson,  Licking,  Logan,  Madison,  Marion,  Meigs, 
Monroe,  Morgan,  Ottawa,  Seneca,  Tuscarawas,  and  Wyandot.  Harri- 
son County  still  retained  90  per  cent  of  the  Merino  in  her  flocks,  includ- 
ing some  Saxony,  and  Jefferson  had  85  per  cent.  The  American  or 
Spanish  Merino  was  in  the  lead,  but  many  were  breeding  the  Black-Top, 
thinking  them  the  more  hardy  and  not  so  liable  to  be  affected  with  foot- 
rot. 

What  can  be  done  by  legislation  can  also  be  undone  by  legislation. 
The  tariff  of  1867  came,  it  is  claimed,  in  time  to  save  the  Merino  flocks. 
The  revision  of  that  tariff  in  1883  is  claimed  to  have  been  a  great  blow 
to  Ohio's  wool  industry  and  to  that  of  the  whole  country.  Wool  in  1880 
began  to  decline,  and  had  fallen  from  6  to  10  cents  in  1883,  when  the  act 
was  passed,  and  it  declined  still  more  in  the  years  succeeding.  Low 
prices  of  wool  decreased  the  number  of  sheep  from  5,089,363  in  1883  to 
3,605,069  in  1889.  The  ultra  protectionists  for  wool  declared  that  the 
industry  was  ruined,  and  the  grower,  sometimes  without  calculation, 
sold  off  his  flocks  and  tried  horses  and  cattle.  Sheep  almost  went  beg- 
ging, and  as  late  as  1888  good  grades  were  disposed  of  in  some  of  the 
central  counties  for  $2  per  head,  which  were  worth  $5  per  head  two 
years  later.  The  fine-wool  flocks  were  the  sufferers  in  1883.  The  decline 
of  wool  and  the  uncertainties  of  legislation,  combined  with  the  increas- 
ing demand  for  mutton,  convinced  many  farmers  of  Ohio  that  wool- 
growing  could  be  made  to  pay  only  when  combined  with  raising  mutton. 
It  was  discovered  that  it  was  an  extremely  difficult  matter  to  keep  one 
eye  on  a  Congressman  in  Washington  and  the  other  eye  on  a  flock  of 
sheep  in  Ohio,  and  the  reasonable  conclusion  was  that  it  was  better  to 
raise  a  sheep  that  was  self-protecting  than  to  depend  upon  legislation  for 
protection.  Consequently  those  breads  were  selected  which  could  raise 
a  good  carcass  as  well  as  shear  a  good  fleece.  The  Cotswold  came  in  for 
a  good  share  of  this  change.  The  lambs  of  this  breed  are  strong,  often 
come  twins,  and  the  ewes  are  better  mothers  than  the  Merinos.  Their 
lambs  can  be  secured  early  in  the  spring,  even  as  early  as  February  if 
kept  in  warm  quarters,  and  when  grass  comes  can  subsist  upon  it.  In 
three  to  four  months  they  will  be  ready  for  market  at  $4  to  $6  per  head. 
Two  lambs  from  a  single  ewe,  together  with  her  wool  clip,  afford  a  very 
fair  profit — more  than  can  be  made  from  the  Merino  alone.  A  cross 
between  the  Cotswolds  and  the  Merinos  has  advantages.  It  combines 


EAST    OF    THE    MISSISSIPPI    RIVER.  565 

in  one  sheep  the  heavy  and  robust  carcass  of  a  mutton  sheep  with  a 
dense,  heavy  fleece  of  the  fine-wooled  Merino.  To  produce  and  main- 
tain this  cross  most  breeders  use  the  Cotswold  ram  through  his  period 
of  service  and  then  a  Merino  rani,  using  the  best  of  either  breed  when- 
ever  a  ram  is  required.  The  cross  yields  from  6  J  to  8  pounds  of  washed 
wool,  which  commands  a  good  price  in  the  wool  market.  The  carcasses 
will  average  160  to  180  pounds,  and  are  good  mutton.  In  some  locali- 
ties the  Cots  wolds  have  fallen  into  disrepute  on  account  of  what  is  vul- 
garly termed  their  "snotty  nose"  condition. 

The  Southdowns,  however,  are  the  favorite  mutton  sheep  and  main- 
tain their  ground,  particularly  in  the  neighborhood  of  the  cities,  where 
the  best  of  mutton  is  in  demand,  and  since  1883  renewed  interest  has 
been  shown  in  breeding  them.  The  Oxfords,  Hamp  shires,  and  Shrop- 
shires  all  took  a  fresh  start  about  1885.  Shropshires  numbered 
one-fourth  of  the  whole,  or  more  than  double  what  they  had  done 
at  any  previous  day,  and  they  have  made  much  headway  since.  There 
are  some  good  breeding  flocks  kept  in  the  State  which  are  maintained 
by  yearly  importations  from  the  bestr  flocks  of  England.  One  who  has 
had  an  experience  of  sheep-breeding  extending  over  thirty  years,  during 
which  time  he  had  bred  the  Southdown,  the  Leicester,  the  Cotswold, 
and  the  Lincolnshire,  and  for  ten  years  the  Shropshire  exclusively, 
asserts  that  for  the  general  farmer  in  the  Central  and  Southern  States, 
where  the  land  ranges  in  value  from  $40  to  $50  per  acre,  there  is  no 
breed  of  sheep  that  pays  better  profit  for  keeping  than  the  Shropshire. 
They  combine  all  the  good  qualities  of  other  breeds,  and  in  many  respects 
greatly  surpass  them.  As  compared  with  Southdowns,  which  are 
acknowledged  to  be  their  equals  as  to  general  hardihood  and  excellence 
of  flesh,  they  are  superior  in  size  and  in  the  quantity  and  quality  of 
wool.  Earns  of  this  breed  have  been  known  to  weigh  300  pounds  and 
give  15  pounds  of  wool.  A  cross  of  the  Shropshire  ram  on  the  Merino 
ewe  gives  a  good  result  in  mutton,  but  not  the  quantity  of  wool  to 
enthuse  the  Ohio  wool-grower. 

The  Oxford  Downs  are  not  so  widely  extended  as  the  Cotswolds,  the 
Southdowns,  or  the  Shropshires,  but  they  have  staunch  friends  and  in 
some  sections  of  the  State  are  preferred  over  all  others.  They  are  pre- 
ferred for  crossing  on  the  common  and  grade  Merino  ewes.  This  cross 
secures  a  fine,  large  carcass  of  excellent  mutton  qualities,  shearing  very 
large  fleeces  of  good  wool,  and  the  sheep  are  strong  and  healthy.  A 
cross  on  a  flock  of  Merino  ewes  that  averaged  6J  pounds  of  wool  per 
head  gave  a  progeny  that  sheared,  when  lambs,  6  to  10  pounds.  An 
Ohio  breeder,  in  a  communication  to  the  Sheep-Breeder  and  Wool- 
Grower,  states  that  the  average  weight  of  his  Oxford  ewes,  ranging 
from  one  to  five  years,  in  good  breeding  condition,  on  the  1st  day  of 
September,  1890,  was  193  pounds  aud  the  ranis  325  pounds.  Their 
fleeces  in  the  spring  of  1891,  at  twelve  months  and  five  days'  growth, 
averaged  11  pounds  and  14  ounces.  For  crossing  on  the  native  ewes  qf 


566        SHEEP  INDUSTRY  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES 

the  country  lie  found  the  Oxford  Downs  to  excel  any  and  all  other  breeds 
he  had  ever  tried,  and  he  had  tried  many,  including  the  Merinos  and 
Shropshires.  The  grade  lambs — like  the  pure-bred  ones — are  strong, 
robust,  and  hardy,  grow  rapidly,  mature  early,  respond  very  quickly  to 
feed,  and  mature  into  large,  heavy-bodied,  compactly-built,  excellent 
mutton  sheep,  and  at  the  same  time  pay  well  for  their  keep  by  producing 
large,  heavy  fleeces  of  desirable  wool.  In  the  fall  of  1887  he  sold  a  ram 
to  a  gentleman  living  in  Lenawee  County,  Mich.  This  gentleman  bred 
the  ram  to  56  Merino  ewes  and  the  next  season  those  ewes  raised  him 
61  lambs,  which  he  sold  early  in  the  fall  to  a  neighbor  for  $4.25  per 
head.  That  neighbor  fed  them  with  50  lambs  of  his  own  raising  that 
were  sired  by  a  recorded  Shropshire  ram  from  Merino  ewes,  originally 
from  the  same  flock  as  the  others.  When  he  sold  these  lambs  the  fol- 
lowing April  at  about  twelve  months  of  age,  the  half-blood  Oxford 
Downs  averaged  in  weight  21J  pounds  per  head  more  than  the  half- 
blood  Shropshires,  and  they  were  all  fed  alike  and  received  identically 
the  same  care;  and  although  they  were  not  shorn,  it  was  the  opinion  ot 
both  breeder  and  feeder  that  the  Oxford  grades  would  clip  at  least  2 
pounds  per  fleece  more  than  the  Shropshire  grades.  In  a  condensed 
report  giving  the  average  weight  of  the  different  breeds  of  sheep  at  the 
Chicago  Fat  Stock  Show  from  1878  to  1887  inclusive,  comparing  early 
Oxford  Down  wethers  with  other  breeds,  it  is  stated  thus:  Cotswolds, 
198  pounds;  Southdowns,  176 pounds;  Shropshires,  178 pounds;  Oxford 
Downs,  201  pounds.  A  comparative  statement  of  gain,  in  ounces  per 
day,  of  sheep  exhibited  at  the  Christmas  show  of  the  Smithfield  Club  in 
1889,  the  greatest  fat  stock  show  in  England,  places  the  then  leading 
medium  wool  breeds  in  the  following  order:  For  wethers — South- 
downs,  5.2  ounces;  Shropshires,  6.2  ounces;  and  Oxford  Downs,  9.3 
ounces.  Lambs — Southdowns,  8.1;  Shropshires,  9.3;  Oxfords,  10.  The 
experience  of  Ohio  breeders  shows  similar  results  and  encourages  them 
in  the  belief  that  the  Oxford  Downs,  all  things  considered,  are  the  most 
profitable  sheep,  not  only  for  the  breeders  of  recorded  stock,  but  for  the 
general  farmer,  for  grading  up  his  flock  for  the  production  of  wool  and 
mutton  at  a  profit. 

But  there  are  localities  where  the  English  breeds  will  not  thrive,  and 
Avhere  the  Merino  is  at  its  best;  and  here  there  has  been  a  change  since 
1885.  The  wool-growers  in  these  localities,  taught  to  believe  that  wool- 
growing  is  the  prime  object  in  keeping  sheep,  and  unwilling  to  give  up 
an  industry  that  has  been  and  can  be  made  profitable,  and  recognizing 
the  fact  that  the  best  possible  protection  to  wool  is  the  sheep  itself,  are 
moving  in  the  direction  of  a  larger  carcass  and  more  wool  to  the  square 
inch.  This  has  caused  an  increase  in  the  Delaine  Merinos,  which  are 
superseding  the  Vermont  type  of  Merinos  in  various  localities  and  are 
recognized  as  a  class  at  the  annual  State  exhibitions.  They  weigh  from 
120  to  180  pounds,  have  fine,  soft  wool,  with  a  long,  clean  fiber,  and  as  a 
general- purpose  sheep,  combining  wool  and  mutton  production,  are 


EAST   OF   THE   MISSISSIPPI   RIVER. 


567 


into  a  very  prominent  position.  In  some  places  they  are  super- 
seding the  Black-Top  Merinos,  to  which  they  are  closely  allied.  Others, 
however,  cling  to  the  Merinos  of  their  boyhood  and  find  a  profit  in 
them  5  not  the  Merinos  of  thirty-five  years  ago,  clipping  2  to  4  pounds 
of  wool,  but  the  descendants  of  those  sheep  on  the  same  farm,  which, 
by  care  and  attention,  skillful  treatment,  and  generous  keep,  give  fleeces 
weighing  8  to  10  pounds  each.  There  are  many  such  flocks  throughout 
the  State,  considered  as  good  property  and  paying  about  as  well  as  any 
farm  stock. 

^Notwithstanding  the  depression  among  the  Ohio  wool-growers  since 
1883,  most  of  them  have  retained  their  flocks,  reducing  them  in  num- 
bers, it  is  true,  but  improving  them  by  selection  and  increased  care. 
Weights  of  fleeces  have  not  been  generally  published,  but  there  has 
been  an  increase,  as  in  other  States.  In  1886  5  Ohio  ewes  are  recorded 
as  shearing  over  18  pounds  of  wool  each,  as  follows : 


3  years  old . 
3  years  old. 
3  years  old . 
2  years  old. 
2  years  old 


Pounds. 
20 
19 
181 
20* 
19 


The  number  of  sheep  in  the  census  years  and  the  yield  of  wool  are 
given  herewith.  From  1840  to  1880  the  figures  are  as  returned  by  the 
United  States  census.  For  1890  the  returns  of  the  Department  of 
Agriculture  are  taken  for  the  number  of  sheep,  and  the  yield  of  wool  is 
estimated  from  data  believed  to  be  equally  reliable: 


Year. 

Number 
of  sheep. 

Wool. 

Average 
Aveight 

ol'He.-ce 

per  head. 

1840 

2  0''8  401 

Pounds. 
3  685  315 

rounds. 
1  £1 

1850 

3  942  929 

10  196  371 

2  58 

I860 

3'  546  707 

10  608  927 

2  99 

1870    

4,  928,  635 

20,  539,  643 

4.16 

1880 

4  902  486 

25,003  756 

5.10 

1890         

3,  943,  589 

21,  808,  847 

5.53 

568        SHEEP  INDUSTRY  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES 

A  comparison  of  the  weight  of  fleeces  from  1840  to  1890  shows  a 
marvelous  increase.  As  the  figures  for  1840  are  not  deemed  reliable 
we  will  exclude  them  from  the  comparison  we  are  about  to  make  and 
deal  only  with  the  figures  as  given  from  1850  to  1890.  From  1850  to 
1860  the  average  weight  of  fleece  increased  16  per  cent;  from  1860  to 
1870  the  increase  was  40  per  cent ;  from  1870  to  1880  it  was  23  per 
cent,  and  from  1880  to  1890  about  8  per  cent.  From  1850  to  1890,  a 
period  of  forty  years,  the  increase  was  114  per  cent.  To  put  it  in 
another  way,  100  sheep  would  shear  as  many  pounds  of  wool  in  1890  as 
108  in  1880;  as  many  as  134  in  1870;  as  many  as  185  in  1860,  and  as 
many  as  210  in  1850.  It  would  require  100  sheep  in  1850  to  shear  258 
pounds  of  wool;  in  1860  it  would  require  86 £  sheep;  in  1870  it  would 
require  but  62  sheep,  in  1880  but  50,  and  in  1890  only  46.  In  1890  the 
number  of  sheep  exceeded  those  of  1850  but  660,  yet  the  yield  of  wool 
was  more  than  double.  Again  a  hundred-acre  farm  that  would  raise 
100  sheep  in  1850,  producing  258  pounds  of  wool,  would  raise  the  same 
number  in  1890  producing  553  pounds;  or  to  put  it  in  another  light,  if 
it  required  100  acres  to  raise  258  pounds  of  wool  in  1850  it  would  require 
but  46  acres  to  raise  the  same  amount  of  wool  in  1890.  Still  another 
element  comes  into  the  calculation.  Sheep  are  great  fertilizers  to  the 
soil,  and  land  on  which  they  have  grazed  for  many  years  has  its  pro- 
ducing qualities  increased  all  the  way  from  10  to  50  per  cent.  Allow- 
ing it  to  be  the  former  figure  and  including  this  increased  fertility  in 
our  calculation  we  arrive  at  the  conclusion  that  about  40  acres  in  1890 
produced  as  much  wool  as  100  acres  in  1850. 

The  value  of  sheep  as  help  to  wheat:growing  has  not  been  as  highly 
appreciated  in  Ohio  as  in  some  other  sections,  yet  its  value  has  been 
acknowledged.  It  is  reported  of  Erie  County  that  in  1887  its  sheep 
industry  had  greatly  declined,  whereas  in  former  years  the  flockmas- 
ters  were  numbered  by  hundreds.  Many  sold  out  entire  flocks,  and  a 
further  reduction  would  have  followed  were  it  not  for  the  fact  that  the 
wheat-growers  who  cleared  their  fields  found  the  flocks  a  good  adjunct, 
the  one  helping  the  other.  What  is  true  of  Erie  County  is  true  in  other 
counties  of  the  State,  and  wheat  and  wool-growing  go  hand  in  hand. 
An  instance  is  on  record  where  a  wheat-grower  allowed  his  flock  to 
graze  upon  part  of  a  field  of  winter  wheat  which  had  been  so  badly 
frozen  in  the  spring  that  it  was  thought  to  be  ruined,  and  who  was  much 
surprised  to  find  upon  harvesting  and  thrashing  his  crop  that  the  por- 
tion cropped  close  to  the  ground  by  the  sheep  yielded  at  the  rate  of 
several  bushels  per  acre  more  than  that  portion  upon  which  the  sheep 
had  not  been  permitted  to  run.  Since  then  he  has  practiced  pasturing 
his  wheat  fields  until  past  the  middle  of  April  of  each  year,  and  has 
succeeded  in  raising  on  an  average  from  25  to  30  bushels  per  acre. 


EAST    OF    THE    MISSISSIPPI    RIVER. 


569 


Prices  of  fine,  nwrlinm,  and  C9arse  washed  clothing  Ohi<>  fleece  wool  in  the  Eastern  mar- 
kets for  the  months  of  January,  April,  July,  and  Octobei' of  each  year  from  1824  to 
1890,  inclusive. 

[From  Manger  &  Avery's  Annual  Wool  Circular.] 


Tear. 

January. 

April. 

July. 

October. 

Fine. 

Medi- 
um. 

Coarse. 

Fine. 

Medi- 

mi)  . 

Coarse. 

Fine. 

^nf  C»-e. 

Fine. 

Medi- 
um. 

Coarse. 

1^4  

Cents. 
68 
60 
55 
36 
42 
54 
40 
70 
65 
55 
70 
63 
65 
72 
50 
56 
50 
52 
48 
35 
37 
47 
40 
45 
45 
33 
47 
46 
43 
58 
53 
40 
50 
58 
40 
60 
60 
45 
48 
75 
80 
102 
70 
68 
48 
50 
48 
47 
70 
70 
58 
55 
48 
46 
44 
34 
50 
47 
44 
40 
40 
34 
35 
33 
31 
34 
33 

Cents. 
53 
43 
43 
32 
30 
45 
35 
60 
55 
41 
60 
50 
60 
63 
42 
48 
45 
45 
42 
30 
30 
40 
35 
40 
38 
30 
40 
40 
38 
56 
47 
35 
38 
50 
33 
52 
50 
40 
50 
68 
78 
100 
65 
53 
43 
50 
46 
46 
72 
68 
54 
56 
52 
43 
45 
35 
55 
49 
46 
43 
40 
33 
36 
38 
35 
38 
37 

Cents. 
40 
32 
38 
28 
25 
35 
30 
48 
44 
33 
48 
40 
45 
48 
35 
38 
38 
35 
35 
25 
26 
31 
30 
30 
30 
23 
33 
33 
34 
50 
42 
32 
35 
42 
27 
45 
42 
37 
50 
70 
76 
96 
50 
50 
38 
48 
44 
43 
66 
65 
47 
47 
42 
36 
38 
32 
48 
43 
47 
33 
34 
29 
32 
34 
33 
33 
29 

Cents. 
70 
60 
52 
45 
44 
45 
50 
70 
60 
63 
67 
65 
68 
68 
50 
56 
49 
53 
46 
33 
43 
45 
38 
47 
43 
40 
45 
50 
42 
62 
57 
43 
57 
60 
42 
60 
52 
45 
46 
80 
78 
80 
65 
60 
50 
50 
48 
50 
80 
56 
56 
54 
46 
45 
40 
34 
55 
40 
42 
44 
38 
32 
33 
33 
31 
33 
33 

Cents. 
46 
42 
46 
34 
36 
35 
38 
60 
52 
53 
56 
60 
62 
56 
42 
48 
43 
46 
40 
28 
36 
38 
33 
40 
37 
36 
37 
44 
36 
56 
52 
35 
45 
56 
35 
46 
45 
37 
45 
85 
77 
80 
60 
55 
48 
50 
47 
52 
80 
53 
56 
52 
49 
40 
43 
34 
60 
44 
45 
44 
38 
32 
34 
37 
34 
37 
36 

Cents. 
31 
33 
41 
30 
28 
32 
32 
50 
42 
38 
44 
45 
47 
46 
35 
38 
36 
37 
32 
25 
30 
32 
28 
31 
30 
30 
30 
36 
33 
50 
46 
32 
38 
45 
30 
37 
40 
32 
43 
80 
72 
75 
48 
50 
45 
48 
46 
47 
76 
48 
47 
46 
40 
33 
35 
31 
52 
37 
34 
37 
34 
28 
30 
33 
33 
31 
29 

Cents. 
55 
50 
37 
37 
48 
46 
60 
75 
50 
61 
60 
63 
70 
52 
46 
57 
45 
50 
43 
35 
45 
40 
38 
46 
38 
40 
45 
47 
45 
60 
45 
50 
55 
56 
43 
56 
55 
38 
48 
75 
100 
75 
70 
55 
46 
48 
46 
62 
72 
50 
53 
52 
38 
50 
36 
37 
46 
42 
42 
39 
35 
32 
33 
34 
29 
35 
33 

Cents. 
40 
41 
30 
31 
38 
36 
50 
65 
42 
54 
50 
56 
60 
52 
36 
48 
39 
44 
37 
30 
37 
36 
32 
40 
32 
35 
37 
42 
38 
53 
37 
40 
42 
50 
37 
40 
50 
30 
47 
70 
100 
73 
67 
49 
45 
48 
45 
60 
70 
48 
53 
49 
35 
44 
36 
38 
48 
44 
45 
41 
34 
31 
33 
37 
33 
39 
37 

Cents. 
30 
32 
26 
25 
33 
32 
40 
50 
30 
40 
40 
42 
50 
36 
30 
40 
33 
34 
30 
26 
32 
30 
27 
31 
28 
28 
30 
37 
33 
48 
30 
33 
36 
40 
30 
35 
40 
22 
45 
65 
90 
65 
60 
45 
43 
47 
43 
55 
65 
44 
46 
46 
31 
37 
32 
34 
42 
36 
34 
33 
30 
28 
29 
34 
31 
32 
29 

Cents. 
60 
50 
43 
43 
48 
37 
70 
70 
50 
65 
62 
65 
70 
49 
56 
60 
46 
48 
38 
36 
50 
38 
36 
47 
33 
42 
46 
45 
50 
55 
42 
52 
60 
38 
56 
60 
50 
47 
60 
85 
103 
75 
63 
48 
48 
48 
48 
63 
66 
54 
54 
48 
45 
48 
35 
41 
46 
43 
42 
39 
35 
33 
35' 

Cents. 
40 
42 
37 
32 
40 
30 
60 
60 
40 
55 
50 
60 
60 
40 
48 
55 
38 
42 
31 
32 
40 
35 
30 
40 
30 
36 
40 
40 
42 
50 
36 
41 
55 
30 
41 
50 
45 
48 
60 
80 
95 
75 
60 
46 
48 
48 
48 
62 
60 
53 
54 
50 
40 
44 
37 
43 
48 
46 
45 
40 
34 
35 
38 
36 
34 
37 
37 

Cents. 
30 
36 
32 
25 
32 
27 
48 
50 
30 
45 
40 
45 
50 
31 
37 
44 
33 
33 
25 
26 
33 
28 
22 
30 
24 
30 
35 
35 
37 
48 
30 
36 
45 
25 
36 
42 
40 
50 
63 
76 
100 
65 
56 
40 
45 
46 
44 
58 
57 
47 
47 
42 
33 
36 
32 
38 
42 
36 
34 
34 
30 
32 
34 
34 
31 
31 
31 

1825 

iv*;    

1827 

18'X) 

18:54 

]>:;."i   

1836 

1837 

1838 

1839 

1840  

1841       .  . 

1842  

1843 

1844  

1845 

1846 

1847 

1848 

1849  

1850 

1  •>.-,!      

]>  •' 

1^:3 

l>  i  

1-  '^ 

1,-  o  

]-  7 

1858  



1861 

1864  

l.Miij 

186~ 

18W 

1869 

]870 

1S71  

]s7:i  

1874 

j>7:»  

l*7ii  
]-77  

1878 

1879 

1880... 

1881 

1882  . 

1883 

1884  

.  __(. 

18£7 

32 
31 
33 
33 

1888  

1889 

ig90  

This  table  shows  a  great  variation  of  prices,  and  yet  wool  for  a  long 
series  of  years  has  been  more  constant  in  price  than  most  of  the  agri- 
cultural and  mineral  products  of  Ohio.  It  has  kept  more  closely  to 


570 


SHEEP  INDUSTRY  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES 


tlie  standard  of  all  commercial  values,  gold,  than  have  the  prices  of 
the  products  of  any  other  great  American  industry.  This  has  been 
demonstrated  by  Hon.  O.  G.  Cope  in  a  paper  read  before  the  Farmers' 
Institute  at  Cadiz,  Ohio,  January  3,  1887,  and  what  here  follows  is  a 
restatement  of  a  portion  of  his  paper.  He  asserts  that  wool  was  the 
most  reliable  crop  produced  in  Ohio,  both  in  the  constancy  of  its  pro- 
duction and  the  constancy  of  its  price.  From  1870  to  1885  16  per  cent 
was  the  greatest  variation  in  any  one  year  from  the  year  immediately 
preceding,  and  that  marked  an  increase.  From  1870  to  1883  the  great- 
est per  cent  of  variations  in  the  yearly  productions  of  the  following 
farm  products  were : 

Greatest  variation  in —                                                                              I'er  cent- 
Wool 16 

Oats 32 

Corn 41 

Hay 47 

Wheat 77 

Potatoes 88 

The  greatest  variation  in  the  production  of  wool  was  one-half  as 
great  as  that  of  oats,  about  one-third  as  great  as  that  of  corn  or  hay, 
not  one-fourth  as  great  as  that  of  wheat,  and  not  one-fifth  as  great  as 
that  of  potatoes.  From  this  it  may  be  seen  that  there  is  not  one  of  the 
leading  farm  products  which  compares  favorably  with  wool  for  con- 
stancy of  production. 

The  greatest  variation  which  occurred  in  the  amount  of  wool  produced  was  dur- 
ing the  year  1880,  when  there  was  an  increase  of  16  per  cent  over  1879.  It  would 
be  reasonable  to  suppose  that  the  hay  or  corn  crops,  or  perhaps  both,  of  the  previous 
year  were  abundant,  but  such  does  not  appear  to  he  the  fact.  There  was  a  decrease 
of  16  per  cent  in  the  amount  of  hay,  and  15  per  cent  in  that  of  corn  the  previous 
year.  The  records  do  not  show  any  evidence  of  the  annual  amount  of  wool  pro- 
duced being  materially  affected  by  the  abundance  or  partial  failure  of  any  other 
crop.  Neither  frosts  nor  drouth,  nor  excessive  rainfall,  seem  to  materially  affect  the 
production  of  wool. 

In  the  constancy  of  prices  the  same  advantage  is  shown  in  favor  of 
wool.  By  reference  to  the  preceding  prices  of  Ohio  wools  from  1824  to 
1890,  and  adopting  as  our  standard  the  average  prices  of  fine  and 
medium  wools  for  the  quarter  beginning  with  .July  1  and  ending  with 
September  30  for  each  year,  we  have  the  following  table  of  prices  from 
1864  to  1890: 

Wool,  per  pound. 


Year. 

Price. 

Tear. 

Price. 

Tear. 

Price. 

1864    

$0.99 

1873    .    .  . 

$0  49 

1882 

$0.44 

1865  

74 

1874  

53 

1883     

40 

1866 

68 

1875 

51 

1884 

35 

1867  

52 

1876  

37 

1885   

32 

1868 

46 

1877 

47 

1886 

3:5 

1869 

48 

1878 

36 

1887 

36 

1870  

46 

1879 

38 

1888 

32 

1871 

61 

1880 

47 

1889 

37 

1872  

71 

1881 

43 

1890 

35 

EAST    OP  THE    MISSISSIPPI    KIVEB. 


571 


The  greatest  variation  here  shown  occurred  between  the  years  1864 
and  1865,  when  there  was  a  reduction  of  26  per  cent.  This  was  a  phe- 
nomenal year  in  the  wool  trade,  caused  by  the  close  of  the  war,  heavy 
importations,  and  a  large  stock  of  woolen  goods  on  hand  in  factories, 
with  but  small  demands.  Excluding  this  year,  the  greatest  change  in 
any  one  year  was  in  1873,  when  the  decline  from  the  preceding  year  was 
22  per  cent.  The  greatest  discrepancy  in  prices  is  shown  in  comparing 
the  years  1864  and  1885.  In  the  former  year  wool  was  $1.00 ;  in  the 
latter,  32  cents. 

The  following  will  show  the  average  price  of  a  bushel  of  wheat 
according  to  the  report  of  the  Chamber  of  Commerce  of  Cincinnati : 

Wheat,  per  bushel. 


Tear. 

Price. 

Tear. 

Price. 

Tear. 

Price. 

1864        .               

$1.41 

1870  .  .  . 

$1.14 

1876  .  .  . 

$1  10 

1865 

1  78 

1871 

1  27 

1877 

1  41 

1866 

2.27 

1872           

1  57 

1878    . 

1  11 

1867 

2  29 

1873 

1  56 

1879 

95 

1868 

1.91 

1874 

1  H7 

1880 

1  16 

1869  

1.57 

1875  

1.16 

I  1881  

1.09 

The  greatest  variation  in  prices  here  shown  was  in  1866,  when  wheat 
advanced  49  cents  a  bushel,  or  28  per  cent,  and  in  1870,  when  it 
declined  43  cents,  or  38  per  cent. 

Between  the  same  years,  1864  to  1881,  the  greatest  variation  in  oats 
was  35  per  cent;  in  corn,  52  per  cent;  in  hay,  53  per  cent.  A  compar- 
ison with  hogs  and  beef  cattle  shows  quite  as  favorably. 

The  report  of  the  Chamber  of  Commerce  of  Cincinnati  gives  the  aver- 
age prices  of  hogs  from  1864  to  1881,  as  follows : 

Hogs,  per  100  pounds. 


Year. 

Price. 

Tear. 

Price. 

Tear. 

Price. 

1864 

$5  60  1 

1870 

$9  46 

1876 

$7  27 

1865  

11.69 

1871  

5.50 

1877  

5.90 

1866 

9  57  i 

1872 

4  36 

1878   .      ... 

4  19 

1867 

6  02 

1873 

3  92 

1879 

2  80 

1868 

6  60 

1874 

4  58 

1880 

4.36 

1869  

8.41  '< 

1875 

6.99 

1881  

4.61 

|1 

Here  the  greatest  variation  was  in  1865,  when  hogs  advanced  109  per 
cent,  and  in  1879,  when  they  declined  68  per  cent.  The  extremes  of 
prices  are  found  in  these  two  years  of  1865  and  1879.  In  the  former 
year  hogs  were  $11.69;  in  the  latter  $2.86.  In  1865  a  hog  sold  for  more 
than  four  times  the  price  it  could  command  in  1879.  The  greatest  ex- 
tremes of  wool  were,  as  shown,  $1  and  32  cents,  or  slightly  more 
than  three  times  higher  at  its  highest  figure  than  at  its  lowest. 


572        SHEEP  INDUSTRY  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES 

Beef  cattle,  per  100 pounds . 


Tear. 

Price. 

Year. 

Pi-ice. 

Yeai1. 

Price. 

1864  

$5.74 

1870  ,  

$5.85 

1876 

$3  95 

186r>     '  

7.45 

1871 

5  05 

i  1877 

3  50 

1866  

7.55 

1872  

4.78 

.  1878 

3.  50 

1867 

7  27 

1873 

4  1)9 

1879 

9    QQ 

1868  

7.27 

1874  

3.90 

1880 

2  83 

1869 

5  62 

1875 

4  30 

i  18J.J1 

3  45 

Here  the  greatest  variation  from  one  year  to  another  is  found  in  1865, 
when  beef  advanced  $1.71  per  100,  or  29  per  cent,  and  in  1869,  when  it 
declined  $1.65,  or  29  per  cent.  The  extremes  were  $7.55  in  1866,  and 
$2.83  in  1880. 

A  summary  shows  this  result : 

Greatest  variation  in  price  of —  Per  cent. 

Wool 26 

Wheat 28 

Oats..  35 


Corn 
Hay. 
Hogs 
Beef. 


52 

53 

109 

29 


When  the  average  value  of  currency  in  New  York  is  considered,  the 
variation  becomes  less  apparent.  During  1864  the  average  value  was 
51  cents  per  dollar.  During  1865  the  average  value  was  69  cents  a 
dollar,  or  a  variation  of  35  per  cent,  showing  less  stability  than  that 
of  wool,  which  varied  in  the  same  period  26  per  cent. 

If  the  prices  of  all  articles  of  commerce  kept  the  same  relations  to  each  other, 
whether  moving  upwards  or  downwards,  compared  with  currency,  there  is  neither 
injury  nor  benefit  done  to  any  industry  by  the  movement.  Since  1864  there  has  been 
a  general  downward  movement  of  prices  of  almost  all  products,  and  the  relations  of 
prices  have  been  disturbed.  Whether  the  wool  industry  has  been  injured  or  bene- 
fited by  the  movement  will  now  be  shown  by  comparing  the  reduction  of  prices  of 
different  products  from  1864  to  1881.  This  period  of  eighteen  years  will  be  divided 
into  two  periods  of  nine  years  each,  and  an  average  of  prices  obtained  for  each  period, 
The  difference  between  these  averages  will  indicate  the  decline  in  prices  for  each 
product.  The  following  will  show  the  average  price  of  products  for  each  period  of 
time,  and  the  reduction  of  prices : 


Products. 

First 
period. 

Second 
period. 

Reduc- 
tion, 

Wool 

$n  r>9 

$0  43 

Per  cent. 

o  27 

Oats 

54 

37 

31 

Hogs  

100  Ibs 

7,46 

4.96 

83 

Wheat 

bushel 

1  73 

1  10 

3(i 

Coal  

do 

,21 

.13 

,3J3 

Iron 

49  00 

28  00 

48 

74 

45 

39 

Beef 

100  Ibs 

6  29 

3  62 

.42 

From  this  it  may  be  seen  that  relatively  the  prices  of  wool  have  appreciated,  and 
that  the  sheep  industry  of  Ohio  has  been  benefited  by  the  downward  movement  of 
prices  as  no  other  great  industry  has. 


EAST   OF   THE   MISSISSIPPI   RIVER. 


573 


A  comparison  of  the  average  prices  of  gold  and  currency  in  New 
York  from  1804  to  1890,  and  also  the  average  prices  of  Ohio  wool  in 
gold  and  currency  for  the  same  period  may  be  considered,  and  for  con- 
venience may  be  divided  into  three  series  of  years.  First,  the  period 
of  suspension  of  specie  payments,  including  the  years  1864  and  1878, 
inclusive ;  second,  the  period  of  resumption  of  specie  payments  up  to 
the  time  of  the  revision  of  the  tariff  laws,  which  made  a  reduction  upon 
foreign  imports  of  wool,  including  the  years  1879  and  1882,  inclusive 5 
third,  the  period  under  the  revised  tariff  laws,  including  the  years  1883 
and  1890,  inclusive. 

First  period. 


Tear. 

Prices  of  gold 
and  currency. 

Prices  of  wool 
in  currency  and 
gold. 

Gold. 

Cur- 
rency. 

Cur- 
rency. 

Gold. 

jg64                                                        

«.« 

.68 
.52 
.46 
'  .48 
.66 
.61 
.71 
.49 
.53 
.51 
.37 
.47 
.36 

$0.42 
.51 
.43 
.34 
.34 
.35 
.38 
.54 
.64 
.43 
.47 
.45 
.35 
.45 
".35 

]  g65                                  

$1.42 
1.48 
1.41 
1.40 
1.33 
1.16 
1.12 
1.13 
.15 
.10 
.14 

.to 

.04 
1.01 

$6.70 
.68 
.70 
.71 
.71 
.86 
.89 

:8 

.90 
.87 
.90 
.96 
.99 

1866 

1£(,7                                                                 

]  80S                   

]869                                                       

l>7n                              

1ST! 

]>7"                                

H73 

]874                                  

1875 

1876                                      .                  ... 

1877 

1878 

This  shows  that  from  1864  to  1878,  during  the  period  of  the  resump- 
tion of  specie  payments,  the  average  price  of  wool  was  55.93  cents  in 
currency  and  43.06  cents  in  gold. 

Second  period. 


Tear. 

Prices  of  gold 
and  currency. 

Prices  of  wool 
in  currency  and 

gow: 

Gold. 

Cur- 
rency. 

Cur- 
rency. 

Gold. 

Ig79                           

$1.00 
1.00 
1.00 
l.CO 

$1.00 
1.00 
1.00 
1.00 

$0.38 
.47 
.43 
.44 

$0.38 
.47 
.43 
.44 

1880 

1881                               -   -   - 

1882 

For  this  period  of  four  years  the  average  price  of  Ohio  fine  and  me- 
dium wools  was  43  cents,  both  in  gold  and  currency. 

Third  period. 


Ytar. 

Price. 

Tear. 

! 

Price. 

1883 

$0  40 

!  1887 

$0  36 

1884 

35 

1888 

.32 

lj?3o 

32 

I  ]889 

37 

1886                                                                        ^. 

.33 

i  1890 

.35 

I 

574 


SHEEP    INDUSTRY    OF    THE    UNITED    STATES 


This  shows  an  average  of  35  cents  per  pound  from  1883  to  1890,  cov 
ering  the  period  under  the  revised  tariff  of  1883. 

The  average  prices  of  wool  during  these  three  series  of  years  reduced 
to  a  gold  basis  are  thus  shown : 

Cents. 

During  the  suspension  of  specie  payments 43. 06 

After  resumption  and  before  the  revision  of  the  tariff  in  1883 43. 00 

From  the  revision  of  the  tariff  in  1883  until  1890 35.  00 

It  is  not  the  intention  to  discuss  these  figures  and  the  preceding 
tables.  They  speak  for  themselves.  They  show  that  wool  has  been 
more  constant  in  production  and  more  stable  in  price  than  any  product 
of  Ohio,  and  that  while  all  other  farm  crops  have  suffered  a  great  reduc- 
tion wool  has  suffered  less  than  any.  There  has  been  a  more  marked 
depression  since  1883,  but  this  depression  has  been  felt  by  all  other 
farm  products  and  in  every  State  and  Territory  in  our  broad  land. 

Table  showing  the  number  and  value  of  sheep  in  Ohio  from  1840  to  1890. 


Tear. 

Number. 

Value. 

Year. 

Number. 

Value. 

1840 

2  0^8  401 

$1  283  386 

1868  

7,  688,  845 

$14,  819,  353 

1846        

.'5,  141  ,  946 

1,758,433 

1869  

6.  272.  R40 

10,  780,  364 

1848 

3  677  171 

1  988  316 

1870 

4  928,  635 

9,  364,  506 

]  850           

3,942  929 

2,  050,  323 

1871   

4,  302,  904 

8,  062,  699 

1851 

3  619  674 

2  060  012 

1872 

4  464,898 

13,  843,  801 

1852 

3  059  796 

3  531,385 

1873  ...       

4,  596,  864 

11,710,407 

1853   

4,  104,  450 

6,  443,  391 

1874  

4,  333,  868 

10,  652,  067 

1854 

4  854  189 

8  031,854 

1875 

4,  100,  288 

10,  173,  046 

1855 

4  337  943 

5  664  829 

1876 

3  854  528 

8  849,574 

1856 

3  513  680 

5  C09  410 

1877 

3,  724,  040 

8,  382,  428 

1857        

3,276  539 

5  357  275 

1878  

3,  909,  604 

8,  578,  123 

1858 

3  377  840 

4  755  215 

1879 

4  267,261 

9,  311,  972 

1859 

3,366  073 

5  442  984 

1880.  ..     

4,  902,  486 

12,  581,  427 

1860 

3  546  073 

6  029  503 

1881 

4  923,  174 

13,  384,  257 

1861 

3  943  436 

6*681  427 

1882        

4,  594,  607 

13,  383,  249 

1862  

4,  448,  227 

7,  839,  041 

1883  

5,  089,  363 

13,  249,  166 

1863 

5  042  439 

14  337  058 

1884  . 

5,  113,  884 

11,  940,  720 

1864 

5  560  318 

17  502  657 

1885 

4  823  922 

9,  345,  819 

1865 

6  305  796 

22  088  176 

1886 

4,  277,  463 

8,  888,  430 

1866  

6,  966,  028 

20,  081,  944 

1890  

3,  943,  589 

11,  909,  638 

1867 

7  555  507 

20  360  302 

The  Statistician  of  the  U.  S.  Department  of  Agriculture  reports  in 
January,  1890,  that  in  Ohio  in  the  preceding  year  "  there  has  been  an 
unusual  demand  for  sheep,  saving  thousands  from  slaughter,  and  giv- 
ing a  healthy  tone  to  the  industry,"  and  in  January,  1891,  "  sheep  have 
increased  in  numbers  and  quality,  the  mutton  breeds  having  the  lead." 

He  reports  a  gain  of  406,170  sheep  from  January  1,  1891,  to  January 
1, 1892,  and  an  increase  in  value  during  the  same  period  from  $3.25  to 
$3.30  per  head.  Sheep — prime  mutton — found  ready  saje,  and,  compe- 
tition being  more  restricted  than  with  beef,  prices  ranged  with  profit 
to  feeders.  Wool,  however,  was  lower  than  for  years.  The  tendency 
still  continued  to  cross  fine- wool  sheep  with  Lincoln,  Shropshire,  and 
other  large  mutton  breeds,  aiming  to  secure  large  lambs  for  early 
feeding. 


EAST   OF   THE    MISSISSIPPI   RIVER.  575 

INDIANA. 

At  the  first  settlement  of  this  State  there  were  two  varieties  of  the 
so-called  common  sheep  introduced.  First,  the  sheep  from  the  Eastern 
States,  small,  beautiful,  and  hardy,  giving  2£  to  4  pounds  of  wool.  It 
lived  in  the  woods,  generally  took  care  of  itself,  was  very  prolific,  and 
made  fair  mutton,  for  which,  however,  it  was  but  little  used,  being 
raised  principally  for  the  wool  nsed  in  the  family  manufacture.  There 
was  another  variety  of  sheep  imported  first  into  Georgia,  then  into  Horth 
Carolina,  and  thence  to  Morgan  County,  Ind.,  at  its  first  settlement. 
From  Morgan,  as  a  center,  it  spread  into  the  southern  interior  counties. 
This  sheep  was  known  as  the  Moravian.  It  had  a  brown  nose  and  a 
face  similar  to  the  Southdown.  The  wool  was  very  white,  and  on  the 
hams  was  mixed  with  hair. 

There  were  a  few  Merinos  introduced  into  Indiana  while  it  was  yet  a 
Territory.  In  a  very  few  cases  they  were  full-bloods ;  some  were  high 
grades.  The  earliest  full-blood  flock  was  that  of  George  Bapp.  In 
1814  Mr.  Bapp  moved  his  flock  from  Harmony,  Pa.,  to  Xew  Harmony, 
on  the  banks  of  the  Wabash  Biver  in  Posey  County.  Here  large  tracts 
were  devoted  to  sheep-grazing  and  wool-growing,  and  the  manufacture 
of  woolens  was  set  up,  which  consumed  the  wool  grown  by  the  flock 
and  also  that  grown  for  many  miles  around  in  Indiana  and  Illinois. 
Wool  from  Kentucky,  Tennessee,  and  Mississippi  was  also  sent  to  this 
factory.  In  1824,  Mr.  Bapp  and  the  community  of  which  he  was  the 
head,  removed  to  Economy,  Pa.,  taking  most  of  the  Merino  flock  with 
him;  but  its  stay  often  years  in  southwestern  Indiana  had  done  much 
to  supply  that  region  and  southeastern  Illinois  with  many  full-blood 
and  half-blood  sheep.  A  few  were  carried  across  the  Ohio  Biver  into 
Kentucky. 

The  Merinos  found  their  way  gradually  into  the  southeastern  part  of 
the  State  by  the  river  counties  of  Ohio  and  from  the  flocks  of  Wash- 
ington County,  Pa.  There  were  some  in  Franklin  County  as  early 
as  1819,  and  in  the  following  year  Pegg  &  Davis,  of  Brookville,  adver- 
tised wool  carding,  both  common  and  Merino  wool,  having  a  new 
machine  from  the  East  and  hands  experienced  in  the  business.  Other 
carding  machines  were  put  up  on  the  West  Fork  of  the  White  Biver, 
and  their  owners  solicited  the  patronage  of  the  public  in  carding  Merino 
and  common  wool  grown  in  southeastern  Indiana  and  southwestern 
Ohio. 

From  1820  to  1840  the  progress  of  fine- wool  industry  in  the  State  was 
very  slow ;  in  fact  it  may  be  said  that  there  was  no  progress.  A  few 
Ohio  half-bloods  and  Michigan  grades  were  brought  over  the  borders, 
and  an  occasional  Pennsylvania  sheep  came  down  the  Ohio  to  the  river 
counties,  but  very  little  was  done  to  improve  the  breed  of  sheep — the 
coarse- wooled,  leggy,  and  light-bodied  sheep  of  the  country.  Wheat, 
corn,  and  hogs  were  the  principal  crops  of  the  Indiana  farmer,  and  he 


576  SHEEP    INDUSTRY    OF    THE    UNITED    STATES 

raised  scarcely  enough  coarse  wool  to  keep  his  family  in  woolen  goods. 
In  1840  there  were  657,982  sheep  in  the  State,  yielding  1,237,919  pounds 
of  wool,  or  a  trifle  less  than  2  pounds  per  head.  From  this  time  there 
was  a  great  advance  in  the  number  of  sheep  and  quality  of  the  wool. 
Some  high-grade  Merinos  were  brought  into  the  northern  counties  from 
Michigan,  and  into  the  southeastern  counties  from  Ohio  and  Pennsyl- 
vania, and  by  1845  there  were  Spanish  Merino  grades,  Saxony  grades, 
and  half  and  quarter-blood  Wells  and  Dickinson  and  Washington 
County,  Pa,  sheep.  The  Spanish  Merino  grades  came  principally  from 
Michigan  and  Ohio,  the  Saxon  grades  from  western  Pennsylvania. 

In  1845  Dr.  A.  C.  Stevenson  and  Alexander  Black  introduced  into 
Putnam  County  two  flocks  of  fine-wooled  sheep,  from  which  many  rams 
were  subsequently  sold,  to  the  great  improvement  of  the  common  flocks 
of  the  country.  Dr.  Stevenson's  flock  was  pure-blood  Spanish  Merino, 
and  said  to  have  been  the  first  full-blooded  flock  of  the  kind  introduced 
into  the  State.  His  clip  of  wool  in  1853  sold  for  $3,000,  which  indicates 
that  his  flock  then  numbered  over  1,500  head.  It  is  hardly  possible 
that  they  were  all  full-blood  sheep.  The  flock  was  dispersed  about 
1860.  The  flock  of  Mr.  Black  was  from  Washington  County,  Pa.,  and 
either  full  or  high-grade  Saxon;  probably  a  Spanish  Merino  and  Saxon 
cross,  then  in  high  repute  in  western  Pennsylvania.  This  flock  was 
kept  up  many  years  and  yielded  2f  pounds  of  well-\vashed  tagged  wool. 
In  1853  his  clip  sold  for  $4,000,  which,  with  wool  at  60  cents,  would 
indicate  a  flock  of  nearly  or  quite  2,500  head.  In  1856  this  flock  was 
considered  the  best  fine-wooled  flock  in  the  State,  and  in  1867  could 
hardly  be  excelled  in  the  United  States.  It  had  usually  carried  away 
the  premiums  at  the  State  fairs.  From  these  two  flocks  many  smaller 
flocks  were  formed  in  Putnam  County,  which  soon  became  the  center 
of  the  fine- wool  industry  of  the  southern  middle  of  the  State. 

In  1850  the  number  of  sheep  in  the  State  was  1,122,493,  yielding 
2,610,287  pounds  of  wool,  or  an  average  of  2.32  pounds  per  head.  The 
number  of  sheep  had  almost  doubled  in  ten  years;  the  yield  of  wool 
had  more  than  doubled,  and  the  yield  per  head  had  increased  one-third 
of  a  pound,  due  entirely  to  the  improvement  of  the  sheep.  Indi- 
ana, however,  could  scarcely  be  called  a  fine  wool-growing  State. 
Her  principal  crops  were  corn,  wheat,  and  hogs.  The  introduction  of 
high-class  sheep  was  not  general,  and  investigation  showed  that,  in 
most  ot  the  counties  of  the  State,  wool  was  grown  for  family  use  only ; 
to  grow  it  for  market  was  not  considered  profitable.  In  Tippecanoe 
County  a  few  of  the  fine-wooled  sheep  had  been  introduced,  but  through 
careless  breeding  they  had  degenerated.  The  prairies  were  unsuited 
to  them.  In  Elkhart  County  a  few  enterprising  farmers  had  brought 
some  Michigan  Merinos  and  crossed  them  with  common  sheep  for  wool 
and  mutton  together.  M.  E.  Hull,  of  Fayette,  had  some  Merinos  which 
sheared  him  4  pounds  of  wool  per  head.  Laporte  County  flocks  were 
on  the  increase;  there  were  25,000  sheep,  averaging  2J  pounds  of  wool. 


EAST    OF    THE    MISSISSIPPI    RIVER.  577 

and  they  were  of  every  grade  from  full-blooded  Spanish  and  French 
Merino  down  to  common  sheep.  There  were  but  few  Saxons  and  no 
English  sheep.  Chicago  furnished  a  market  for  mutton.  John  Owens 
introduced  the  Merino  into  Monroe,  but  his  flock  degenerated  from 
breeding  in-and-in,  and  there  was  no  pure  blood  from  which  to  breed. 
In  Hendricks  County  the  people  did  not  engage  in  wool-growing  to  any 
extent  beyond  the  demand  for  home  consumption,  and  took  more  inter- 
est in  raising  hogs.  The  same  was  the  case  in  Marion  and  Jay.  In 
many  counties  the  dog  was  charged  with  the  indifference  to  sheep 
raising.  In  those  localities  near  large  cities  the  mutton  sheep  was  the 
most  popular.  Hendricks  had  Oxfords,  Cotswolds,  Leicesters,  and 
Southdowns,  which  were  sold  at  Indianapolis,  and  the  surplus  found  its 
way  to  Cincinnati.  In  Greene  County  large-sized  sheep  were  found 
most  profitable  both  for  mutton  and  wool,  a  medium  quality  between 
coarse  and  fine  wool  being  most  preferred  for  domestic  fabrics.  A 
profit  was  made  in  raising  a  sheep  and  selling  it  for  $1.50.  St.  Joseph 
County,  on  the  Michigan  border,  preferred  large  sheep,  or  a  mixture 
that  would  produce  good- sized  sheep  and  a  fair  grade  of  wool.  Wool- 
growing  exclusively  was  not  profitable,  and  mutton  raising  was  the 
most  prominent. 

From  1850  to  1860  there  was  a  great  decrease  in  the  number  of  sheep, 
the  tailing  off  being  more  than  130,000.  The  yield  of  wool,  however, 
decreased  but  58,000  pounds,  while  the  average  yield  per  head  went  up 
to  2.57  pounds  as  against  2.32  in  1850. 

The  increase  in  the  amount  of  wool  per  head  was  due  to  two  causes, 
the  gradual  crossing  of  the  Merino  grades  on  the  common  sheep  for  one, 
and  the  introduction  of  heavy,  long  fleeced  and  middle  wooled  sheep 
for  another.  There  were  some  full-blood  Merinos  introduced,  but  in  few 
localities  only.  Lagrange,  Allen,  Elkhart,  and  some  other  counties 
increased  in  fine  sheep,  and  at  the  State  fair  in  1855  there  was  a  respect- 
able showing  of  Saxonies,  French,  and  American  Merinos,  and  crosses 
between  them,  and  also  some  fine  Southdowns,  Leicesters,  and  Cots- 
wolds.  Putnam  County  kept  up  its  two  fine  flocks,  and  Black's  Saxony 
sheep  sold  for  $10  to  $20  a  head,  while  common  sheep  brought  only  $1. 
There  were,  however,  but  few  pure-blood  sheep  of  any  kind  in  the  State, 
and  these  few  were  in  the  possession  of  the  most  enterprising.  Many 
causes  combined  to  produce  the  decrease  in  the  number  of  sheep,  the 
prime  cause  being  found  in  the  fact  that  the  native  breeds  produced 
but  little  wool,  and  that  of  an  inferior  quality.  This  wool  commanded 
a  low  price  and  the  low  price  of  woolen  goods  compared  with  former 
years  inclined  it  still  lower.  Another  great  cause  was  the  rise  in  land, 
farm  products,  and  live  stock,  especially  cattle  and  hogs,  making  the 
rearing  of  sheep,  either  for  wool  or  mutton,  a  very  unprofitable  busi- 
ness as  compared  with  others.  And  to  these  must  be  added  the  dogs. 
The  mutton  breeds  continued  to  come  into  the  State,  and  in  1860  it  was 
22990 37 


578 


SHEEP    INDUSTRY    OF    THE    UNITED    STATES 


difficult  to  find  a  flock  in  most  counties  that  did  not  bear  marks  of 
them.  There  are  reasons  peculiar  to  the  climate  and  soil  why  the 
Merino  has  never  obtained  a  general  foothold  in  Indiana,  and  one  of 
these  is  given  in  an  address  by  Hon.  Lee  McDaniel,  in  1881: 

The  Merino  as  a  breed  can  not  be  grown  successfully  on  a  great  portion  of  the  soil 
of  Indiana^  because  it  is  too  low  and  black;  their  hoofs  will  grow  crooked  in  spite  of 
every  effort  in  trimming.  They  will  take  the  foot  rot  and  scab.  So  you  see  we 
must  cross  if  we  expect  to  retain  any  of  the  blood  of  this  valuable  little  animal. 

At  a  time  when  nearly  every  county  in  the  country  had  its  sheep- 
shearing  festival  Indiana  was  not  backward,  but  the  records  are  want- 
ing. A  record  of  scoured  fleeces  and  the  shrinkage  is  preserved.  In 
1865,  in  Parke  County,  several  Merino  fleeces  were  scoured  and  dried 
at  a  woolen  factory  in  the  vicinity,  and  weighed  accurately  before  and 
after  scouring: 


Age. 

Weight 
of 

carcass. 

Gross 
weight 
of  fleece. 

Scoured 
weight. 

Pounds. 

78 

Lbs.  Oz. 
10      6 

Lbs.  Oz. 

4      2 

One  year         

80i 

10      7J 

4      •{ 

Two  years  

126 

10     11* 

4      0 

Do 

96 

15      1 

4      "i 

One  year  

74 

8      81- 

3      3 

Four  years 

107i 

9    13i 

3    35 

One  year  

67 

8      1 

2    15 

Four  years 

ifioi 

15      31 

4    193L 

One  year  .  .  . 

70i 

14      5i 

3      7i 

yDo                                             

5(T 

8      7 

3      9 

The  10  fleeces  averaged  as  shorn  11  pounds  1  ounce,  as  cleaned  3 
pounds  14  ounces,  a  shrinkage  of  over  Co  per  cent,  or  not  quite  two- 
thirds  waste  to  one-third  wool. 

The  demand  for  wool  caused  by  the  war  increased  the  number  of 
sheep  from  1860  to  1865  100  per  cent.  But  when  the  war  closed  and 
wool  fell  in  price  there  was  a  great  reduction.  Whole  flocks  were  sold 
out  and  the  farmers7  attention  was  turned  to  corn  and  hogs  and  dairy 
products.  But,  on  the  whole,  there  had  been  an  increase  from  991,175 
sheep  in  1860  to  1,612,680  in  1870,  notwithstanding  the  great  loss  from 
1865  to  1870.  The  tariff  act  of  1867  did  not  arrest  the  decline,  and  there 
was  a  loss  from  1870  to  1880  of  over  500,000,  or  more  than  33£  per  cent. 
And  notwithstanding  this  loss  in  the  number  of  sheep  the  wool  clip  of 
1880  exceeded  that  of  1870  by  over  1,000,000  pounds. 

The  Merinos  have  constantly  decreased,  and  they  are  not  a  ruling- 
factor  in  wool-growing  in  Indiana.  There  are  some  good  breeding 
flocks  and  some  grades,  but  they  are  in  small  proportion  to  the  other 
breeds  and  their  crosses.  The  low  price  of  wool  had  something  to  do 
with  their  general  disappearance,  but  more  was  due  to  the  greater 
profit  in  raising  fat  sheep  for  market.  This  is  a  great  industry  in  the 
State.  The  rapid  development  of  manufactures,  the  growth  of  villages 
to  towns,  of  towns  to  cities,  and  the  increasing  consumption  of  mutton, 


EAST    OF    THE    MISSISSIPPI    RIVER.  579 

have  fostered  this  branch  of  sheep  husbandry.  Many  of  the  fanners 
engaged  in  this  business  do  not  raise  the  sheep  thus  handled  upon  their 
own  farms.  They  are  picked  up  on  farms  20  to  40  miles  from  home, 
sometimes  from  outside  of  the  State  and  beyond  the  Mississippi.  Three- 
year-old  wethers  are  preferred  for  this  purpose,  as  they  have  attained 
about  the  proper  size  and  age  to  fatten  advantageously.  The  general 
run  must  weigh  over  100  pounds,  and  medium  wools  are  preferred,  as 
the  farmer  must  depend  for  his  profit  on  both  the  mutton  and  wool. 
Many  farmers  buy  from  50  to  200  annually,  fatten  them  through  the 
winter  on  their  surplus  hay  and  grain,  and  turn  them  off  in  the  spring 
at  a  good  profit. 

Not  only  do  the  farmers  expect  and  generally  realize  a  good  profit  on 
the  sheep  by  using  their  hay  and  grain  without  the  expense  and  trouble 
of  finding  a  market  for  these  crops,  but  they  thus  convert  them  upon 
their  farms  into  large  quantities  of  superior  manure,  which  has  a  cash 
value  to  them  in  restoring  to  their  lands  the  fertility  that  has  been  lost 
by  years  of  continuous  cropping.  And  experience  has  shown  that  the 
farmers  pursuing  this  course  get  as  good  prices  for  their  corn  as  if  it 
were  fed  to  hogs.  Eaising  early  lambs  for  the  city  markets  receives 
much  attention  from  those  situated  near  cities  or  on  roads  running  to 
them.  For  this  purpose  common  or  Merino  grade  ewes  are  purchased 
in  the  late  summer  or  early  fall,  put  with  a  Southdown  or  Shropshire  ram, 
the  lambs  sold  at  from  $3  to  $5,  and  the  ewes  fattened  on  pasturage 
and  sold  off  later.  This  system  follows  that  pursued  in  New  Jersey  and 
other  parts  of  the  East.  But  the  preferable  course  of  the  Indiana 
farmer  is  a  combination  of  wool  and  mutton.  In  order  to  gain  the 
greatest,  and  we  might  say  the  requisite,  amount  of  profit,  he  must 
raise  a  sheep  combining  a  growth  of  wool  with  a  growth  of  mutton; 
one  that  will  net  him  the  most  pounds  of  marketable  mutton,  and  a 
good  grade  of  wool.  The  wool  should  pay  for  the  keeping,  and  the 
lambs  pay  a  good  interest  on  the  money  invested.  He  can  go  into  the 
market  in  the  fall  with  $100  and  buy  20  common  ewes  for  $75,  and  a 
ram  for  $25  of  some  of  the  mutton  breeds.  These  bred  all  winter  with 
good  care  will  give  him  20  lambs,  which,  at  the  end  of  a  year  from  the 
time  he  started,  can  be  sold  at  $3.50  to  $4.50  per  head.  At  the  lower 
price,  or  $70  for  20  lambs,  there  will  be  realized  a  return  of  70  per  cent 
on  the  original  investment,  and  the  flock  is  left.  The  wool,  even  at  its 
lowest  price,  can  be  counted  on  to  pay  the  cost  of  keeping.  But  if  the 
sheep  are  raised  alone  for  mutton  there  must  be  deducted  from  the  sale 
of  lambs  at  least  $30  for  expense,  leaving  only  $40,  or  40  per  cent  on 
the  investment.  This  combination  of  wool  and  mutton  most  of  the 
Indiana  farmers  believe  they  have  found  in  the  Shropshire  sheep,  and 
it  is  the  belief  in  that  combination  that  makes  the  sheep  so  popular  in 
the  State,  where  they  are  increasing  with  a  rapidity  that  threatens  to 
drive  out  all  other  sheep.  Their  mutton  is  considered  nearly  as  good 
as  that  of  the  Southdown,  while  their  wool  is  much  larger  and  nearly 


580        SHEEP  INDUSTRY  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES 

as  fine.  As  an  average  the  fleece  will  weigh  8  pounds,  while  that  of 
the  Southdown  will  not  exceed  6  pounds.  They  are  claimed  as  shearing 
as  much  money  per  head  as  the  wool  breeds,  so  called,  and  every  way 
superior  to  them  for  mutton.  They  stand  close  herding  in  large  num- 
ber sj  are  quiet,  very  strong  and  heal  thy;  are  exceptionally  free  from 
foot-rot;  require  no  extra  feed  and  but  little  care,  and  upon  the  whole 
will  give  large  returns  with  the  least  trouble.  They  weigh  from  170  to 
300  pounds.  One  is  on  record  as  weighing  400  pounds.  An  Indiana 
breeder  reports  one  as  weighing  328  pounds  at  two  years  old,  and  giv- 
ing 18  pounds  of  medium,  delaine,  and  half-combing  wool.  They  have 
been  found  very  prolific,  producing  at  least  40  per  cent  of  twins.  The 
lambs  are  strong,  are  on  their  feet  nearly  as  soon  as  dropped,  and  give 
but  little  trouble.  Many  farmers  are  grading  up  their  flocks  by  using 
large,  well-shaped,  and  woolly  rams  of  this  breed.  Breeding-flocks 
abound  in  the  State  to  supply  the  demand,  and  the  importation  from 
the  best  of  English  flocks  is  constant. 

Indiana  is  the  home  of  the  American  Shropshire  Association,  and 
here  seems  the  proper  place  to  note  the  origin  and  early  history  of  this 
breed  of  sheep  so  popular  in  the  West,  and,  indeed,  throughout  the 
Union  wherever  sheep  husbandry  receives  attention.  The  Shropshire 
is  the  direct  result  of  the  application  of  science  in  the  hands  of  progres- 
sive men,  working  continuously  on  natural  laws  for  the  improvement 
of  good  breeds,  and  at  times  producing  new  ones  of  superior  merit. 

The  old  sheep  of  Shropshire  were  of  many  breeds,  but  time  and  cir- 
cumstances gave  them  a  more  equal  character.  Many  of  these  breeds 
have  passed  away;  some  of  them  yet  remain,  but  in  an  improved  con- 
dition. These  were  originally  horned  and  with  black  or  mottled  faces 
and  legs.  They  were  about  the  size  of  the  Southdown,  but  the  neck 
was  longer  and  the  carcass  not  so  compact.  They  were  hardy  and 
rarely  had  food  given  them  in  the  winter,  except  in  a  deep  snow.  At 
the  beginning  of  this  century  the  Shropshire  sheep  weighed  from  14  to 
16  pounds  per  quarter;  the  fleece  of  the  wether  about  2J  pounds,  but 
that  of  the  ewe  not  more  than  If  pounds.  They  were  sometimes 
crossed  by  the  Dorsets,  by  which  the  carcass  was  increased  to  18  to  20 
pounds  the  quarter  and  the  fleece  to  3  or  4  pounds,  but  the  quality  of 
both  was  deteriorated.  They  were,  however,  thought  to  pay  the 
farmers  better  than  the  old  breed. 

The  common  mountain  sheep  of  Shropshire  were  smaller,  being 
scarcely  more  than  10  or  12  pounds  to  the  quarter;  but  the  wool  was 
finer,  and  sold  at  a  somewhat  higher  price. 

The  Long  Mynd  or  Mound  sheep  were  horned,  with  black  faces, 
weighing  about  12  pounds  the  quarter,  the  wool  being  very  little  in- 
ferior to  that  of  the  common  mountain  sheep.*  Youatt  says  that  the 
sheep,  however,  which  was  the  pride  and  boast  of  Shropshire,  and 
scarcely  excelled  in  fineness  of  wool  even  by  the  Ilyelands^  was  the 

*  Youatt. 


EAST    OF    THE    MISSISSIPPI    RIVER.  581 

Morfe  Common  sheep.  This  tract  of  land  is  situated  on  the  borders  of 
the  Severn,  near  Bridgenorth,  and  contains  nearly  4,000  acres.  The  ewes 
wnv  fed  on  the  common  from  the  middle  of  June  to  October,  when  the 
young  sheep  were  brought  on  it  for  the  winter.  From  the  shortness 
of  the  pastures  and  the  quantity  of  furze  about  the  common  the  sheep 
began  to  lose  their  teeth  at  five  years  old,  and  were  then  disposed  of. 

The  Morfe  sheep  had  small  horns,  with  speckled,  dark,  or  black  faces 
and  legs ;  the  wether  weighing  about  13  pounds,  and  the  ewe  9  pounds 
the  quarter,  and  the  fleece  weighing  about  2  pounds.  In  many  points 
resembling  the  Eyeland,  if  indeed  not  a  variety  of  that  breed,  it  had 
been  found  from  time  immemorial  in  various  parts  of  Worcestershire, 
Shropshire,  and  Staffordshire.  It  was  probably  this  species  of  Shrop- 
shire wool  that  in  1343  was  the  choicest  and  the  dearest  in  England, 
and  at  every  succeeding  period,  when  mention  has  been  made  of  it, 
justice  has  been  done  to  its  excellent  quality.  It  has  now  shared  the 
fate  of  every  short- wooled  fleece.  The  importation  of  a  better  material 
and  the  tyranny  of  fashion  tempted  the  farmer  to  cross  even  this  breed 
with  a  heavier  sheep;  and  the  experiment,  however  it  may  have  an- 
swered to  him  in  a  pecuniary  point  of  view,  materially  changed  the 
character  and  the  destiny  of  the  Morfe  fleece. 

In  1792,  when  the  British  Wool  Society  procured  all  the  information 
possible  regarding  the  sheep  of  England,  they  reported  that  on  Morfe 
Common  there  were  about  10,000  sheep  kept  during  the  summer  months 
which  produced  wool  of  a  superior  quality.  They  were  considered  a 
native  breed;  were  black-faced  or  brown  or  spotted  faced,  horned  sheep, 
little  subject  to  either  rot  or  scab;  weighing,  the  wethers  from  11  to  14 
pounds,  and  the  ewes  from  9  to  11  pounds  the  quarter. 

Upon  this  and  other  evidence  Professor  Wilson  concludes  that  the 
original  stock  from  which  the  present  breed  of  Shropshire  Downs 
sprung  was  the  old  Morfe  Common,  and  as  the  country  advanced  and 
the  breeds  became  valuable  for  their  carcasses  as  well  as  for  their  wool, 
the  Morfe  Common  sheep  were  crossed  with  other  breeds,  but  more 
particularly  with  the  long- wooled  Leicester  and  Cotswold  or  the 
short- wooled  Southdown.  The  admixture  of  such  different  blood  has 
produced  a  corresponding  variation  in  the  character  of  the  present 
breed  of  Shropshire  Downs,  and  tended  materially  to  sustain  the 
hesitation  which  long  existed  to  allow  them  a  place  as  a  distinct 
breed.  Where,  however,  the  original  cross  was  with  the  Southdown 
and  the  breed  has  been  continued  unmixed  with  the  long- wooled  sheep, 
they  present  the  characteristics  of  a  short- wooled  breed.* 

This  view  is  not  universally  shared,  and  it  is  not  unhesitatingly 
acknowledged  that  the  Shropshire  Down  is  a  pure  sheep  descended 
from  the  Morfe  Common.  It  is  held  by  many  that,  though  modern 
sheep  in  their  improved  character,  the  original  stocks  were  the  Long 

*  Prof.  John  Wilson,  in  Journal  of  the  Royal  Agricultural  Society  of  England, 
Vol.  xvi. 


532        SHEEP  INDUSTRY  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES 

Mynds  in  Shropshire  and  the  Cannock  Chaso  of  Staffordshire,  and 
they  bring  forward  evidence  to  sustain  their  position.  About  1858 
Mr.  Tanner  made  an  agricultural  survey  of  Shropshire  and  paid  par- 
ticular attention  to  its  sheep,  and  his  conclusion,  after  much  inquiry 
and  personal  investigation,  is  thus  expressed:  " For  my  part  I  do  not 
consider  them  a  pure  breed,  but  a  cross-bred  animal  from  the  original 
Long  Mynd  or  old  Shropshire  sheep."  Plymley,  who  published  in  1803 
a  general  view  of  the  agriculture  of  Shropshire,  says : 

There  is  a  breed  of  sheep  on  the  Long  Mynd  with  horns  and  black  faces  that  seem 
an  indigenous  sort;  they  are  nimble,  hardy,  and  weigh  near  10  pounds  per  quarter 
when  fatted.  The  fleeces  upon  the  average  may  yield  2£  pounds,  of  which  one-half 
pound  will  be  the  breecheus  or  coarse  wool,  and  is  sold  distinct  from  the  rest.  The 
farmers  of  the  hill  country  seem  to  think  the  greatest  advantage  they  derive  from 
the  access  of  foreign  stock  is  from  the  cross  of  the  Southdown  with  the  Long  Mynd 
sheep ;  the  produce  they  state  to  be  as  hardy  and  to  bite  as  close  as  the  Long  Mynd 
sheep;  and  the  weight  of  the  carcass  is  increased. 

Erom  this  positive  statement  of  an  observer  in  the  beginning  of  the 
century  and  from  his  own  observations  nearly  sixty  years  later,  Tanner 
thought  it  evident  that  this  cross  of  the  Southdown  and  the  Long  Mynd 
was  an  early  favorite,  and  that  the  practice  continued  could  not  be 
doubted,  for  it  was  well  known  that  first-class  flocks  of  pure  South- 
downs  were  kept  in  Corfe  Dale,  and  annual  ram  sales  were  held  for 
very  many  years  until  they  were  gradually  superseded  by  the  improved 
Shropshire  Down,  and  at  the  time  Tanner  wrote  Southdown  rams  from 
the  best  breeders  still  found  their  way  from  the  east  of  ED  gland  to 
Shropshire.  Even  those  flockmasters  who  claimed  to  be  holders  of  the 
original  breed  could  give  no  proof  of  purity  of  blood  for  twenty-five  or 
thirty  years. 

Spooner,  in  his  essay  on  cross-breeding,  is  explicit  in  his  statement 
that  the  Shropshire  is  "undoubtedly  a  cross-bred  animal,  and  indeed 
affords  a  striking  example  of  the  perfection  that  can  be  derived  from 
a  judicious  mixture  of  various  breeds,"  and  he  quotes  Mr.  Meire,  a 
breeder,  who  at  a  meeting  of  a  farmers'  club  in  Shropshire,  1858, 
observed : 

It  is  not  attempted  to  be  denied  that  the  Shropshire  is  a  cross-bred  sheep.  The 
original  breed  was  horned,  and  the  first  attempt  at  improvement  was  to  get  rid  of 
the^e  incumbrances,  and  there  is  little  doubt  that  this  was  effected  by  a  cross  of  the 
Southdown.  This  sheep  was  well  adapted  for  the  Downs,  but  for  the  inclosurcs  of 
Shropshire  something  more  docile  was  required,  consequently  recourse  was  had  to 
the  Leicester. 

This  crossing  and  recrossing  at  length  gave  place  to  the  practice  of 
careful  selection,  "and  thus,"  says  Spooner,  "  uniformity  was  sought  for 
and  attained,  and  the  present  superior  breed  was  established.  It  is 
now  held  that  no  further  cross  is  required."* 

Those  who  hold  that  some  of  the  improved  Shropshires  are  from  the 
Cannock  Chase  sheep  point  to  many  facts,  among  others  that  the  dry 

*  W.  C.  Spooner  on  Cross  Breeding.  Journal  of  the  Royal  Agricultural  Society, 
Vol.  xx. 


EAST    OF    THE    MISSISSIPPI   RIVER.  583 

surface  of  Cannock  Chase  and  its  good  climate  favor  a  heavier  heath 
sheep  than  occurs  elsewhere,  and  that  the  original  sheep  had  a  short 
light  fleece  of  about  3  pounds,  and  a  carcass  which  might  be  fattened 
at  three  years  old  to  eight  or  nine  stone,  and  that  their  descendants, 
crossed  by  the  Southdowns,  whilst  retaining  the  same  hardy  character, 
are  much  larger,  mature  earlier,  yield  a  heavy  fleece,  and  a  frame  weigh- 
ing ten  stone  at  thirteen  months  without  extraordinary  treatment. 
Stafford  adjoins  Shropshire.  Southdown  rams  were  brought  into  both 
about  the  same  time  and  crossed  with  native  ewes ;  the  produce  crossed 
on  each  other,  and  thus  the  Cannock  Chase  blood  became  infused  in 
the  improved  Shropshire  Down. 

These  facts  are  held  to  be  conclusive  by  many,  that  it  is  to  the  South- 
down chiefly,  though  not  entirely,  that  the  present  form  and  character 
of  the  Shropshire  are  due;  indeed,  about  the  only  objection  that  could 
be  urged  against  the  breed  up  to  1875  or  1880  was  that,  although  for 
the  twenty  years  preceding  it  had  received  much  attention,  there  was 
still  a  lack  of  uniformity ;  but  this  defect  has  now  almost  entirely  dis- 
appeared, as  breeders  are  at  last  tolerably  agreed  as  to  the  particular 
type  that  is  most  desirable.  "  The  variety,"  says  John  Coleman,  "  could 
only  be  accounted  for  by  the  supposition  that  different  crosses  in  differ- 
ent proportions  had  been  tried ;  and  we  think  there  is  no  doubt  this  had 
been  the  case." 

The  disputed  origin  of  the  Shropshire  has  elicited  much  controversy. 
We  have  stated  the  position  occupied  by  leading  men  on  either  side, 
thinking,  however,  with  some  of  them,  that  the  differences  of  opinion 
appear  very  unimportant ;  for  if  the  Shropshire  is  not  an  original  breed, 
it  is  very  certain  that  it  is  an  established  breed,  and  that  its  character 
and  peculiarities  can  be  perpetuated  most  satisfactorily.  In  fact,  the 
rapidity  with  which  this  breed  has  risen  into  favor  is  very  strong  evi- 
dence of  the  general  estimation  in  which  it  is  held.  Only  a  few  years 
since  any  mention  of  the  Shropshire  Down  raised  an  inquiry,  even 
amongst  intelligent  English  agriculturists,  as  to  their  character.  Now 
it  is  known  as  a  sheep  combining  the  symmetry  and  quality  of  the 
Southdown  with  the  weight  of  the  Cotswold,  and  possessing  the  fat- 
tening tendency  of  the  Leicester,  without  its  delicate  constitution. 

Economical  merit  is  usually  promptly  recognized  in  England,  but  it 
was  not  until  1853  that  this  was  the  case  with  Shropshire  sheep,  and 
then  but  partially.  In  that  year,  when  they  were  exhibited  at  the  Eoyal 
show-yard  at  Gloucester,  their  general  superiority  was  apparent,  and 
from  that  time  breeders  were  awakened  to  use  careful  judgment  in 
breeding  and  selecting  flocks,  which  gradually  brought  them  to  the 
front.  At  the  great  national  show  in  1857,  at  Salisbury,  England, 
sweepstake  prizes  were  awarded  to  Shropshire  rams  "Celebrity," 
"  Patentee,"  and  "  Earl  of  Salisbury."  But  a  great  impetus  was  given 
to  Shropshire  breeders  when  the  Eoyal  Agricultural  Society  recognized 


584  SHEEP    INDUSTRY    OF    THE    UNITED    STATES 

the  importance  of  the  breed  by  giving  it  a  separate  class,  which  was  first 
done  at  the  Canterbury  show  in  I860,  at  which  time  192  Shropshires 
were  exhibited  with  marked  success.  Coleman  says  the  wisdom  of  this 
step  has  been  abundantly  illustrated  by  the  numbers  and  quality  of  the 
entries  at  all  subsequent  shows,  which  have  for  many  years  past  far 
outnumbered  any  other  breed.  One  reason  for  the  difference  of  character 
which  so  long  prevailed  may  be  found  in  the  fact  that,  while  many 
breeders  achieved  from  time  to  time  prominent  positions,  there  was  no 
one  in  early  days  who  took  such  a  decided  lead  as  to  impress  his  type 
permanently,  as  was  the  case  with  the  Leicesters  and  Southdowns. 

Mr.  Alfred  Mansell,  of  College  Hill,  Shrewsbury,  in  Shropshire, 
most  excellent  authority,  says  that  since  1859,  despite  the  great  preju- 
dice and  opposition  of  exhibitors  of  other  breeds,  the  Shropshires  have 
steadily  increased  in  number  at  the  Eoyal  shows,  culminating  in  the 
grand  display  of  1884  at  Shrewsbury,  "when  875  Shropshires  were 
exhibited  against  420  Southdowns,  Hampshires,  Lincolns,  Leicesters, 
Cotswold,  Mountain,  and  all  other  distinct  breeds,  being  considerably 
more  than  double  the  number  of  all  other  breeds,  and  demonstrating 
very  conclusively  that  the  Shropshire  is  a  sheep  that  meets  the  re- 
quirements of  the  day,  and  surely  is  the  coming  race." 

Another  fact  worthy  of  notice  is  that  this  breed  seems  to  thrive  and 
become  acclimatized  in  all  places  if  properly  cared  for,  as  is  proved  by 
the  success  of  exhibitors  extending  over  a  wide  area,  noticeably  at  the 
Eoyal  show  of  Shrewsbury  in  1884,  the  exhibitors  of  this  breed  num- 
bering no  less  than  sixty,  and  hailing  from  fifteen  counties,  including 
Ireland,  whereas  the  best  that  can  be  said  of  any  other  distinct  breed 
is  that  the  Southdowns  came  from  eleven  breeder  sin  six  counties ;  and 
by  experience  of  others  who  have  seen  the  breed  flourishing  in  every 
country — in  England,  Scotland,  Ireland,  the  United  States,  South 
America,  Canada,  the  colonies,  France,  Germany,  Greece,  and  most 
other  continental  countries  whose  soil  and  surroundings  differ  to  a 
great  extent.  This  power  of  acclimatizing  itself,  no  doubt,  has  not 
escaped  the  notice  of  foreigners,  who  of  late  years  have  exported  the 
breed  largely. 

The  precise  process  of  forming  a  flock  of  Shropshires,  one  that  car- 
ried off  many  prizes,  may  be  learned  from  the  experience  of  Samuel 
Meire,  of  Birringtoii.  Mr.  Meire  was  an  excellent  judge  of  stock,  and 
set  to  work  upon  the  coarse  Shropshire,  going  chiefly  for  three  points 
— straight  spine  with  well-sprung  ribs,  oblique  shoulders,  and  good 
rumps.  These  points  could  not  be  obtained  by  cultivation  or  selec- 
tion alone,  and  Mr.  Meire  introduced  the  Southdowns,  buying  or  hiring 
rams  from  the  celebrated  flock  of  John  Ellman,  of  Glynde.  Aptitude 
to  feed,  with  the  short  back  and  chine,  were  derived  from  a  cross  of 
Leicester  blood  introduced  with  great  judgment.  Having  thus  obtained 
the  desired  form  of  the  animal,  he  endeavored  to  fix  the  same  by  close 
breeding.  In  this  he  succeeded  and  thus  founded  a  flock  from  which 
has  come  improvement  to  many  others. 


EAST    OF    THE    MISSISSIPPI    RIVER.  585 

Another  mode  of  improvement  was  that  adopted  by  Mr.  George 
Adney.  He  stuck  to  the  coarse  Shropshires  as  he  found  them,  mak- 
ing his  improvements  by  selection,  which  he  did  with  rare  judgment 
and  skill.  His  most  fortunate  production  was  Buckskin,  a  ram  of  rare 
points,  who  was  descended  from  a  Southdown  cross;  and  Buckskin 
got  Old  Patentee  out  of  a  ewe  bred  of  Mr.  Adney,  a  superior  sheep  and 
a  prize  winner,  whose  blood  still  runs  in  every  Shropshire  flock  of  any 
note,  not  only  in  England  but  in  North  America.  This  sheep  had  a 
large,  plain,  and  dark  head. 

We  have  stated  that  one  of  the  stocks  of  the  Shropshire  was  the 
( 'an nock  Chase  sheep,  bred  principally  in  Staffordshire.  Flocks  have 
originated  also  from  the  Whittington  Heath  sheep — a  breed  of  hardy 
sheep  very  similar  in  type  to  those  of  Cannock  Chase,  and  confined  to 
a  district  of  but  400  acres.  These  were  grand  sheep  and  much  appre- 
ciated by  the  breeder.  Pure  flocks  of  the  Cannock  Chase  Shropshire 
and  the  Whittington  Heath  Shropshire  exist,  but  as  a  general  rule  the 
blood  of  all  the  strains  mingles  in  the  improved  Shropshire  Down. 

The  characteristics  of  this  sheep  as  set  forth  in  England  are  quite  as 
well  exhibited  in  Canada  and  the  United  States,  where  triplets  are  not 
exceedingly  rare.  The  compiler  of  the  American  Shropshire  Sheep 
Record,  Mortimer  Levering,  Lafayette,  Ind.,  records  the  fact  that  he 
had  received  letters  stating  the  successful  raising  of  four  lambs  from 
one  ewe  in  two  cases. 

The  Shropshire  sheep  of  to-day  exhibit  much  of  the  quality  of  the 
Southdown,  with  considerably  more  size.  They  have  a  well- developed 
head;  the  eye  full  and  large,  giving  a  clear  and  striking  expression  of 
countenance;  the  forehead  well  wooled;  the  ears  rather  large  and 
thin,  standing  well  out  from  the  head;  a  muscular  neck,  well  set  on 
good  shoulders;  the  body  symmetrical  and  deep,  placed  as  squarely  as 
possible  on  short  legs,  due  regard  being  paid  to  grandeur  of  style;  a 
well-covered  head  of  a  uniform  dark  but  not  black  tint;  the  skin  of  a 
nice  cherry  or  pink  color,  and  the  legs  a  nice  soft  black,  free  from  all 
white  specks ;  the  belly  and  legs  well  wooled  to  the  knees ;  and  all  in- 
clination for  the  wool  to  peel  at  the  jaw  and  legs  should  be  avoided. 

The  following  is  a  scale  of  points  adopted  by  the  American  Shrop- 
shire Association,  in  1884,  as  a  standard  of  excellence  in  judging 
Slrropshire  sheep : 

Constitution. — Constitution  and  quality  indicated  by  the  form  of  body;  deep  and 
large  in  breast  and  through  the  heart;  back  wide,  straight,  and  well  covered  with 
lean  meat  or  muscle;  wide  and  full  in  the  thigh,  deep  in  flank;  skin  thick  but  soft, 
and  of  a  pink  color;  prominent  brilliant  eyes  and  healthful  countenance — 25  points. 

Objections. — Deficiency  of  brisket,  light  around  the  heart,  fish  back,  pointed 
shoulders,  tucked-in  flank,  pale  or  too  dark  skin  objectionable. 

Size. — In  fair  condition  when  fully  matured,  rams  should  weigh  not  less  than  225 
pounds,  and  ewes  not  less  than  175  pounds — 10  points. 

Objections. — Rams  in  full  flesh  175  pounds  or  under;  ewes  in  full  flesh  150  pounds 
or  under. 


586        SHEEP  INDUSTRY  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES 

General  appearance. — General  appearance  and  character,  good;  carriage,  head 
well  up,  elastic  movements,  showing  great  symmetry  of  form  and  uniformity  of 
character  throughout — 10  points. 

Objections. — Head  dropping,  low  in  neck,  sluggish  movement. 

Body. — Well  proportioned,  medium  bones,  great  scale  and  length;  well  finished 
hind  quarters ;  thick  back  and  loins ;  twist  deep  and  full,  standing  with  legs  well 
placed  outside ;  breast  wide  and  extending  well  forward — 15  points. 

Objections. — Too  fine  bones,  short  body,  deficient  in  twist,  legs  close  together, 
light  in  brisket. 

Head. — Head  short  and  broad;  wide  between  the  ears  and  between  the  eyes;  short 
from  top  of  head  to  tip  of  nose;  ears  short,  of  medium  size;  eyes  expressive;  head 
should  be  well  covered  with  wool  to  a  point  even  with  the  eyes,  without  any  appear- 
ance of  horns;  color  of  face  dark  brown — 10  points. 

Objections. — Horns  disqualify,  white  face  disqualifies,  head  with  prominent  bones, 
bare  on  top  of  head. 

Neck. — Medium  length,  good  bone  and  muscular  development;  and  especially  with 
the  rams  heavier  toward  the  shoulders;  well  set  high  up,  and  rising  from  that  point 
to  the  back  of  the  head— 5  poiuts. 

Legs  and  feet. — Broad,  short,  straight,  well  set  apart,  well  shaped;  color,  dark 
brown,  and  well  wooled  to  the  knees — 10  points. 

Fleece. — Body,  head,  belly,  and  legs  to  knees  well  covered  with  fleece  of  even 
length  and  quality;  scrotum  of  rams  well  covered  with  wool — 10  points. 

Quality  of  wool. — Medium,  such  as  is  known  in  our  markets  as  "medium  delaine" 
and  "half-combing  wool/'  strong,  fine,  lustrous  fiber,  without  tendency  to  mat  or 
felt  together,  and  at  one  year's  growth  not  less  than  3£  inches  in  length — 5  points. 

Great  numbers  of  tbese  sheep  have  been  imported  into  the  United 
States,  and  the  importation  continues.  They  are  medium  wooled  and 
good  shearers.  An  American  flock  of  70  head  in  1888  averaged  13J 
pounds  of  wool  each.  They  are  a  good  mutton  sheep  and  bring  high 
prices  in  the  markets  of  our  large  cities. 

A  cross  of  the  Shropshire  ram  on  a  Merino  ewe,  or  any  moderate- 
wooled  sheep,  is  a  good  one.  The  product  is  smooth,  round,  evenly  and 
easily  fattened,  and  of  good  selling  weight;  not  too  heavy,  as  when 
crossed  with  long- wooled  or  very  heavy-bodied  sheep.  The  lambs  of 
such  a  cross  run  even  in  size  and  quality,  and  sell  with  the  best  market 
sheep.  A  Cotswold  breeder  of  twenty  years'  experience,  who  used  a 
thoroughbred  Shropshire  ram  on  Cotswold  ewes,  found  the  cross  a  good 
one,  improving  the  quality  of  the  wool  while  retaining  the  size  and 
weight  of  the  Cotswold. 

But  the  Shropshires  have  not  the  entire  monopoly  of  the  favor  of  the 
farmers.  There  are  warm  advocates  of  the  Oxfords,  the  Hampshires, 
the  Cotswolds,  the  Lincolns,  and  the  Southdowns;  and  all  of  these  are 
well  represented  by  fine  breeding  flocks,  and  make  grand  show  at  the 
State  fairs.  By  some  the  Oxford  Down  is  considered  the  superior  of 
the  Shropshire,  in  that  it  is  more  hardy,  and  on  rich,  high-priced  lands 
will  pay  better  than  any  other  breed.  It  makes  a  carcass  of  220  pounds, 
and  shears  9  pounds  of  wool.  The  Hampshire  Downs  also  have  their 
admirers.  Less  widely  extended  than  either  the  Shropshires  or  the 
Oxfords,  their  merits  are  not  so  well  known.  They  are  hardy,  good 


i 


EAST   OF    THE  "MISSISSIPPI   RIVER  587 

feeders  on  the  prairie  farms,  weigh  from  1GO  to  230  pounds,  give  8  to 
12  pounds  of  wool,  and  for  a  mutton  sheep  are  good  shearers.  For 
many  years  the  Cotswolds  were  the  favorite  mutton  sheep  of  the  State. 
Thousands,  pure-bred  and:  grades,  were  introduced  into  the  State  from 
Canada  and  crossed  on  the  Merino  ewes,  producing  a  grade  which  was 
very  popular.  The  Cotswolds  have  declined,  and  their  places  have 
been  filled  by  the  Shropshires.  A  Shropshire-Cotswold  cross  is  still 
adhered  to  by  some  farmers  with  profitable  results.  One  who  makes 
the  raising  of  February  lambs  a  specialty,  and  finds  it  more  profitable 
than  any  other  animal  industry,  states  that  he  wintered  62  ewes  of  this 
cross  breed  to  a  Shropshire  ram,  that  dropped  84  lambs  in  February. 
He  fed  them  during  the  winter  one-half  an  ear  of  corn  and  1  to  1J 
pounds  of  hay  per  day  each,  and  never  had  sheep  to  do  better.  He  cut 
his  clover  hay  and  sheaf  oats  into  one-fourth-inch  pieces,  and  fed  corn, 
oats,  bran,  and  hay  at  stated  times,  but  generally  corn  and  hay  only. 
He  found  much  profit  in  the  manure,  and  had  three  times  as  much  corn 
from  blue-grass  fields  where  sheep  had  been  pastured  as  his  neighbors, 
who  had  not  kept  sheep,  got  from  similar  land.  There  are  a  few  Lin- 
colnshires  in  the  State,  but  they  are  not  much  sought  after.  They  eat 
about  one- third  more  than  the  Merinos  and  require  rich  pastures,  but 
they  have  a  compensation  in  final  results,  a  good  carcass  and  long 
wool.  The  full-blood  Lincolnshires  will  not  flock  as  well  as  the  Merinos 
or  Shropshires,  but  they  are  an  excellent  sheep  for  the  farmer  who 
follows  mixed  husbandry.  The  Lincoln-Merino  cross  produces  good 
medium  wool,  a  weighty  fleece,  10  to  12  pounds,  and  a  heavier  carcass 
than  many  of  the  other  crosses,  lambs  6  months  old  100  pounds  and 
over,  at  12  months  140  to  150  pounds.  There  are  a  few  Leicesters,  but 
they  are  not  attracting  much  attention.  Near  the  cities,  where  the 
choicest  early  lambs  and  the  best  mutton  are  demanded,  the  South- 
downs  are  raised.  The  cross  of  the  Southdown  ram  on  a  common 
Merino  ewe  produces  a  fine  lamb  and  a  good  mutton  sheep. 

The  raiser  of  mutton  sheep  in  Indiana,  as  a  rule,  makes  less  com- 
plaint of  depression  in  prices  than  any  other  person  engaged  in  gen- 
eral farming  or  stock  raising.  Prices  at  times  have  been  very  low  and 
discouraging.  But  there  has  not  been  a  time  when  a  well  cared  for 
flock  would  not  yield  wool  enough  to  pay  for  its  keeping,  thus  leaving 
the  lambs  as  clear  profit,  with  the  additional  profit  of  fattening  the 
ewes  and  selling  them  at  a  fair  advance  on  their  cost.  Indiana  is  not 
what  is  termed  a  wool-growing  State,  but  it  is  a  sheep-raising  State,  and 
with  the  great  increase  in  fine  English  sheep,  with  more  intelligent 
attention  to  the  details  of  breeding  and  feeding,  it  is  safe  to  predict  that 
it  will  assume  a  position  in  the  front  rank. 

The  number  of  sheep,  the  amount  of  wool  clipped,  and  the  average 
of  wool  per  head,  are  shown  in  the  following  table.  The  figures  from 
1840  to  1880  are  as  returned  by  the  United  States  census.  The  num- 
ber of  sheep  for  1890  is  from  the  estimates  of  the  Department  of  Agri- 


588 


SHEEP    INDUSTRY    OF    THE    UNITED    STATES 


culture.     The  estimate  of  tlie  wool  clip  for  1890  and  the  amount  of  wool 
per  head  are  based  upon  data  believed  to  be  reliable. 


Year. 

Number  of 

sheep. 

Wool. 

Wool  per 
head. 

1840 

675  982 

Pounds. 
1  237  919 

Pounds. 
1  80 

1850 

1  122,493 

2,  610,  287 

2.32 

18(50                                                                                             

991,  175 

2,  552,  318 

2.57 

1870 

1,612  680 

5,  020,  023 

3.11 

1880                                                                             .   -             

1,100.511 

6,  167,  493 

5.60 

1890           .                      

1,278,000 

7,  206,  920 

5.64 

Of  the  sheep  in  1890  it  is  estimated  that  30  per  cent  were  Merinos 
and  their  grades;  60  per  cent  English  breeds  and  their  grades,  and  10 
per  cent  common  coarse-wooled  sheep  that  it  would  be  difficult  to 
classify.  Twenty-five  per  cent  of  the  wool  clip  was  graded  above 
medium,  45  per  cent  as  medium,  and  35  per  cent  below  medium.  Sheep 
were  exceptionally  healthy;  about  36,000  out  of  over  1,200,000  died  of 
disease,  while  over  57,000  were  killed  by  dogs.  The  number  of  sheep 
in  the  State  in  January,  1892,  was  less  by  116,300  than  in  1890,  but  the 
loss  in  number  was  more  than  compensated  for  by  improvement  in 
quality  and  advanced  prices. 

ILLINOIS. 

In  the  early  settlements  of  the  French  on  the  Mississippi  and  at 
Kaskaskia  there  were  no  sheep.  The  wolf  and  the  panther  forbade 
their  existence.  The  first  material  advance  that  agriculture  experienced 
in  the  Illinois  Territory  was  in  1797,  when  160  honest,  industrious  peo- 
ple emigrated  from  Hardy  County,  Va.,  and  settled  near  New  Design, 
Monroe  County,  in  southern  Illinois.  They  took  with  them  sheep,  the 
wool  of  which  they  made  into  linseys  for  clothing,  and  they  cultivated 
fall  wheat  for  market.  From  1800  to  1808  many  settlements  were  made 
on  the  Ohio  north  to  the  Wabashand  up  the  Mississippi  to  Kaskaskia, 
and  the  settlers  brought  with  them  the  cattle  and  sheep  common  to  the 
section  of  the  country  whence  they  came. 

It  is  believed  that  the  first  flock  of  Merinos  taken  into  Illinois  was 
the  small  one  of  6  sheep  brought  from  England  by  George  Flower  and 
taken  to  Albion,  Edwards  County,  in  1817,  described  by  their  owner  as 
"  6  of  the  finest  animals  of  the  wool-bearing  species  ever  brought  to 
this  country."  In  1842  Mr.  Flower  said  these  6  sheep  were  the  pro- 
genitors of  his  flock,  which  had  been  on  the  same  farm  up  to  that  time. 
He  added  to  this  original  flock  80  ewes  formerly  of  the  Steubenville 
flock,  and  the  flock  was  frequently  cited  as  evidence  that  not  only  did 
the  Merino  not  deteriorate  on  a  prairie  farm,  but  that  it  improved,  both 
as  to  the  quality  of  the  wool  and  mutton.  Part  of  the  increase  of  this 
flock  was  sold  to  farmers  in  southeastern  Illinois  and  southern  Indiana. 

A  Mr.  Faux,  an  English  farmer,  who  visited  Mr.  Flower  in  1819, 
speaks  of  seeing  500  Merino  sheep  on  his  estate  at  this  time,  ranging 


EAST   OF    THE  ^MISSISSIPPI    RIVER.  589 

over  the  prairies  with  a  shepherd.  They  were  penned  at  night,  yet  50 
had  just  been  destroyed  by  the  wolves.  The  number  is  evidently  an 
exaggeration  as  to  Mr.  Flower's  flock,  though  it  may  be  true  as  to  the 
number  of  sheep  of  all  krnds  in  the  English  settlement,  of  which  Mr. 
Flower's  formed  a  part. '" 

A  Mr.  Woods,  writing  in  1822,  speaking  particularly  of  southern 
Illinois,  says: 

The  sheep  of  this  country,  and  indeed  of  the  whole  of  America,  as  far  as  I  have 
seen,  are  mean,  when  compared  with  those  of  England.  They  are  of  different  sorts, 
but  much  mixed.  If  I  can  judge  of  their  origin,  I  think  the  Lincolnshire  and  Welsh 
sheep  are  nearest  the  original  breed,  hut  many  of  them  have  had  a  little  Merino 
blood  mixed  in  with  them  of  late  years.  I  have  seen  no  sign  of  the  Southdown 
sheep.  There  are  but  few  sheep  at  the  prairies,  and  the  greater  part  of  them  are 
very  mean  ones.  But  there  are  a  few  good  Merinos  and  a  few  others  tolerable,  but 
in  general  they  are  coarse,  with  very  hollow,  coarse  wool,  and  there  are  some  that 
have  a  hairy  kind  of  wool.  *  *  Few  of  the  American  flocks  exceed  20,  but 

most  of  those  who  keep  a  few  shut  them  up  at  night  to  protect  them  from  the 
wolves.  *  *  *  The  Americans  keep  sheep  for  the  sake  of  their  wool,  which  is 
manufactured  into  various  articles  of  clothing,  and  at  most  of  their  cabins  you  may 
see  carding,  spinning,  and  weaving  going  forward,  for,  to  give  the  American  women 
their  due,  many  of  them  are  truly  industrious,  as  they  manufacture  most  parts  of 
their  dress,  and  as  they  grow  the  cotton,  flax,  and  wool,  it  comes  reasonable.  *  *  * 
These  Americans  hold  mutton  in  the  utmost  contempt,  and  I  have  heard  them  say 
people  who  eat  it  belong  to  the  family  of  wolves.  Wool  sells,  on  a  small 

scale,  for  half  a  dollar  a  pound,  without  much  regard  to  its  fineness. 

Mr.  J.  M.  Peck,  in  1831,  writes: 

Sheep  do  very  well  in  this  country,  especially  in  the  older  settlements,  where  the 
grass  has  become  short,  and  they  are  less  molested  by  wolves.  But  few  are  kept. 
The  people  of  the  South  are  more  accustomed  to  cotton  for  clothing  than  wool.  This 
article,  when  manufactured  into  rolls,  sells  for  50  cents  per  pound.  Common  wool 
is  worth  37^  cents  in  the  fleece.  Little  is  said  or  done  to  improve  the  breed  of  sheep 
or  introduce  the  Merino  or  Saxony  breed. 

Of  a  later  date  was  the  flock  of  a  Mr.  Bowers  and  Mr.  Eno,  Island 
Grove,  Sangamou  County.  In  1 844  these  gentlemen  took  into  the  State 
80  rains  and  3,500  ewes.  They  were  assisted  by  Mr.  George  Flower, 
who  bought  from  the  finest  flocks  in  Ohio  and  Pennsylvania.  Some 
were  selected  from  the  flock  of  Adam  Hildenbrand,  of  Stark  County, 
Ohio.  Some  were  common,  coarse  sheep,  selected,  however,  from  good 
small  flocks.  The  great  movement  of  sheep  to  the  West  at  that  time 
may  be  judged  from  the  remark  of  Mr.  Flower  that  many  flocks  were 
moving  in  that  direction,  and  that  immediately  preceding  him  was  a 
flock  of  over  50,000,  destined  for  Missouri,  Iowa,  and  Wisconsin. 
Sangamon  County  was  the  center  of  the  wool-growing  industry  in 
Illinois,  and  at  one  time  clipped  more  wool  than  any  one  county  out- 
side of  California,  and  more  wool,  taking  the  average,  than  any  other 
county  in  the  United  States.  In  one  family  there  were  30,000  Merino 
sheep. 

A  flock  brought  into  the  State  about  1845  was  that  of  Daniel  Kelley, 
of  Wheaton.  This  flock  was  formed  in  Vermont,  and  the  foundation 


590        SHEEP  INDUSTRY  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES 

was  a  purchase  in  1826  of  40  ewes  at  the  sale  of  John  Guile's  sheep,  at 
Pawlet,  Yt.  Mr.  Guile  bought  these  sheep  of  Isaac  Bishop,  Granville, 
N.  Y.,  and  Bishop,  it  is  said,  bought  them  of  Eichard  Crowningshiekl, 
by  whom  they  were  imported  in  1823,  regarding  which  Mr.  Kelley  says 
he  remembers  William  Jarvis  as  saying:  "Crowningshield's  importa- 
tion was  the  best  ever  made  in  the  United  States.  He  Avas  a  man  of 
good  judgment,  and  had  been  here  long  enough  to  know  what  was 
wanted  for  this  climate,  and  had  gone  back  and  selected  accordingly." 
We  are  of  the  opinion  that  Mr.  Crowningshiekl  made  no  importation 
in  1823,  but  that  the  sheep  coming  into  Mr.  Kcl ley's  possession  were 
the  descendants  of  those  shipped  by  Mr.  Jarvis  from  Lisbon  in  1810, 
and  purchased  by  Mr.  Crowningshiekl,  for  many  of  this  blood  were 
bought  by  Mr.  Bishop  and  taken  to  Washington  County,  N.  Y.  Mr. 
Kelley's  first  purchase  of  rams  was  of  William  Jarvis,  in  the  fall  of 
1826.  At  the  same  time  his  father  and  Hosea  Barnes  bought  two  rams 
of  Mr.  Jarvis,  using  one  two  years  and  then  exchanging.  In  1827  Mr. 
Kelley  added  to  his  flock  9  ewes,  bred  by  Jacob  N.  Blakeslee.  These 
were  inferior  to  the  first  40  bought  of  Mr.  Guile;  they  were  taller, 
shorter- wooled,  and  not  as  strong  constitution. 

In  1829  Mr.  Kelley  bought  a  Saxony  ram  of  Isaac  Bishop,  and  the 
next  year  another  one.  The  ewes  served  were  kept  separately,  and  in 
1833  all  the  Saxony  blood  was  sold  from  the  flock,  and  the  breeding 
continued  in  the  pure  Merino  line. 

In  1833  he  bought  4  rams  of  William  Jarvis,  with  Samuel  Griggs, 
keeping  2  of  them  for  four  years  and  then  exchanging  with  Mr.  Griggs. 
These  were  very  superior  rams,  1  of  them  superior  to  any  that  had  crossed 
the  Alleghany  Mountains  up  to  that  time,  shearing  18J pounds  of  clean 
washed  wool,  the  heaviest  fleece  known  at  that  date.  In  1833  he  bought 
a  ewe  from  a  Long  Island  flock,  but  not  proving  a  good  one  she  and  her 
increase  were  discarded  from  the  flock,  which  was  further  increased  in 
1836  by  the  purchase  of  40  ewe  lambs,  said  to  have  been  pure  Atwood 
blood;  but  at  shearing  time  they  showed  an  inferiority  and  were  dis- 
posed of,  most  of  them  immediately,  4  a  few  years  later.  In  1846  he 
bought  one  ram  of  Stephen  Atwood,  and  in  following  years  other  rams 
from  the  best  Vermont  flocks,  but  in  all  instances  where  the  progeny 
was  inferior  it  was  rigidly  excluded  from  his  flock.  In  1855  he  pur- 
chased ewes  of  several  parties  in  Vermont,  which,  not  coming  up  to 
his  standard,  were  disposed  of,  and  in  1857  he  purchased  8-5  ewes  of 
Horace  Barnes.  These  ewes  were  bred  from  the  flocks  of  Mr.  Kelley's 
father  and  those  of  Edwin  Hammond,  of  Vermont.  In  1859  he  bought 
the  remainder  of  his  father's  flock  of  ewes,  263  head,  and  in  1864  a 
choice  ewe  of  German  Cutting  and  in  1865  two  more  of  the  same  flock.* 

From  this  large  and  superior  flock,  averaging  over  1,000  sheep  for 
nearly  thirty  years,  many  Western  flocks  laid  their  found ation,  and  some 
of  the  blood,  it  is  claimed  by  Mr.  Kelley,  was  taken  back  to  Rhode  Island 
and  Vermont  to  invigorate  the  old  flocks  of  those  States,  and  hundreds 

*  The  American  Merino  Sheep  Register. 


EAST    OF    THE    MISSISSIPPI    RIVER.  591 

of  rams  have  been  sold  from  it  to  go  into  Texas,  Colorado  jmd  California. 
For  many  years  Mr.  Kelley  was  a  large  exhibitor  of  the  Merinos  at  the 
State  fairs  and  carried  away  many  of  the  premiums.  When  he  com- 
menced his  flock  it  averaged  4J  pounds  of  wool  per  head,  in  1876  it 
sheared  11  to  12  pounds  on  the  average,  and  his  best  fleece  cleaned  8J 
pounds  from  20J  pounds  unwashed  wool. 

Improved  breeds  of  sheep  began  to  go  into  Illinois  quite  freely  as 
early  as  1840,  the  Merino  attracting  the  most  attention.  Previous  to 
that  time  wool-growing  as  a  special  branch  of  sheep  husbandry  received 
scarcely  any  attention,  and  there  was  but  little  call  for  thoroughbred 
sheep.  Small  flocks  of  10  to  100  were  kept  all  over  the  State.  These 
were  the  hardy,  coarse -wooled  sheep  of  the  early  settlers.  They  were 
of  no  particular  breed,  though  resembling  the  Leicesters,  kept  merely 
to  supply  wool  for  home  use  and  not  for  the  market.  The  great  tide 
of  emigration  that  set  westward  in  1840  stranded  some  of  its  strength 
on  the  Illinois  prairies.  The  rich  grasses  attracted  attention  as  a  par- 
adise for  sheep.  Here  it  was  thought  was  its  natural  home,  where  it 
could  fatten  and  thrive  on  rich  grasses  and  cost  next  to  nothing. 
Growing  wool  was  the  high  road  to  fortune,  and  many  flocks  were 
driven  into  the  State.  Unfortunately,  there  was  much  to  learn  as  to 
prairie  management  of  flocks,  and  while  the  lesson  was  being  dearly 
paid  for,  many  sheep  perished  and  there  were  heavy  losses.  In  1841 
Mr.  George  Flower  published  a  pamphlet  on  prairie  management,  in 
which  he  pointed  out  the  difficulties  and  risks  to  which  flocks  were  ex- 
posed in  new  counties,  and  which  had  prevented  their  rapid  increase 
upon  any  large  scale  in  the  southern  part  of  the  State.  The  wolf  was 
a  great  drawback,  but  the  greatest  loss  was  death  from  unknown 
causes,  which  had  swept  away  whole  flocks  newly  brought  into  the 
State,  and  dampened  the  ardor  of  the  wool-grower.  Many  sheep  were 
purchased  from  drovers,  which  had  been  overdriven,  and  which  laid 
the  foundation  of  disease.  The  dry,  mild  weather  in  autumn  was  often 
accompanied  with  scanty  herbage,  and  sheep  rapidly  declined  unob- 
served, the  growth  of  wool  concealing  their  poverty  from  an  unprac- 
ticed  eye,  and  a  mortal  stroke  was  inflicted  before  the  owner  suspected 
it.  The  flocks  should  not  exceed  200  head  to  begin  with,  and  must  be 
out  at  dawn  of  day  and  graze  until  late  in  the  evening.  Where  there 
were  no  cultivated  grasses  large  fields  of  early- sown  rye,  for  winter 
and  early  spring  food,  were  recommended.  Also  oats,  sown,  perhaps, 
in  the  same  field  where  oats  grew  before,  by  ploughing  the  field  imme- 
diately after  the  crop  is  off,  and  sowing  about  a  bushel  to  the  acre.  If 
no  cultivated  grasses  were  provided  for  sheep  to  feed  on  in  autumn,  it  was 
difficult  to  keep  up  their  condition  in  the  latter  part  of  the  year.  But 
the  greatest  advantage  was  derived  from  blue  grass,  which,  if  inclosed 
in  June,  would  keep  green  all  winter,  and  if  a  succession  of  pas- 
tures were  provided  the  sheep  would  do  well  upon  them  all  winter,  and 
only  need  feeding  when  the  snow  was  frozen  on  the  ground.  The 
diseases  to  which  sheep  were  liable  on  the  prairies  of  southern  Illinois 


592        SHEEP  INDUSTRY  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES 

were  liver-rot  and  foot-rot;  the  former,  says  Mr.  Flower,  caused  by 
"  suffering  sheep  to  pasture  on  land  that  is  overflowed  with  water; 
even  a  crop  of  green  oats,  early  in  the  fall  before  a  frost  conies,  has 
been  known  to  rot  young  sheep." 

One  of  the  earliest  wool-growers  of  Illinois  was  Mr.  A.  B.  McConnell, 
who,  prior  to  1844,  had  raised  sheep  for  many  years  in  the  State  of  New 
York.  When  he  first  saw  Illinois  he  thought  that  the  prairies  would 
never  do  for  sheep,  as  he  was  imbued  with  the  idea  then  prevalent  that 
these  animals  needed  a  hilly  country.  But  his  experience  taught  him 
otherwise  and  proved  that  sheep  were  not  liable  to  contract  diseases  on 
prairie  soils,  and  the  foot-rot  that  made  such  havoc  East  did  not  con- 
tinue the  second  summer  on  the  prairies.  In  the  summer  of  1844  his 
son,  John  McConnell,  drove  from  New  York  to  Sangamon  County  a  large 
flock  of  Spanish  Merinos,  the  first  in  that  county  and  section  of  the 
State,  and  the  foundation  of  the  fine-wooled  flocks  for  which  the  county 
was  noted.  They  took  three  months  to  drive.  When  this  and  other 
pioneer  flocks  were  introduced  labor  and  land  were  in  a  very  depressed 
condition  all  over  the  West,  and  a  great  portion  of  the  lands  were  un- 
fenced,  so  that  free  pasturage  could  be  had  in  any  part  of  the  county. 
As  flocks  increased  lands  advanced  in  value,  from  outside  causes,  and 
large  tracts  were  fenced  or  hedged  in,  driving  the  flocks  onto  lands  of 
value,  and  adding  to  the  cost  of  feeding.  The  flock  of  Mr.  McConnell  in 
1856  was  the  largest  in  the  United  States,  numbering  over  21,000  head 
of  what  was  said  to  be  the  choicest  Merinos. 

In  1843  Truman  and  Isaac  Harvey  began  wool-growing  in  Lasalle 
County,  by  driving  from  Columbiana  County,  Ohio,  2,300  sheep.  Of 
these  they  let  and  sold  all  but  1,200,  for  half  the  wool  and  half  the 
lambs.  The  first  year  the  flock  averaged  3  pounds  of  wool  per  head. 
They  procured  good  ranis  at  $10  each  in  Ohio,  which  they  put  with  the 
flock,  said  to  have  been  full-blooded  Merinos,  and  also  a  ram  from  S.  W. 
Jewett,  of  Vermont. 

In  1848  Charles  T.  Hoppin  bought,  in  Madison  County,  N.  Y.,  1,000 
fine  Merino  ewes,  and  drove  them  to  Sangamon  County.  These  ewes 
were  bred  to  Ohio  rams,  and  subsequently  to  Yermont  ones,  Mr.  Hop- 
pin  having  purchased  a  car  load  of  straight  Hammond  rams  and  ewes, 
from  which  he  subsequently  bred  his  flock,  breeding  pure  Atwood  rams 
to  the  whole  flock.  Sheep  from  this  flock  were  very  prominent  at  State 
fairs  in  after  years,  and  they  laid  the  foundation  of  other  noted  flocks. 
In  1863  Charles  Oilman,  of  Montgomery  County,  made  a  purchase  of 
some  of  the  Hoppin  sheep,  and  bred  a  pure  flock.  From  Mr.  Oilman's 
flock,  A.  J.  Uhl,  of  Yirden,  111.,  formed  a  flock  in  1866,  which  was 
moved  that  year  to  Missouri,  and  in  1870  to  Butler  County,  Kans., 
where  it  became  the  property  of  E.  Copeland  &  Son,  in  1881. 

Sheep  increased  rapidly  to  1850,  and  there  were  some  large  flocks. 
Bishop  Chase  had  2,000,  C.  Stone  the  same  number,  and  others  bred 
from  1,000  to  2,000  each.  Eaising  sheep  for  wool  was  considered  the 
most  profitable  branch  of  industry  for  the  farmer.  The  few  who  had 


EAST   OF   THE   MISSISSIPPI    RIVER.  593 

engaged  in  the  business  extensively  realized  the  largest  profits,  as  high 
as  100  per  cent  being  made  in  raising  wool  ami  lambs.  Every  farmer, 
however,  had  a  flock  principally  to  afford  wool  for  home  consumption; 
any  surplus  was  sold  in  the*  manufacturing  markets,  but  it  was  not  con- 
sidered a  paying  business  in  this  small  way.  With  the  aid  of  blue 
grass  pasture  the  cost  of  keeping  was  trifling,  averaging  not  over  50 
cents  a  head. 

At  this  time  the  French  Merino  had  been  introduced  and  was  found 
to  do  well  in  the  southern  part  of  the  State,  the  Spanish  Merino  being 
preferred  in  the  northern  part.  The  Saxon,  the  Cotswold,  the  Leicester, 
and  the  Southdown  had  also  been  brought  in,  and  it  was  observed  that 
all  these  sheep  grew  larger  than  in  the  older  States  and  gave  more  wool 
per  head  with  the  same  care,  and  wool  of  good  quality.  Wool-growing 
in  all  parts  of  the  State  received  increased  attention  and  flocks  of  from 
600  to  3,000  multiplied,  the  Spanish  Merino  being  the  favorite. 

Some  fine  Merinos  from  Chautauqua  County,  N".  Y.,  were  introduced 
into  Stephenson  County  in  1853,  and  some  full-blood  French  Merinos 
were  owned  in  1854  by  Silas  Hurd,  of  Ogle  County.  Southdowns  were 
increasing  in  1854,  and  Kichard  Wray,  of  McHenry  County,  imported 
some  Cotswold  rams  the  same  year. 

In  1857  the  Illinois  Stock  Importing  Association  sent  a  committee  to 
England  to  buy  improved  stock,  cattle  more  particularly.  Among  their 
purchases  were  some  fine  Cotswold  and  Southdown  sheep,  which  were 
sold  at  auction  in  Springfield  in  August,  1857.  Their  dissemination 
increased  the  popularity  of  the  long  and  middle  wooled  sheep  among 
breeders,  and  the  great  war  which  soon  followed  by  increasing  the 
demand  for  long  coarse  wools  assisted  the  sales  of  the  Leicester  and 
the  Cotswold.  Another  stimulus  to  the  business  was  the  growing  con- 
sumption of  mutton. 

The  United  States  Census  gives  the  number  of  sheep  and  pounds  of 
wool  in  the  State  from  1840  to  1860  as  follows: 


Year. 

Sheep. 

Pounds  of 
wool. 

1840                                                                                                                                  

395,  675 

650,067 

1850 

894  043 

2  150  113 

I860                                                                                                                   

769,  135 

1.  989,  567 

In  the  last-named  year,  at  shearing  time,  wool  was  a  drug  at  23  to 
25  cents,  the  sheep  market  was  low,  and  prices  had  ruled  so  low  for 
some  years  before  that  sheep  were  thought  to  be  rather  poor 
property,  and  the  number  decreased  to  731,379  in  1861.  But  in  1862-763, 
when  wool  went  up  to  $1,  even  old  men  of  experience  paid  $200,  $300, 
and  $1,000  for  one  ram  to  build  up  a  flock,  as  though  the  price  of  wool 
never  would  come  down  and  sell  in  three  years  for  25  cents,  and  hard 
to  find  a  market  at  that  price.  Sheep  increased  to  913,024  m  1862,  and 
to  over  1,200,000  in  18G3.  The  condition  of  sheep-husbaudry  at  this 
22990 38 


594        SHEEP  INDUSTRY  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES 

time,  and  the  needs  of  a  home  market  for  the  wool,  is  expressed  in  a< 
report  of  the  Illinois  Board  of  Agriculture  for  18G4 : 

If  there  be  any  one  branch  of  husbandry  in  which  the  State  of  Illinois  should,  and 
as  we  believe  will,  become  especially  prominent,  it  is  the  production  of  sheep  and 
wool.  We  found  this  statement  not  simply  on  the  facts  that  wool-growing  here  has 
been  very  profitable,  that  the  soil  and  climate  are  peculiarly  favorable,  that  the 
number  of  sheep  and  the  number  of  flockmasters  have  multiplied  with  great  rapidity 
within  a  few  years;  but  we  add  to  these  another  consideration  which  is  clearly  seen ] 
and  beginning  to  be  felt  with  great  force— woolen  manufactures  must  be  largely 
increased.  The  necessity  exists  and  the  facilities  abound.  If  the  wool-growing 
interest  has  flourished  in  the  past,  when  the  product  was  transported  1,000  miles  and 
disposed  of  at  prices  in  fixing  which  the  wool-grower  had  very  little  to  say,  what 
may  we  not  reasonably  expect  when  it  shall  have  become  the  basis  for  a  profitable 
manufacture  at  our  own  door?  Already  capitalists,  and  even  the  farmers  themselves 
by  associated  effort,  are  moving  in  this  direction.  The  early  future  will  witness 
changes  of  great  magnitude  and  significance.  In  our  judgment  there  is  no  more  or* 
greater  necessity  for  our  continued  dependence  upon  Europe  or  New  England  or  any 
region  beyond  the  borders  of  this  State  for  woolen  fabrics,  except  possibly  those  of  the 
very  finest  texture  and  material,  than  upon  Pennsylvania  for  coal,  or  Lake  Champlain 
for  ice ;  and  when  the  country  shall  reenter  upon  the  paths  of  peaceful  progress. 
capita],  industry,  and  enterprise  be  left  free  to  select  their  own  fields  of  operation 
and  development,  we  may  look  with  great  confidence  to  the  establishment  of  woolen 
manufacture  upon  a  broad  and  permanent  foundation,  to  assume  in  time  proportions 
commensurate  in  some  good  degree  with  the  facilities  available  and  the  market  to 
be  supplied.  It  is  easy  to  conceive  the  action  and  reaction  between  sheep  husbandry 
and  the  manufacture  of  woolen  fabrics  when  brought  so  closely  together  as  they 
must  then  be,  under  conditions  so  favorable  to  both.  While  there  has  been  for  the 
past  four  years  a  considerable  increase  in  the  number  of  sheep  owned  in  the  State, 
the  improvement  in  quality  is  even  more  marked.  The  great  mass  of  those  imported 
from  other  States  are  high-grade  Merinos,  and  such  has  been  the  good  judgment  and 
enterprise  of  breeders,  very  few  of  the  old  native  stock  now  remain  in  their  flocks. 
The  fleeces  which  find  their  way  to  Eastern  manufacturers  are  chiefly  of  the  quality 
known  as  "  delaine  wools.-"  There  are  some  choice  flocks  of  mutton  sheep,  Cots- 
wolds,  Leicesters,  and  Southdowns,  held  in  high  favor  by  many  farmers,  and  popular 
with  the  consumers  of  this  healthful  meat.  That  they  have  not  become  more  numer- 
ous may,  perhaps,  be  accounted  for  by  the  fact  that  they  are  not  so  easily  grazed  in 
large  flocks  on  the  prairies  as  the  Merino  and  their  grades. 

There  were  many  pure  Spanish  Merino  flocks  founded  from  1857  to 
1870  for  breeding  purposes,  but  few  of  them  found  their  way  into  the 
books  of  registry.  In  the  spring  of  1857  N.  S.  Colby,  of  McHenry,  111., 
founded  a  flock  by  the  purchase  of  20  ewes  from  John  Estebrooks,  Ver- 
mont, and  an  Atwood  ram  bred  by  George  Dike,  of  Illinois.  In  the 
fall  of  1859  he  purchased  10  ewes  bred  by  Edwin  Hammond,  of  Ver- 
mont, and  a  ram  also  bred  by  Mr.  Hammond.  In  1863  he  purchased  1 
ewe  of  Smith  Brothers,  Dekalb,  111.,  and  made  subsequent  additions  of 
Vermont  and  Illinois  rams  and  ewes  bred  from  the  best  flocks. 

James  F.  Parker,  of  Woodstock,  established  a  flock  in  1860  by  the 
purchase  of  a  ram  and  20  ewes  of  N.  S.  Colby,  and  added  to  the  pur- 
chase 20  ewes  from  the  same  flock  in  1863  and  20  more  in  1870.  In 
1867  he  purchased  of  Orin  Ellsworth  90  ewes  of  Atwood  and  Ham- 
mond blood.  He  used  several  of  the  best  Atwood  rams  in  his  flock. 

JolmR.  Baker,  of  Geneva,  founded  a.  flock  about  1860  by  the  purchase  of 


EAST    OF    THE    MISSISSIPPI    RIVER.  595 

30  select  ewes  from  the  flock  of  Charles  Or ainp ton,  Du  Page  County,  111. 
Tin's  (lock  was  originally  purchased  for  Mr.  Crampton  by  Daniel  Kelley. 

In  1864  F.  E.  Day,  of  Washburn,  began  the  formation  of  a  flock  by 
a  purchase,  in  company  with  C.  W.  Mason,  of  5  pure-bred  Atwood  ewes 
from  the  flock  of  Mr.  E.  Bridge,  Woodstock,  Vt.,  and  of  24  Atwood 
ewes  from  Edwin  House.  At  the  same  time  24  Atwood  ewes  were  pur- 
chased from  Henry  House.  Later  in  the  same  year  Mr.  Day  purchased 
ol'  1  lenry  Thorp  10  yearling  ewes,  all  Atwood  blood,  and  2  ewes  of  B. 
J.  Brown,  St.  Albans,  Vt.,  also  Atwood  blood.  These  were  bred  to 
•pine  of  the  best  Atwood  rams  of  Vermont.  The  flock  was  formed  in 
Vermont  and  taken  to  Illinois  in  the  fall  of  1868. 

George  W.  Hunt,  of  Greenwood,  formed  a  flock  in  June,  1865,  by  the 
purchase  of  12  ewes  and  a  ram  from  K.  S.  Colby,  Hammond  and 
Atwood  blood.  In  1867  he  purchased  of  Orin  Ellsworth,  New  York, 
'83  ewes,  Hammond,  Stickney,  and  Robinson  blood.  In  1874  he  pur- 
chased Kelley's  ram,  Captain  Jack,  and  in  1877,  1878,  and  1879  pur- 
chased of  E.  N.  Bissell,  Vermont,  26  ewes  and  3  rams  of  the  Rich  blood. 

In  1866  Messrs  E.  Peck  &  Sons,  of  Geneva,  started  a  flock  by  the  pur- 
chase of  75  ewes  of  John  R.  Baker,  of  the  same  place,  and  of  the  ram  Addi- 
son  Chief  of  E.  N.  Bissell,  Vermont.  In  1869  they  purchased  50  select 
ewes  from  the  flock  of  J.  S.  and  J.  P.  Town,  of  Batavia,  HI.  The  Town 
flock  originated  by  a  purchase  of  10  ewes  from  Jonathan  Dyke,  of  Crystal 
Lake,  111.,  in  1847.  Mr.  Dyke  bought  40  head  from  the  pick  of  several 
of  the  best  Vermont  breeders,  and  they  were  the  first  pure  Spanish 
Merino  sheep  introduced  into  Kane  County.  Six  years  after  this  pur- 
chase, in  1875,  Peck  &  Sous  purchased  the  entire  flock  of  William  Balis, 
of  St.  Charles,  111.,  which  consisted  of  95  ewes.  These  were  Atwood, 
Blakeslee,  and  Rhode  Island  sheep.  In  the  same  year  they  purchased 
49  ewes  of  E.  N.  Bissell,  of  Vermont.  Rams  were  purchased  of  E.  N". 
Bissell,  Daniel  Kelley,  T.  Stickney  &  Son,  and  J.  T.  and  V.  Rich.  This 
became  a  very  superior  flock,  and  the  annual  shearings,  as  noted  in 
subsequent  pages,  attest  the  great  care  with  which  it  has  been  bred 
and  its  great  improvement.  In  1890  it  numbered  over  1,900  head  pure- 
bred  Merino  sheep. 

The  year  1865  marked  an  era  of  sheep  shearing  for  heavy  fleeces 
throughout  the  United  States,  to  which  Illinois  contributed  its  quota. 
Of  the  public  shearing  at  Catlin,  Vermilion  County,  May  20,  1865,  the 
record  is  as  here  given : 


Age. 

Carcass. 

Fleece. 

One-year-old  ram 

Pounds. 
71 

Lbg.    Oz. 
12    13 

79 

14    15 

Three-year-old  ram 

141i 

16      2 

Do  ... 

119 

19    15 

Two-year-old  ram 

9A 

17      5 

iMVf-vt-ar-old  ram    

1491 

17    13 

Ont'-v«'rir-old  <-\ve 

48^ 

10      9 

'Do  

40 

n     6 

Do 

59^ 

10      2 

Do  

52| 

10      7 

596 


SHP:EP  INDUSTRY  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES 


At  the  Stark  County  fair,  May  30, 1866,  34  sheep  were  sheared.  Sever 
yearling  rams  gave  from  8  pounds  to  ISf  pounds  unwashed  wool.  Seven 
teen  rams  2  years  and  over  gave  from  8  pounds  to  17  J  pounds.  812* 
yearling  ewes  gave  from  5§  pounds  to  8J  pouiids,  and  4  ewes  2  yearH 
old  and  over  gave  from  7J  pounds  to  8jf  pounds.  At  the  Marior 
County  fair,  the  same  year,  the  first  premium  Merino  ram  weighed 
158  pounds  and  gave  a  fleece  of  18J  pounds,  the  second  premium  ram 
weighed  121  pounds  and  gave  a  fleece  weighing  16J  pounds. 

The  report  on  scoured  fleeces  at  the  Illinois  State  fair  of  1866  is  very 
full,  and  presents  some  features  of  permanent  interest: 


Owner. 

Breed. 

Sex. 

Age. 

Carcass. 

Fleece. 

Scoured 
wool. 

Age  of 
fleece. 

A.  M  Garland 

Ram 

Years. 
3 

Pounds. 
164 

Lbs.  Oz. 
13      6 

Lbs.  Oz. 

X.          A 

Mo.  Ih/g. 

nfc 

L.  H.  Wright            .   . 

do 

Ram 

5 

116 

13    16 

4      5 

Brown  &  Reynolds.  .  .  . 

....do 

Ram 

4 

1274 

18    13 

6    14 

i9   2y 

Jacob  Leonard  
^Nelson  Jones  

....do  

..     do 

Ram  .  . 
Ram 

2 
2 

140 
100 

21      2 
16      3 

6    13 

4      7 

11    24 
13      9 

"Uoyce  &  Crooks 

do 

Ram 

2 

139 

18      8 

r.      -iq 

Do  

do 

3 

103 

16      0 

4      9 

12    10 

John  Tumbull  

....do  

Ram 

3 

115 

13      2 

5      5 

11     19 

G.  W.  Taylor.. 

do 

Ram 

*  15 

108 

17    14 

6      2 

15      0 

Do  

do 

Ram 

•*]5 

131 

17      2 

6      2 

15      0 

Do  . 

do 

Ewe 

2 

lo9 

10      9 

4      6 

Do 

d-> 

Fwe 

1 

81 

Do  

....do  

Ewe 

*  15 

42-V 

8     11 

3      1 

15      0 

Jacob  Leonard    

....do  

Ewe  .. 

1 

68" 

11    14 

5      0 

Geo.  L.  Burris  

French  Merino 

Ewe 

*  13 

771 

8      6 

4      1 

13      0 

L.  H.  Wright 

Ewe 

3 

130 

12      2 

•">      3 

n-iA 

Geo.  W.  Minor  .  .  . 

and  Cots  wold. 
Cots  wold  

Ewe  .  . 

2 

7      6 

4      0 

J.  H.  Pickrell  

Southdown  .  .. 

Ewe  .  . 

2 

7    13 

4      "> 

Do  

....do...     . 

R;  m 

2 

7      7 

4      3 

Months. 


In  1867  the  Northern  Illinois  Wool-Growers'  Association  held  a  shear- 
ing and  scouring  match,  and  about  20  sheep  competed.  The  result  on 
the  four  heaviest  of  each  sex  is  here  given: 


Sex. 

Carcass. 

Fleece. 

Scoured 
wool. 

Age  of 
fleece. 

Ram 

Pounds. 
96 

Lbs.  Oz. 

1Q        7 

Lbs.  Oz. 

K     11 

Days. 

Do  

100 

22     13 

5    14 

383 

Do... 

116 

14      4 

7    12 

361 

Do  

103 

22     I9 

6      8 

368 

Ewe  .  .  . 

61 

10      9 

4      5 

445 

Do 

g9 

11     13 

4     14 

490 

Do  

63 

12     13 

4      7 

379 

Do 

66 

11      5 

4     10 

383 

The  wool  clip  of  Illinois  in  1865  was  the  largest  ever  produced  in  the 
State,  amounting  to  nearly  12,000,000  pounds  from  a  little  less  than 
3,000,000  sheep,  or  something  over  one  to  each  of  her  inhabitants.  By  far 
the  greater  portion  of  this  amount,  more  than  three-fourths,  was  clothing 
or  card  wool,  the  product  of  the  Merino  sheep  and  its  crosses.  Wool- 
growing  had  advanced  with  rapid  strides,  until  the  prairies  which  once 
counted  the  sheep  by  thousands  now  counted  the  flocks  by  thousands. 
There  was  also  a  healthy  increase  in  manufactories  during  the  years  1863 
and  1864.  But  there  was  a  great  change.  The  war  closed,  foreign  goods 
flooded  the  market,  the  United  States  Government  added  its  accumu- 


EAST    OF    THE    MISSISSIPPI    RIVER.  597 

lation  of  army  cloths,  flannels,  ami  blankets,  and  wool  fell  in  price.  The 
result  was  that  Merino  sheep,  which  in  18t»2-'(>3  were  bought  at  such 
fabulous  prices,  were  almost  worthless,  and  thousands  were  pelted  and 
rendered  to  tallow,  at  a  cost  to  the  purchaser  of  $1.00  to  $1.25  each.  The 
census  of  1870  showed  about  half  as  many  sheep  as  in  1865.  From 
3,000,000  they  had  fallen  to  1,568,286,  and  from  $2.23  a  head  to  less 
than  $1.00. 

Mr.  A.  M.  Garland,  in  an  address  before  the  State  Agricultural  Soci- 
ety in  January,  1871,  finds  other  causes  for  this  great  decline,  addi- 
tional to  those  above  given.  The  increased  demand  for  and  consequent 
high  price  of  wool  during  the  war  stimulated  the  increase  of  flocks  by 
any  and  every  means,  of  which  advantage  was  taken  by  the  shrewder 
eastern  neighbors,  who  supplied  all  aspiring  flock  masters  with  diseased 
and  otherwise  worthless  animals,  culled  from  the  flocks  of  Ohio,  Penn- 
sylvania, and  other  States.  Animals  that  none  but  the  most  profound 
naturalist  would  suspect  of  belonging  to  the  sheep  genus  found  ready 
purchasers  at  round  prices.  Pampered  rams,  not  worth  more  than  the 
wool  upon  their  backs,  were  bought  at  fabulous  prices,  and  allowed  to 
become  the  sires  of  lambs  that  developed  in  a  high  degree  the  worth- 
lessness  of  both  their  sire  and  dam.  But  one  fate  could  be  in  store  for 
such  animals,  even  under  the  most  judicious  management;  and  if,  in 
the  hands  of  unskilled  shepherds,  they  disappeared  from  pastures  and 
prairies  with  a  celerity  equaled  only  by  the  suddenness  of  their  advent, 
there  was  not  much  cause  for  regret,  the  lesson  to  the  husbandman 
being  worth  more  than  the  stock.  But  a  serious  evil  followed  in  the 
wake  of  this  worthless  stock.  There  were  in  the  State  large  numbers 
of  valuable  sheep,  that  were  yearly  paying  their  owners  a  handsome 
profit.  These,  with  exceptions  few  and  rare,  became  diseased  by  con- 
tact with  infected  animals,  and  to  a  very  damaging  extent  were  rendered 
unprofitable  in  conseqence  of  the  increased  expense  necessary  in  hand- 
ling them.  The  great  difficulty  and  expense  necessary  in  eradicating 
infectious  diseases  from  large  flocks  compelled  their  owners  to  turn 
them  over  to  the  knife  and  the  shambles.  The  loss  in  this  direction 
was  serious  in  the  extreme.  Another  element  tending  to  the  discour- 
agement of  wool-growing  was  the  dog,  daily  consuming  what  would 
contbrtably  feed  and  clothe  5,000  families  of  5  persons  each. 

James  T.  Dwyer,  of  Sangamon  County,  asserts  that  the  Illinois  State 
Agricultural  Society  unintentionally  contributed  to  depress  the  value 
of  Merino  flocks  by  inaugurating  a  system  of  fleece  washings,  which 
showed  that  selected  fleeces  gave  but  from  3  to  6  pounds  of  clean  wool, 
and  that  the  average  shrinkage  on  all  the  banner  fleeces  sent  in  to  be 
tested  in  the  washtub  was  nearly  two-thirds,  or  66§  per  cent— 1  fleece 
that  weighed,  unwashed,  24-^r  pounds,  losing  78J  per  cent.  And  Mr. 
Dwyer  added  that  the  Spanish  Merino  had  been  to  the  county  and 
State  an  agricultural  calamity,  it  having  completely  supplanted  the 
mutton  and  long-wooled  improved  varieties,  which,  if  in  such  numbers 


• 

598        SHEEP  INDUSTRY  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES 

as  the  Merinos  readied,  would  give  an  annual  and  increasing  income  of 
millions  of  dollars  to  the  State. 

There  arose  from  the  disaster  to  the  fine- wool  industry  a  compensa- 
tion in  greater  attention  to  the  mutton  sheep.  The  introduction  of  long 
wooled  fabrics  in  all  classes  of  woolen  garments  created  a  demand  foi 
these  wools,  and  there  were  some  shrewd  farmers  in  Illinois  who  sa^ 
far  enough  ahead  to  form  a  conclusion  that  the  animal  which  could 
meet  this  demand  and  at  the  same  time  furnish  mutton  was  to  be  the 
coming  sheep  for  the  fanner.  Consequently,  these  sheep  increased 
rapidly  when  the  Merino  was  on  its  decline,  and  bade  fair  to  supplanl 
it  and  to  assume  that  prominence  to  which  it  was  justly  entitled  in  the 
farming  industry  of  a  State  famed  for  its  fine  grasses.  Few  farmers 
were  found  in  the  State  who  could  afford  to  do  without  sheep,  and  bul 
a  lew  who  had  not  grasses  to  feed  them.  In  handling  them  no  more 
care  was  required  than  that  which  was  due  to  all  other  stock.  The 
return  in  wool  and  lambs  was  comparatively  steady  and  fairly  remu- 
nerative. In  1856  the  number  of  fat  sheep  marketed  in  the  State  was 
157,286,  with  a  total  gross  weight  of  14,155,740  pounds,  valued  al 
$495,450.  In  1865,  the  number  marketed  was  433,194,  weighing 
38,987,400  pounds,  valued  at  $3,202,788. 

The  census  of  1870  gave  Illinois  1,568,286  sheep,  yielding  5,739,24£ 
pounds  of  wool,  an  average  of  3.66  pounds  per  head.  The  tariff  ol 
1867  gave  some  protection  to  wool  and  caused  a  slight  increase  in  fine 
wool-growing.  The  common  flocks  of  the  State  and  some  of  the  lowei 
grade  Merinos  were  crossed  with  Vermont  and  New  York  rams,  wool 
advanced  in  price,  and  the  Merino  Avas  again  in  favor.  In  1872  J.  R 
Morrison,  of  Bates,  sheared  a  small  flock  of  10  sheep  of  13 1^  pounds  oJ 
wool,  an  average  of  13/6  pounds  a  head.  The  lightest  fleece  was  £ 
pounds  and  the  heaviest  24J  pounds. 

A  celebrated  flock  of  1872  was  that  known  as  the  Ballinger  flock, 
Fifty -nine  head  of  this  flock  (7  rams,  33  old  ewes,  and  19  yearlings] 
sheared  707^6-  pounds,  just  9  ounces  short  of  making  an  average  of  1$ 
pounds  each.  At  the  head  of  this  flock  was  the  ram  "  Prince  Ballin 
ger,"  whose  fleeces  at  3,  4,  and  5  years  old  weighed  7 If  pounds,  one  01 
them  25^  pounds.  The  weight  of  14  ewe  fleeces  is  given : 

Lbs.  Oz. 

Four  years  of  age 13  11 

Five  years  of  age 16  8 

Three  years  of  age 14  5£ 

Six  years  of  age  . .  -4 12  9£ 

Four  years  of  age 16  15£ 

Do 15  3i 

Seven  years  of  age 11  6 

Four  years  of  age 11  9 

One  year  of  age 12  9 

Do 11  11 

Do 8  8£ 

Six  years  of  age 16  1£ 

Five  years  of  age 14-  9£ 

Seven  years  of  age 13  11 


EAST    OF   THE   MISSISSIPPI   RIVER. 


599 


At  a  Sangamon  County  shearing  in  1875  eighty-seven  Spanish  Meri- 
nos, mostly  pure  bred,  sheared  841  pounds  of  wool,  unwashed,  an  aver- 
age of  9.67  pounds.  Ten  or  twelve  were  rams,  yielding  17  to  19  pounds. 

Notwithstanding  the  protection  held  out  by  the  tariff  of  1867,  wool- 
growing  and  sheep  husbandry  did  not  increase  from  1870  to  1880;  in 
fact,  there  was  a  decline  of  33  per  cent  in  the  number  of  sheep,  being 
but  1,037,073  in  1880,  as  against  1,568,286  in  1870.  But  notwithstand- 
ing the  great  falling  off  in  the  number  of  sheep,  the  wool  clip  increased 
from  5,739,249  pounds  in  1870  to  6,093,066  pounds  in  1880.  The  con- 
tinued improvement  in  the  Merino  and  the  heavier  fleeces  of  the  long- 
wnolcd  mutton  sheep  had  increased  the  yield  per  head  to  5.87  pounds, 
an  increase  in  ten  years  of  2.21  pounds. 

Of  the  sheep  in  1880  about  one-fourth  were  Merinos  and  their  grades, 
one  half  the  common  sheep  so  called,  one-eighth  improved  mutton  sheep 
and  their  grades,  and  an  eighth  which  it  would  be  difficult  to  class, 
being  about  equally  mixed  from  the  forenamed.  Within  the  ten  years 
preceding  the  English  mutton  breeds  had  increased  and  the  others 
declined.  Of  the  Merinos  one-fourth  were  full-blood,  one-fourth  three- 
quarter  blood,  one-fourth  half-blood,  and  one-fourth  less  than  half- 
blood.  Of  the  mutton  breeds  there  were  the  Lincolnshire^,  the  Cots- 
wolds,  the  Southdowns,  the  Shropshires,  and  the  Leicesters.  The 
weights  of  the  different  breeds  are  given: 


Breed. 

1 

At  6 
months. 

At  12 
months. 

Fully 
grow  11. 

Pounds. 
SO 

Pounds. 

80 

Pounds. 
90 

75 

110 

150 

Middle-  wools 

60 

100 

125 

The  unwashed  fleeces  of  the  Merinos  averaged  5  pounds,  of  the  long 
wools  7  pounds,  and  of  the  middle  wools  8  pounds. 

There  had  been  from  1875  to  1880  an  increasing  interest  in  sheep  of 
the  best  kind.  Every  one  seemed  to  want  them,  and  old  farmers  who 
never  owned  a  sheep  sold  their  cattle  in  1881  and  1882  to  purchase 
them.  ]S"ever  in  the  history  of  the  State  was  there  such  a  demand  for 
sheep  of  all  kinds  as  in  1882.  Some  Merinos  were  purchased  for  new 
flocks,  but  the  general  tendency  was  for  the  various  breeds  of  mutton 
sheep.  From  1880  to  1883  there  was  a  perfect  mania  in  central  Illinois 
for  long  wool  ranis,  which,  however,  subsided  in  1884,  when  they  were 
utterly  neglected. 

The  number  of  sheep  constantly  declined,  and  the  returns  for  1884 
showed  less  than  that  of  any  year  since  1862,  with  the  exceptions  of 
the  years  1875,  1876,  1877,  1878,  and  1879.  The  decline  was  due  to  the 
low  prices  of  wool  and  mutton.  Mutton  was  lower  in  1883  and  1884 
than  at  any  time  since  1854,  with  the  exceptions  of  1858  and  1879. 
Wool  was  down  to  a  very  low  figure,  lower  than  it  had  been  for  some 
years.  The  amount  of  wool  produced  in  the  State  in  1884  was  4,584,935 


600 


SHEEP  INDUSTRY  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES 


pounds,  exceeding  tlie  product  of  each  of  the  two  years  preceding,  but 
realizing  much  less  money.  The  value  per  pound  had  steadily  declined 
from  35  cents  in  1879  to  21  cents  in  1884.  The  number  of  pounds  of  wool 
shorn,  its  value  per  pound,  and  its  total  value  from  1877  to  1884  are 
given  in  the  following  table,  compiled  from  the  assessors'  returns  and 
the  statistical  reports  made  to  the  Illinois  department  of  agriculture : 


Year, 

Number  of 
pounds 
shorn. 

Value 
per 
pound. 

Total 
value. 

1877       

3,  291,  677 

$0.  30 

$987,  503 

1878  

2,891,087 

.25 

722.  752 

1879        

3,944  558 

.35 

,  380,  595 

1880    

4,  757.  938 

.34 

.  617,  698 

1881 

4  636  711 

.29 

,  344,  646 

1882    ..                      .           

4,  570,  081 

.27 

,  233,  922 

1883 

4  447  808 

.25 

,  099,  822 

1884      

4,  534,  935 

.21 

912,  418 

The  decline  in  sheep  continued,  falling  from  1,037,073  in  1880  to 
925,201  in  1887.  The  continued  low  prices  of  wool  arid  mutton  and  the 
destruction  by  dogs  were  the  causes.  Many  farmers  reduced  their 
flocks  while  others  sold  out  entirely.  There  was  also  a  change  going 
on  in  the  character  of  the  sheep,  an  increasing  substitution  of  the  mut- 
ton sheep  for  the  Merino — a  tendency  that  was  recognized  in  the  predic- 
tion of  one  of  the  leading  agriculturists  of  the  State,  that  sheep  for 
wool-growing  alone  in  Illinois  would  be  abandoned  for  sheep  that  would 
produce  mutton  and  wool.  Mr.  A.  M.  Garland,  a  veteran  Merino 
breeder,  says  that  the  Merino  must  be  brought  to  a  standard  both  in 
size  and  quality  of  flesh,  at  which  it  Avill  be  recognized  as  a  good  mutton 
sheep.  He  insists  that  it  can  be  increased  30  to  50  per  cent  in  size, 
while  otherwise  adding  to  its  popularity  for  mutton  production.  No 
outside  blood  is  deemed  necessary,  and  none  should  be  tolerated  in  bring- 
ing about  this  improvement  in  size;  all  necessary  elements  are  now  in 
the  hands  of  the  breeders.  Speaking  on  the  same  line,  another  Illinois 
breeder  says : 

We  need  not  go  outside  of  the  Merino  to  obtain  an  all-purpose  sheep.  Two  or 
three  crosses  with  a  large,  plain  Merino  ram,  Avith  good,  generous  keeping,  will  give 
us  a  mutton  sheep  that  we  need  not  be  ashamed  to  put  alongside  of  any  in  the  mar- 
ket, and  one  that  I  believe  will  produce  a  pound  of  wool  and  meat  cheaper  than  can 
be  done  on  any  other  sheep.  This  is  also  the  kind  of  sheep  most  in  demand  for 
stock  purposes  on  the  great  ranches  of  the  West,  which  is  to  be  the  great  outlet  for 
our  surplus  stock ;  therefore,  I  believe  it  will  be  better  for  the  most  of  us  to  pay  less 
attention  to  fancy  points  and  more  to  what  constitutes  real  value.  As  a  factor  in 
our  system  of  agriculture,  the  sheep  occupies  so  important  a  position  as  to  be  the 
turning  point  in  the  scale  between  loss  and  profit. 

That  the  Merino  is  capable  of  an  increase  of  30  to  50  per  cent  is 
shown  in  shearings  of  the  last  few  years  in  Illinois,  whose  many  rams 
have  given  140  to  180  pounds  live  weight,  some  from  180  to  202  pounds, 
and  ewes  from  100  to  120  pounds.  Some  Merino  breeders,  looking  to 
an  increased  size  of  sheep,  have  substituted  for  the  Vermont  Merino, 


EA.ST    OF    THE    MISSISSIPPI    RIVER. 


601 


the  plainer,  larger  sheep  of  eastern  Ohio  and  western  Pennsylvania — 
the  Delaine  type.  Crosses  of  the  long  and  middle  wool  rains  or  Merino 
ewes  are  growing  in  favor,  for  which  the  many  fine  English  breeds  of 
sheep  now  established  in  the  State  give  great  advantages.  Before 
considering  these  breeds  and  their  crosses  we  will  note  some  addi- 
tional data  of  the  Merino. 

At  the  shearing  of  the  Northern  Illinois  Merino  Sheep-Breeders' 
Association  in  1881  15  rams  and  8  ewes  were  shorn  of  470  pounds  of 
wool,  an  average  of  20^f  pounds  each.  One  rani  gave  30 J  pounds;  one 
29;  one,  27 J;  two,  25 J;  one,  24;  and  three,  23  J.  A  seven-year-old  ewe 
gave  19  pounds ;  one  gave  18  J,  and  two  15  J  each. 

At  a  shearing  of  the  same  association  in  1884  13  rams  and  14  ewes 
gave  445  J  pounds  of  wool,  an  average  of  16£f  pounds  each.  The  heav- 
iest rani  fleece  weighed  30§  pounds.  Two  weighed  27  J  pounds  each,  two 
22f  pounds  each,  and  two  22  pounds  each.  The  heaviest  ewe  fleece 
weighed  17J  pounds,  the  next  16  pounds,  and  two  weighed  15J  pounds. 

At  the  shearing  of  the  same  association  in  1885  12  rams  and  10  ewes 
gave  367  pounds  of  wool,  an  average  of  16£|  pounds  each.  The  heavi- 
est ram  fleece  was  30  J  pounds ;  two  ewes  gave  19  pounds  each.  The 
live  weight  and  yield  of  wool  for  the  five  heaviest  in  each  sex  is  here 
given : 


Weight  of 
carcass. 

Weight  of 
fleece. 

Pounds. 
123 

Pounds. 
301 

*Dn         

115 

a 

llli 

>>•>! 

"Do         

127" 

a! 

Do 

86 

Oil 

T  \vo-vear-old  ewe     ..     ..                      .                    .           

87 

19 

'  It.. 

65 

19 

Do                                                                                    .     .                   

102 

151 

Do 

94 

15! 

Do                                                                                                         

66 

15 

In  1887  E.  E.  Gilbert,  of  Waucouda,  sheared  from  6  two-year-old 
rams  149J  pounds  of  wool,  an  average  of  24|  pounds  each.  The  weight 
of  each  fleece  and  the  days7  growth  follow : 


602 


SHEEP    INDUSTRY    OF    THE    UNITED    STATES 


In  1889  Messrs.  E.  Peck  &  Sons,  from  their  Merino  flock  of  nearly 
2,000  sheep,  sheared  rams  and  ewes  which  gave  the  following  fleeces, 
all  the  growth  of  365  days : 


Live 
weight. 

Weight 
of  fleece. 

% 

Live 

weight. 

Weight 
of  fleece. 

Pounds. 
125 

Pounds. 
40} 

Four-year-old  ewe  

Pounds. 
83 

Pounds. 
21J 

Four-year  old  ram  . 

130 

39 

Six-year-old  ewe 

110 

20% 

Three-year-old  ram  

142 

32 

Two-year-old  ewe  

63 

i»I 

Four-year-old  ram 

136 

31} 

Six  year-old  e\ve 

100 

18% 

Five-year-old  ram  

124 

28 

Three-year-old  ewe 

83 

18* 

Two-year-old  ram 

90 

28 

Do 

102 

18 

Three-year-old  rani      .  . 

127 

26 

Many  rams  sheared  from  26  pounds  down  to  15  pounds,  and  ewes  from 
18  pounds  down  to  12  pounds. 

At  the  shearing  of  the  same  flock  in  1890,  15  ranis  and  6  ewes  made 
this  record : 


Live 
weight. 

Weight 
of  fleece. 

Live 
weight. 

Weight 
of  fleece. 

Four-year-old  ram  

Pounds, 
155 

Pounds. 
39} 

Two-year-old  ram    

Pounds. 
113 

Pounds. 

23J 

Do 

118 

35 

Three-year-old  ram 

135 

21} 

Do 

147 

33 

Yearlin  »•  ram  

84 

Five-year-old  ram  

157 

Do  

84 

15^ 

Three-year-old  ram 

110 

312 

Five-year-old  ewe 

84 

20* 

Two-year-old  ram  

119 

28} 

Three-year-old  ewe  

83 

204 

110 

27  5 

83 

17* 

Six-year-old  ram  

108 
107 

26} 
20 

:  Two-year-pld  ewe  
Do 

67 

15 

Two-year-old  ram  

111 

251 

Seven-year-old  ewe 

99 

20 

*Do' 

107 

24 

At  the  shearing  of  the  same  flock  April  10,  1891,  18  rams,  two  years 
old  and  over,  weighed  2,529  pounds  and  gave  493  pounds  of  wool,  an 
average  weight  of  the  rams  of  140  pounds  each  and  of  the  fleece  of  27  ^ 
pounds  each.  Four  yearling  rains  gave  an  average  of  16f  pounds  of 
wool  each,  one  rising  to  26  pounds.  Thirteen  ewes  gave  224  pounds  of 
wool,  an  average  of  1 7-^ pounds  each.  The  individual  record  of  the  12 
heaviest  shearing  old  rams,  four  yearlings  and  6  ewes,  is  here  given: 


Live 
weight. 

Weight 
of  fleece. 

Live 
weight. 

Weight 
of  fleece. 

llam  two  years  old  and  over.  . 

Pounds. 
202 
145 

Pounds. 

a» 

Earn  two  years  old  and  over. 

Pounds. 
132 
112 

Pounds. 
25J 
151 

Do  

170 

32 

Do 

75 

11 

Do 

159 

28 

Do 

102 

144 

Do  

146 

28 

Do 

114 

26 

Do 

138 

28 

108 

23} 

Do  

166 

32 

Do    ..  

106 

21 

Do 

171 

32} 

Do 

103 

22 

Do  ... 

144 

28 

Do    . 

108 

20 

Do  . 

143 

25} 

Do 

93 

17 

Do 

166 

25 

Do 

84 

16 

EAST   OF   THE    MISSISSIPPI   KIVER.  603 

In  1880  over  one-fourth  of  the  sheep  were  Merinos  and  their  grades ; 
in  1890  the  Merinos  did  not  number  one- eighth  of  the  total.  Their  place 
was  taken  by  the  English  mutton  breeds,  principally  by  the  Shropshires. 
There  are  now  but  a  few  pure-bred  Merino  flocks  in  the  State,  and  these 
almost  wholly  in  the  northern  part.  Where  ten  flocks  existed  twenty 
\  cars  ago  but  one  prospers  now.  The  low  price  of  wool  and  the  greater 
profit  in  dairying  were  the  primal  causes  of  the  decline,  to  which  more 
recently  has  been  added  the  greater  demand  for  a  mutton  sheep.  All 
these  have  been  fatal  to  the  Merino  wool  industry.  The  fine-wooled 
sheep  have  been  banished  from  the  best  farming  lands  of  the  State,  and, 
with  the  exception  of  some  breeding  flocks  maintained  to  furnish  rams 
for  the  far  West  and  in  the  hope  of  better  days  nearer  home,  and  an 
occasional  flock  still  maintained  for  wool-growing  because  the  owner 
1  nows  how  to  make  it  pay,  they  have  given  place  to  mutton  breeds. 
10  veil  where  the  Merino  still  maintains  a  precarious  foothold  there  is  a 
disposition  for  a  change  from  the  Vermont  type  to  that  so  successfully 
developed  in  western  Pennsylvania  and  eastern  Ohio,  a  sheep  that 
will  weigh  160  to  210  pounds  good  for  mutton,  and  give  a  14-pound 
fleece,  where  the  carcass  and  the  fleece  furnish  mutual  protection,  one 
paying  the  expense  of  the  other.  The  rich  pastures  of  Illinois  can  raise 
such  a  mutton  Merino  and  the  probabilities  point  to  success  in  that 
direction. 

There  are  some  who  look  to  the  French  Merino  as  the  sheep  to  bring 
about  this  consummation  of  the  best  wool  on  a  mutton  carcass,  and  they 
point  to  the  success  attained  in  France  in  that  direction.  When  the 
French  Merinos  were  first  introduced  into  the  country  many  were  sold 
to  wool-growers  of  northern  Illinois,  but  were  not  cared  for  as  they 
should  have  been,  and,  in  consequence,  fell  below  their  anticipated  value. 
They  were  very  generally  discarded  and  but  little  if  any  of  the  blood 
remains  in  that  section.  There  is,  however,  a  flock  in  the  southern  part 
of  the  State  which  promises  well.  It  is  owned  by  a  farmer  who  has  had 
experience  in  raising  these  sheep  in  Utah,  and  who  reports  that  while 
not  yielding  as  much  wool  per  head  as  the  French  Merino  in  Utah,  they 
are  very  healthy,  the  climate  agrees  with  them,  and  the  future  looks 
bright. 

Illinois  is  liberally  provided  with  breeding  flocks  of  the  leading  Eng- 
lish mutton  sheep,  the  Southdowns,  the  Shropshires,  the  Hampshires, 
the  Oxfords,  the  Cotswolds,  the  Leicesters,  the  Lincolnshires,  and  the 
Cheviots.  At  the  eighth  annual  fat  stock  show  at  Chicago  in  1885,  all 
but  the  Cheviots  were  represented.  Of  the  148  animals  on  show  the 
middle  wool  varieties  were  in  the  majority,  numbering  in  all  49,  and 
consisting  of  18  Southdowns,  11  Shropshires,  12  Hampshires,  and  8 
Oxfords.  The  33  long- wools  were  made  up  of  12  Cotswolds,  13  Leices- 
ters, 8  Lincolns.  A  yearling  Shropshire  was  adjudged  the  best  wether 
in  the  show.  A  Canadian-bred  Leicester,  weighing  346  pounds,  took 


604        SHEEP  INDUSTRY  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES 

the  prize  for  the  heaviest  sheep.  A  pure-bred  Oxford  from  Michigan 
took  second,  with  308  pounds. 

The  first  mutton  sheep  introduced  into  Illinois  was  probably  a  grade 
Leicester,  by  which  is  meant  a  sheep  originally  of  Leicester  blood  but 
deteriorated  by  admixture  with  the  so-called  common  sheep  of  the  coun- 
try. Such  sheep  are  yet  to  be  seen  in  some  parts  of  southern  Illinois, 
continuing  on  without  improvement  and  apparently  without  deteriora- 
tion. But  in  numbers  they  are  decreasing. 

The  Southdown s  are  the  standard  mutton  sheep  by  which  all  other 
mutton  breeds  are  weighed,  and  they  have  always  been  held  in  high  es- 
teem. They  are  to  be  found  in  all  the  counties  of  northern  and  central 
Illinois  and  in  some  portions  of  southern  Illinois.  In  central  Illinois, 
particularly,  where,  in  former  years,  the  Merinos  were  supreme,  the  farm- 
ers who  depend  upon  the  profits  of  mutton  as  well  as  wool  find  these 
sheep  profitable,  and  their  lands  and  pasturage  well  adapted  for  their 
maintenance.  The  growing  demand  for  choice  mutton  in  the  cities  leads 
many  farmers  to  use  Southdown  rams  on  their  flocks,  and  the  demand 
for  juicy  Southdown  lambs  is  rapidly  increasing.  One  of  the  earliest 
Southdown  flocks  of  Illinois  was  formed  in  1844,  and  began  with  one 
ram  and  two  ewes  imported  from  England.  They  were  landed  at  New 
York  and  shipped  thence  by  way  of  the  lakes  and  canal  to  La  Fayctte, 
Ind.,  and  from  there  hauled  to  Sangamon  County,  111.,  in  a  light  2-mule 
wagon,  by  George  Pickrell,  son  of  Jesse  A.  Pickrell,  to  whom  they  be- 
longed. Mr.  Pickrell  used  no  other  than  pure  Southdown  rams  on  his 
flock  from  that  time  until  1873,  when  the  flock  came  into  possession  of 
his  son  before  mentioned,  who  has  kept  it  pure,  using  only  the  best 
rams  to  be  obtained. 

Another  valuable  importation  of  Southdowns  into  the  State  was  that 
made  by  the  Illinois  Importing  Company  in  1857.  This  importation 
consisted  of  4  yearling  rams,  1  ram  lamb,  and  8  yearling  ewes,  all  from 
the  flocks  of  Jonas  Webb.  The  5  rams  sold  for  $550  and  the  8  ewes 
for  $560.  A  part  of  these  were  bought  by  J.  N.  Brown,  and  their 
descendents  are  still  found  in  some  of  the  best  Illinois  flocks  and  in 
those  of  other  States. 

There  were  other  importations,  not  direct  from  England  but  from  the 
eastern  States,  and  the  Southdown  was  being  gradually  extended 
when  the  war  of  the  rebellion  commenced.  An  Illinois  writer,  speak- 
ing of  that  period  and  of  his  State,  says : 

The  importation  of  wool  was  at  an  end  for  the  time,  and  the  American  farmer 
again  went  to  wool-growing  with  greater  earnestness  than  ever  before.  The  reduc- 
tion of  the  cotton  crop  in  the  South  made  the  growing  of  wool  all  the  more  profit- 
able. The  effects  of  the  war  on  the  further  improvement  and  dissemination  of 
mutton  sheep,  however,  were  the  reverse.  The  importation  of  breeding  sfock  was 
necessarily  discontinued.  The  flocks  already  begun  were  more  or  less  broken  up. 
*  *  *  A  public  record  of  breeding  stock  had  not  yet  been  established,  and  pedi- 
grees were  not  then  as  carefully  kept  as  they  have  since  been.  After  the  war  was 
over  the  best  of  the  scattered  flocks  soon  began  to  show  up  again.  The  strong  int'u- 


EAST    OF    THE    MISSISSIPPI    RIVER.  -605 

sion  of  Southdown  blood  was  not  to  be  lost  in  a  few  years  of  time.  The  attention  of 
farmers  who  were  without  the  unlimited  range  for  grazing  required  by  the  more 
exclusive  wool-growing  sheep,  was  again  directed  to  the  improvement  of  their  flocks 
in  the  production  of  mutton.  The  Southdown  has  shown  itself  well  adapted  to  our 
soil  and  climate.  It  was  known  to  mature  early,  to  be  prolific,  to  be  of  a  quiet  dis- 
position, and  excel  all  other 'breeds  in  the  quality  of  its  mutton.  It  was  believed 
also  to  produce  a  larger  proportionate  amount  of  good  meat,  the  fat  being  less,  and 
the  joints  smaller  than  any  other  sheep.  As  a  mutton  sheep  it  had  always  found  a 
ready  market.* 

Favored  by  location,  the  flock  of  John  Wentworth,  of  Chicago,  was 
comparatively  exempt  from  the  influences  that  tended  to  scatter  others 
during  the  war.  In  1861  he  received  from  England  two  noted  rams 
bred  by  the  Prince  of  Wales,  which  he  used  to  good  advantage  in 
improving  his  flock  at  Summit  Farm.  In  1872  he  bought  of  Col.  L.  G. 
Morris,  of  New  York,  the  imported  ram  Audley  End,  bred  by  Lord 
ihaybrooke,  England,  and  whose  sire  and  dam  were  from  the  Jonas 
Webb  flock. 

The  great  number  taken  into  the  State  within  recent  years  forbids 
mention  or  enumeration.  They  have  gone  into  nearly  every  section, 
and  the  State  has  as  good  breeding  flocks  as  can  be  found  in  any  other 
State  of  the  Union. 

The  Shropshires  are  of  comparatively  recent  introduction  into  the 
State,  and  have  made  their  greatest  development  since  1883.  The 
climate  and  herbage  agree  with  them,  and  they  are  spreading  with 
wonderful  rapidity.  They  are  believed  by  many  to  be  the  coming  wool 
and  mutton  sheep  of  the  State — the  all-purpose  sheep.  Their  carcasses 
are  larger  than  those  of  the  Southdowns  and  their  mutton  but  a  shade 
inferior,  while  their  fleeces  are  heavier.  On  an  average  the  Illinois 
Shropshires  give  fleeces  averaging  7  pounds,  while  those  of  the  South- 
downs  weigh  6  pounds.  They  are  hardy  and  good  mothers.  They 
made  a  great  stride  in  1890,  when  the  cross  of  a  Shropshire  ram  on  a 
Merino  ewe  carried  off  the  premium  at  the  Chicago  fat  stock  show  for 
the  highest  quality  of  mutton.  This  cross  is  very  popular  and  is  now 
generally  adopted.  A  cross  of  the  Shropshire  on  the  Cotswold  has 
shown  some  advantages. 

The  experience  of  a  Winnebago  County  farmer  with  the  Shropshire 
cross  in  1888  presents  something  practical.  He  bought  93  ewes  at  $2.17 
per  head  and  a  Shropshire  ram  for  $25.  Fifty  of  the  ewes  were  grade 
Merinos.  From  these  he  had  45  lambs,  dropped  in  May,  lost  5  and 
sold  40  in  September  for  $3  per  head.  Their  average  weight  was  80 
pounds.  The  remaining  43  ewes  were  grade  sheep,  and  from  them  he 
raised  44  lambs  and  lost  none.  They  were  dropped  in  March,  and  34 
were  sold  in  July  and  August  at  $3  each.  Their  average  weight  was 
85  pounds  and  they  were  not  fat  on  account  of  drought.  The  sheep 
clipped  7£  pounds  of  wool  to  the  head,  which  sold  for  20  cents  per 
pound. 

*  American  Southdown  Record,  Vol.  in. 


606        SHEEP  INDUSTRY  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES 

Investment. 

93  ewes,  at  $2.17 $199.  81 

One  ram 25.  00 

Cost  of  feed  in  winter. .  141.  00 


Cost  on  May  1 305. 81 

Receipts. 

Wool  sold  in  June $136. 30 

34  lambs  sold  July  and  August,  at  $3 102.  00 

40  lambs  sold  in  September,  at  $3 120.  00 

42  fat  ewes  in  October,  at  $4. 14 173.  88 

50  Merino  ewes  in  November,  at  $2.  75 137.  50 


Total  receipts 669.  68 

From  the  progeny  of  the  sheep  purchased  he  had  10  of  the  best  ewe 
lambs  on  hand,  which  weighed  123  pounds  at  an  average  when  7  months 
old.  He  estimated  them  to  be  worth  $50  and  the  ram  $25.  This  would 
make: 

Ram  and  lambs  on  hand $75.  00 

From  sales . .  669.  68 


Total 744.  68 

Investment  . .  365.  81 


Balance 378. 87 

He  thus  had  $378.87  for  the  use  of  50  acres  of  pasture,  and  he  con- 
sidered that  the  droppings  on  the  land  fully  repaid  the  pasturage.  He 
considered  it  folly  to  breed  for  wool  alone.  The  Merino  was  not  desira- 
ble for  the  table,  but  two  crosses  of  Shropshire  or  Southdowns  would 
make  good  mutton  sheep  and  a  good,  fair  fleece  of  medium  wool. 

The  Hampshire  Downs  have  not  made  a  great  show  in  the  State. 
There  are  one  or  two  small  breeding  flocks,  and  there  are  some  who 
admire  them,  but  they  are  not  well  enough  known  to  be  generally 
appreciated. 

The  Oxford  Downs  are  better  known  than  the  Hampshires,  and  have 
some  staunch  friends  who  consider  them  superior  to  fhe  Shropshires  or 
the  Southdowns.  Not  superior  to  the  latter  in  quality  of  mutton,  but 
superior  where  quality  and  quantity  are  both  considered.  There  are 
a  few  pure-bred  flocks  in  the  State,  and  the  increase  in  numbers  is  con- 
servative. The  Oxford  cross  on  the  Merino  has  been  known  to  produce 
a  2-year  old  ram  weighing  200  pounds,  and  a  flock  of  100  at  that  age  in 
Illinois  have  averaged  180  pounds  and  produced  7J  pounds  of  wool  per 
head,  or  nearly  2  pounds  more  than  the  general  average  of  the  South- 
downs  in  the  State.  The  Oxfords  are  considered  extremely  valuable 
to  grade  up  the  common  sheep  of  the  country. 

The  Cotswolds  were  long  a  favorite  mutton  sheep  in  Illinois,  and  the 
cross  of  the  Cotswold  on  the  Merino  was  at  one  time  the  almost  uni- 
versal practice.  Great  numbers  were  brought  in  from  Canada  and  a 


EAST    OF    THE    MISSISSIPPI    RIVER.  607 

few  from  the  Eastern  States.  They  have  not  maintained  their  relative 
position  since  the  advent  of  the  Shropshires,  but  there  are  some  pure- 
bred flocks  in  the  State  and  some  enthusiastic  breeders.  From  one  of 
these  flocks  in  1889  there  was  sheared  from  20  yearlings  an  average  of 
20  pounds  of  wool,  from  40  old  suckling  ewes  an  average  of  14  pounds 
each,  and  from  2  two-year-old  rams  44  pounds.  One  imported  yearling 
cut  33  pounds  of  good  clean  wool  that  sold  at  22J  cents  a  pound. 
Recent  importations  have  been  made  from  the  best  flocks  of  England. 

The  Lincolnshires  have  been  at  home  in  Illinois  for  many  years,  but 
have  not  made  much  headway.  Their  long  wool  was  at  one  time  in 
much  demand  and  bade  fair  to  give  them  a  great  increase,  but  fashion 
changed  and  interest  in  them  abated.  They  maintain  an  humble  posi- 
tion, even  more  so  than  warranted  by  their  deserts  and  real  worth. 

A  small  flock  of  Blackfaced  sheep  was  taken  into  the  State  in  1874 
and  bred  for  some  time  with  success,  proving  themselves  well  adapted 
to  the  locality  where  they  were  placed,  though  they  would  be  much 
more  suitable  for  the  mountains  of  Tennessee  and  North  Carolina  and 
those  of  Colorado. 

The  Cheviots  were  first  taken  into  the  State  in  1888,  when  Mr.  E. 
Pumphrey  imported  10  ewes  and  1  ram  from  the  flock  of  E.  J.  Bruce, 
Pittsfield,  N.  Y.  The  next  year  they  lambed  150  per  cent  and  have  since 
done  well.  The  Horned  Dorsets  have  been  attracting  some  attention 
of  late,  and  a  few  of  them  have  been  imported  from  England. 

The  great  increase  in  the  mutton  trade  of  Chicago,  and  of  all  the 
eastern  cities  having  communication  with  that  place,  is  largely  due  to 
the  improved  quality  of  the  meat,  and  Illinois  has  been  prominent  in 
that  improvement.  Her  improved  breeds,  handled  with  care  and  fed 
on  her  rich  grasses,  have  been  factors  in  that  improvement  and  one  of 
the  causes  why  the  mutton  trade  of  Chicago  has  increased  faster  than 
the  pork  or  beef  trade,  or  over  1,000,000  more  for  that  city  in  1889  than 
in  1880.  Nearly  all  the  sheep  that  go  to  that  market  from  Illinois  are 
grain-fatted,  and  there  are  more  of  the  Down  breeds  than  formerly. 
The  largest  consumers  of  meat — the  hotels  and  restaurants — require 
double  the  quantity  of  mutton  that  they  did  five  years  ago,  and  the 
consumption  is  increasing. 

But  of  the  more  than  1,000,000  sheep  eaten  in  Chicago  in  1889  Illinois 
raised  less  than  one-sixth,  and  this,  too,  while  sheep  sold  for  an  aver- 
age of  more  money  per  pound  than  cattle  for  the  four  preceding  years, 
and  for  some  part  of  that  time  for  more  than  hogs.  Official  reports  for 
the  State  of  Illinois  show  that  for  1889  and  1890  the  average  price  for 
cattle  was  $3.08  per  100  pounds,  for  hogs  $3.65,  and  for  sheep  $3.72. 
The  cause  of  the  neglect  of  the  mutton  industry  is  stated  by  Mr.  Gar- 
land : 

There  is  a  too  common  tendency  to  look  upon  flock  culture  as  mainly  a  business 
of  wool-growing.  In  fact  the  nominal  State  organization  of  sheep  owners  in  Illinois 
calls  itself  a  "  Wool-Growers'  Association/'  thus  impliedly  ignoring  the  fact  that 


608 


SHEEP    INDUSTRY    OF    THE    UNITED    STATES 


sheep  are  good  for  some  other  purpose  than  producing  wool.  The  effect  of  this 
tendency,  combined  with  recollections  of  past  experiences,  has  been  to  divert  atten- 
tion from  the  sheep  as  a  factor  in  meat  production.  And  this  in  face  of  the  fact  that 
a  pound  of  mutton  can  be  produced  as  economically  and  sold  for  as  much  money  as 
can  be  had  for  a  pound  of  either  beef  or  pork.  Restricting  estimates  of  profit  from 
sheep  to  the  quantity  and  selling  value  of  wool  is  seriously  misleading,  inasmuch 
as  it  excludes  a  very  important  factor  from  the  calculation.  And  this  fact  must  bo 
kept  in  mind  when  laying  the  foundation  of  a  flock,  as  well  as  through  all  subsequent 
manipulations.  The  type  of  sheep  to  start  with  is  one  with  a  good  body  as  well  as 
a  bountiful  fleece;  and  in  all  future  breeding  and  feeding  care  must  betaken  to  pre- 
serve this  equilibrium  of  merit.  It  is  the  failure  to  get  the  most  possible  out  of  car- 
cass as  well  as  from  fleece  that  has  encouraged  the  too  prevalent  belief  that  sheep 
husbandry  can  not  be  profitably  pursued  on  valuable  agricultural  lands.  The  mis- 
take in  such  conclusion  becomes  apparent  when  we  recall  the  fact  that  English 
farmers  find  some  profit  in  sheep  when  kept  on  lands  valued  at  $100  to  $300  per  acre. 
True,  the  price  obtained  for  mutton  is  higher  there  than  here,  but  there  is  no  such 
disparity  in  price  between  the  two  markets  as  to  explain  the  variance  in  estimates 
of  the  value  of  sheep  in  a  diversified  agriculture.  The  explanation  must  be  sought 
in  the  type  of  sheep  and  the  peculiarities  of  management  that  obtain  in  the  two 
countries.  In  England,  where  fields  have  been  cropped  for  the  lifetimes  of  four  and 
five  generations,  experience  has  forced  the  farmer  to  have  regard  for  the  preserva- 
tion of  fertility  in  his  lands,  and  he  credits  something  to  the  sheep  that  contributes 
to  this  end. 

The  raising  of  early  lambs  is  now  followed  to  some  extent  by  many 
farmers,  and  proves  to  be  a  profitable  business.  Fattening'  mutton  for 
the  fall  market  is  also  pursued  to  a  great  advantage  where  the  farmer 
has  good  pasturage,  particularly  blue  grass.  The  fattening  of  Western 
sheep  is  a  large  business.  Carload  after  carload  comes  into  the  Chi- 
cago market  from  the  country  beyond  the  Mississippi.  The  sheep  are 
purchased  by  the  farmers,  sometimes  for  a  song,  run  out  to  their  farms, 
fattened  on  com  and  hay,  if  in  the  fall  or  winter,  and  sold  at  a  good 
round  profit,  the  farmer  retaining  on  his  land  that  which  enriches  it 
beyond  the  capacity  of  any  manufactured  fertilizer. 

But,  notwithstanding  the  great  advantages  possessed  by  Illinois  as  a 
sheep-raising  State,  the  number  of  sheep  has  long  been  on  the  decline. 
The  following  table,  giving  the  number  of  sheep  from  1840  to  1800, 
shows  this  at  a  glance.  The  figures  from  1840  to  1880  are  taken  from 
the  United  States  census;  those  for  1890  from  the  U.  S.  Department  of 
Agriculture.  The  decline  from  1870  to  1890  is  remarkable.  The  great 
decline  from  1880  to  1890  began  about  1884,  when  mutton  and  wool  were 
both  low,  but  continued  even  after  mutton  had  advanced  in  price. 


Tear. 

Number  of 
sheep. 

Wool. 

Average 
weight  of 
wool  per 
head. 

1840  

395  672 

Pounds. 
650  097 

Pounds. 
\  C4 

1850 

894  04'} 

2  150  113 

2  40 

18GO  

76u  135 

1  989  567 

2  r>8 

1870 

1  5(58  '-'8(5 

5  739  949 

3  66 

1880  

1  037  073 

6  093  066 

5  87 

1890  

688  387 

4  144  089 

6  <>2 

EAST    OF    THE    MISSISSIPPI    RIVER.  609 

The  Illinois  State  agent  for  the  U.  S.  Department  of  Agriculture,  in 
his  report  for  January,  1890,  says : 

There  has  been  a  steady  decline  annually  in  the  number  of  sheep,  the  decline  com- 
mencing about  1884.  The  falling  off  in  numbers  the  p?st  year  can  not  be  chargeable 
alone  to  the  lower  price  of  mutton,  as  the  market  is  quite  as  good  for  mutton  as  last 
year.  Mutton  breeds  are  receiving  more  attention,  and  only  for  the  prevailing  low 
price  of  wool  and  the  heavy  loss  annually  by  sheep-killing  dogs  this  class  of  farm 
animals  would  rapidly  increase  upon  our  farms  in  all  parts  of  the  State.  Jt  tax  of 
$1  per  head  is  laid  upon  all  dogs  in  the  State,  and  this  fund  is  intended  to  cover  the 
loss  and  damage  to  sheep  by  worthless  curs,  yet  in  some  counties  it  pays  only  about 
one-half  of  such  damage  and  loss. 

And  again,  in  January,  1891 : 

From  1884  to  1889,  inclusive,  there  was  a  steady  falling  off  in  the  numbers  of  sheep. 
The  better  prices  of  mutton  and  wool  for  the  past  year  or  two  are  again  bringing  this 
class  of  farm  animals  to  the  front.  Only  for  the  risk  of  loss  and  injury  by  sheep- 
killing  dogs  a  flock  would  soon  be  found  on  most  of  the  farms  of  the  State. 

Over  4  per  cent  of  the  sheep  of  the  State  are  killed  annually  by  the 
dogs,  the  number  in  1890  being  about  28,000. 

In  a  recent  address  before  the  Farmers'  Institute,  at  Farmer  City, 
111.,  published  in  the  Breeders'  Gazette  May  6,  1891,  Mr.  A.  M.  Garland 
called  attention  to  the  great  decrease  of  sheep  in  the  State.  There  was 
a  time  when  the  census  of  her  flocks  outnumbered  that  of  her  people, 
while  now  she  has  less  than  1  sheep  to  6  inhabitants,  or  but  little  over 
630,000  sheep  to  her  35,000,000  broad  acres.  This  was  less  than  1 
sheep  to  56  acres,  less  than  3  to  each  quarter  section.  She  had  less 
than  1  sheep  to  3  head  of  cattle,  less  than  1  sheep  to  six  hogs.  Taking 
the  State  as  a  whole,  in  round  numbers,  there  were  16  acres  per  head 
for  cattle,  9  acres  per  head  for  hogs,  and  56  acres  per  head  for  sheep. 
In  the  face  of  such  facts  and  the  annual  decrease  of  the  yield  of  wheat 
per  acre,  Mr.  Garland  found  warrant  for  asking  why  these  things  were 
so,  and  if  it  was  not  high  time  for  a  change. 

With  as  good  soil  as  can  be  found  in  the  world — most  of  it  in  virgin  sod  since  some 
of  us  were  born — and  with  all  the  appliances  of  modern  invention  in  the  hands  of  its 
farmers,  this  great  State  figures  an  annual  average  of  about  12  bushels,  while  the 
more  intensive  agriculture  of  England  is  frequently  rewarded  with  30  bushels  per 
acre  from  lands  that  have  been  cultivated  for  two  hundred  years.  Of  course,  this 
difference  is  not  all  attributable  to  sheep ;  but  there  is  much  in  the  fact  that  England 
carries  about  60  sheep  to  100  acres — more  than  30  times  the  proportion  carried  in 
Illinois.  It  would  require  that. about  half  of  all  the  sheep  in  the  United  States  should 
be  crowded  into  Illinois  to  stock  the  State  proportionately  with  England. 

Do  not  understand  me  as  saying  that  we  should  imitate  England  to  the  extent  of 
accepting  and  adopting  all  the  details  observed  by  the  farmers  of  that  nation.  Over 
there  are  found  climatic,  economic,  and  commercial  conditions  that  can  not  be,  and 
some  of  them  ought  not  to  be,  duplicated  in  this  country.  What  I  seek  to  empha- 
size is  the  importance  of  ascertaining  when  and  where  and  how  the  sheep  can  be 
made  to  bring  better  returns  from  the  farm  than  other  domestic  animals,  and  when 
these  facts  are  determined  we  can  safely  leave  the  result  to  the  future.  Once  thor- 
oughly impressed  by  the  facts,  the  intelligence  and  enterprise  of  the  farmers  of  the 
country,  seconded  by  the  ever-augmenting  necessity  for  climbing  out  of  old  ruts,  will 
22990 39 


610        SHEEP  INDUSTRY  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES 

in  time  induce  them  to  give  sheep  a  place  on  American  farms  as  generally  as  is  now 
done  in  some  other  countries. 

It  is  not  the  peculiar  methods  of  English  sheep-raisers  that  I  would  have  the  farm- 
ers of  this  country  follow  with  rigid  exactness;  it  is  their  persistent,  intelligent 
determination  to  obtain  the  type  of  sheep  best  suited  to  each  particular  locality,  and 
through  this  to  secure  profits  from  whatever  product  of  the  soil  that  such  sheep  can 
utilize  to  better  advantage  than  can  be  secured  by  any  other  means.  With  wool  and 
mutton  for  some  of  the  time  selling  at  nearly  the  same  price  per  pound,  the  English 
breeder  has  been  encouraged  on  the  extreme  policy  of  devoting  more  attention  to  car- 
cass development  than  to  improvement  in  the  character  and  weight  of  fleece — just  as 
breeders  in  the  United  States  have  been  encouraged  by  the  higher  relative  price  of 
wool  here  to  overlook  the  carcass  and  give  prime  consideration  to  fleece. 

To  Mr.  Garland's  mind,  among  the  most  encouraging  aspects  of  the 
sheep  husbandry  of  the  United  States  was  the  fact  that  so  many  Merino 
breeders  were  zealously  working  to  get  good  mutton  and  big  fleeces 
from  the  same  animals,  and  he  was  glad  to  know  that  some  of  them 
had  already  succeeded.  And  they  had  succeeded  with  the  type  of 
sheep  within  their  reach,  material  that  was  economically  and  readily 
available. 

And  for  the  present,  and  indefinitely  in  the  future,  the  majority  of  flocks  on  Illinois 
farms  will  have  a  foundation  of  grade  animals  upon  which  should  be  used  pure-bred 
rams  of  such  type  as  the  owner  may  deem  best  after  a  careful  study  of  his  surround- 
ings. Starting  at  this  point,  placing  the  standard  high,  rigidly  culling  out  from  the 
breeders  all  animals  that  fall  short,  and  giving  to  the  remainder  the  best  possible 
facilities  for  rapid  and  extreme  development,  will  very  soon  secure  a  flock  that  will 
pay  its  way,  no  matter  what  the  market  for  sheep  products.  It  is  the  inferior  and 
medium  products  of  the  farm  that  hang  heavy  on  the  market  and  compel  concessions 
to  buyers.  The  best  of  its  kind  not  only  sells  promptly,  but  it  sells  at  the  top  of  the 
market,  and  sheep  products  are  no  exception  to  the  rule. 

MICHIGAN. 

We  preface  our  sketch  of  the  Merino  sheep  of  Michigan  by  adopting 
the  language  of  the  Michigan  Merino  Register  in  presenting  its  favor- 
able condition  and  the  natural  advantages  of  the  State  in  1885 : 

Possessing,  as  she  does,  a  variety  of  soils  and  surface  yielding  a  number. of  grasses, 
both  natural  and  tame,  with  large  belts  of  partially  cleared  lauds,  which  have  been 
stripped  of  their  best  timber  by  our  lumbering  companies  (especially  north  of  lati- 
tude 43°),  where  the  grade  Merino  sheep  can  be  kept  for  a  double  purpose,  being 
especially  adapted  to  subduing  such  lands  as  well  as  producing  wool  and  mutton, 
Michigan  is  a  natural  habitat  of  the  Merino  sheep,  made  such  by  her  soil  and  cli- 
mate, while  they  are  needed  to  keep  up  the  fertility  of  her  lands  and  work  up  the 
straw  in  winter  (which  is  a  natural  result  of  the  imineuse  crop  of  wheat  raised  within 
her  borders),  and  prepare  it  for  use  in  nourshing  the  soil  which  such  crops  neces- 
sarily draw  upon  so  heavily.  This  State  also  promises  uninterrupted  prosperity  to 
the  sheep-breeder  and  wool-grower  from  the  comparative  cheapness  of  her  lands 
and  the  condensed  form  of  her  products,  which  renders  remote  markets  available  to 
them  which  otherwise  they  would  be  unable  to  reach. 

The  Merino  sheep  saw  the  State  at  the  beginning  of  its  prosperity — 
in  fact  it  grew  up  with  the  country — and  when  the  pioneer  had  killed 
the  wolf  and  made  a  clearing  the  valuable  Merino  was  there  to  clear 


EAST    OF   THE    MISSISSIPPI    RIVER.  611 

away  the  briers,  furnish  the  family  raiment,  and  supply  the  table  when 
game  was  scarce. 

Our  first  record  of  the  Merino  is  in  1828,  when  Stephen  Y.  E.  Trow- 
bridge,  of  Oakland  County,  began  with  a  flock  of  18  sheep,  and  without 
purchasing  any,  and  killing  and  selling  500,  had  in  1851  over  450.  They 
were  full-blooded  Spanish  Merinos,  and  were  found  to  thrive  above  all 
other  sheep.  They  became  very  fat  and  hardy,  and  their  wool  improved 
greatly  in  quality.  The  average  clip  of  the  flock  in  1850  was  3  pounds, 
and  the  produce  in  lambs  was  annually  over  three-fourths  the  whole 
number  of  ewes.  This  success  was  common  with  hundreds  in  the 
county. 

In  Washtenaw  County  the  improvement  of  Merino  sheep  began  prior 
to  the  year  1836.  Mr.  Thomas  Wood,  of  Saline,  imported  a  ram  from 
the  State  of  New  York,  and  subsequently  two  more  from  the  flock  of 
Edwin  Hammond,  very  soon  after  Mr.  Hammond  made  his  purchase  of 
Stephen  Atwood.  Afterwards  Mr.  Wood  tried  a  ram  from  the  Rain- 
bouillet  government  flock  of  France,  which  proved  very  unsatisfactory. 
This  was  about  1850.  Mr.  Wood  continued  his  untiring  interest  in  the 
business,  and  did  as  much,  perhaps,  as  any  other  man  in  that  part  of 
the  State  to  create  an  interest  in  fine  sheep,  furnishing  improved  blood 
for  many  flocks  in  that  section,  and  keeping  a  flock  of  from  600  to  1,200 
sheep.  Capt.  Lowry,  of  Lodi  Plains,  Washtenaw  County,  was  among 
the  first,  if  not  the  first,  to  import  thoroughbred  ewes  from  Vermont 
into  this  locality,  which  he  did  about  the  year  1840.  He  purchased  of 
Mr.  Townsend,  in  Vermont,  ten  ewes  and  a  ram,  which  improved  the 
sheep  in  this  vicinity,  and  in  1850  to  1852  a  goodly  number  of  flocks 
were  brought  in  by  parties  from  Vermont.* 

In  1840  a  flock  was  established  at  Kiver  Eaisin  by  D.  W.  Palmer  & 
Sons,  by  a  purchase  of  5  pure-bred  Merino  ewes  of  Henry  S.  Randall, 
of  New  York,  and  in  1840  or  1841  a  Mr.  Dryer  purchased  of  John 
Hiles,  near  Farmington,  Oakland  County,  10  ewes,  for  which  he  paid 
$7.50  each.  These  sheep  were  taken  to  Ingham  County,  and  were  pro- 
tected from  the  wolves  by  means  of  oak  slabs,  one  end  driven  into  the 
ground,  placed  close  together,  and  forming  an  inclosure  with  a  fence  7 
feet  in  height,  in  which  they  were  yarded  for  four  years.  These  sheep 
formed  the  basis  for  several  flocks  in  that  county. 

In  1840  the  number  of  sheep  in  the  State  was  99,618,  producing 
153,375  pounds  of  wool,  as  given  by  the  census,  or  but  1J  pounds  per 
head,  an  evident  understatement.  From  this  date  the  increase  was 
rapid,  and  in  1850  there  were  746.435  sheep,  producing  2,043,283 
pounds  of  wool.  This  great  increase  leaves  little  trace  of  its  history. 
Flocks  by  hundreds  came  in  from  New  York,  Pennsylvania,  and  other 
Eastern  States;  wool-growing  assumed  great  proportions,  and  Detroit 
became  a  point  of  export  for  wool  grown  on  the  hills  and  meadows  of 


*  Register  of  the  Michigan  Merino  Sheep  Breeder's  Association,  Vol.  j. 


612  SHEEP    INDUSTRY    OF    THE    UNITED    STATES 

the  southeastern  part  of  the  State.  In  1841,  Detroit  exported  20,000 
pounds;  in  1844,  230,000  pounds,  and  in  1847,  1,000,000  pounds,  and 
the  wool-growers  of  the  East  felt  the  growing  competition  of  the  great 
West.  In  1848  H.  K.  Fritz,  of  Jackson,  purchased  of  the  Gnadaloupe 
flock  of  J.  N.  Sawyer,  Salisbury,  N.  H.,  25  rams  and  100  ewes,  and 
bred  them  pure  until  1854,  when  he  crossed  them  with  the  French 
Merino,  and  the  average  weight  of  the  fleece  was  increased  thereby  to 
5  pounds.  In  other  cases  a  cross  half  Spanish  and  half  French  Merino 
was  very  successful.  About  1848  Ansel  Nichols  established  a  flock 
by  the  purchase  of  10  pure-bred  ewes,  bred  by  K.  J.  Jones,  of  Corn- 
wall, Vt.,  to  which  was  added  2  more  ewes  in  1864  from  the  flock  of 
O.  0.  Bascom,  of  Yergennes,  Vt.  From  this  flock  came  the  foundation 
of  the  flock  of  T.  M.  Southworth,  Allen,  Mich.,  who,  in  1871,  purchased 
30  of  the  Nichols  flock,  and  has  bred  pure  sheep  to  the  present  day, 
using  Vermont  rams  and  those  bred  in  the  flock.  Among  other  flocks 
started  at  this  period  were  those  of  George  Gale,  of  Superior,  Thomas 
Spafford,  of  Manchester,  and  W.  S.  Crafts,  of  Sharon,  who  did  much 
with  their  flocks  and  influence  to  maintain  and  increase  the  demand 
for  fine  Merino  sheep.  Judge  Compton,  of  Ypsilanti,  also  formed  a 
flock,  which  he  crossed  soon  after  with  one  of  the  Taintor  importation 
of  French  rams. 

A  part  of  the  celebrated  Eich  flock  was  taken  into  La.peer  County  in 
1848.  In  that  year  John  W.  Bich  purchased  a  few  ewes  and  two  or 
three  rams  from  the  flocks  of  J.  T.  and  V.  Bich,  T.  Stickuey,  and  D.  and 
G.  Cutting,  of  Vermont.  The  ewes  were  bred  to  the  rams  taken  to 
Lapeer  until  1851,  when  a  ram  was  purchased  of  J.  T.  and  V.  Eich  and 
used  a  number  of  years.  In  1853  10  ewes  purchased  of  Tyler  Stickney 
were  added  to  the  flock,  and  about  the  same  time  Thomas  Slay  ton,  of 
Lapeer,  purchased  a  few  ewes  and  a  ram  of  T.  Stickney.  The  Slayton 
sheep  were  bred  pure  until  1859,  when  the  entire  flock  was  purchased 
and  incorporated  in  the  Eich  flock.  This  excellent  flock  is  still  in 
existence,  the  property  of  John  T.  Eich,  Elba,  Mich. 

Michigan  had  a  great  advantage  in  forming  her  wool-growing  flocks, 
in  the  fact  that  they  were  formed  almost  directly  from  thoroughbred 
sheep  of  the  best  kind,  which  were  taken  into  the  State  in  great  num- 
bers, and  in  1850  the  larger  portion  of  the  sheep  were  pure  Merinos  or 
high  grades.  In  some  localities,  however,  the  sheep  were  mostly  of 
the  coarse-wool  varieties,  with  some  small  proportion  of  Saxon  and 
Merino  blood.  This  was  the  case  in  Lenawee  County,  but  imported 
breeds  were  fast  being  introduced  from  Vermont  and  western  New 
York,  and  other  Eastern  States.  A  large  amount  of  wool  was  raised, 
much  of  it  retained  for  home  manufacture.  This  county  carried  more 
sheep  in  proportion  to  its  population  than  any  county  in  the  State. 
Washtenaw  County  found  wool-growing  very  profitable,  and  next  to 
wheat-growing  it  was  the  chief  business  of  the  farmers.  It  cost  15 
cents  to  grow  common  wool,  18  cents  to  grow  Spanish  Merino,  and  25 


EAST    OF    THE    MISSISSIPPI    RIVEE.  613 

to  35  to  grow  Saxon.  There  was  little  difference  in  the  selling  price 
of  wool,  and  the  Spanish  Merino  was  found  the  most  profitable  to 
keep.  Native  ewes  reared  their  own  number  of  lambs,  the  Saxony  and 
Spanish  Merino  about  half  their  number.  From  1848  to  1852  several 
Paular  rams  and  ewes  were  brought  from  Vermont  and  French  Merinos 
were  introduced  also,  and  many  flocks  increased  the  average  amount  of 
wool  per  head  from  2f  to  4J  pounds.  In  Wayne  County  wool-growing 
was  found  very  profitable,  and  the  farmers  improved  their  sheep  by 
buying  large  numbers  of  the  fine-wooled  rams  of  New  York  and  Ver- 
mont. Common  sized  sheep  of  fine  wool  and  long  staple  were  deemed 
the  most  profitable,  and  a  pound  of  wool  could  be  grown  on  a  cross  of 
the  French  and  Spanish  Merino  as  cheaply  as  on  the  common  coarse- 
wooled  sheep,  consequently  the  finer  grades  were  grown.  By  careful 
breeding  the  sheep  of  the  country  improved  in  size  and  constitution, 
and  the  wool  increased  in  fineness,  length  of  staple,  and  quantity,  and 
in  1854  a  large  proportion  of  the  flocks  were  composed  of  a  high  grade 
of  French  and  Spanish  Merino,  a  well-kepfc  flock  of  the  kind  averaging 
4  pounds  washed  wool.  In  Macomb  County  wool- growing  was  the  most 
profitable  business  farmers  could  engage  in,  and  pure-blood  Spanish 
and  French  Merinos  were  the  sheep  preferred.  A  majority  of  the  wool- 
growers  obtained  their  best  sheep  from  Vermont,  and  the  grade  of 
wool  improved  rapidly.  The  sheep  ran  upon  the  fallow  lauds  in  the 
summer,  and  in  the  winter  went  to  the  straw  stacks  till  towards  spring, 
when  hay  and  a  little  grain  were  given  them.  It  cost  20  to  30  cents  to 
raise  wool,  which  (1854)  varied  in  price  from  28  to  38.  The  ordinary 
profit  was  50  cents  per  sheep  and  the  increase  in  lambs.  Pelts  were 
sold  from  30  cents  to  $1,  and  tallow  at  10  cents  per  pound. 

At  this  time  causes  were  operating  to  limit  the  country's  supply  of 
wool,  while  the  demand  was  increasing.  The  eastern  farmers  and  those 
of  the  Middle  States,  in  the  proximity  of  large  cities  where  land  was 
advancing  in  price,  had  abandoned  wool- growing,  and  those  more  remote 
from  cities  had  turned  their  attention  to  producing  butter,  cheese,  beef, 
and  mutton.  Ohio  was  about  holding  her  own  in  wool  cultivation, 
while  Indiana,  Illinois,  Wisconsin,  and  Michigan  were  increasing  their 
flocks,  though  not  in  sufficient  number  to  supply  the  deficiency.  The 
drawback  to  Michigan  was  the  want  of  capital.  There  was  an  increase 
in  1852,  but  the  scarcity  of  fodder  compelled  the  slaughter  of  many 
sheep  for  their  pelts  and  tallow. 

With  the  increase  of  the  Merino  came  also  the  introduction  and 
increase  of  the  improved  English  sheep.  Many  crosses  were  made  of 
the  English  breeds  with  the  Merino  and  with  apparent  success,  those 
of  the  Leicester  and  the  Merino  being  most  common  and  most  satis- 
factory. There  was  much  experiment  of  this  kind  from  1850  to  1860. 
In  the  latter  year  J.  S.  Tibbits  gave  the  result,  in  wool,  of  a  cross  of  a 
Southdown  ram  on  three-fourths  blood  Spanish  Merino  ewes.  The 
ram  weighed,  before  shearing,  215  pounds  and  gave  a  fleece  of  9  pounds 


614        SHEEP  INDUSTRY  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES 

washed  wool.  Fifteen  yearlings,  the  result  of  this  cross,  gave  from  5J 
pounds  to  &£-g  pounds  of  washed  wool,  which  sold  at  42  cents  per  pound. 
While  the  average  yield  per  head  of  Merino  wool-growing  flocks  was 
about  four  pounds,  many  sheared  much  higher.  These,  however,  were 
choice  flocks  and  mostly  kept  with  the  view  of  breeding  from.  In  1854 
J.  B.  Collins,  of  Washtenaw  County,  from  over  100  Spanish  Merinos 
sheared  an  average  of  5  pounds  13  ounces  each  fine  wool.  In  the  same 
year  there  was  a  shearing  at  Ann  Arbor,  and  6  rams  showed  this 
result: 

Four-year  old,  with  fleece  on,  weighed  136  pounds,  8  ounces;  fleece  weighed  8 
pounds  11  ounces. 

Four-year  old,  with  fleece  on,  weighed  133  pounds;  fleece  weighed  9  pounds  8 
ounces. 

Five-year  old,  with  fleece  on,  weighed  139  pounds;  fleece  weighed  11  pounds  11 
ounces. 

Three-year  old,  with  fleece  on,  weighed  156  pounds ;  fleece  weighed  12  pounds  6 
ounces, 

Three-year  old,  with  fleece  on,  weighed  118  pounds;  fleece  weighed  13  pounds  6 
ounces. 

Four-year  old  Saxon,  with  fleece  on,  weighed  117  pounds ;  fleece  weighed  6  pounds 
1  ounce. 

In  the  following  year  Benjamin  Perrine  sheared  a  three-year  old  ram 
of  13  pounds  5  ounces  washed  wool.  These  figures  are  modest  com- 
pared with  the  fleeces  of  the  present  day,  but  they  may  serve  as  a  basis 
for  reference  in  that  great  improvement  that  carried  fleeces  up  to  15, 
to  20,  to  25,  to  30,  and  so  on  to  44  pounds  4  ounces,  reached  by  Dia- 
mond in  1884.  The  improvement  during  these  thirty  years  was  phe- 
nomenal. 

There  were  many  full-blooded  flocks  established  between  1850  and 
1855,  but  the  record  of  them  is  defective.  The  Wood  Brothers,  of 
Saline,  and  Philo  Rich,  of  Salem,  established  flocks  and  brought  many 
sheep  from  Vermont.  The  Michigan  Register  admits  none  of  these 
earlier  importations  except  a  very  few  from  well-known  and  established 
flocks,  one  of  the  earliest  flocks  admitted  being  that  of  A.  D.  Taylor,  of 
Borneo,  Macoinb  County,  established  between  the  years  1850  and  1855 
by  a  purchase  of  some  ewes  and  rams  of  Hiram  L.  Taft,  West  Bloom- 
field,  N.  Y.,  and  subsequent  purchases  were  made  from  Mr.  Taft  of  ewes 
and  rams.  The  Taft  flock  came  through  R.  A.  Avery  from  the  flocks 
of  Stephen  Atwood,  of  Connecticut,  and  Alfred  Hull,  of  Vermont.  This 
is  a  noted  flock,  has  a  splendid  record  for  what  it  has  accomplished, 
and  it  still  exists. 

In  1856  S.  A.  Colby  &  Son,  of  Romeo,  established  a  flock  by  the 
purchase  of  3  ewes  from  Mr.  Taylor,  and  used  rams  from  the  Taylor 
flock.  The  flock  still  exists.  In  the  same  year  Robert  Garner,  of  White 
Lake,  bought  a  pure-bred  flock  of  Vermont  Spanish  Merinos.  In  I860 
his  flock  of  116  sheared  726  pounds  of  wool,  an  average  of  6J  pounds 
per  head,  all  washed  on  the  sheep's  back.  The  fleece  was  of  11  £  months 
growth. 


EAST   OF   THR  MISSISSIPPI   RIVER.  615 

In  1851  B.  Peckliam,  of  Calbonn  County,  established  a  flock  by  the 
purchase  of  10  ewes  from  J.  W.  Hyde,  and  5  from  L.  H.  Yates,  of 
Darien,  Genesee  County,  N.  Y.  In  June,  1852, 50  ewes  were  purchased 
from  J.  W.  Hyde.  These  were  all  pure-bred  sheep,  and  put  to  rams 
bred  by  Stephen  Atwood,  of  Connecticut,  Edgar  Sanford  and  Tyler 
Stickney,  of  Vermont,  and  Eeed  Burritt,  of  New  York.  The  flock,  or 
a  greater  part  of  it,  was  transferred  to  J.  Eastman  and  A.  Bruise,  of 
Albion,  Mich. 

About  1853  B.  S.  Williams,  of  Kalamazoo,  purchased  of  Hon.  Charles 
E.  Stewart,  of  the  same  place,  some  choice  breeding  ewes,  said  at  that 
early  day  to  be  entitled  to  record  as  pure-bred  Merinos.  Another  pur- 
chase was  afterwards  made  from  the  flock  of  Enoch  Knapp,  one  of  the 
leading  breeders  of  thoroughbred  Spanish  sheep  in  Michigan.  In  this 
purchase  were  the  original  sheep  imported  from  Vermont  and  sold  to  Mr. 
Knapp  for  $100  per  head.  Earns  used  in  the  flock  were  pure-bred  sheep 
from  Vermont  and  western  New  York. 

In  1856  David  H.  Speer,  of  Somerset  County,  laid  the  foundation  ot 
a  flock  by  the  purchase  of  11  ewes  of  Storrs  Craft,  and  in  1864  of  2 
ewes  from  Jerry  Van  Gieson.  Atwood  rams  were  used  in  the  flock. 

Messrs  C.  A.  Miller  &  Sons,  of  Marshall,  own  a  flock  the  foundation 
of  which  was  laid  in  February,  1857,  by  the  purchase  of  some  ewes  from 
Daniel  Cleburn,  of  Marengo.  These  ewes  were  bred  by  and  purchased 
of  E.  P.  Hall,  Cornwall,  Vt.  A  ram  dropped  by  one  of  these  ewes  was 
used  on  the  flock  until  1865,  when  one  was  purchased  of  George  J.  Brown, 
of  Battle  Creek.  After  1870  many  ewes  and  rams  were  added  to  the 
flock  by  purchases  from  the  best  Vermont,  New  York,  and  Michigan 
flocks,  all  tracing  to  the  importations  of  Humphreys,  Jarvis,  and  Cock. 

A  noted  Michigan  flock  was  that  of  J.  Evarts  Smith,  of  Ypsilanti. 
This  flock  was  established  at  Westport,  N.  Y.,  October,  1862,  by  the 
purchase  of  58  Atwood  and  Eobinson  ewes  from  the  Edson  Bush  flock,  of 
Shoreham,  Vt.  The  Edson  Bush  flock  was  started  many  years  before  by 
the  purchase  of  one  entire  crop  of  ewe  lambs  from  the  J.  Thurman  Eich 
flock  and  some  old  ewes  from  the  Erastus  Eobinson  flock,  afterwards 
using  some  rams  from  the  flock  of  Edwin  Hammond.  In  December, 
1863,  6  Hammond  ewes  were  purchased.  In  1866  the  flock  was  taken 
to  Michigan  and  3  ewes,  bred  by  E.  S.  Stowell,  of  Cornwall,  Vt.,  were 
purchased.  The  rains  used  were  Golden  Fleece,  Sweepstakes,  Gold 
Drop,  Green  Mountain,  and  others,  all  of  the  purest  blood. 

In  1863  Palmer  &  Ehead,  of  Norvell,  established  a  flock  by  a  pur- 
chase of  9  ewes  of  E.  D.  Searl,  of  Cornwall,  Vt.,  and  2  ewes  of  W.  L. 
Hughes,  of  the  same  place.  In  1864  five  ewes  were  purchased  of  Pitts  & 
Wiley,  Honeoye,  N.  Y.  Vermont  rams  were  used  on  the  flock  and  on 
jts  increase.  During  the  same  year,  1863,  L.  Strong,  of  Hillsdale 
County,  established  a  flock  by  a  purchase  of  3  ewes  of  E.  Townsend, 
New  York,  for  which  he  paid  $200.  In  November,  1865,  he  made 
another  purchase  of  20  ewes  bred  by  E.  G.  Farnhain,  Vermont,  all  of 


G16  SHEEP    INDUSTRY    OF    THE    UNITED    STATES 

which  were  pure  bred.  He  used  pure-bred  rains,  one  of  which  was 
purchased  of  Mr.  Townseud. 

In  1864  Yan  Gieson  Bros.,  of  Clinton,  established  a  flock  by  the  pur- 
chase of  a  rain  and  25  ewes  of  Jerry  Van  Gieson,  that  had  been  bred 
by  George  Wood  &  Son.  In  1866  nine  ewes  were  bought  of  Wood  & 
Son,  and  the  flock  was  increased  by  additional  purchases  of  pure-bred 
ewes  and  rams. 

In  1865  Albert  G.  Ayers,  of  Jackson  County,  originated  a  flock  by 
the  purchase  of  8  e\ves  from  Abraham  Stocking,  of  York,  Livingston 
County,  E".  Y.  These  ewes  were  bred  by  Edwin  Hammond,  of  Ver- 
mont. About  the  same  time  he  purchased  of  Walter  Hulbert,  of  Corn- 
wall, Vt.,  5  ewes,  and  of  George  Clarke,  Orleans  County,  "N.  Y.,  1.2 
ewes.  A  ram  was  purchased,  bred  by  1ST.  G.  Barber,  for  which  Mr. 
Ayers  paid  $250,  and  another  bred  by  Abraham  Stocking.  Albert  I. 
Ayers  afterwards  came  in  possession  of  a  portion  of  this  flock. 

In  1864  or  1865  William  Ball,  of  Livingston  County,  commenced  a 
flock  by  a  purchase  from  F.  &  L.  E.  Moore,  of  21  ewes,  sired  by  Small 
Tom,  a  noted  ram,  bred  by  D.  E.  .Robinson,  Shoreham,  Vt.  In  1874,  in 
company  with  E.  W.  Hardy,  19  ewes  were  purchased  of  E.  D.  Bush, 
25  of  B.  B.  Tottingham,  and  29  of  James  Forbes,  jr.  In  1874->75  sixty 
ewes  were  purchased  of  H.  W.  Jones.  All  these  combined  the  blood 
of  the  Cock,  Jarvis,  and  Atwood  flocks.  In  1875  thirty-five  ewes  were 
purchased  of  L.  E.  Moore,  bred  by  William  Cook  and  James  Forbes,  jr. 
These  last  combined  the  blood  of  the  same  flocks  as  the  others.  The 
rams  purchased  or  used  on  the  flocks  were  of  Atwood,  Kobinson,  and 
Cutting  blood.  In  1883  the  flock  numbered  69  rams  and  111  ewes. 

The  multiplication  of  flocks  from  this  time  on  renders  an  account  of 
them  impracticable,  and  the  Michigan  Register  supplies  the  record  of 
many  of  the  pure-bred  flocks  formed  after  1865  and  to  the  present  time. 
Enough  has  been  given  to  show  the  origin  of  the  Spanish  Merino  flocks 
of  the  State  and  to  demonstrate  the  high  character  of  the  blood. 

Wool  continued  to  be  one  of  the  great  staple  productions  of  the  State, 
and  upon  the  sale  of  it  a  large  proportion  of  the  population  depended 
for  much  of  their  income.  The  people  did  not  consume  their  wool  in 
domestic  manufacture,  had  no  surplus  capital  to  invest  in  factories,  and 
consequently  the  clip  was  exj)orted.  In  1850  the  State  had  746,035 
sheep ;  in  1854  it  had  964,333,  or  an  increase  in  four  years  of  217.898 
sheep.  Wool  increased  to  2,680,747  pounds,  a  gain  of  637,464  pounds 
in  four  years.  In  1850  the  average  ratio  of  wool  to  a  sheep  was  2.73 
pounds;  in  1854  it  was  2.78  pounds. 

In  1856  a  flock  of  400  Spanish  Merinos  sheared  an  average  of  5 
pounds  2  ounces  of  wool  each,  and  many  more  are  recorded  as  doing 
quite  as  well.  William  Beal  sheared  223  sheep  in  1857  that  averaged 
5  pounds.  The  same  flock,  283  in  1858,  averaged  4  pounds,  and  the 
shrinkage  was  accounted  for  by  the  mild  winter  preceding  and  heavy 
rains.  In  1858  Thomas  Spafford,  of  Washtenaw  County,  sheared  a  flock 


EAST    OF    THE  ~  MISSISSIPPI    EIVER.  617 

of  140  Merinos,  averaging  6  j  pounds  each.  In  the  same  year  S  B.  Pal- 
mer, of  STorvell,  sheared  8  rams  and  15  ewes,  whose  combined  fleeces 
weighed  191  pounds  14  ounces,  an  average  of  a  trifle  over  7  pounds  6 
ounces.  The  same  flock  clipped  an  average  of  6§  pounds  in  1859,  and 
7£  pounds  in  18CO. 

The  United  States  census  of  1860  gave  Michigan  1,271,743  sheep  and 
3,960,888  pounds  of  wool.  Of  this  wool  about  one-third  graded  as  high 
as  three-quarters  and  full-blood  Merino;  one  third,  or  a  trifle  more, 
from  quarter  grade  to  half  Merino;  and  a  little  less  than  one-third 
coarse  wool.  For  a  few  years  the  coarse-wooled  sheep  had  been  in- 
creasing in  greater  proportion  than  the  fine  wooled  ones.  The  time 
had  come  when  it  was  found  as  profitable,  and  in  many  localities  more 
so,  to  raise  mutton  and  wool  than  it  was  to  raise  wool  exclusively.  In 
1858  fine  wool  sold  at  35  cents  and  coarse  at  40,  and  the  farmer  found 
that;  his  coarse-wooled  sheep  paid  him  50  to  55  cents  more  than  his  fine- 
wooled  ones.  Fine  wool  went  up  to  47  cents  in  1859,  and  coarse  fell  to 
38,  and  yet  the  coarse-wooled  sheep  paid  better  by  13  to  15  cents,  and 
had  the  advantage  of  giving  nearly  one  lamb  for  every  ewe.  Besides 
this  the  eastern  markets  were  calling  for  mutton,  and  thousands  of  low 
grades  were  shipped  to  meet  the  demand.  At  Ann  Arbor  alone,  in 
1857,  one  thousand  six  hundred  were  shipped  to  JSTew  Jersey,  2,700  were 
shipped  in  1858,  and  2,000  in  1859.  This  business  paid  better  than 
wool-growing,  and,  in  consequence,  some  fine-wool  flocks  were  neg- 
lected or  crossed  with  coarse-wooled  sheep.  Yet  less  of  this  was  done 
in  Michigan  than  in  most  other  States.  There  was  also  a  movement  in 
another  direction.  Wool-growing  was  increasing  beyond  the  Missis- 
sippi and  in  Texas  with  great  rapidity,  and  thousands  of  Spanish  ewes 
found  their  way  from  Michigan  westward. 

The  wool  industry,  however,  was  not  suffered  to  be  much  depressed. 
Breeders  went  on  improving  their  sheep  and  growers  culled  their 
flocks  and  reached  for  a  higher  standard.  For  some  years  prior  to  1860 
four  varieties  of  the  Merino  were  depended  upon  for  fine  wool ;  the 
Spanish,  the  Saxon,  the  French,  and,  later,  the  Silesian.  It  was  con- 
sidered beneficial  to  cross  the  flocks  of  Spanish,  or  rather  of  grade 
Spanish  with  the  larger  size  and  drier  wooled  French  Merino,  though 
this  cross  did  not  seem  to  find  favor  with  many  who  tried  it.  But  the 
crossing  was  not  always  attended  to  with  the  fidelity  and  judgment 
required  to  lay  the  foundation  of  a  family  or  a  flock  which  should  have 
the  ability  to  perpetuate  certain  estimable  qualities.  Hence,  after  a 
few  years,  the  cross  ran  out,  or  bred  back,  with  acquired  qualities  in 
the  fleece  and  form,  which  were  far  from  desirable.  The  Saxons  had 
already  been  partially  discarded,  and  from  1860  the  elimination  of  the 
French  and  Silesian  blood  was  decreed,  and  the  improved  Spanish 
Merino  depended  upon.  Old  blood  was  purified  and  new  blood  intro- 
duced. 


618 


SHEEP    INDUSTRY    OF    THE    UNITED    STATES 


Wool-growing  greatly  revived  in  1862  and  1863;  Merinos  in  great 
numbers  were  brought  in  from  Vermont,  and  in  1865  there  was  a  perfect 
mania  for  publishing  records  of  heavy  shearings. 

At  a  shearing  in  Macomb  County  in  1865  a  3-year-old  ram  recorded 
19J  pounds,  a  2-year-old  16J  pounds,  and  a  1-year-old  12£  pounds.  At 
Jonesville  prizes  were  given  for  the  three  heaviest  ram  fleeces  and  the 
two  heaviest  ewe  fleeces  in  proportion  to  weight  of  carcass.  A  5-year 
ram,  whose  gross  weight  was  116  pounds,  gave  18J  pounds  of  wool 
and  took  first  prize.  A  2-year-old  ram,  weighing  106  pounds,  gave  16| 
pounds  of  wool  and  took  second  prize,  while  11^  pounds  of  wool  on  a 
yearling  ram  of  85  pounds  took  third  prize.  A  3-year-old  ewe,  weigh- 
ing 87  pounds,  gave  11^-  pounds  of  wool,  and  a  yearling,  weighing  47 
pounds,  gave  8^  pounds. 

Heavy  fleeces  are  not  an  invariable  indication  of  much  wool.  Ohio, 
New  York,  and  Michigan  this  year  made  a  test  of  the  shrinkage  of  wool 
by  scouring.  In  Michigan  it  was  made  at  Jonesville,  with  the  following 
result : 


Sex. 

Fleece 
unwashed. 

Fleece 
scoured. 

Loss. 

Ram 

Lbs.    oz. 
9        8 
14        8 
14        8 
16        0 
15        0 
11        0 
9        8 
11        8 
10        8 
12        0 

Lbs.  oz. 
3    14*. 
5     15| 
5    10i 
4      5* 
6      li 
4      3J 
3    12| 
4    12* 
3    12*. 
4    10| 

Per  cent. 
58.8 
58.8 
60.9 
72.8 
59.3 
61.6 
60.1 
58.4 
63.3 
61.1 

Do  

Do 

Do 

Do 

Do 

Do  

Ewe 

Do.. 

Do 

This  shows  an  average  weight  of  unwashed  fleeces  of  12.40,  cleaning 
4.70  pounds  of  wool,  or  a  loss  of  61.5.  New  York  showed  the  average 
of  14  unwashed  fleeces  to  be  12.63,  cleaning  4.61  pounds,  or  a  shrink- 
age of  62.7.  Seventeen  Ohio  unwashed  fleeces  showed  an  average  of 
16.89  each,  which  when  cleaned  weighed  5.61,  or  a  loss  of  65.5  per  cent. 
Michigan:  Ten  fleeces,  12.40;  cleaned,  4.70;  loss,  61.5  per  cent.  New 
York:  Fourteen  fleeces,  12.63;  cleaned,  4.61 ;  loss,  62.7  per  cent.  Ohio: 
Seventeen  fleeces,  16.89-,  cleaned,  5.61;  loss,  65.5  per  cent. 

There  was  now  a  demand  for  long  wool  and  a  consequent  change  to 
coarse  and  long  wooled  sheep.  Speculators  introduced  into  almost 
every  part  of  the  State  coarse-wooled  sheep  of  every  grade  and  of  all 
kinds,  mostly  from  Canada,  and  sold  them  for  Leicesters,  Cotswolds, 
Southdowns,  or  any  other  breed,  and  in  fact  they  were  a  mixture  of  all. 
These  were  crossed  indiscriminately  with  each  other  and  with  the 
Merinos.  A  few  years'  experience  demonstrated  the  mistake  that  had 
been  made,  and  the  mixed  coarse-wools  were  generally  disposed  of  as 
well  as  possible,  and  the  Merinos  were  again  in  demand.  Large  num- 
bers of  these  coarse-wooled  sheep,  from  1868  to  1870,  were  slaughtered 
and  disposed  of  for  their  pelts  alone,  which  was  considered  by  many 


EAST    OF    THE    MISSISSIPPI    RIVER.  619 

ns  the  most  profitable  and  commendable  thing  to  do,  as  it  gave  the 
slirt'p  industry  a  healthy  pruning.  But  among  these  coarse- wooled 
sheep  were  some  of  undoubted  purity  and  much  worth,  which  were  bred, 
and  with  good  results.  The  Cotswold  was  a  favorite,  particularly  to 
cross  on  the  Merino.  The  progeny  was  esteemed  a  good  mutton  sheep. 

The  census  of  1870  showed  1,985,906  sheep  and  8,726.145  pounds  of 
wool,  an  increase  of  714,163  sheep,  or  56  per  cent  since  1860,  while  the 
yield  of  wool  had  more  than  doubled  in  the  same  time.  The  average 
yield  per  head  was  3.11  pounds  in  1860,  and  4.39  pounds  in  1870. 

There  was  a  gradual  improvement  in  the  market  for  fine  wool  after 
1S71;  flocks  were  enlarged  and  new  ones  formed.  The  growth  of  the 
industry  was  steady  and  healthy.  The  flocks  were  preserved  in  purity 
and  their  increase  was  conservative.  As  a  rule  the  inferior  sheep  were 
weeded  out  and  oidy  the  best  kept.  With  the  general  improvement 
came  notices  of  sheep  shearings  and  yield  of  flocks.  In  1872  C.  P. 
Hooper,  Macoinb  County,  sheared  5,000  pounds  washed  wool  from  1,000 
sheep,  which  he  sold  for  $3,000.  At  a  shearing  in  Calhoun  County  in 
1875  four  rams  gave  this  result : 


Sex. 

Live 
weight. 

Weight 
of  fleece. 

Pound*. 
134 

Pounds. 
26 

Two-year-old  ram        ... 

113 

24* 

Do 

122 

93 

Three-year-old  rain 

112 

22* 

In  May,  1876,  Lyinan  Cate,  of  Highland,  sheared  20  yearling  rams 
that  averaged  14  pounds  of  wool  each ;  1  sheared  18 J  pounds.  Mr. 
Cate  was  the  owner  of  the  ram  Highland  Chief,  which  sheared  for  its 
first  fleece  22J  pounds,  second  fleece  34J  pounds,  and  third  fleece,  in 
1877,  within  a  very  small  fraction  of  35  J  pounds. 

On  May  4,  1876,  Messrs.  Wood  Bros.,  of  Saline,  sheared  9  ewes  of  131 
pounds  of  wool,  an  average  of  14|  pounds  each,  one  3-year  old  ewe  giv- 
ing 20  pounds.  Thirteen  ranis  were  shorn,  7  yearlings,  and  6  2  years 
old  and  upwards.  Two  of  the  2-year  old  weighed  over  160  pounds  each 
and  gave  over  22  pounds  of  wool.  The  7  yearlings  averaged  112f  pounds 
each,  live  weight,  and  yielded  15f  pounds  each  of  wool.  One  weighed 
132  pounds  and  was  sheared  of  17£  pounds  of  wool. 

At  the  annual  State  shearing  of  1879  6  rams  were  shorn,  giving  20 
pounds  and  upward  of  wool,  as  follows:  20 J,  21 J,  21  £,  22,  23J,  and  26£ 
pounds.  The  general  average  of  16  shorn  was  light,  as  compared  with 
other  years  and  other  States. 


G20 


SHEEP    INDUSTRY    OF    THE    UNITED    STATES 


In  April,  1882,  there  was  a  public  shearing  at  Manchester,  and  from 
the  record  made  by  the  secretary  of  the  Michigan  Merino  Sheep  Breed- 
ers' Association,  the  following  results  are  compiled : 


Sex. 

Weight  of 
carcass. 

Weight  of 
fleece. 

Grow  tli 
of 

fleece. 

-. 

Three-year-old  ram       .                                

Pounds. 
142 

Pounds. 
29 

Days. 

365 

110 

174 

301 

1)0                                                                                                                                                

143 

24 

306 

Do          

116 

21 

384 

113 

24i 

397 

96i 

2li 

398 

Do 

97 

20 

395 

Three  -year-old  ewe      .       .     .         -     ...              .            

87J 

18 

380 

Do 

71 

18V 

380 

Two-year-old  ewe          ~                                             .... 

82 

24i 

38'y 

Do    

79 

22 

380 

Do                                                                                                ... 

67 

18i 

345 

One-year-old  ewe  

71 

16 

398 

First   annual    shearing  exhibition  of  the  Michigan  Merino   Sheep 
Breeders'  Association,  held  at  Lansing,  Mich.,  April  14  and  15,  1883. 

Description. 


Sex. 

Age  in  years. 

Constitution. 

£ 

1 

fac 

1 

o3 
^ 

1 

Quantity  of  oil. 

Color  of  oil. 

Fleece. 

Covering. 

Weight 
of  fleece. 

Days 
growth. 

f 
I 

>> 

"53 

1 

H3 

8 

W 

1 

§0 

3 

Ram  •         .... 

5 

4 
3 
5 
4 
3 
3 
3 
2 

2 

2 
2 
2 
2 
1 
1 
1 
1 
1 
1 
1 
3 
3 
3 
2 
2 
2 
2 
1 
1 
1 
1 
1 
1 
1 
1 
1 
1 
1 
1 

5 
5 
5 
5 
5 
5 
4 
4 
4 
5 
5 
4 
5 
5 
4 
5 
4 
4 
5 
5 
4 
4 
5 
5 
4 
4 
4 
4 
5 
4 
4 
4 
4 
4 
5 
4 
4 
5 
5 
5 
5 

4 
5 
5 
4 
4 
5 
4 
3 
3 
4 
5 
4 
4 
5 
4 
5 
3 
4 
5 
5 
4 
4 
5 
4 
4 
4 
4 
4 
4 
4 
4 
3 
4 
4 
5 
3 
4 
5 
5 
5 
4 

Lbs. 
110* 
134 
121 
126* 

us! 

109 
H7| 
119J 
96 
135 
126 
82 
105 
113$ 
106 
100* 
9H 
63! 
103 
80 

If 

106A 
86 
76 
74J 
70$ 
57 
79* 
66' 
75 
53 
56 
60 
68£ 
59 
61 
79 

71* 

55J 
72i 

4 
5 
5 
5 
4 
5 
5 
4 
3 
4 
3 
5 
5 
5 
3 
5 
4 
4 
5 
5 
4 
3 
3 
3 
3 
3 
4 
3 
3 
3 
4 
3 
3 
5 
5 
4 
5 
4 
4 
4 
4 

4 
4 
4 
4 
4 
5 
5 
2 
5 
5 
5 
4 
5 
5 
3 
4 
5 
4 
5 
4 
3 
3 
4 
4 
5 
4 
4 
3 
4 
4 
4 
4 
4 
4 
3 
4 
5 
3 
4 
4 
5 

Buff    

363 
344 
362 
341 
360 
352 
344 
377 
377 
363 
337 
364 
359 
362 
378 
414 
414 
344 
412 
398 
273 
358 
335 
357 
362 
362 
361 
347 
362 
414 
380 
359 
442 
399 
380 
271 
356 
360 
333 
383 
366 

In. 

f 

2 
2 

2| 
1| 
It 

I 

2§ 

1 

11 

n 

i1 

2i 
2» 

9 

2 
3 

P 

24 

3* 
2* 

2ft 
2ft 

12 

4 

4 
4 
4 
5 
4 
5 
3 
3 
4 
4 
5 
4 
5 
4 
5 
5 
5 
4 
5 
4 
4 
3 
4 
5 
5 
4 
4 
4 
3 
4 
4 
4 
4 
4 
5 
5 
4 
5 
5 
4 

4 
5 
5 
4 
3 
5 
3 
5 
3 
3 
2 
4 
4 
5 
3 
2 
4 
4 
4 
5 
2 
3 
3 
3 
4 
5 
5 
5 
5 
4 
4 
4 
4 
4 
4 
4 
5 
5 
4 
5 
3 

5 
5 
4 
4 
3 
5 

3 
4 
3 
3 
5 
4 
5 
3 
3 
4 
3 
3 
3 
4 
2 
3 
3 
5 
5 
4 
5 
5 
4 
3 
4 
5 
4 
3 
4 
5 
4 
4 
4 
4 

5 
5 
5 
5 
3 
4 
4 
4 
3 
4 
3 
3 
5 
5 
3 
3 
5 
4 
5 
5 
3 
3 
2 
3 
3 
3 
4 
4 
4 
4 
4 
4 
4 
4 
3 
4 
4 
4 
4 
4 
3 

LI.    Oz. 
24     15 
31       2 
25       0 
27      0 
25    11 
26       1 
33       8A 
22      1 
28       1 
41       3 
24       0 
22       9 
27      ll 
26      3 
27      8 
18      2 
22    11 
13       9i 
21       9 
13     12£ 
15      8 
13      4 
16     13 
13     13 
20     15J 
18      8 
17    12 
13      8 
15       1 
17      4 
'     13     12 
10      8 
17     12 
14      3i 
12      3 
11     14 
15      4 
13     14 
15       2 
13       1 
14     10} 

Do  

Do 

....do  
do 

Do  

Do 

....do  
....do    
....do  
....do  
White  
Buff  

Do      

Do  

Do 

Do  

Do 

do 

Do.  . 
Do.   . 
Do. 
Do. 
Do. 
Do. 
Do. 
Do. 
Do. 
Do. 
Do 

do 

....do  

do 

White  
Buff 

....do  

....do  
....do  
....do  

....do  
White  
Bull'    . 

Do  

Ewe 

Do  

Do 

White  
Buff  
While  
do 

Do  

Do 

Do  

Do 

....do  
Buff  
....do  
..do  
White  
Buff      .. 

Do  

Do 

Do  

Do 

Do  

Do 

....do  
....do  
White  
Buff  
White  
....do  
....do  
....do  

Do  
Do  
Do  

Do. 

Do... 
Do  

EAST    OF    THE    MISSISSIPPI    RIVER.  621 

There  was  but  little  difference  in  the  second  annual  shearing  in  1884 
from  that  of  1883,  except  the  advance  of  the  ram  Diamond  from  41 
pounds  3  ounces  to  44  pounds  4  ounces.  Diamond  was  the  property  of 
A.  T.  Short,  and  was  bred  by  A.  A.  Wood,  of  Saline,  in  1881.  His  first 

M-re  was  24  pounds  4  ounces.  He  was  of  Atwood  and  Robinson  blood. 
At  the  same  shearing,  1884, Greasy  Bill,  an  Atwood  and  Robinson  ram, 
gave  36  pounds  7  ounces,  and  five  others  exceeded  30  pounds,  giving 
oJJ.  33,  32,  31,  and  31  pounds. 

In  1885,  at  the  shearing  of  the  Saline  Merino  Breeders'  Association, 
the  heaviest  ram  fleece  was  26-^-  pounds,  and  the  heaviest  ewe  fleece 
2H-  pounds.  In  Eaton  County  the  heaviest  rain  fleece  weighed  31 J 
pounds,  and  the  heaviest  ewe  fleece  15  pounds.  In  Clinton  County  the 
rani  Greeley  sheared  34£  pounds  and  Bismarck  31J  pounds. 

The  results  of  the  fourth  annual  shearing  of  the  State  association  is 
given  in  details,  embracing  weight  of  carcass,  folds,  quantity  and  color 
of  oil  in  the  fleece,  density,  covering,  weight  of  fleece  as  clipped  and  as 
scoured,  and  the  blood  lines  of  the  sheep. 


622 


SHEEP  INDUSTRY  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES 


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EAST    OF    THE    MISSISSIPPI    RIVER. 


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624 


SHEEP    INDUSTRY    OF    THE    UNITED    STATES 


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Atwood  &  Eobinson. 
Do. 

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Do. 
Atwood. 
Atwood  &  Eobinson. 
Do. 
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EAST    OF    THE    MISSISSIPPI    RIVER. 


625 


The  shearing  at  Saline  for  1891  showed  several  rams  that  exceeded  a 
fleece  of  30  pounds  and  ewes  that  exceeded  18  pounds.  The  age,  weight 
of  sheep,  weight  of  fleece^  and  length  of  staple  are  here  given: 


RAMS. 


Age. 

Weight  Of 
sheep. 

Weight  of 
tteice. 

Length  of 
staple. 

Pound*. 
161 

Lbs.  Oz. 
35 

Inches. 

Three  years  old  .  .  . 

130 

32 

2i 

1)0 

164 

30 

2jr 

Four  years  ol<l  

181 

36    4 

2 

Three  years  old 

163 

39 

91 

Six  years  old  

171 

34 

3 

180 

32 

9 

EWES. 


123 

28 

Si  x  years  old            .            

105 

24 

21 

Four  years  old  

102 

20 

2 

Three  years  old 

108 

22 

2k 

1)0  

90 

24    4 

2 

105 

20 

U 

'DO         

92 

90 

4 

106 

22    8 

f 

Two  years  old                       

101 

20 

2i 

Do  

105 

20 

2| 

One  year  old 

98 

20 

2i 

Two  years  old  

86 

19    4 

2V 

Three  years  old 

96 

19 

2i 

With  the  exception  of  three,  all  these  fleeces  were  less  than  365  days' 
growth,  many  of  them  were  364  days.  Most  of  the  sheep  belonged  to 
the  Wood  flocks,  and  IN".  A.  Wood,  in  a  communication  to  the  Michigan 
Farmer,  claimed  that  the  shearing  demonstrated  that  he  had  the  "  most 
heavy  ewe  fleeces  of  any  flock  in  the  United  States  of  America."  He 
cites  the  fact  that  few,  if  any,  were  more  than  a  year's  growth,  and — 

The  62  sheared  at  the  Saline  public  shearing  were  shorn  there  the  last  year  one  day 
later,  so  were  less  than  a  year.  I  have  22  that  sheared  440  pounds ;  lightest  17£ 
pounds;  heaviest,  28  pounds.  Ten  of  these  sheared  225  pounds;  an  average  of  22^- 
pounds.  The  four  heaviest  were  sheared  at  Saline,  except  one  (she  being  heavy  in 
lamb  I  could  not  take  her)  and  cut  lOOf  pounds,  an  average  of  25  pounds  3  ounces. 
All  but  three  of  the  22  ewes  have  had  lambs  (mostly  in  March,  1891),  and  nearly  all 
are  raising  their  lambs.  The  three  that  I  mentioned  were  2-year-olds  and  have  not 
bred. 

The  improvement  of  the  Merino  sheep  in  Michigan  attests  the  adap- 
tation of  the  soil,  climate  and  herbage  to  them  and  the  skill  of  the  Mich- 
igan breeders.  A  comparison  with  the  early  Merinos  of  the  country 
will  show  the  improvement.  In  1883  six  fleeces  of  Michigan  sheep 
(stock  rams),  whose  average  live  weight  was  117J  pounds,  realized  49  ^ 
pounds  scoured  wool,  or  an  average  of  8 fV  pounds  per  fleece.  The  least 
was  7  pounds,  the  heaviest  9  pounds  2J  ounces.  Compared  with  Chan- 
;  cellor  Livingston's  sheep  about  1810,  their  unwashed  fleeces  averaged 
7y|  pounds,  the  best  one  at  fourteen  mouths  9-^  pounds.  The  average 
live  weight  of  the  Livingston  sheep  was  125  pounds.  The  per  cent  of 
22990 40 


626        SHEEP  INDUSTRY  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES 

scoured  wool  of  the  Michigan  fleece  was  7.5,  or  a  larger  per  cent  of 
scoured  wool  than  was  shorn  of  unwashed  wool  from  the  Livingston 
fleeces. 

At  the  annual  meeting  of  the  Michigan  Merino  Sheep  Breeders'  Asso- 
ciation in  1884,  a  new  member  from  the  north  woods  inquired  the  stand- 
ard weight  of  a  Merino  sheep.  His  question  was  greeted  with  a  general 
laugh,  but  no  one  attempted  to  answer  it.  At  the  next  annual  meeting 
the  subject  was  discussed,  but  no  two  breeders  had  precisely  the  same 
opinion  either  as  to  weight,  form,  fleece,  and  general  characteristics. 
One  desired  a  very  large,  heavy  boned,  well  covered,  heavy  shearing, 
plainly  formed  sheep.  Another,  a  short-legged,  heavy  folded,  short 
necked,  thick  fleeced,  heavy  shearing  sheep.  Still  another  preferred  a 
sheep  differing  from  either  of  those  described.  One  breeder  wanted  in 
his  flock  a  long  fine  fleece  of  white  wool,  and  wethers  that  would  bring 
the  highest  market  price  for  mutton.  Another  cared  more  for  weight 
of  fleece  and  less  for  color,  mutton,  and  other  points.  After  some  dis- 
cussion two  experienced  breeders  were  designated  who  should  sever- 
ally present  the  ideal  Michigan  Merino  ram  and  ewe  at  a  future  meeting. 
At  the  meeting  in  1886  Mr.  William  Ball,  who  had  been  assigned  to 
present  the  ideal  Merino  stock  ram,  said  that  in  weight  he  should  be 
from  140  to  160  pounds,  in  medium  fleece,  and  that  from  considerable 
experience  and  long  observation  in  carefully  considering  the  produce  of 
many  flocks  for  a  series  of  years  in  Vermont  and  elsewhere,  he  had 
found  the  best  results  to  follow  where  rams  of  the  above  weight  were 
used,  other  qualities  being  also  good.  In  his  judgment  too  many  breed- 
ers were  striving  to  secure  large  rams  because  the  western  demand 
seemed  to  be  for  such  sheep.  This  was  well  enough  for  the  West,  where 
the  sheep  were  bought  and  sold,  but  of  doubtful  expediency  in  the 
more  eastern  longitudes  where  thoroughbred  Merinos  were  bred.  The 
reason  was  found  in  the  well-known  law  of  sheep-breeding,  that — 

Early  maturity,  easily  fattening  qualities,  are  produced  "by  proper  selections,  care- 
ful handling,  and  generous  feeding.  It  is  also  true  that  with  this  early  growth  and 
maturity,  and  easily  fattening  tendency,*comes  the  con  verse,  a  tendency  to  premature 
decay ;  well  enough  in  the  mutton  breeds  of  sheep,  but  extremely  dangerous  in  breed- 
ing the  long-lived  Merino,  which  should  shear  a  good  heavy  fleece  of  good  wool  and 
breed  a  lamb  for  a  good  many  years  in  succession.  One  of  the  strongest  traits  of  the 
Merino  breed  as  it  should  be  is  its  longevity,  with  the  capability  of  procreation  and 
wool-bearing,  and  if  we  would  successfully  perpetuate  this  noble  animal  we  must 
not  lose  sight  of  the  intention  of  its  originators. 

Changes  to  be  lasting  should  necessarily  be  made  slowly  and  with  an 
idea  of  strengthening  and  perpetuating  the  good  qualities  of  the 
Merino,  rather  than  to  satisfy  or  cater  to  the  varying  demands  of 
fickle  fashion  and  western  trade.  This  is  the  description  of  Mr.  Ball's 
ideal  ram : 

The  form  of  the  ram  should  be  such  as  would  denote  a  good  constitution  and  plenty  \ 
of  vigor.     He  should  stand  iirmly  and  squarely  on  a  good  strong  boned,  well  covered, 
shortish  set  of  legs,  well  set  apart  both  forward  and  behind.     The  body  should  be 


EAST    OF    THE    MISSISSIPPI   RIVER.  627 

neither  very  long  nor  very  short,  but  between  the  two  extremes.  It  shonld  be  broad 
and  straight  behind,  well  let  down,  with  a  broad  tail,  with  good  hip  folds  and  a 
deep  flank.  His  back  shonld  be  broad,  especially  over  the  loins  and  short  between 
the  couplings.  His  chest  deep  and  broad,  his  shoulders  not  too  flat.  His  body  should 
have  plenty  of  folds,  extending  from  the  center  of  the  belly  (which  should  be  covered 
with  a  thick,  long  staple  of  wool)  to  the  middle  of  the  body  and  still  higher  as  they 
approach  towards  either  end  of  the  animal. 

The  fleece  should  be  of  even  quality,  strong,  not  coarse  in  fiber,  and  well  set  over 
the  entire  body,  with  a  sufficient  amount  of  oil  to  avoid  anything  like  the  appearance 
of  dryness  or  harshness.  Upon  the  body  and  shoulders  of  the  above-described  ram 
should  be  placed  a  short,  deep  neck,  with  heavy  folds,  and  dewlap,  covered  with 
plenty  of  good  wool,  carrying  and  supporting  a  finely  formed,  heavily  covered, 
masculine  head.  The  horns  should  be  of  fine  texture,  of  moderate  size,  good  shape, 
and  as  near  the  head  as  safety  and  good  looks  would  warrant.  The  ears  should  be 
thick,  free  from  stain,  of  velvety  touch  and  appearance,  and  well  covered  with  wool. 
The  nose  should  be  short,  thick,  free  from  stain,  and  free  from  anything  like  coarse 
hair,  especially  that  resembling  the  coarser  breeds.  In  short,  he  should  be  so  formed 
that  he  combines  strength,  longevity,  vigor,  masculinity,  vitality  and  beauty.  All  of 
these  traits  shonld  be  prominent  and  easily  discovered  by  the  eye  and  the  touch. 

Mr.  D.  P.  Dewey,  in  discussing  the  proper  weight  and  form  of  the 
Merino  ewe,  observed  that  had  the  Merino  but  one  mission  to  fill  it  would 
be  easy  to  picture  the  required  sheep,  but  the  double  purpose  of  wool 
and  mutton  in  the  same  sheep  made  many  differences  of  opinion.  A 
breeder  who  made  wool  and  its  products  his  principal  study  and  aim 
would  differ  widely  from  another  who  had  given  more  thought  to  the 
development  of  mutton,  or  from  another  who  had  both  about  equally 
fortified  in  his  ideal.  When  it  was  attempted  to  improve  the  size,  form 
or  mutton  qualities  of  the  Merinos,  it  could  not  be  done  by  a  resort  to 
a  ram  of  the  mutton  breeds,  but  dependence  must  be  placed  on  the 
qualities  already  within  the  flock  and  the  more  generous  feeding  of  the 
stock  for  several  generations,  as  well  as  careful  selections.  After  these 
general  ideas,  here  much  condensed,  Mr.  Dewey  said : 

For  Michigan  we  want  the  ewes  to  average  on  the  1st  day  of  January,  in  good 
breeding  condition,  120  pounds;  this  will  give  us  a  range  of  from  100  as  the  smallest 
to  140  as  the  greatest  weight,  and  from  these  we  may  produce  rams  for  the  market 
of  from  130  to  180  pounds,  and  it  would  be  well  to  reduce  this  range  of  sizes  10 
pounds  from  either  extreme,  making  them  range  from  140  to  170  pounds,  if  possible, 
within  the  flock,  remembering  that  uniformity  is  a  very  desirable  quality  in  a  stud 
flock. 

The  form  of  a  breeding  ewe  was  more  difficult  to  determine,  but  was 
very  important,  as  involving  that  groundwork  of  all  improvement — 
constitution. 

First,  the  head  should  bo  in  proportion  to  the  body;  if  the  body  be  long  the  head 
should  also  be  of  the  same  character,  otherwise  it  will  look  disproportionate.  The 
legs  may  be  an  inch  or  two  longer  or  shorter  than  these  measurements,  but  should 
be  of  sufficient  length  to  take  exercise  freely.  Head  measurements:  Draw  a  line 
on  top  of  the  head  from  ear  to  ear  in  front;  this  shonld  measure 5£  inches ;  from  this 
line  to  end  of  nose,  10  inches ;  width  of  nose,  3  inches.  Body  measurements :  Height 
of  ewe,  25  inches;  whole  length  while  standing  in  natural  position,  from  nose  to 
tail,  40  inches ;  from  tail  to  brisket,  32  inches ;  length  of  fore  legs  from  ground  to 


628  SHEEP    INDUSTRY    OF    THE    UNITED    STATES 

brisket,  10  inches.  Fore  legs,  apart,  inside,  should  be  3  inches.  Width  thro  ugh  the 
shoulders,  11  inches ;  width  through  the  thighs,  11  inches ;  width  from  hip  to  hip, 
11  inches. 

These  measurements  taken  with  wool  on,  and  wool  1^  inches  in  length,  with  a  body 
having  the  appearance  of  a  straight  line  underside  from  foreleg  to  flank,  with  the 
folds  and  covering  so  often  described,  will  give  you  a  model  American  Merino  of  130 
pounds  weight.  A  good  wrinkle  or  two  running  across  the  nose,  about  2  inches  from 
the  end,  and  those  wrinkles  running  along  the  lower  part  of  jaw,  called  cheek  pieces, 
Avell  wooled  over,  with  solid  blocky  cap  of  wool  an  inch  or  two  below  the  eyes  and 
not  too  close  to  the  same,  but  running  out  on  the  ear  an  inch  or  so,  with  a  wide, 
thick  ear,  will  finish  up  the  head  in  good  shape.  The  neck  folds  should  be  heavy, 
especially  after  leaving  the  head,  as  they  come  nearer  the  shoulder,  and  if  they 
extend  around  the  neck  unbroken  it  is  better  than  broken  ones.  It  is  not  necessary 
to  have  many  folds  on  the  body,  especially  on  the  back  and  sides,  but  two  back  of 
the  forelegs  aud  two  front  of  the  hind  legs,  with  good  flank  and  folds  extending  up 
thigh  to  the  setting  on  of  the  tail  are  almost  indispensable,  as  well  as  those  underside, 
especially  one  running  lengthwise  underside  from  udder  to  center  of  body,  or,  better, 
to  the  folds  on  either  side  of  the  brisket.  You  seldom  meet  with  a  sheep  having  this 
fold  which  will  not  shear  off  a  good  belly  fleece.  Then  with  a  fold  or  two  running 
around  the  tail,  or  on  each  side  of  it,  you  have  the  body  finished  off. 

The  depression  in  the  wool  market  after  the  tariff  revision  of  1883  was 
felt  in  Michigan,  but  not  so  severely  as  in  some  other  States,  and  the 
enthusiastic  breeders  of  that  State  did  not  as  a  general  thing  sit  down 
and  repine  and  sacrifice  their  Merino  flocks,  but  they  culled  and  im- 
proved them,  and  some  who  were  favorably  situated  increased  them. 
There  was,  on  the  whole,  a  reduction  in  the  fine-wooled  flocks  which  was 
nearly  compensated  for  in  the  increase  of  English  breeds  of  sheep.  The 
immediate  effect  of  the  depression  was  to  open  the  eyes  of  the  breeder 
to  the  kind  of  sheep  he  had  been  raising,  and  to  set  him  to  thinking 
how  he  could  improve  his  Merinos  to  meet  a  more  general  demand  than 
that  for  the  wool  alone.  His  conclusion  was  generally  to  the  effect  that 
what  was  wanted  was  a  larger,  plainer  sheep  than  he  had  been  raising; 
ewes  weighing  from  100  to  120  pounds,  and  rams  from  150  to  180  pounds, 
carrying  less  oil  and  wrinkle.  Up  to  1876  the  bulk  of  the  Merino  trade 
was  within  the  State,  and  all  bred  the  style  of  sheep  then  in  demand, 
a  sheep  of  medium  size,  weighing  from  100  to  125  pounds,  heavily  folded 
from  the  tip  of  the  nose  to  the  end  of  the  hoof,  the  main  thing  to  be 
desired  in  the  fleece  being  the  amount  of  oil.  The  best  sheep  of  those 
days  were  so  heavily  wrinkled  that  it  was  almost  impossible  for  a  ewe 
to  nurse  her  lamb,  or,  as  expressed  by  Mr.  A.  A.  Wood,  "for  a  rani  to 
do  service  without  the  aid  of  two  men  and  a  platform."  These  heavily 
folded,  short-legged,  greasy,  heavy-shearing  sheep  found  favor  with  the 
best  breeders,  and  were  immediately  the  most  successful  prize  winners 
at  the  fairs.  At  the  annual  meeting  of  the  Michigan  Sheep- Breeders' 
and  Wool-Growers'  Association,  held  at  Lansing  in  1886,  Mr.  A.  A. 
Wood  said  substantially  that  while  none  could  deny  that  these  wrinkly, 
greasy  sheep  had  done  a  vast  amount  of  good  to  the  flocks  of  Michigan, 
and  when  the  people  wanted  them  the  breeders  were  all  glad  to  furnish 
them,  the  question  then  presented  itself  whether  they  had  not  gone  far 
enough  in  that  direction. 


EAST    OF    THE    MISSISSIPPI    RIVER.  629 

While  theso  small  sheep  had  done  well  enough  in  the  small  flocks  of 
Michigan,  where  they  were  housed  and  well  cared  for,  whenever  they 
were  used  in  the  large  flocks  of  the  West,  they  almost  invariably  proved 
"  a  miserable  failure,  their  heavy  necks  and  fleeces  preventing  them 
from  keeping  up  with  the  flock  when  turned  on  the  range  to  graze,  and 
rendering  it  almost  impossible  for  them  to  do  service;  consequently 
they  have  failed  to  give  satisfaction  to  their  purchasers,  who  do  not 
care  to  buy  the  same  style  of  sheep  again  at  any  price." 

The  conclusion  at  which  Mr.  Wood  arrived  was  that  while  the  wrinkly, 
heavy  sheep  which  the  Michigan  breeders  had  been  growing  for  ten  years 
and  more,  had  undeniably  added  many  pounds  to  the  annual  wool  clip 
of  the  State,  they  had  done  almost  nothing  toward  improving  the 
sheep  as  far  as  mutton  was  concerned.  In  the  raising  of  sheep  it  must 
be  admitted  that  those  sheep  are  most  profitable  that  give  the  greatest 
amount  of  wool  and  mutton  combined,  not  wool  alone,  for  in  those  large 
wool-growing  States  evidently  the  best  markets  for  the  Michigan  Merino 
mutton  was  quite  as  important  a  consideration  as  the  wool,  and  as  the 
price  of  wool  declined  the  price  of  mutton  had  advanced.  From  the 
experience  of  recent  years  it  was  apparent  that  the  Michigan  breeders 
would  be  compelled,  like  the  breeders  of  Vermont,  to  look  to  the  West 
for  a  market  for  their  surplus  stock  instead  of  depending  upon  their 
own  State  for  a  market.  It  was  certain  that  for  many  reasons  they 
could  not  compete  with  the  West  in  raising  sheep  simply  for  wool  and 
mutton,  and  as  the  State  grew  older  and  the  cities  larger  the  demand 
for  dairy  and  garden  products  at  good  prices  would  call  for  the  use  of 
a  considerable  portion  of  the  land  devoted  to  sheep  husbandry,  and 
there  would  be  a  necessity  for  finding  a  market  for  Michigan  sheep  in 
those  States  where  the  raising  of  wool  and  muttom  would  always  be 
one  of  the  main  industries.  This  had  already  been  realized  to  a  certain 
extent,  but  it  is  only  within  recent  years  that  the  best  breeders  have 
been  obliged  to  sell  their  rams  to  the  dealers  of  the  West  and  South- 
west. Many  look  upon  this  business  as  already  overdone,  and  an  emi- 
nent breeder  said,  in  1886,  that  even  in  the  West  the  Merino  ram  trade 
was  "  played  out."  Every  man  breeding  Merino  sheep  saved  all  his 
rains  to  sell,  to  go  West,  until  the  United  States  was  running  over  with 
them  and  they  were  almost  worthless,  and  could  be  bought  by  the  hun- 
dred thousand  for  $1.50  each.  Nearly  every  breeder  had  from  10  to 
100  to  sell  for  about  half  as  much  as  wethers  were  worth. 

Under  these  circumstances  it  seemed  clear  to  the  leading  breeders  of 
Merino  sheep  that,  as  they  were  compelled  or  would  be  compelled  to 
rely  upon  a  market  where  wool  and  mutton  combined  shaped  the  indus- 
try, it  was  the  best  policy  to  breed  for  that  market,  and  that  it  was 
advisable  in  selecting  breeding  stock,  both  sires  and  dams,  to  choose 
only  those  that  were  large  and  strong,  with  a  vigorous  constitution, 
and  to  discard  from  the  flocks  those  little,  greasy,  wrinkly  ewes  and 
rams  for  the  produce  of  which  they  could  find  no  market. 


630  SHEEP    INDUSTRY    OF    THE    UNITED    STATES 

These  views  were  generally  shared  by  a  majority  of  the  wool-growers, 
and  at  the  meeting  of  the  Southwestern  Michigan  Breeders' Associa- 
tion in  1887  the  large,  smooth  sheep,  with  long  bright  wool,  were  com- 
mended. Sheep  which  sheared  from  16  to  20  pounds  to  the  fleece,  with 
a  2J  to  3-inch  staple  of  fine,  lustrous  wool,  seemed  to  be  the  ideal.  The 
next  demand  was  that  the  sheep  be  of  a  good  size,  for  many  of  the 
flocks  began  to  run  small  and  lambs  were  difficult  to  raise.  The  demand 
for  coarse  or  middle  wool  rams  was  believed  to  be  born  of  the  faulty 
breeding  of  the  Merino,  which  had  been  bred  solely  for  wool  to  the 
entire  neglect  of  its  capacity  for  mutton. 

The  Michigan  breeder  of  Merino  sheep  is  strong  in  his  conviction  that 
there  exists  no  breed  of  sheep  that,  for  wool  and  mutton  combined,  for 
the  genera]  farmer,  is  so  profitable  as  that  sheep  when  bred  and  fed  for 
those  purposes.  He  will  tell  you  that  all  that  is  necessary  is  to  pay 
less  attention  to  fleece,  to  discard  wrinkles  and  oil  and  breed  for  the 
mutton  qualities,  and  he  can  point  to  many  instances  where  this  course 
has  been  pursued  with  much  profit.  This  can  be  done  by  using  a  large, 
plain  Merino  ram,  having  the  lambs  come  in  March,  giving  good  feed, 
using  the  knife  on  ram  lambs,  and  producing  by  the  1st  of  April  in  the 
following  year  lambs  weighing  100  pounds,  selling  at  $6  per  head. 
u  Keeping  the  largest  and  best  of  the  eive  lambs  for  breeders,  it  would 
not  take  many  years  to  increase  the  size  and  mutton  qualities  to  such  a 
degree  as  to  astonish  the  natives  and  surprise  the  breeders  of  the 
coarse-wooled  breeds."  This  is  the  language  of  the  president  of  the 
Michigan  Merino  Association  in  1888,  and  he  said,  in  addition: 

Unless  some  event  shall  occur  which  we  can  not  now  foresee,  the  time,  in  my  opin- 
ion, is  not  far  off  when  the  majority  of  our  Merino  flocks,  through  discouragement 
and  lack  of  care  in  keeping  and  breeding,  will  cease  to  be  worthy  of  the  name. 
Already  a  large  number  have  dropped  out  of  the  register,  which  argues  a  want  of 
confidence  in  the  future.  Neglect  them  for  two  or  three  years  and  they  will,  for  all 
practical  purposes,  be  grades.  Let  us  call  a  halt  and  change  our  hand  a  little.  If 
Ave  can  not  compete  with  other  lands  in  raising  wool  we  can  in  mutton;  but  there  is 
no  need  to  go  outside  of  the  Merino  for  that  change.  No  man  can  do  a  more  foolish 
thing  than  to  cross  with  what  is  called  the  mutton  breeds.  Your  first  cross  will  do 
well  enough  to  sell  as  lambs,  but  you  gain  nothing  even  then.  A  large  Merino  lamb 
will  give  as  good,  if  not  better,  results  with  same  care  and  less  feed,  while  you  can 
improve  your  breeding  stock  at  the  same  time.  In  the  other  case  you  raise  three  or 
four  crops  of  lambs  and  sell  them  off,  so  you  have  nothing  to  breed  from. 

Uniformity  of  breeding  in  certain  lines  and  for  certain  purposes  is  absolutely 
necessary  to  secure  uniform  results,  and  therefore  success.  That  mutton  will  con- 
tinue to  grow  in  favor  with  the  American  people  is  proven  by  the  increasing  demand 
and  increasing  consumption  of  this  easily-digested  and  most  healthful  of  meats, 
while  the  cost  of  production  per  pound  is  even  less  than  that  of  beef  or  pork. 

Another  reason  why  producing  mutton  will  pay  is  that  there  is  no  other  means 
within  reach  by  which  we  can  keep  up  aud  increase  the  fertility  of  our  farms  so 
easily  and  so  effectually  as  by  keeping  all  the  sheep  we  can  keep  well,  for  the  better 
we  feed  them  the  more  valuable  the  fertilizers  produced  by  them.  This  will  apply 
to  all  kinds  of  stock  as  well. 

Before  the  action  of  the  breeders'  association  there  had  been  efforts 


EAST    OF    THE    MISSISSIPPI    RIVER.  631 

by  breeders  of  the  Merino  sheep  towards  the  mutton  type  which  have 
been  crowned  with  a  fair  degree  of  success,  especially  as  to  size,  feed- 
ing qualities,  early  maturity  and  mutton  forms,  and  the  indications 
were  promising  that  wethers  could  be  produced  equaling  the  South- 
down in  form,  weighing  150  to  175  pounds  at  2  years,  covered  with 
fleeces  3J  to  4J  inches  long,  cleaning  8  pounds  of  wool. 

Looking  to  a  Merino  sheep  of  this  kind,  some  breeders  and  farmers 
have  turned  their  attention  to  the  Delaine  sheep  of  eastern  Ohio  and 
western  Pennsylvania,  and  many  of  these  have  been  introduced  into 
the  State.  There  are  others  who  look  to  the  French  Merinos,  which 
have  the  most  enthusiastic  admirers  who  are  pushing  the  breed  into 
prominence  from  the  long  obscurity  in  which  it  has  lain. 

When  the  French  Merinos  were  introduced  into  the  United  States, 
from  1840  to  1860,  the  ranis,  distributed  mostly  in  Vermont,  New  York, 
and  Michigan,  were  used  to  cross  on  the  Spanish  Merino  flocks  to 
increase  the  size,  vigor,  and  constitution  of  the  latter. 

So  far  as  attaining  the  object  desired  it  was  entirely  satisfactory,  but,  though 
greatly  increasing  the  bulk  of  fleece  and  enhancing  the  value  of  the  product  for  the 
manufacturer,  it  lessened  the  weight  of  fleece,  especially  on  the  short-wooled 
Merinos,  that  were  so  abundantly  supplied  with  yolk  as  to  form  a  black  crust  on 
the  surface  of  the  wool.  A  strife  sprung  up  among  some  breeders  to  produce  the 
greatest  possible  weight  of  fleece  in  proportion  to  the  weight  ot  carcass,  regardless 
of  the  proportion  of  scoured  wool  to  the  raw  material.  This  not  being  the  end 
sought  by  the  sheep-breeders  in  France,  the  different  methods  did  not  work  in  har- 
mony. The  breeders  in  France  were  steadily  increasing  the  weight  of  carcass,  bulk 
of  fleece,  and  length  and  fineness  of  fiber  with  the  least  possible  weight  in  scouring, 
while  American  breeders  were  seeking  more  the  heaviest  fleeces  as  the  ultimate 
object,  the  weight  of  the  animal  not  receiving  so  much  attention.  During  the  war 
of  the  rebellion — 1861  to  1865— the  price  of  wool  rose  to  an  extreme  figure,  and  the 
breeders  for  weight  of  fleece  only  seemed  to  have  produced  the  sheep  most  in 
demand,  as  buyers  from  first  hands  did  not  discriminate  properly  between  the 
varieties  of  the  different  qualities  of  wool.  As  a  natural  result  nearly  all  of  the 
pure  races  of  the  French  Merinos  disappeared,  as  mutton  was  not  considered  an 
important  factor  in  the  breeding  of  Merino  sheep,  either  during  the  war  or  the 
decade  following.* 

At  one  time  there  were  many  of  the  French  Merinos  in  Michigan,  but 
they  generally  disappeared  when  fashion  set  her  stamp  of  approval  on 
the  Vermont  type  of  the  Spanish  Merino.  Among  the  purchasers  from 
Mr.  John  D.  Patterson,  of  ]S"ew  York,  who  was  an  extensive  importer 
and  breeder  of  them,  was  Mr.  Stauton,  of  Oxford,  Michigan,  who  kept 
his  purchase  absolutely  pure.  At  Mr.  Stan  ton's  death  the  stock  was  pur- 
chased from  the  estate  by  Mr.  S.  Cooley,  an  enterprising  and  highly  edu- 
cated gentleman  of  Oakland  County,  who  bred  them  with  great  care  and 
selection  and  made  a  marked  improvement  in  them.  Hon.  Henry  Grin- 
uell,  of  Oakland  County,  when  traveling  in  France  had  his  attention 
drawn  to  these  sheep,  and  his  admiration  for  them  was  formed  by  vis- 
iting the  immense  flo3ks  of  Australia,  that  were  built  up  by  crossing 

*  American  Rambouillet  Record. 


632        SHEEP  INDUSTRY  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES 

with  Bambouillet  rams.  He  determined  to  engage  in  breeding  these 
sheep,  and  on  his  return  to  Michigan  purchased  Mr.  Cooley's  entire  flock 
at  a  price  far  exceeding  the  means  of  the  average  stockbreeder. 

Mr.  Grinnell  has  added  to  the  original  flock  from  time  to  time  by  sev- 
eral importations  from  France,  and  has  spent  much  money  and  given 
much  attention  in  producing  a  sheep  that  equals  the  meat-producing 
varieties  in  size  and  weight,  and  also  produces  the  greatest  quantity  of 
wool,  which  is  characterized  by  fineness,  beautiful  crimp,  and  unequaled 
length  and  strength.  He  has  selected  the  foods  necessary  to  their 
highest  development,  strength  of  constitution,  and  precocity,  supplied 
them  with  an  abundance  of  pure  water,  and  produced  ewes  that  shear 
from  6  to  10  pounds  and  rams  from  12  to  24  pounds  of  wool,  which,  when 
scoured,  gives  50  to  55  per  cent  from  the  raw  material.  The  humid 
climate  of  Michigan  seems  particularly  adapted  to  these  sheep,  and 
they  are  growing  in  favor.  They  are  bred  by  a  number  of  the  most 
enterprising  and  wealthy  sheepmen  of  the  State,  who,  desiring  to  pre- 
serve the  purity  of  the  race  and  advance  the  interests  of  the  breed,  have 
organized  the  American  Bambouillet  Sheep  Association  and  established 
a  flock  record. 

The  Bambouillet  Association  was  organized  in  March,  1890,  and  the 
issue  of  the  flock  record  published  in  1891  carried  the  names  of  thirty- 
six  breeders  and  693  registered  sheep.  The  record  lays  down  these 
characteristics  of  Bambouillet  sheep  and  their  wool: 

American  Rambouillet  sheep  should  have  large  frame,  large,  strong  bone,  well 
rounded  and  symmetrical  bodies,  well  up  on  legs,  bright  pink  skin,  always  plain 
and  free  from  wrinkles.  Broad  head,  bright  eyes,  quick  movement,  broad  backs, 
and  broad  chests  are  indispensable.  These  sheep  have  long  been  noted  as  a  mutton 
sheep,  their  fine,  juicy  flesh  having  no  superior.  They  are  noted  for  their  early 
maturity  and  quick  feeding  properties,  being  fully  equal  to  the  Down  breeds  in  this 
respect.  The  rams  are  usually  well  horned,  but  not  always,  and  weigh  at  maturity 
from  175  to  250  pounds.  The  ewes  are  noted  as  good  mothers,  heavy  milkers,  one- 
half  usually  producing  twins.  They  weigh  110  to  150  pounds;  wethers  attain  150 
to  200  pounds.  Being  strong,  vigorous,  and  healthy,  their  impressive  power  is  very 
great,  and  they  are  not  liable  to  constitutional  breakdown  in  service.  They  will  bear 
herding  in  large  flocks,  and  their  hardiness  permits  them  to  stand  all  kinds  of 
Aveather  without  housing.  Their  fullness  of  carcass,  brightness  of  look,  length  of 
body,  vigor  of  carriage,  and  great  strength  make  them  excellent  and  reliable  repro- 
ducers, and  quick,  healthy  feeders  on  the  range.  The  wool  is  of  the  finest  quality 
has  a  beautiful  crimp,  is  usually  white,  sometimes  of  a  buff  color,  very  compact, 
opens  in  large  layers,  has  just  yolk  enough  to  promote  a  rapid  and  vigorous  growth, 
shows  110  crust  formation,  seldom  any  jar  hairs,  and  is  always  noted  for  its  length, 
strength,  and  elasticity.  It  is  from  3  to  5  inches  in  length ;  often  6i  inches  for  one 
year's  growth.  Rambonillet  sheep  should  be  well  wooled  to  the  feet  and  to  the 
nose.  Rams  shear  annually  from  12  to  24  pounds;  ewes  from  6  to  10  pounds.  The 
wool  scours  50  to  55  per  cent  for  the  manufacturer,  and  110  other  Merino  wool 
shows  so  deep  a  staple. 

Some  shearing  records  for  1890  are  given.  The  ram  Ontario  of  H. 
Grinnell's  flock,  weighing  253  pounds,  was  shorn  of  300  days'  growth 
of  wool,  weighing  24  pounds  5  ounces,  5-inch  staple.  The  ram  Golden 


EAST    OF    THE    MISSISSIPPI    RIVER. 


633 


IToof,  weighing  ±-'7  pounds,  sheared  20  pounds  15  ounces,  5-incli  staple. 
Ten  full-grown  ewes  from  the  flock  of  L.  B.  Townsend  weighed  an  aver- 
age of  135  pounds  and  sheared  an  average  of  8  pounds,  4-inch  staple. 
A  ram  300  days  old  weighed  128  pounds,  sheared  11J  pounds,  4-inch 
staple,  and  scoured  54  per  cent.  Ten  rams,  one  year  old  from  H.  Higby's 
tlock,  weighed  130  pounds,  sheared  12  pounds  each,  5-inch  staple,  while 
another  flock  produced  5  rains,  one  year  old,  weighing  135  pounds,  and 
shearing  14  pounds  each,  4f -inch  staple.  Thomas  Wyckoff  had  a  year- 
ling ram  that  weighed  170  pounds  and  sheared  15  pounds,  5-inch  staple. 
Two  ewes  gave  an  average  weight  of  145  pounds  and  sheared  8  pounds 
washed  wool,  of  4  J-inch  staple.  Four  ewe  lambs,  one  year  old,  weighed 
110  pounds  and  sheared  8  pounds,  6-inch  staple.  The  longest  staple 
was  G£  inches,  from  a  yearling  ewe  whose  fleece  scoured  55  per  cent 
manufacturers'  wool. 

For  those  who  wish  to  make  comparison  of  the  Eambouillet  fold  of 
France  with  the  Eambouillet  sheep  of  Michigan,  the  following  tables  are 
given  from  the  American  Eambouillet  Eecord: 

Comparison  of  wool  of  sheep  of  different  ages. 
[Rambouillet  fold.] 


Number  and  sex. 

Young  sheep. 

Older  sheep. 

Age. 

Length 
of  staple. 

Weight 
of  sheep 
after 
shearing. 

Weight 
of  fleece. 

Age. 

Length 
of  staple. 

Weight 
of  sheep 
after 
shearing. 

Weight 
of  fleece. 

1  169  rams 

Years. 

it 

91 
l]f 

li 
1* 
11 

2| 

Inches. 
3.00 
2.64 
3.20 
3.04 
2.40 
2.48 
2.80 
2.28 

Pounds. 
150 
144 
166 
124 
94 
100 
100 
97 

Lbg.    Oz. 
14      0 
12      6 
14      0 
20      9 
10      4 
13    14 
10      9 
11      4 

Years. 

5* 
4 

1 

Inches. 
2.80 
2.72 
3.04 
2.64 
2.20 
2.32 
2.12 
2.20 

Pounds. 
176 
184 
214 
200 
96 
100 
102 
100 

Lbs.   Oz. 
14    13 
15      0 
15      6 
18      2 
14      1 
12      3 
13      4 
10      0 

1  .">47  rains  

110  rams 

2t*6  rains  

H''  ewes 

133  ewes  

51,">  ewes 

1,317  ewes  

Observations  of  Michigan  Eambouillet  sheep. 
[Comparison  of  weights  and  wool  of  sheep  of  different  ages,  1891.] 


Length  of 
staple. 

Day's 
growth. 

Weight 
of  sheep 
after 
shearing. 

Weight 
of  fleece. 

Length 
of  body. 

Height. 

Weight 
at  birth. 

Weight 
of  lambs. 

Group  of  mature  rams  .  . 
Groap  of  1-year-old  rams 
Jiuin  hunks',  group  1. 
Hani  lambs,  aroup  2. 
Group  of  wethers 

Indies. 
4.00 
5.06 
1.61 
2.00 
3.50 
4.50 
4.00 
1.4'J 
1.90 

360 
371 
91 
115 
360 
360 
330 
71 
118 

Lbg.  Oz. 
216      0 
137    15 

Lbg.  Oz. 
18      0 
13    11 

Inches. 
52.00 
48.00 

Inches. 
32.60 

Lbg.  Oz. 

Lbs.  Oz. 

37    14 
61      2 

37.75 

27.80 

12      0 

177      0 
120      J5 
127     11 

11      0 
9    10 

8      4 

Xm-sf  ewes,  group  1  . 
Xurse  ewes,  group  2  . 
Ewe  lambs,  group  1  . 
Ewe  lambs,  group  2  . 

48.60 
48.50 

28.75 
27.00 

29      1 
61      3 

35.00 

24.60 

13      2 

In  addition  to  the  French  Merinos  descended  from  importations  made 
between  1840  and  1860,  and  more  recent  importations  made  from  France, 


634        SHEEP  INDUSTRY  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES 

there  have  been  introduced  into  this  country  a  number  of  the  German 
Kambouillet  sheep,  a  fine  pair  of  which  Avere  presented  by  Baron  Yon 
Homeyer,  of  Poinerania,  Prussia,  to  Messrs.  Townsend,  Grinnell,  and 
Wyckoff,  of  Michigan,  in  1890.  They  are  of  immense  size  and  are  con- 
sidered marvels  of  beauty.  An  illustration  of  them  is  presented. 
How  they  will  thrive  in  Michigan  remains  to  be  seen.  In  Texas  these 
German  Kambouillet  rams  have  been  used  for  a  few  years  to  cross  upon 
common  Merino  ewes.  Mr.  Carl  Goeth,  of  Cypress  Mills,  Tex.,  states 
that  while  he  "and  everybody  is  satisfied  that  this  cross  is  the  best  we 
can  use  for  mutton  breeds,  and  the  yearlings  are  as  heavy  as  any  older 
sheep  in  the  flock,  yet  the  lightness  of  the  fleece  is  objected  to."  The 
heaviest  fleece  Mr.  Goeth  sheared  from  7  Kambouillet  rams  he  received 
from  Germany  weighed  19  pounds  and  the  lightest  12  J  pounds.  To 
obtain  heavier  fleeces  it  was  proposed  to  use  Kambouillet  rams  with 
heavy  fleeces  and  wrinkles,  and  Mr.  Goeth  was  of  the  firm  belief  that 
the  problem  how  to  produce  a  heavy  sheep  with  heavy  fleece  would  be 
solved  by  using  these  wrinkled  Kambouillet  rams  upon  the  cross  of  the 
smooth  Kambouillet  and  common  Merino  ewes. 

It  was  with  much  reluctance  that  some  of  the  Michigan  sheep-raisers 
and  wool-growers  abandoned  fine-wool  growing,  gave  up  their  pure-bred 
Merinos  and  turned  their  attention  to  the  English  breeds  of  mutton 
sheep,  their  cross  on  the  Merinos  and  on  each  other.  Wool  had  been  so 
long  the  primary  and  almost  wholly  the  object  of  sheep-raising  that 
when  the  change  was  force:!  upon  them  it  was  like  taking  a  fresh  start 
and  engaging  in  a  new  undertaking.  This  change  took  place  about 
1883,  at  which  time  less  than  10  per  cent  of  the  sheep  had  English 
blood.  Near  the  cities  the  Southdowns,  Leicesters,  and  a  few  of  other 
breeds  were  known  and  appreciated,  but  the  Cotswolds  were  the  gen- 
eral stand-by  throughout  the  State  as  a  strictly  mutton  sheep  and  to 
cross  on  the  Merinos.  These  sheep  were  also  crossed  on  the  so-called 
common  ewes  and  produced  lambs  which  sold,  after  weaning,  without 
feeding,  for  $4  to  $5  per  head.  The  Cotswolds  have  declined  greatly  in 
popularity  and  are  exceeded  in  numbers  by  the  Downs,  but  they  still 
have  some  warm  admirers.  They  have  given  way  to  the  greater  popu- 
larity of  the  Shropshires. 

By  those  who  believe  that  mutton  should  be  the  primary  and  wool 
the  secondary  consideration  in  sheep  husbandry,  or  who  seek  a  happy 
combination  of  both  in  the  same  sheep,  the  Shropshire  is  looked  to  as 
this  double  or  all-purpose  sheep.  They  are  very  prolific,  producing 
often  140  to  150  per  cent  increase,  and  the  lambs  fatten  readily  at  any 
age.  The  grades  from  common  ewes  shear  fleeces  of  good  wool,  make 
large  lambs,  and  yearlings  of  this  class  frequently  weigh  200  pounds, 
though  more  generally  160  to  180  pounds.  Pure  Shropshire  ewes  from 
one  to  three  years  old  weigh  160  to  250  pounds,  according  to  condition, 
and  mature  ranis  from  175  to  300  pounds  and  over.  They  shear,  accord- 
ing to  care  and  generosity  of  feeding,  fleeces  weighing  from  8  to  18 


AMERICAN  RAMBOUILLET  RAM    NUMBER,  No.  328. 

AFTER  "  AMERICAN  RAMBOUILLET  RECORD. 


EAST    OF    THE    MISSISSIPPI    RIVER. 


635 


pounds  of  what  is  known  in  the  mark  etas  medium  wool,  commanding  a, 
good  price.    The  fleeces  lose  from  25  to  40  per  cent  in  scouring. 

Nine  imported  ewes,  belonging  to  the  flock  of  Mr.  C.  S.  Binghain,  of 
Vernon,  were  sheared  April  19,  1888,  and  gave  as  follows: 


Age. 

Weight  of 
carcass. 

Days 
growth. 

Fleece. 

Pounds. 

214 

344 

Lbs.  ozs. 
10       8 

*Do                  .                

120 

358 

10 

209 

370 

9      13 

260 

365 

11        2 

*DO 

248 

381 

14        4 

156 

365 

12      10 

Do 

161 

365 

13 

Do                                                                                               .... 

130 

365 

10        3 

Do  

124 

365 

10        9 

In  1891  L.  S.  Durham,  of  Concord,  sent  to  the  editor  of  the  Breeders' 
Gazette,  Chicago,  specimen  locks  from  two  of  his  Shropshire  yearlings — 
ram  and  ewe — and  reported  the  weight  of  fleeces  at  ISf  and  15  J  pounds. 
The  samples  of  wool  were  respectively  4  inches  and  3J  inches  long, 
were  especially  strong,  even  in  fiber,  and  with  "  luster  and  crimp  likely 
to  meet  the  requirements  of  the  most  exacting  consumers  of  Down  wool 
fabrics." 

These  sheep  are  being  imported  into  the  country  by  thousands,  and 
Michigan  takes  a  good  share  of  them.  She  has  many  enthusiastic 
admirers  of  them  and  they  are  filling  the  rich  fields  with  their  favorite 
sheep.  It  is  claimed  by  them  that  the  Shropshires  will  maintain  their 
high  standard  of  excellence  under  our  American  skies  and  climate  as 
well  as  in  England,  and  that  "  no  breed  yet  presented  to  the  world  com- 
bines so  many  good  qualities  and  so  readily  adapts  itself  to  all  the 
varied  vicissitudes  of  mixed  farming,  when  general  adaptation  to  soil, 
climate,  and  markets  are  duly  considered,  as  does  this  breed." 

That  they  are  prolific  is  attested  by  many  reports.  One  farmer 
reported  52  lambs  from  35  ewes,  many  of  them  weighing  40  pounds  at 
G  weeks  old,  and  not  one  of  them  requiring  extra  nursing.  Another 
reports  64  lambs  from  38  ewes,  weighing  from  30  to  48  pounds  at  6 
weeks  old,  and  still  another  22  lambs  from  13  ewes,  one  of  which  at  6 
months  old  weighed  163  pounds. 

Very  few,  if  any,  of  the  pure-bred  Shropshires  find  their  way  to  mar- 
ket as  mutton.  They  are  too  valuable  for  that  purpose  and  are  kept  for 
crossing  on  Merino  ewes  and  other  sheep  to  produce  cross-bred  lambs 
and  mutton. 

The  cross  of  a  Shropshire  rani  on  a  Merino  ewe  is  a  prolific  one,  and 
produces  a  heavy  lamb.  Thirty-six  lambs  from  25  ewes,  29  lambs  from 
21  ewes,  and  many  other  figures  in  that  proportion  are  common.  Mr. 
A.  L.  Eichardson,  of  Parma,  communicated  to  the  Sheep-Breeder  and 
Wool-Grower  the  weight  of  3  grade  lambs  of  this  cross  and  their  gain 
at  different  periods.  They  were  dropped  after  the  4th  of  April,  1886, 


636  SHEEP    INDUSTRY    OF    THE    UNITED    STATES 

weighed  December  13,  1886,  were  turned  on  grass  May  14,  1886,  and 
were  not  fed  grain  until  December  1,  when  corn  and  oats  were  given 
them.  The  weights  at  different  periods  were  as  follows : 

December  13 —  Pounds. 

No.l 119 

No.  2 116 

No.  3 113 

Average 116 

January  15,  1887 — 

No.  1 128. (gain,  9  pounds.) 

No.  2 121  (gain,  5  pounds.) 

No.  3 122  (gain,  9  pounds.) 


Average 

February  15,  1887— 

No.  1 * 144  (ga in,  16  pounds. ) 

No.  2 140  (gain,  19  pounds.) 

No.  3 139  (gain,  17  pounds.) 

Average 141 

March  15,  1887— 

No.  1 158  (gain,  14 -pounds.) 

No.  2 153  (gain,  13  pounds. ) 

No.  3 156  (gain,  17  pounds. ) 


Average 1 55  £ 

April  22,  1887— 

No.  1 179  (gain,  21  pounds.) 

No.  2 166  (gain,  13  pounds.) 

No. 3 176  (gain,  20  pounds.) 

Average 173| 

These  three  lambs  were  wethers,  and  they  sheared  33  J  pounds  of  wool 
011  May  1,  1887,  when  less  than  thirteen  months  old. 

Those  who  raise  these  cross-bred  lambs  find  no  trouble  in  making 
them  weigh  95  to  100  pounds  by  February,  when  dropped  in  May,  and 
the  farmers  in  Ionia  County  and  elsewhere  realize  more  money  in  hand- 
ling them  than  by  raising  Merino  lambs,  as  they  are  worth,  from  the 
time  they  are  weaned  to  the  first  of  February,  from  $2.50  to  $6  per  hun- 
dred. Over  5,000  of  these  lambs  were  fattened  in  Ionia  County  in  one 
year  and  shipped  to  eastern  markets.  With  few  exceptions  all  the 
lambs  in  the  southern  and  eastern  part  of  the  State  in  1890  were  of  this 
class,  and  most  of  them  averaged  over  100  pounds  and  Avere  disposed 
of  at  6  cents  per  pound.  L.  S.  Dunham,  of  Concord,  states  that  85  head 
of  Shropshires  sheared  an  average  of  12  pounds  of  wool  per  head,  and 
that  his  cross  of  the  Shropshire  ram  on  common  fine-wool  sheep  pro- 
duced lambs  that  weighed  125  pounds  at  ten  months  old,  and  sold  for 
6  cents  per  pound,  live  weight,  on  his  farm. 

Next  to  the  Merinos  the  Shropshires  now  attract  the  greatest  atten- 
tion of  the  Michigan  farmers.  They  have  proven  themselves  hardy, 
prolific,  and  profitable,  giving  quick  returns  in  lambs,  and  yielding  a 


EAST    OF    THE -MISSISSIPPI    RIVER.  637 

wool  that  finds  a  ready  and  remunerative  market.  They  are  the  most 
popular  of  all  the  Downs,  and  the  prospect  is  that  they  will  maintain 
that  popularity. 

For  very  early  lambs— sometimes  called  hothouse  lambs — the  Shrop- 
shires  are  not  equal  to  the  Southdowns,  and,  consequently,  in  localities 
where  the  consumer  is  willing  to  pay  a  good  price  and  there  is  a  de- 
mand for  choice  early  lambs,  the  Southdown  maintains  its  position. 

The  Hampshire  Downs  are  represented  in  the  State  by  several  fine 
breeding  flocks,  and  in  some  localities  are  very  popular.  They  were 
first  generally  known  about  1883,  and  most  of  the  flocks  have  been 
formed  since  that  date.  Mr.  J.  H.  Taft,  of  Mendon,  gives  his  experi- 
ence with  them,  which  began  in  the  fall  of  1884,  by  the  purchase  of  a 
full-blood  Hampshire  Down  ram  lamb  to  cross  on  grade  Merino  ewes, 
which  practice  he  has  continued  with  success.  At  the  time  wool  was 
low  and  sheep  were  a  slow  sale,  hence  the  departure  from  the  Merino. 
Having  used  fine-wooled  rams  from  full-blood  flocks  he  wanted  a  sheep 
that  was  in  demand  at  paying  prices.  The  first  crop  of  lambs  more 
than  realized  his  expectations,  being  strong  and  growthy  and  finding 
ready  sale  when  weaned.  The  following  year  he  tried  them  as  feeders, 
selling  the  last  of  February  and  obtaining  an  average  of  126  pounds 
per  head  011  his  entire  crop  of  76  lambs.  In  the  winter  of  1887-788  he 
fed  84  head  of  his  own  raising  that  averaged,  after  they  were  shorn, 
113  J  pounds  per  head  in  the  early  part  of  March.  After  his  experience 
with  the  grade  Hampshires  he  made  an  importation  of  Hampshire  ewes 
that  he  considered  the  sheep  for  the  average  farmer.  They  were  unusu- 
ally large,  averaged  from  175  to  200  pounds,  in  fair  flesh,  and  carried  a 
compact  fleece  of  wool.  They  were  well  suited  to  the  climate  and  were 
hearty  and  inclined  to  lay^  on  flesh. 

The  Oxford  Downs  have  many  admirers,  and  there  are  several  breed- 
ing flocks  in  the  State.  One  of  these  at  Eau  Claire  produced  ewes  in 
1887  that  averaged  12 J  pounds  of  wool  per  head  on  354  days'  growth, 
and  a  stock  ram  sheared  15  pounds.  Crossed  with  a  high-grade  Merino 
ewe,  the  result  is  a  large  carcass  and  a  heavy  fleece,  the  average  sheep 
thus  produced  weighing,  at  1  year  old,  from  180  to  210  pounds. 

The  Lincoln  shires  are  the  largest  sheep  we  have,  and,  in  some  in- 
stances, English  breeders  have  forced  them  to  a  weight  of  nearly 
400  pounds.  They  give  a  fleece  weighing  from  8  to  15  pounds  of  lus- 
trous wool.  They  require  too  much  care  to  suit  the  ordinary  Ameri- 
can farmer,  hence  are  not  popular.  There  are,  however,  a  few  flocks 
in  Michigan  and  occasional  importations  are  made  from  England. 
Messrs.  G.  S.  Allen  &  Son,  of  Portland,  have  a  flock  that  in  December, 
1888,  averaged  200f  pounds  per  head,  and  sheared  11-,^-  pounds  of  un- 
washed wool  in  May  following,  at  ten  and  a  half  months'  growth.  The 
cross  of  a  Lincolnshire  ram  ou  Merino  ewes  got  lambs  that  weighed  at 
6  months  old  100  pounds  and  over,  without  giving  ewe  or  lamb  any 
extra  feed.  The  Lincolnshire  ram  Iron  Duke,  owned  by  the  Messrs. 
Allen  &  Son,  weighed,  when  4  years  old,  352  pounds. 


638 


SHEEP  INDUSTRY  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES 


Lincolnshire  yearling  wethers,  shipped  to  Buffalo  by  Michigan 
growers,  have  sold  for  Christmas  sheep  for  the  New  York  city  market 
at  $13.75  per  head  or  $7.50  per  hundred.  While  it  is  very  profitable 
to  sell  the  Lincoln  lambs  at  $4  or  $5  per  head  after  weaning,  it  is  found 
much  more  profitable  to  feed  them  for  the  winter  market,  as  they  take 
on  flesh  so  readily. 

The  experience  of  a  farmer  with  a  flock  of  about  100  cross  bred 
Lincolnshire  and  Oxford  Downs  runs  thus :  His  April  lambs  averaged 
in  November  not  less  than  110  pounds  without  any  grain.  They  were 
then  fed  grain  and  at  early  shearing  averaged  12  pounds  of  wool, which 
sold  for  22  cents  per  pound.  The  sheep  at  that  time  averaged  140 
pounds  and  some  were  sold  at  $4.50  each.  Wethers  and  rams  from  the 
same  flock  were  sold  earlier  than  this  in  pairs  or  three  at  a  time  to  the 
local  butcher  for  5  cents  a  pound  after  the  wool  was  clipped.  As 
these  weighed  about  200  pounds,  the  return  was  $10  each  beside  the 
wool,  which  would  bring  $2.50  additional. 

A  cross  of  a  Lincoln  ram  on  a  Shropshire  ewe  has  been  known  to 
produce  a  384-pound  sheep — not  yet  in  Michigan,  however;  but  the  fact 
is  stated  to  show  possibilities  in  that  climate,  which  has  proved  so 
congenial  to  sheep  of  every  kind  and  where  the  supply  of  food  is  so 
varied  and  abundant. 

There  are  some  Dorset  Horns  in  Michigan,  and  they  are  beginning  to 
attract  some  attention  on  account  of  their  fecundity  and  value  for 
early  lambs.  The  Leicesters,  once  quite  numerous  in  the  State,  are 
not  now  so  well  known,  although  some  importations  are  yearly  made, 
and  the  Cheviots  are  comparatively  unknown  and  unnoticed. 

The  following  statement  shows  the  number  of  sheep  in  Michigan  from 
1840  to  1890.  The  number  for  1890  is  given  by  the  U.  S.  Department 
of  Agriculture ;  the  amount  of  wool  for  1890  is  based  upon  estimates 
made  by  other  parties.  The  figures  from  1840  to  1880  are  those  returned 
by  the  United  States  census : 


Tear. 

Number  of 
sheep. 

Wool. 

Average 
weight  of 
wool  per 
head. 

1840 

99  618 

Pounds. 
153  375 

Pounds. 
1  52 

1850      

746  435 

2  043*  283 

2  73 

1860 

1  271  743 

3  960  888 

3  11 

1870         

1  985  906 

8  796  145 

4  39 

1880 

2  180  389 

11  858  407 

5  41 

1890  

2  240  841 

12  989  226 

5  75 

Ohio  is  the  only  State  east  of  the  Mississippi  River  that  exceeds  Michi- 
gan in  the  number  of  sheep,  and  Michigan  is  the  only  State  east  of  the 
Mississippi  and  north  o/  the  Ohio  Eiver  whose  sheep  increased  in  number 
from  1880  to  1890.  The  raising  of  sheep  is  so  ingrained  in  the  life  and 
training  of  the  people  that  it  is  difficult  for  them  to  turn  from  it,  and 
when  one  system  does  not  pay  they  look  to  another.  The  sheep  hus- 


..-,.  :•  nth*    a    :  •. 


LINCOLN  RAM. 


TVEE3ITY 


EAST    OF    THE    MISSISSIPPI    RIVER.  639 

bandry  of  the  State  is  safe  in  the  hands  of  its  breeders  of  broad  views, 
zeal,  and  industry. 

The  Michigan  agent  of  the  U.  S.  Department  of  Agriculture,  in  his 
report  for  January,  1891,  states  that  sheep  were  then  considered  the 
best  stock  that  a  Michigan  fanner  could  keep,  and  gives  reasons : 

The  price  of  lambs,  fit  for  feeding,  lias,  perhaps,  more  to  do  with  the  advance  of 
sheep  than  the  price  of  wool.  For  three  years  past  the  produce  of  onr  flocks  has 
been  sold  for  feeding  or  fed  by  the  farmer  himself.  The  result  is  a  depreciation  of 
the  flock,  which  to  some  extent  has  been  kept  up  by  the  purchase  from  other  States. 
This  year  the  ewe  lambs  only  are  saved.  This  will  of  course  show  an  increase  in  the 
future.  The  mutton  breeds  are  now  the  most  popular. 

WISCONSIN. 

Sheep  were  not  introduced  into  Wisconsin  prior  to  1837,  as  before 
this  time 'wolves  were  so  numerous  and  destructive  as  to  discourage  it. 
In  that  year  some  were  taken  from  Illinois  into  Wai  worth  County,  and 
the  census  of  1840  returned  but  3,462  in  the  entire  Territory.  The  first 
introduction  of  the  Merino  blood  was  made  in  1842.  In  that  year  Lewis 
Clark,  of  Genesee  County,  N.  Y.,  arrived  at  Beloit,  with  250  ewes, 
selected  on  account  of  form  and  hardiness,  from  a  flock  of  about  800. 
raised  by  himself  from  two  purchases  of  Spanish  and  Saxon  Merino, 
the  greater  part  being  of  the  former.  Mr.  Clark  began  his  farming 
operations  in  Genesee  County,  N.  Y.,  and  about  1828  commenced  to 
improve  a  flock  of  native  sheep  by  the  use  of  Spanish  rams.  In  1835 
he  purchased  200  fine  sheep,  being  one-half  of  what  was  known  as  the 
Carter  flock  of  Spanish  Merinos,  of  the  Humphreys  blood,  then  owned 
in  Livingston  County,  N.  Y.  The  year  following  he  made  another  pur- 
chase in  the  same  county  of  100  full-blood  Saxony  sheep.  There  was 
at  that  time  a  fine-wool  fever,  and  the  rivalry  between  the  Saxony  and 
Spanish  Merino  exceedingly  sharp.  Mr.  Clark  used  rams  of  both  breeds, 
and  increased  the  size  of  his  sheep  and  weight  of  fleece.  The  rams 
used  by  him  later  were  pure-blood  Spanish  Merinos  from  Vermont. 
The  increase  from  his  original  flock  went  into  southern  Wisconsin  and 
northern  Illinois,  and  had  some  influence  in  the  formation  and  charac- 
ter of  the  flocks  in  that  section. 

In  1843  David  Brooks,  of  Livingston  County,  N.  Y.,  and  Curtis  Haw- 
ley  and  Allen  Eose,  of  Ontario  County,  prospected  in  northern  Illinois 
and  southern  Wisconsin  to  find  a  good  location  for  keeping  sheep. 
The  search  resulted  in  the  arrival  of  Mr.  Brooks  and  Mr.  Eose,  at  Troy, 
Walworth  County,  Wis.,  in  August,  1844,  with  1,000  ewes  driven  from 
western  and  central  New  York.  The  ewes  were  considered  good  ones, 
and  were  of  the  Spanish  and  Saxon  blood,  the  result  of  crossing  in  two 
breeds.  The  flock  was  kept  together  in  Troy  for  one  year,  and  then  let 
to  different  parties  in  Wralworth  and  adjoining  counties,  and  in  north- 
ern Illinois. 

In  1844  Mr.  N.  B,  Clapp,  of  New  York,  enamored  with  the  beauties 
of  the  far  West,  which  he  had  visited  the  preceding  year,  determined 


640        SHEEP  INDUSTRY  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES 

to  take  a  flock  of  sheep  to  Wisconsin.  He  purchased  in  Dutchess 
County,  N.  Y.,  some  hundreds  of  Spanish  Merinos  with  a  strong  cross 
of  Saxon  blood,  considered  at  the  time  as  far  better  than  the  pure 
Spanish  Merino  and  costing  more  money.  He  set  out  with  the  usual 
outfit  of  a  pioneer — a  pair  of  horses,  a  canvas- covered  wagon,  blan- 
kets, cooking  utensils,  etc.,  accompanied  by  two  men  and  two  shepherd 
dogs  to  care  for  the  sheep.  Through  the  State  of  New  York  more  were 
added  to  his  flock  from  time  to  time,  as  he  could  purchase  to  please  him, 
of  a  coarse  grade  of  sheep,  until  his  flock  numbered  over  1,400.  After 
leaving  the  State  of  New  York  pasturage  cost  nothing,  his  sheep  feed- 
ing mostly  on  the  roadside  as  they  moved  slowly  along,  avoiding  the 
thickly- settled  country  and  the  towns.  They  arrived  near  Kenosha, 
Wis.,  in  the  fall,  with  no  decrease  in  numbers  and  in  good  condition.  The 
flock  was  kept  together  and  pastured  on  the  open  prairie  for  some  years 
until  fencing  shut  them  up,  when  they  were  disposed  of  and  disseminated 
through  the  adjoining  counties.  All  the  rams  used  to  cross  on  them 
were  Spanish  Merinos  brought  from  the  East.  In  a  paper  read  before 
the  Wisconsin  Sheep-Breeders  and  Wool-Growers'  Association  in  1885, 
I.  J.  Clapp  said  that  within  the  four  years  preceding  he  had  seen  some 
of  the  descendants  of  the  same  sheep  that  had  characteristics  of  the 
Saxony  remaining,  although  nothing  but  Spanish  Merino  rams  had  been 
used  from  the  day  that  they  were  originally  brought  into  the  State. 

In  1849  Mr.  J.  F.  Brooks,  son  of  David. Brooks,  took  to  East  Troy 
about  500  Merinos,  nearly  all  ewes,  principally  from  the  flocks  of  Leroy 
&  Newbold,  of  Livingston  County,N.  Y.  These  sheep  originally  canie 
from  Vermont.  For  some  years  rams  were  brought  from  western  New 
York  to  cross  upon  this  flock,  and  the  descendants  and  those  from  the 
flock  of  the  elder  Brooks  gave  character  in  a  large  degree  to  many  of 
the  flocks  of  good  sheep  so  often  met  in  after  years  in  Walworth  and 
the  adjoiniug  counties. 

These  first  flocks  were  of  mixed  Saxony  and  Spanish  Merino,  and  not 
until  1846  does  it  appear  that  any  of  the  pure  Spanish  sheep  were  intro- 
duced into  the  State.  In  that  year  Mr.  H.  B.  Burritt  brought  one  ram 
and  one  ewe  from  the  flock  of  Heed  Burritt,  his  father,  at  Watkins,  N. 
Y.,  to  the  town  of  Muskegon,  WTis.  In  1850  another  ram  and  ewe,  and 
in  1853  10  ewes  more,  were  brought  from  the  same  flock,  all  pure-bred 
Spanish  Merinos,  descended  from  the  original  purchases  made  by  Eeed 
Burritt  from  Stephen  Atwood,  of  Connecticut,  and  W.  E.  Sanford,  of 
Vermont.  In  1855  H.  B.  Burritt  sold  his  flock  to  J.  D.  Buckett,  of  the 
same  place,  and  in  I860  or  1861  5  ewes  of  the  flock  were  sold  to  A.  and 
P.  Humbert,  of  CaldwelFs  Prairie,  Wis.,  and  were  the  foundation  of  the 
flock  now  owned  by  them. 

In  1847  Steven  Burrows,  of  Whitewater,  received  a  pure-bred  Spanish 
Merino  rain  and  ewe  from  central  New  York,  and  Almon  Atwood,  of 
Waupun,  made  an  importation  from  the  flock  ol  Edwin  Hammond,  Ver- 
mont. About  the  same  time  W.  P.  Benson,  of  Johnstown,  brought  in 


EAST    OF    THE    MISSISSIPPI    RIVER.  641 

a  ram  and  a  few  ewes  from  the  Merino  flocks  of  Orwell  and  Shorehain, 
Vermont.  0.  M.  Goodsell,  of  Geneva,  was  the  first  to  introduce  some 
very  valuable  sheep  from  the  flock  of  S.  W.  Jewett,  of  Vermont;  and 
Charles  H.  Smedley,  of  Hudson,  imported  a  large  number  of  rams 
and  some  ewes  of  the  choicest  breeds  from  Addison  County,  Yt.,  for 
which  he  found  a  ready  sale.  There  were  now  many  flocks  both  of  the 
Merino  grades  and  the  common  kind,  and  a  general  and  earnest  desire 
for  improvement.  Rot  alone  were  the  farmers  struck  with  the  wool- 
growing  character  of  the  new  country,  but  those  having  flocks  in  Xew 
York  and  Pennsylvania,  tempted  by  the  cheapness  of  land,  drove  their 
sheep  thither. 

In  1850,  in  the  vicinity  of  Eacine,  there  were  many  fine  flocks  of  Sax- 
ony and  other  breeds.  They  were  said  to  thrive  well  and  were  very 
healthy.  In  general  the  great  mass  of  sheep  were  grades  between  the 
common  and  the  Saxony  and  Spanish  Merino.  The  grade  sheep  gave 
about  3  J  pounds  of  wool  per  head.  There  were  a  few  pure  Saxons  and 
a  few  pure  Spanish  Merino  flocks.  One  of  the  latter  was  that  of  Arnold 
Weeks,  of  Springfield.  In  1850  Mr.  Weeks  sold  10  of  the  pure-bred 
Merinos  which  were  brought  from  Yerniont  to  C.  K.  Phelps.  Those 
laid  the  foundation  of  a  flock  which  ranks  high  in  Wisconsin. 

In  1853  there  were  some  French  Merinos  in  the  State,  and  the  Span- 
ish Merinos  were  still  being  introduced,  but  not  until  1855  to  1857  did 
any  considerable  number  of  the  pure  Merinos  find  their  home  in  Wis- 
consin. Quite  a  proportion  of  the  flocks  recorded  in  the  Wisconsin 
Merino  register  had  their  origin  between  ISb'O  and  1870.  Two  of  ear- 
lier date  may  be  noticed. 

In  1857  Charles  M.  Clark,  of  Whitewater,  commenced  a  flock  by  a 
purchase  of  ewes  and  lambs  that  had  been  bred  by  Ebenezer  Porter 
from  Atwood  stock  purchased  of  Ward  M.  Lincoln.  The  ewes  were 
taken  from  Kutland,  Yt.,  to  Wisconsin,  by  Mr.  Porter  In  1856.  The 
lambs  were  sired  by  Young  Matchless,  a  ram  bred  by  A.  J.  Wooster, 
West  Cornwall,  Yt.,  from  a  ewe  purchased  of  Edwin  Hammond  and 
sired  by  one  of  their  stock  rams, 

In  1811  William  Pomeroy,  of  Eutlaiid,  Yt.,  bought  of  William  Jar- 
vis,  on  shipboard  in  Boston  Harbor,  some  Spanish  Merino  ewes  of  the 
Negretti  strain.  In  1814  a  Mr.  Eastman  bought  of  Mr.  Pomeroy  his 
ewe  lambs,  which  he  continued  to  breed  in-and-in  with  a  Negretti  ram, 
except  the  cross  of  one  ram,  which  he  hired  one  year  of  William  Jar  vis, 
until  1829,  when  they  were  given  into  the  hands  of  his  two  sons,  when 
they  purchased  some  Moritarcos  of  J.  Allen,  imported  originally  by 
him  October  20,  1810.  From  that  time  the  two  families  were  bred 
together.  A  part  of  this  flock  was  taken  to  Wisconsin  in  1803  or  1864 
by  L.  Eastman,  and  bred  until  1871,  when  the  entire  flock  was  sold  to 
I.  J.  Clapp,  Kenosha,  Wis.  It  then  sheared  an  average  of  nearly  14 
pounds  of  wool,  including  a  fleece  of  17J  pounds  from  a  yearling  ewe. 
In  1858  Perry  Craig,  of  Cald well's  Prairie,  commenced  a  pure-blood 
1 


642  SHEEP    INDUSTRY    OF    THE    UNITED    STATES 

Merino  flock  by  a  purchase  from  B.  J.  Williams,  of  Whitewater,  of  3 
ewes  from  the  flock  of  John  D.  Patterson,  of  Westfield,  N.  Y.  The 
price  for  the  3  ewes  was  $100.  At  the  same  time  he  purchased  from 
Mr.  Williams  a  ram  with  one-seventh  cross  of  French,  but  the  stock 
proving  unsatisfactory,  the  ram  and  his  get  were  sold  for  store  sheep. 
In  1864  he  purchased  of  Paul  Hastings,  Geneva,  6  ewe  lambs.  Those 
ewes  were  all  bred  to  pure-bred  Spanish  Merino  rams.  In  1870  the 
flock  numbered  30  ewes.  Subsequent  additions  were  made  by  pur- 
chases from  S.  B.  Lusk  and  P.  H.  McMillan,  of  New  York. 

Meanwhile  some  of  the  English  breeds  of  sheep  were  introduced  into 
the  State,*  many  from  Canada,  some  from  the  older  Western  States,  and 
a  few  from  England  direct.  In  1845,  T.  J.  Carmichael  imported  3  rams 
and  6  ewes  of  the  white-faced  Cheviot  breed  for  his  farm  at  Lake 
Mills,  Jefferson  County.  These  sheep  were  large  and  very  fine,  the 
fleeces  quite  as  heavy,  and  the  wool  nearly  as  long  as  the  Leicester. 
The  rams  were  bought  of  the  flock  of  James  Oliver,  Bothwick  Bray, 
and  the  ewes  from  that  of  Charles  Scott,  of  Eoxburghshire.  In  1854 
Capt.  McKiimon  imported  from  England  about  a  dozen  head  of  sheep 
of  the  most  improved  varieties.  There  were  other  importations  made, 
but  the  great  interest  remained  with  the  Spanish  Merino. 

The  early  importations  of  the  grade  Merino  sheep  and  the  pure- 
bloods  proved  so  successful,  they  accli mated  so  readily,  and  cost  so 
little  to  keep,  that  flocks  were  rapidly  multiplied.  Great  pains  were 
taken  to  improve  them,  for  which  the  best  rams  were  brought  from 
New  York  and  Vermont,  and  the  business  became  a  growing  and 
profitable  one.  From  3,462  sheep  in  1840  they  increased  to  over  26,000 
in  1844,  and  to  124,896  in  1850.  Most  of  these  were  mixed  breeds,  but 
there  were  some  flocks  of  full-bloods  which  were  found  profitable.  The 
sheep  brought  from  Vermont  were  found  to  increase  in  size  at  least 
one-third,  while  the  wool  increased  equally  in  weight  and  quality. 

A  brief  sketch  of  some  of  the  breeding  flocks  established  between 
1860  and  1870  will  be  given.  In  view  of  the  fact  that  the  greater  part 
of  the  flocks  of  pure  Spanish  Merinos  in  the  State  were  commenced  by 
the  purchase  of  Vermont  and  New  York  bred  sheep,  it  is  unnecessary 
to  give  a  detailed  history  of  them;  all  that  is  essential  is  to  make  the 
connection,  and  the  detailed  history  can  be  consulted  in  the  chapters 
treating  of  the  parent  flocks. 

In  1860  A.  Jones,  of  Leeds  Center,  purchased  of  C.  E.  Jones,  of  Ver- 
mont, 50  ewes  descended  from  the  Jarvis  and  Humphreys  importations 
through  the  flocks  of  J.  Hinds,  Lyman  Webster,  and  Stephen  Atwood. 
In  1863  he  purchased  of  Mr.  Jones  15  more  of  the  same  blood  and 
rams  of  the  Jarvis  and  Humphreys  blood.  He  added  to  the  flock,  in 
1873,  14  ewes  from  the  flocks  of  Edwin  Hammond  and  E.  S.  Stowell,  of 
Vermont,  and  2  rams  from  the  Hammond  flock. 

Isaac  Gale,  of  Waukesha,  began  the  formation  of  a  flock  by  the  pur- 
chase of  10  ewes  that  had  been  brought  from  Vermont  to  New  York  in 
1862.  They  were  bred  by  the  Merino  flockmasters  of  Shoreham.  Vt. 


EAST    OF    THE    MISSISSIPPI    RIVER.  643 

In  1862,  1863,  and  1864  A.  E.  Perkins,  of  Mukwonago,  purchased 
from  the  flocks  of  George  Campbell  and  others,  of  Vermont,  a  large 
number  of  rams  and  14  ewes.  In  1875  he  added  to  his  flock  10  ewes 
and  a  ram  from  the  flock  of  George  Cleland,  of  Janesville,  pure-bred 
American  Merinos. 

In  1863  B.  J.  Williams,  of  Whitewater,  who  had  previous  to  this  date 
been  a  breeder  of  Merino  sheep,  founded  a  new  flock  by  a  purchase  of 
20  ewes  of  J.  H.  Butter  field,  of  Lapeer,  Mich.,  to  whom  they  were 
transferred  by  William  Stout,  of  Oakland  County,  in  the  same  State, 
and  by  whom  they  had  been  purchased  of  E.  B.  Pottle,  Ontario  County, 
N.  Y.  Wisconsin  rams  were  used  on  this  purchase.  The  flock  was 
increased  in  1877  by  the  purchase  of  15  ewes  of  G.  A.  Cutting,  Ver- 
mont. 

In  1864  George  Cleland,  of  Janesville,  laid  the  foundation  of  a  noted 
flock  by  the  purchase  of  17  ewes  of  A.  F.  Knox,  of  Whitewater.  These 
ewes  were  bred  in  Vermont.  In  1867  2  ewes  were  purchased  of  J.  H. 
Sprague,  Walt-ham,  Vt.,  bred  from  Hammond  stock.  The  flock  was 
added  to  by  subsequent  purchases  of  Vermont  ewes  and  rams.  In  the 
same  year  O.  Cook,  of  Whitewater,  commenced  a  flock  by  a  purchase 
of  fine  ewes  of  A.  F.  Kiiox,  of  same  place.  They  where  bred  by  T. 
Stickney  &  Son,  and  were  of  Atwood,  Jar  vis,  and  Cock  blood.  In  the 
fall  of  1867  3  ewes  were  purchased,  bred  by  L.  C.  Eemele,  of  Atwood, 
Jarvis,  and  Cock  blood.  In  1871  9  Vermont-bred  ewes  were  added  to 
the  flock.  The  rams  used  in  the  flock  combined  the  same  blood  as  the 
ewes.  T.  W.  Gault,  of  Waterford,  also  established  a  flock  in  1864,  by 
the  purchase  of  2  lambs  bred  by  A.  E.  Perkins,  of  Mukwonago,  Wis. 
In  1866  he  purchased  5  ewe  lambs  from  the  same  flock,  and  in  1867  10 
ewes  bred  by  Fayette  Holmes,  of  Vermont.  The  best  Vermont  rams 
were  used  in  the  flock. 

In  1866  J.  H.  Paul,  of  Genesee,  purchased  12  ewes  of  Oliver  Sev- 
erance, of  Vermont;  a  part  of  them  were  bred  by  Victor  Wright.  In 
the  same  year  2  ewes  were  purchased  of  J.  E.  Parker,  8  from  other  par- 
ties in  Vermont,  and  3  of  Peter  Martin,  of  New  York.  Additions  were 
made  to  the  flock  by  the  purchase  of  3  ewes  in  1873,  and  3  from  each 
of  the  flocks  of  S.  B.  Lusk  and  E.  Townsend,  of  New  York,  in  1876. 
H.  H.  Cobb,  of  Whitewater,  commenced  a  flock  in  1866  by  the  purchase 
of  15  ewes  of  Asaph  Pratt,  of  Lima,  Wis.  These  ewes  and  the  ram 
used  in  the  flock  traced  their  origin  to  Vermont  sheep,  the  former  to  the 
flock  founded  by  Mr.  Pomeroy  in  1811,  and  the  latter  to  Tyler  Stick- 
ney's  flock.  Walter  Irving,  of  North  Prairie,  also  established  a  flock 
in  1866,  by  the  purchase  of  30  ewes  from  P.  B.  Stewart,  of  Eagle,  Wis. 
These  ewes  came  from  Joseph  Smith,  of  Wisconsin,  and  were  from  a 
flock  of  66  ewes  imported  from  Michigan  about  1862,  and  sold  for  $1,300. 
Vermont  rams  were  used  on  the  flock. 

In  the  fall  of  1867  S.  W.  Andrew,  oi  Juneau,  established  a  flock  by 
the  purchase  of  5  ewes  and  a  ewe  lamb  of  John  Hawkins,  of  the  same 


644        SHEEP  INDUSTRY  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES 

place.  These  ewes  were  purchased  in  the*  spring  of  1866  of  C.  A. 
Dodge,  of  Weybridge,  Vt.  The  ewe  lamb  was  bred  from  one  of  the 
ewes  and  sired  by  a  Vermont  ram.  The  rams  bred  to  this  flock  were 
raised  by  J.  S.  Benedict  and  E.  1ST.  Bissell,  of  Vermont.  In  the  same 
year  George  Baker,  of  Hustisford,  originated  a  flock  by  the  purchase 
of  1  ram  and  10  pure-bred  ewes  of  Abijah  Granger,  Newstead,  Vt.  Mr. 
Granger  purchased  these  ewes  in  1865  of  Cassias  M.  Worls,  of  Ver- 
gennes,  Vt.  They  were  bred  largely  in  the  Atwood  blood.  The  ram 
was  said  to  have  been  sired  by  Young  Gold  Fleece,  for  which  his  owner 
paid  $5,000. 

In  1868  J.  G.  Putnam,  of  Neosho,  founded  a  flock  by  the  purchase 
oi  6  pure-bred  ewes  of  J.  E.  White,  Springfield,  Vt.  These  ewes  were 
from  the  flock  of  James  Lowell,  and  bred  from  the  flock  of  Edwin  Ham- 
mond. The  same  year  he  purchased  of  M.  0.  Roundy,  of  Ilockinghain, 
Vt.,  3  Hammond  ewes  and  an  Atwood  ram.  Subsequent  additions  were 
made  to  the  flock  by  further  purchases  of  Vermont  rams  and  ewes  of 
the  best  blood. 

There  were  many  other  breeding  flocks  founded  between  1860  and 
1870,  but  they  have  ceased  to  exist  and  have  left  no  trace  save  in  such 
fragmentary  form  as  to  defy  satisfactory  note  of  them. 

From  1850  to  1860  the  number  of  sheep  more  than  doubled  and  the 
amount  of  wool  quadrupled,  rising  from  253,963  pounds  in  the  former 
year  to  1,011,933  pounds  in  the  latter.  From  1860  to  1870  there  was  a 
still  greater  increase.  In  the  ten  years  the  number  of  sheep  was 
trebled  and  the  yield  of  AVOO!  quadrupled.  Beyond  the  wool  for  domestic 
use  the  surplus  was  sent  to  Eastern  markets,  and  there  was  shipped 
from  1860  to  1867  from  Milwaukee  a  large  amount. 


Year. 

Pounds. 

Year. 

Pounds. 

1860 

660  375 

1864 

1    fMVt  37'' 

1861 

1  000  '  2i:>5 

180o 

'2  277,850 

186"' 

1  314  210 

]  gnu 

1  597  487 

1863 

1  355  379 

1667 

2  085,  006 

Prior  to  1855  there  had  been  considerable  discussion  as  to  the  estab- 
lishment of  woolen  factories  in  the  State.  It  was  not  considered  true 
economy  to  send  the  wool  from  the  farm  to  the  East,  there  to  be  made 
into  clothing  and  returned  again  to  the  farmer  with  the  expense  of 
transportation  both  ways  and  the  added  profit  of  the  manufacturer. 
There  was  a  disposition  to  build  the  factory  near  the  farm,  and  though 
capital  was  scarce  some  factories  were  started,  which  in  1860  numbered 
sixteen,  with  a  product  of  $167,600.  The  war  made  heavy  demand  for 
woolen  goods,  and  by  1868  there  were  more  than  fifty  factories,  with  a 
product  of  about  $1,000,000.  It  is  estimated  that  in  1868  Wisconsin 
had  2,000,000  sheep,  valued  at  $4,000,000.  This  year  witnessed  a  great 
revulsion  in  the  business  of  wool-growing.  The  price  of  wool  had  been 


EAST    OF    THE    MISSISSIPPI    RIVER.  645 

falling  since  1865  from  48  and  57  cents  to  40  and  50,  then  to  38,  35, 
and  in  1868  it  fell  to  30  and  32  cents.  At  first  the  farmer  was  surprised, 
then  provoked,  and  finally  disgusted  to  an  extent  that  his  first  impulse 
was  to  sell  out  or  slaughter  and  quit  the  business;  and  to  such  an 
extent  was  this  first  impulse  carried  that  the  clip  of  1869  was  40  per 
cent  short  of  that  of  1868,  and  iu  1870  there  were  1,069,282  sheep  only, 
where  there  had  been  2,000,000  in  1868. 

In  1865  there  were  some  Silesian  Merinos  in  the  State,  and  the  show 
of  long- wool  sheep  at  the  State  fair  was  unparalleled.  The  mutton 
sheep  were  increasing  with  great  rapidity.  The  demand  for  coarse 
wool  and  the  growing  consumption  of  mutton  encouraged  this  increase 
in  the  direction  of  better  mutton  and  better  wool.  Thorough  blood 
animals  were  brought  from  the  East,  and  the  finest  English  blood  was 
grafted  on  the  native  or  common  sheep.  The  fine-wool  sheep  were  also 
receiving  more  attention,  and  the  Wisconsin  wool-grower  had  every 
reason  to  believe  that  he  could  compete  with,  if  not  excel,  Vermont  and 
Michigan  in  breeding  fine  sheep.  Sheep  husbandry  was  admirably 
suited  to  the  State,  its  undulating,  and  in  some  counties  hilly,  surface 
and  pure  dry  atmosphere  going  far  to  insure  the  animal  a  sound  constitu- 
tion and  comparative  freedom  from  various  diseases. 

The  revival  of  manufacturing  in  1870-'72  stimulated  wool-growing, 
and  there  was  a  slow  increase  in  the  number  of  sheep  and  a  marked 
improvement  in  them  and  their  wool.  The  woolen  factories,  with  a 
capacity  to  consume  over  2,000,000  pounds  of  wool  if  run  on  full  time, 
were  shut  down  part  of  the  time,  and  in  1871  out  of  a  total  wool  clip  of 
4,500,000  pounds  consumed  but  a  littie  more  than  one-third  of  it.  Of 
this,  1,500,000  pounds  were  manufactured  into  cloth,  yarn,  etc.,  and 
120,000  pounds  made  into  rolls  for  custom  work. 

One  of  the  largest  wool-growers  of  the  State  at  this  time  was  Eli 
Stin son,  of  Oshkosh,  who  sheared  in  1872  1,700  Merinos  of  7,136  pounds 
of  wool,  which  he  sold  at  56  cents  per  pound.  Mr.  Stin  son  for  many 
years  previous  to  this  had  kept  from  1,000  to  2,000  Merinos,  and  said 
that  for  the  eight  years  immediately  preceding  they  had  about  paid 
expenses,  leaving  the  manure  as  profit.  He  found  that  on  land  worth 
$50  per  acre,  with  sheep  at  $2.50  and  lambs  at  $2,  they  would  pay  ex- 
penses with  7  per  cent  interest  on  the  investment,  leaving  the  manure 
as  profit. 

In  the  ten  years  from  1870  to  1880  there  was  but  a  moderate  increase  in 
the  number  of  sheep,  rising  from  1,069,282  in  1870  to  1,336,807  in  1880. 
The  wool  clip,  however,  increased  largely,  from  4,090,670  pounds  in  1870 
to  7,016,491  pounds  in  1880.  While  the  number  of  sheep  had  increased 
25  per  cent  the  wool  clip  had  increased  over  70  per  cent.  Some  of  this 
increase  was  due  to  the  large  number  of  coarse  heavy  wooled  English 
sheep  introduced  into  the  State  during  this  period,  but  more  was  due  to 
the  great  improvement  upon  the  Merino  and  its  grades.  As  a  rule  the 
Wisconsin  breeders  did  not  lay  claim  to  the  fact  that  they  raised  the 


646  SHEEP   INDUSTRY   OF   THE    UNITED    STATES 

heaviest  shearing,  nor  did  they  con  tend  that  the  heaviest  sheep  were  the 
best.  Their  aim  was  for  fair  size  iii  the  sheep  and  resistance  and  qual- 
ity of  wool,  with  a  fair  length  of  staple.  One  of  the  prominent  breed- 
ers said  in  1876  : 

We  have  searched  and  looked  Vermont,  New  York,  and  Illinois  over,  examining 
sheep,  and  besides  have  purchased  the  very  best  we  could  find,  both  rams  and  ewes, 
paying  high  prices  and  taking  them  to  Wisconsin.  Thus  you  see  the  base  of  our 
breeding  from  these  different  States.  While  much  credit  is  justly  due  Vermont,  yet 
we  assert  from  experience,  that  the  second  or  third  generation  from  Vermont,  grown 
in  Wisconsin,  are  a  superior  sheep  for  general  purposes.  They  have  a  larger  car- 
cass, heavier  bones,  quantity  and  quality  of  fleece  equal  if  not  superior.  They  also 
withstand  more  hardship  and  exposure  than  Vermont  stock. 

The  earliest  record  that  we  have  of  the  weight  of  the  Wisconsin 
Merino  fleeces  is  May  29,  1854,  when  a  shearing  took  place  at  White- 
water of  about  120  sheep.  The  sheep  were  washed  one  or  two  weeks 
before  the  shearing  and  some  of  the  fleeces  yielded  as  follows  : 

Pounds. 
Ten  Spanish  Merino  fleeces,  10^  months  old  ......................     52-t% 

Ten  Spanish  Merino  fleeces,  10£  months  old  ......................     55  fa 

Ten  Spanish  Merino  fleeces,  !!-£  months  old  ...................... 


These  were  from  2-year-old  ewes,  and  gave  an  average  of  5J  pounds 
each.  Six  rams,  2  to  4  years  old,  gave  70  pounds,  an  average  of  11§ 
pounds.  The  heaviest  ram  fleece  was  14  pounds  2J  ounces,  from  a 
3-year-old  ram. 

In  1861  Alvin  Thomas,  of  Bipon,  sheared  2  Spanish  Merino  rams  of 
an  average  of  14J  pounds  of  wool  each;  5  yearling  rams  of  9^6-  pounds 
each,  and  51  ewes  of  6J  pounds  each;  all  the  wool  well  washed  on  the 
sheep's  back.  In  June,  1863,  Mr.  Thomas  sheared  22  J  pounds  unwa  shed 
wool  from  a  3  -year-old  ram. 

In  1865  at  the  second  shearing  held  at  Whitewater,  the  average  of 
6  ram  fleeces  was  16j%-  pounds.  The  heaviest  fleece  was  IS-^-  pounds 
from  a  3-year-old  ram.  A  yearling  ram  gave  14|f  pounds  and  a  year- 
ling ewe  11  pounds.  At  Eipon,  in  May,  1867,  5  rams  gave  fleeces  aver- 
aging 17-f6-  pounds  each.  The  heaviest  weighed  20J|  pounds,  from  a 
3-year-old  ram.  A  2-year-old  ewe  gave  13^  pounds. 

In  1874  the  Merino  breeders  of  Waukesha  County  had  a  shearing  at 
CaldwelPs  Prairie,  where  201  sheep  were  exhibited.  Fifty  of  these 
were  sheared,  the  ram  fleeces  running  from  10J  pounds  to  19j-f  pounds, 
the  ewe  fleeces  from  9J  pounds  to  19  J  pounds.  In  the  same  year  J.  II. 
Paul,  of  Genesee,  sheared  a  2-year-old  ram  of  24  pounds.  In  1875  Mr. 
Paul's  flock  sheared  at  the  average  weight  of  15-^  pounds  for  ewes  and 
21J  pounds  for  rams.  The  flock  of  G.  Lawrence  averaged  14  pounds 
for  ewes,  19J  pounds  for  old  rams,  and  15^-  pounds  for  yearlings.  The 
heaviest  ram  fleece  was  28  J  pounds;  the  heaviest  ewe  fleece  18  pounds. 
Paul's  heaviest  ram  fleece  was  26J  pounds,  the  heaviest  ewe  fleece  17  j 
pounds. 


EAST    OF    THE    MISSISSIPPI    RIVER. 


647 


In  1875  9  ram  fleeces  sheared  at  the  Wisconsin  State  Fair  were 
scoured.    The  result  is  given  in  this  table : 


Weight  of 
carcass. 

Weight  of 
fleece. 

Scoured 
wool. 

Loss. 

Three-year-old  ram    

Pounds. 
133 

Pounds. 
24 

Lbs.  Oz. 
5      5 

Per  cent. 
77.86 

Two-vfJU'-old  ram 

1074 

21i 

6      1 

72  12 

Do  

126 

17* 

5    12 

66.17 

Do 

125} 

22 

6    12 

69  31 

Do 

127 

191 

6      7 

67  26 

Four-year-old  rain 

148i 

2U 

7      5 

65  59 

82 

12 

4    13 

59  37 

Three-year-old  ram                                                   .     ... 

114 

21 

4    15 

76  48 

Do  

1254. 

19J 

6      5 

67.68 

At  a  sheep-shearing  at  Winuebago,  in  1878,  13  rams  yielded  282J 
pounds  of  wool,  an  average  of  21^-  pounds  each.  The  four  heaviest 
fleeces,  with  the  live  weight  of  the  rams,  were : 


Live 

weight. 

Fleece. 

Four  years  old  

Pounds. 
186 

Pounds. 

304 

Do 

149 

27i 

Three  years  old        ..                                          .                     ...            .       

164 

274 

115a 

23| 

At  the  annual  shearing  in  1880  7  ram  fleeces  exceeded  20  pounds,  as 
follows:  20i|  pounds,  20} f  pounds,  21-}i  pounds,  22-&  pounds,  22^ 
pounds,  24  pounds,  and  24J  pounds,  while  12  1  and  2  year  old  ewes 
gave  an  average  of  12|f  pounds,  the  heaviest  fleece  being  17^  pounds. 

In  1881  the  heaviest  fleece  was  26  pounds  from  a  2-year-old  ram. 
Yearling  rams  averaged  11^  pounds  each.  The  weight  of  carcass  and 
fleece  and  the  proportion  of  fleece  to  carcass  for  a  part  of  the  shearing 
of  1881  are  given  in  the  following  table : 


Weight  of 
carcass. 

Weight  of 
fleece. 

Proportion 
of  fleece  to 
carcass. 

Ham  1  year  old  

Lbt.  Oz. 
31      4 

Lbt.  Oz. 
8    12 

1  to3f 

Do 

69      8 

10    104 

Do 

72      8 

11    14 

Ram  2  years  old  . 

74      8 

17    13i 

Ham  3  years  old                                                                                  .... 

90 

18      7 

1C  wes  1  year  old  .. 

41    12 

10    Hi 

1  to  3TV 

Do     

43      4 

8    104 

Ito5 

Do 

37      6 

9      34 

1  to  4j*g 

Do         

42 

9      2 

1  to  4/5 

44      4 

12      4 

1  to  3  fg 

Do     

61 

14      94 

1  to  44. 

Do 

62      8 

15      24 

1  to  44, 

Do 

64      8 

13      84 

1  to  4£ 

Do  . 

56    12 

14    15* 

1  to3i 

Do 

62      8 

15      24 

Ito4^ 

The  tariff  of  1867  was  looked  upon  by  the  Wisconsin  wool-growers  and 
sheep  breeders  as  an  equitable  adjustment  between  the  wool-growers  and 
manufacturers  on  the  one  hand  and  the  Government  on  the  other.  Its 
revision  by  the  act  of  1883  was  considered  as  deeply  prejudicial  to  their 
interests,  so  much  so  as  to  threaten  seriously  the  permanence  of  the  wool- 


648  SHEEP    INDUSTRY    OF    THE    UNITED    STATES 

growing  industry  of  the  State.  There  was  a  tendency  and  strong 
temptation  to  greatly  reduce,  if  not  entirely  abandon,  sheep  husbandry. 
The  low  prices  of  wool,  consequent  on  the  general  commercial  depres- 
sion and  the  reduction  of  the  tariff,  greatly  reduced  the  profit  of  sheep- 
raising,  and  many  claimed  to  have  realized  no  profits.  Many  flocks  were 
sold  and  many  more  were  neglected  and  allowed  to  run  down  in  condi- 
tion. Flock  masters  tried  to  lessen  expenses  by  short  rations  of  grain 
and  hay,  and  failed  to  breed  from  first-class  sires.  The  consequence  was 
in  many  cases  a  lower  grade  of  sheep  and  a  fleece  diminished  in  quan- 
tity and  of  inferior  quality.  Occasionally  a  flock-master  pursued  the 
opposite  course,  and  by  generous  and  systematic  feeding  and  good  man- 
agement secured  good  profits  in  increased  yield  of  wool  and  in  lambs 
and  mutton.  It  was  in  Wisconsin,  as  elsewhere,  the  slovenly  and  care- 
less wool-grower  was  the  chief  sufferer  in  the  low  price  of  wool  ;  to  the 
careful  and  intelligent  grower  a  full  measure  of  success  was  assured, 
such  as  to  justify  these  remarks  of  the  president  of  the  Wisconsin  Wool- 
growers'  Association  in  1887 : 

A  little  careful  investigation  is  pretty  sure  to  lead  to  the  conclusion  that  sheep 
husbandry,  intelligently  and  systematically  conducted,  making  use  of  all  that  modern 
experience  has  taught  of  the  science  of  feeding,  and  of  skill  in  breeding,  all  things 
considered,  will  return  in  profits  for  capital  employed  and  labor  performed,  as  much 
as  most,  if  not  any  other  branch  of  agricultural  industry. 

There  were  many,  however,  who  thought  differently,  and  believing 
that  the  days  of  profitable  sheep  husbandry  were  of  the  past  aban- 
doned the  flocks  for  cows,  hogs,  and  horses.  Butter,  cheese,  and  hogs 
could  be  sold  for  cash  at  all  times.  From  these  they  could  obtain 
quicker  returns  than  they  ever  received  from  their  wool  clip.  The 
old  system  of  sheep  husbandry  did  not  take  any  account  of  mutton; 
in  fact,  no  large  amount  of  attention  was  evrer  paid  to  it.  But  when  it 
was  found  that  wool-growing  alone  was  not  profitable,  with  land  at  $50 
to  $75  per  acre  and  wool  lower  than  40  cents,  suggestions  of  a  change 
were  heeded.  But  parties  were  not  numerous  who  were  disposed  to 
change  the  Spanish  Merinos  for  other  breeds.  The  possibilities  of  the 
Merino  as  a  mutton  sheep  received  much  consideration,  and  i>romiiient 
breeders  leaned  directly  and  decidedly  to  a  plainer  Merino  than  the 
wrinkly  Vermont  one  upon  which  most  of  their  flocks  were  founded,  a 
Merino  that  would  take  on  more  fat  inside  his  pelt  than  on  it,  and  that 
would  produce  a  delaine  wool  which  was  always  salable  at  a  good 
price.  Speaking  of  breeding  the  Vermont  wrinkly  sheep,  Seymour 
Brook  said,  in  1884 : 

It  is  time  to  call  a  halt  in  that  direction,  and  strive  to  produce  a  carcass  that  AVI  11 
not  shuck  around  in  its  skin  loosely,  but  one  that  will  fill  out  plump  and  smooth, 
and  have  this  fatty  substance,  which  now  goes  into  what  is  called  a  soggy  fleece, 
directed  to  building  up  a  larger  carcass.  The  time  has  passed  when  we  can  dispose 
of  the  foreign  properties  in  wool  at  a  price  exceeding  its  cost. 

Others  counseled  in  the  same  direction,  and  endeavored  to  lead  flock- 
masters  to  see  and  believe  that  if  they  would  do  all  they  could  to 


EAST    OF    THE    MISSISSIPPI    RIVER.  649 

increase  weight  of  carcass  and  amount  of  wool  in  fleece,  of  the  best 
quality,  and  take  all  advantage  possible  of  modern  science  in  feeding, 
so  that  production  from  the  same  farm  might  be  greatly  enlarged,  the 
profits  would  compare  favorably  with  other  branches  of  legitimate 
farming,  all  things  considered.  This  direction  has  been  taken  by  the 
larger  number  of  farmers,  and  the  Wisconsin  Merino  of  to-day  is  being 
bred  and  fed  with  a  view  to  secure  both  wool  and  mutton,  for  which  the 
numerous  flocks  give  ample  facilities  without  any  in-breeding  or  impor- 
tation from  other  States. 

Notwithstanding  the  efforts  of  the  leading  breeders,  there  was  a  stam- 
pede in  the  Merino  flocks  and  many  swelled  the  receipts  of  the  Chicago 
markets.  There  seemed  to  be  a  disposition  all  over  the  Northwest  to 
abandon  them,  and  they  diminished  at  a  rapid  rate  in  Wisconsin — so 
rapidly  as  to  call  from  one  of  the  leading  live-stock  journals  of  Chicago 
the  remark  that  "  farmers  vie  with  each  other  to  see  who  can  run  away 
from  their  flocks  the  fastest  or  reduce  them  some  way."  From  1884  to 
1887  the  growers  held  on  well,  but  hope  seemed  to  have  fled  in  the  lat- 
ter year,  and  the  number  of  sheep  in  the  State  dropped  from  1,218,800  in 
1886  to  809,009  in  1890,  and  the  loss  was  entirely  in  Merino  sheep. 

There  came  about  in  this  interval  from  1884  to  1890  a  great  change  in 
the  sheep  husbandry  of  the  State — such  a  change  as  occurred  at  the 
same  time  in  Michigan,  and  produced  by  similar  causes.  It  was  found 
that  breeding  sheep  for  wool  alone  would  not  pay,  and  that  too  little  at- 
tention had  been  given  to  the  production  of  mutton,  at  least  that  qual- 
ity of  mutton  that  would  command  attention  in  the  market.  Those  who 
continued  to  breed  for  wool  now  gave  some  thought  to  the  possibilities 
of  a  mutton  Merino.  The  direction  of  the  thought  is  well  told  by  a  cor- 
respondent of  the  National  Live  Stock  Journal,  Chicago,  April,  1888 : 

My  flock  consists  of  good  high-grade  Spanish  Merinos.  It  averaged  8  pounds  of 
fleece-washed  wool  last  season,  which  sold  for  32  cents  per  pound.  Undesirable  ewes 
and  wethers  of  feeding  age  are  put  in  good  condition  for  the  shambles  and  sell  read- 
ily. I  ain  doing  about  as  well  as  other  farmers  now,  all  thing  considered,  I  think, 
but  believe  that  something  further  may  be  gained  by  giving  the  question  of  breeding 
and  feeding  more  consideration.  Hitherto,  like  others,  I  have  bred  mainly  for 
weight  of  fleece.  I  know  of  no  good  reason  why,  and  certainly  it  has  not  yet  been 
proven,  that  we  can  not  have  a  large  fleece  of  desirable  Merino  wool  on  a  carcass  50 
per  cent  heavier  than  we  now  have,  though  lacking,  perhaps,  the  excessive  folds  on 
the  body  and  amount  of  yolk  in  the  fleece.  I  am  going  to  turn  my  attention  in  each 
direction  and  see  what  I  can  do.  Such  a  carcass  will  be  valuable  for  the  production 
of  mutton  as  well  as  wool,  as  I  am  satisfied  that,  properly  fattened,  the  quality  will 
be  entirely  satisfactory.  I  do  not  expect  to  raise  early  lambs  for  market,  but  shall 
produce  mature  mutton.  All  the  talk  about  the  economy  of  feeding  will  apply  as 
well  to  sheep  as  to  other  stock,  and  I  shall  try  to  take  advantage  of  all  that  may  rec- 
ommend itself  in  that  direction. 

Still  others,  who  were  disinclined  to  abandon  the  Merino,  sought  a 
different  type  from  that  generally  bred  in  "Wisconsin,  and  experi- 
mented with  the  Delaine  Merino  of  western  Pennsylvania  and  eastern 
Ohio.  The  experiments  have  resulted  favorably,  although  they  have 
not  been  extended  over  much  time.  One  must  suffice  here.  A  breeder 


650 


SHEEP    INDUSTRY    OF    THE    UNITED    STATES 


of  thirty  years'  experience   purchased  a   2-year-old   Delaine  Merino] 
ram,  and  raised  from  him  and  his  ordinary  Merino  ewes  60  lambs.    The  ; 
lambs  were  pastured  in  a  flock  of  200  on  rather  short  pasture  until ' 
September  1,  when  they  were  weaned  and  put  by  themselves  in  a  stubble 
field.    December  1  they  were  taken  up  and  penned  with  other  2-year- 
olds  and  rams,  about  100  in  all,  and  were  fed  during  the  winter  one-half 
bushel  of  oats  per  day,  and  clover  and  timothy  hay  mixed.    They  looked 
fair,  and  the  wool  upon  opening  was  nice.     The  60  lambs  were  sheared 
in  June,  and  averaged  11  pounds  per  head  of  nice  clean  wool,  the  light- 
est fleece  weighing  7  pounds.    They  ran  up  to  15  pounds,  generally 
going  10,  11,  12,  and  13  pounds  each.    None  of  them  were  rams,  but 
all  ewes  and  wethers. 

During  the  same  period,  1884  to  1890,  there  was  increased  attention 
given  to  English  breeds  of  sheep,  before  considering  which  it  is  desir- 
able to  record  the  increasing  weight  of  the  Merino  fleece. 

At  the  annual  shearing  at  Whitewater,  May  2,  1882,  under  the  aus- 
pices of  the  Wisconsin  Merino  Sheep-Breeders'  Association,  55  sheep 
were  shorn,  the  heaviest  fleece  being  28|  pounds  from  a  3-year-old 
ram  whose  weight  of  carcass  was  100  pounds,  the  weight  of  fleece  in 
proportion  to  carcass  being  25.55.  The  heaviest  ewe  fleece  was  17|£ 
pounds  from  a  ewe  weighing  83J  pounds,  the  percentage  of  fleece  to 
carcass  being  21.48.  The  highest  per  cent  of  fleece  to  carcass  was  from 
a  2-year-old  ewe  weighing  59  pounds,  and  giving  16J  pounds  of  wool  or 
28  per  cent. 

In  1886  twelve  3-year-old  rams  averaged  22  pounds  and  a  little  over  4 
ounces;  seven  2-year-old  rams  a  little  over  20|  pounds,  and  the  two 
yearling  rams  14  J  pounds  each.  Seven  3-year-old  ewes  averaged  17 
pounds  and  3  ounces,  and  seven  2-year-old  ewes  a  trifle  less  than  17 
pounds  2  ounces. 

At  the  southeastern  Wisconsin  shearing  of  May  12, 1886,  the  Merinos 
were  divided  into  two  classes,  the  American  Merino  and  the  Delaine 
Merino,  and  premiums  awarded  as  follows  : 

Class  1. — American  Merinos. 


Sex. 

Age. 

Weight 
of  carcass. 

AVeight 
of  fleece. 

Rain  

Years. 
3 

Pounds. 
100 

Pounds. 

22 

Do  

2 

105 

19i 

Do 

1 

77 

124 

Ewe  

3 

122 

17| 

Do  ..     .. 

2 

99 

24i 

Do 

1 

46 

12 

Class  2. — Delaine  Merinos. 


liain  

2 

195 

21  i 

Do  .. 

2 

100 

20* 

Do 

1 

77 

Do  

1 

64 

14 

Ewe  

3 

100 

11 

Do  

1 

60 

10J 

EAST   OF    THE    MISSISSIPPI   RIVER.  651 

The  fleece  shorn  from  the  2-year-old  ewe  in  class  1,  weighing  24£ 
pounds,  was  the  heaviest  ewe  fleece  ever  known  up  to  that  time  in  the 
Northwest. 

At  the  Central  Wisconsin  Sheep-Breeders7  Association  shearing  of 
1887,  5  rams  2  years  old. and  over  gave  fleeces  weighing  31ft,  29, 
28-ft-,  28H,  and  32|f  pounds. 

At  the  eighth  annual  shearing  of  the  Central  Wisconsin  Sheep-Breed- 
ers' and  Wool- Growers'  Association  in  May,  1888,  a  6-year  old  ram, 
belonging  to  T.  F.  &  C.  D.  McConnell,  of  Ripon,  sheared  38  pounds  of 
wool.  A  2-year  old  ram  belonging  to  the  same  parties  sheared  33 
pounds;  another  28  pounds,  and  still  another  31  pounds.  A  yearling 
ram  from  the  same  flock  sheared  19 J  pounds.  U.  Wood,  of  Brandon, 
sheared  30J  pounds  from  a  3-year  old  ram,  27  pounds  from  a  2-year 
old,  and  21  pounds  from  a  4-year  old  ewe.  Dixon  Bros.,  of  Brandon, 
sheared  a  3-year  old  ram  that  produced  29J  pounds.  Twelve  rams 
produced  an  aggregate  of  wool  that  averaged  30  pounds  5  ounces  each. 
The  exhibition  was  never  equaled  in  the  State,  and  Delaine  Merinos, 
rams,  and  ewes  gave  a  wonderful  showing  of  staple  2J  to  4  inches  in 
length,  mostly  running  3J  to  3J  inches. 

The  shearing  of  the  Southeastern  Wisconsin  sheep-breeders  at  Cald- 
well,  April  27  and  28,  1892,  made  a  good  showing  for  the  Merinos,  and 
an  indication  that  the  Merino  breeders  were  striving  for  a  lacger  sheep 
with  more  mutton  quality,  less  wrinkles  and  yolk,  and  longer  staple. 
A  Eambouillet  ram  owned  by  H.  O.  Bayley  attracted  much  attention. 
He  was  5  years  old,  weighed  about  200  pounds,  had  a  fairly  good  mut- 
ton carcass,  and  sheared  12J  pounds  of  very  clean  medium  staple  about 
5  inches  in  length.  An  American  Merino  ram,  3  years  olcj^ gained  first 
prize  with  24,  pounds  of  wool,  and  a  2  year  old  rain  with  27  pounds.  A 
2-year  old  Delaine  Merino  ram  gave  21 J  pounds.  A  Shropshire  ewe,  12 
mouths  old,  gave  12  pounds  14  ounces. 

The  shearing  records  of  the  Wisconsin  association  do  not  include  many 
fleeces  of  over  30  pounds  in  weight,  but  many  such  rams  have  been  bred 
in  the  State.  Breeders  seem  to  prefer  rams  of  medium  size  and  weight 
of  carcass,  of  compact  build,  believing  that  from  such  animals  they  get 
the  best  results.  The  improvement  in  Wisconsin  sheep  has  been  uni- 
form and  steady,  both  in  weight  of  carcass  and  in  weight  and  quality  of 
the  fleece.  The  larger  proportion  of  the  best  Merino  wool  of  the  State 
consists  of  a  long,  fine,  and  strong  staple  free  from  an  excess  of  oil 
beyond  what  is  necessary  to  the  preservation  of  its  quality  and  luster. 

In  1883  about  75  per  cent  of  the  sheep  of  Wisconsin,  or  1,020,000  out 
of  1,360,000,  were  of  Merino  blood,  and  25  per  cent,  or  340,000,  of  English 
blood.  In  1890  about  50  per  cent  were  of  Merino  blood  and  50  per  cent 
of  English  blood,  or  an  equal  division  of  the  809,000  sheep  in  the  State; 
404,500  Merinos,  404,500  English  sheep.  This  great  change  occurred 
mostly  between  1885  and  1890,  and  had  its  greatest  development  in  the 
Shropshires,  though  nearly  all  the  English  breeds  contributed.  The 


652  SHEEP    INDUSTRY    OF    THE    UNITED    STATES 

rise  in  the  price  of  mutton  in  1887  and  1888  accelerated  the  change,  and 
rnen  who  had  pure-bred  Downs  or  Long  wools,  of  any  of  the  breeds, 
had  a  great  increase  of  business,  disposing  of  their  surplus  stock  to 
breeders  without  any  eftbrt  and  at  good  prices.  With  the  demand  for 
mutton  breeds  to  cross  on  Merino  ewes  there  came  a  demand  on  the 
part  of  the  people  for  mutton  of  a  good  quality. 

The  descendants  of  English  sheep  or  the  common  sheep  of  the  Eastern 
and  Middle  States  were  introduced  into  Wisconsin  in  the  early  years  of 
its  history,  but  they  were  generally  neglected  and  allowed  to  run  out 
for  the  more  profitable  Merino.  Some  Canadian  sheep  were  introduced 
from  time  to  time  between  18G5  and  1880  and  some  were  imported  from 
England,  and  those  and  their  increase  contributed  the  25  per  cent  in 
the  State  in  1883.  From  1883  to  the  present  time  many  pure-bred 
sheep  have  been  imported  from  the  best  flocks  of  Canada  and  England, 
and  Wisconsin  can  now  show  as  fine  an  array  of  pure-bred  English 
breeds  as  can  be  found  elsewhere  in  the  United  States.  The  State  is 
blessed  with  the  very  finest  climate  and  grass,  and  everything  to  hand 
that  is  needed,  and  the  intelligence  and  enterprise  of  her  people  assure 
the  highest  degree  of  success  in  maintaining  a  high  standard  and  mak- 
ing substantial  progress. 

The  earlier  English  breeds  introduced  into  the  State,  and  in  the  order 
named,  were  the  Leicesters,  the  Cheviots,  the  Southdowns  and  the  Cots- 
wolds.  The  Leicesters  are  not  as  popular  as  some  other  sheep,  for  the 
reason  that  their  mutton  is  too  fat  to  suit  the  taste  of  the  American 
palate  and  their  fleece  too  open  to  suit  the  climate.  The  Southdowns 
maintain  their  position  here,  as  elsewhere,  at  the  head  of  mutton  breeds, 
and  yet  th§yr  have  not  been  so  widely  extended  as  some  others  in  the  new 
sheep  husbandry  of  the  State.  In  the  vicinity  of  cities  where  very  early 
and  choice  lambs  are  in  demand,  many  are  kept  and  their  cross  on  the 
Merino  is  in  high  favor. 

The  Cotswolds  were  largely  introduced  between  1865  and  1868,  and 
have  been  reinforced  by  later  importations.  The  Cotswold  breeders 
have  met  with  a  fair  degree  of  success  in  their  business.  For  many 
years  they  enjoyed  almost  a  monopoly  in  the  sale  of  English  blood,  the 
Cotswold  being  almost  exclusively  used  to  cross  on  the  Merino  for  lambs 
and  mutton.  They  are  still  in  favor  with  many  new  breeders  who  find 
that  the  Cotswold  ram  will  make  money  for  them  when  crossed  with 
grade  sheep,  the  increase  being  profitable  for  mutton  as  well  as  produc- 
ing a  good  fleece. 

George  Harding,  of  Waukesha,  keeps  about  100  registered  Cotswolds, 
which  are  fed  bran  and  oats,  besides  their  coarse  forage,  and  in  the 
coldest  weather  corn  is  given  in  place  of  other  grain.  A  month  before 
yeaning  time  the  ewes  are  fed  roots  and  clover  hay  in  place  of  corn. 
Lambs  come  in  March  and  are  kept  well  sheltered,  as  it  is  not  so  much 
dry  cold  from  which  they  suffer  as  exposure  to  wet.  Ewes  are  kept 
as  long  as  they  breed  well.  He  sells  his  pure  bred  Cotswold  lambs  for 


EAST    OF    THE    MISSISSIPPI    RIYER.  653 

$20  to  $25.  Charles  L.  Day,  of  St.  Croix  County,  keeps  a  flock  of 
about  175  Cotswolds,  which,  after  trying  many  others,  he  finds  the  most 
satisfactory.  They  are  large,  the  fleeces  average  11  pounds  each,  and 
the  lambs  come  rapidly  into  condition  for  market,  and  bring  good 
prices.  They  are  fed  on  clover  hay,  with  corn  and  oats  alternately  in 
winter,  and  pastured  in  summer.  He  has  warm,  comfortable  quarters 
accessible  from  the  pasture,  in  which  the  sheep  and  lambs  can  find 
shelter  from  storms.  They  endure  cold  uninjured  if  kept  dry.  Charles 
Bradley,  of  the  same  county,  has  Cotswolds  whose  fleeces  averaged  12 
pounds. 

The  Lincolnshires  are  well  known  in  the  State  and  their  chief  recom- 
mendation is  their  great  size.  J.  W.  Ganes  gives  the  following  weight 
of  some  of  his  Lincolushires,  March  17,  1890. 

Pounds. 
Ewe  dropped  March  4,  1889,  weighed  March  17,  1890.  .  ............  .  ...........     141 

Ewe  dropped  March  5,  1889,  weighed  March  17,  1890  ..........................     166 

E  w<>  dropped  March  21,  1889,  weighed  March  17,  1890  .........................     180 

Twin  rains  dropped  March  13,  1889,  weighed  March  17,  1890  ...................  H^ 

/   ICQ 

Twin  ranis  dropped  March  12,  1889,  weighed  March  17,  1890  ...................  H 


These  were  wintered  on  clover  hay  without  grain.  Mr.  Ganes'  half- 
blood  Lincolns  were  square  built  and  heavy  quartered,  and  besides 
showing  good  mutton  points  were  heavy  shearers,  forty  high-grade  ewes 
yielding  312  pounds  of  washed  wool.  These  ewes  raised  44  lambs. 
The  Oxford  Downs  are  represented  by  breeding  flocks  in  the  State  and 
the  Oxford-Merino  cross  is  found  very  satisfactory.  Lambs  of  this 
cross,  less  than  a  year  old,  will  average  from  110  to  120  pounds  and  sell  in 
the  home  market  at  $5.50  per  hundred  pounds.  In  locations  where 
there  is  a  great  demand  for  lambs  the  size  and  early  maturity  of  the 
Oxfords  give  it  a  preference.  One  of  its  prominent  breeders  considers 
it  the  most  hardy  of  the  Downs,  and  yields  him  on  an  average  10  or  12 
pounds  of  wool.  He  fed  200  in  one  pasture  but  would  prefer  less  rather 
than  more. 

Recent  sales  of  Oxfordshires  have  been  made  at  high  prices.  A  sale 
of  grade  Oxford  ewes  (half  to  three-quarters  bred),  held  on  the  farm  of 
the  late  H.  Rhodes,  of  Sheboygau,  in  the  midst  of  a  strictly  dairy  dis- 
trict where  but  very  few  sheep  are  kept,  brought  .$10.50  to  $13.50  per 
head,  prices  not  unreasonably  high  considering  that  ewes  of  this  class 
produced  in  1891  from  $6  to  $10  per  head  in  wool  and  lambs.  Another 

armer  averaged  $9  each  as  the  produce  of  his  grade  Oxford  ewes  for 

L891. 
The  Hampshire  Downs  are  beginning  to  show  themselves  in  the  State 

ind  have  been  well  received.    There  is  one  breeding  flock  that  will 

iverage  about  200  pounds,  producing  about  8  pounds  of  unwashed  wool. 

Che  progeny  of  rams  crossed  on  grade  Merino  ewes  average  125  to  135 

rounds  at  12  months'  old  when  fed  for  the  market. 


654 


SHEEP  INDUSTRY  OP  THE  UNITED  STATES 


The  Horned  Dorsets  were  introduced  into  the  State  about  1887,  and 
much  is  expected  of  them  as  they  are  peculiarly  adapted  to  the  climate 
and  are  very  prolific,  two  lambs  at  one  birth  being  general  and  triplets 
not  uncommon.  Lambs  six  to  eight  weeks  old  weigh  from  60  to  75 
pounds.  Mrs. Theodore  L. Hacker, of  Cottage  Grove,  Wisest ated  in  a 
paper  read  before  the  State  Agricultural  Society  in  1890  that  she  had  a 
six-months7  old  Dorset  lamb  that  weighed  100  pounds,  and  that  the  lambs 
from  the  Downs  and  Merino  ewes  presented  a  remarkable  likeness  to 
the  sire,  a  fine  2-year  old  Dorset  ram. 

The  most  popular  English  sheep  in  Wisconsin  at  the  present  writing 
are  the  Shropshires,  and  they  are  increasing  with  great  rapidity.  The 
grasses  and  pasturage  for  which  the  State  is  famous  agree  with  them 
and  hasten  their  development.  Many  breeders  are  handling  them  and 
selling  rams  to  cross  on  Merino  ewes.  The  product  in  early  lambs  and 
good  mutton  is  remunerative,  and  there  is  a  tendency  among  the  small 
farmers  throughout  the  State  to  adopt  the  Shropshire  as  the  sheep  of 
the  future,  or  more  correctly  speaking  a  Shropshire  ram  to  cross  on 
common  or  grade  Merino  ewes. 

The  comparative  weights  of  some  Wisconsin-bred  sheep  are  shown  in  a 
communication  of  George  McKerrow  to  the  Breeders'  Gazette.  The 
sheep  were  weighed  August  29,  1889.  The  Oxfords  ^weighed  as  fol- 
lows: Two  rams,  2  years  old,  averaged  303 J  pounds  each;  4  yearling 
rams  averaged  203  pounds  each;  4  aged  ewes  averaged  215  pounds 
each;  5  yearling  ewes  177  pounds;  and  8  March  and  April  lambs 
118  pounds  each.  The  Shropshires  averaged  as  follows:  One  yearling 
ram  190  pounds;  2  yearling  ewes  176  pounds  each;  and  4  March  lambs 
lOOf  pounds  each.  Southdowns:  Two  2-year-old  rams  averaged  20(3 
pounds  each;  three  yearling  rams  153  J  pounds  each;  2  aged  ewes  150 
pounds  each;  4  yearling  ewes  134  J  pounds;  and  the  March  lambs  101  £ 
pounds.  The  heaviest  yearling  of  each  breed  weighed  as  follows: 
Oxfords,  230  pounds;  Shropshires,  190  pounds;  and  Southdowns,  161 
pounds.  'The  heaviest  lambs  were:  Oxford,  125  pounds;  Shropshire, 
113 ;  and  Southdowns,  110  pounds.  The  ewes  over  2  years  old  had  all 
raised  lambs  but  two.  The  lambs  were  not  fleshy,  but  the  older  sheep 
were  in  good  condition. 

The  following  table  shows  the  number  of  sheep,  pounds  of  wool,  and 
average  of  wool  per  head  in  Wisconsin  from  1840  to  1890 : 


Year. 

Number  of 
sheep. 

Wool. 

Average 
per  head. 

1840  

3  462 

Pounds. 

6  777 

Pounds. 
1  95 

1850  

124  896 

253  963 

2  03 

1860  

382*  954 

1  Oil  933 

3  03 

1870  

1  069  282 

4  090  670 

3  82 

]880  

1  336  807 

7  016  491 

5  25 

1890  

809  000 

4  741  532 

5  86 

EAST   OP   THE   MISSISSIPPI   RIVER.  655 

A  recent  report  upon  the  live-stock  industry  of  the  State  says  that 
while  there  are  yet  many  choice  flocks  of  pure-bred  Spanish  Merinos 
in  the  southeastern  part  of  Wisconsin,  the  fluctuations  of  the  wool  mar- 
ket have  in  recent  times  impaired,  if  not  wholly  destroyed,  the  profits 
of  wool-growing,  and  the  stud  flocks  of  Merinos  have  been  maintained 
by  the  sale  of  choice  breeding  animals  to  other  parts  of  the  world. 
Meantime  the  steady  demand  and  good  prices  for  choice  mutton  and 
lambs,  together  with  improved  skill  in  mutton- sheep  husbandry,  have 
greatly  increased  the  interest  in  the  heavier  breeds  of  sheep.  Cots- 
wolds,  Leicesters,  and  the  various  classes  of  Downs  have  been  quite 
largely  introduced  and  find  here  every  condition  for  success.  The  soil, 
for  the  greater  part,  is  a  strong  fertile  loam,  the  surface  gently  rolling, 
and  producing  rich  grasses.  The  sheep  are  pastured  on  this  in  summer 
and  kept  through  tho  winter  on  corn  fodder,  ungrouud  oats,  bran, 
clover  hay,  and  timothy. 

In  the  river  counties — 

the  competition  of  cheap  Western  lands  and  of  foreign  wool-growers  has  rendered 
the  keeping  of  Merino  sheep  for  the  wool  alone  anything  but  a  profitable  business 
on  high-priced  agricultural  land.  But  the  pushing,  wide-awake  farmers,  instead  of 
supinely  sitting  down  and  bemoaning  their  losses,  began  to  change  their  methods 
to  meet  the  new  conditions.  Merino  sheep,  except  choice  stud  flocks,  are  being 
largely  replaced  by  English  long-wooled  and  Down  breeds.  The  rich  river  bottoms 
have  proved  to  be  well  adapted  to  the  growth  and  success  of  Lincoln,  Cotswold,  and 
Leicester  sheep,  and  the  hilly  pastures,  fertile  and  well  covered  with  nutritious 
grasses,  furnish  all  the  conditions  needed  for  the  Shropshire  and  other  Downs. 
These  changes,  however,  have  been  very  gradual. 

In  January,  1891,  the  number  of  sheep  in  the  State,  as  reported  by  the 
U.  S.  Department  of  Agriculture,  was  889,910,  at  an  average  value  per 
head  of  $2.92.  In  January,  1892,  the  number  was  reported  as  907,708, 
at  an  average  price  of  $2.90.  The  very  slight  increase  since  January, 
1891,  has  been  entirely  in  the  mutton  breeds,  and  it  is  known  that  the 
increase  of  98,700  since  January,  1890,  has  been  confined  entirely  to  the 
mutton  sheep,  and  that  the  Merinos  number  much  less  now  than  they 
numbered  then. 

With  the  increase  of  the  English  mutton  breeds  has  come  a  change, 
a  decided  improvement  in  the  care  and  feed.  The  Merinos  would  eat 
weeds  and  live  as  no  other  animal  will,  but  to  a  successful  mutton  sheep 
culture  more  attention  and  diversified  feed  became  necessary,  and  that 
attention  is  now  being  given.  The  flocks  do  not  run  so  large,  and  more 
grain  is  fed  them.  There  is  a  tendency  to  the  English  system  both  of 
care  and  feed,  and  latterly  rape  has  been  used  to  a  limited  extent,  but 
with  much  success. 

In  the  report  of  the  Wisconsin  agricultural  experiment  station  for 
1891,  Prof.  W.  A.  Henry  says,  "not  until  our  assessors  report  at  least 
3,000,000  sheep  within  our  borders  will  this  station  have  done  its  duty 
by  this  single  interest, "  an  interest  second  only  to  the  dairy  husbandry 
of  the  State.  There  are  millions  of  acres  of  land  in  the  State  preerni- 


656        SHEEP  INDUSTRY  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES. 

nently  adapted  to  sheep  husbandry,  which  will  never  serve  its  highest 
purpose  until  it  is  fed  over  by  fine  mutton  sheep. 

In  the  report  referred  to,  Professor  Henry  gives  a  valuable  article  on 
the  result  of  some  experiments  in  feeding  sheep,  and  some  timely  notes 
on  crossing  the  Shropshire  Down  with  the  American  Merino.  Recog- 
nizing the  active  interest  in  mutton  production,  and  the  importance 
attached  to  the  question  of  crossing  fine-wooled  ewes  with  rams  of  the 
mutton  breeds  for  the  purpose  of  cheaply  establishing  and  grading  up 
a  flock  of  ewes  for  breeding  mutton  sheep,  was  the  incentive  to  the 
investigation  on  cross  breeding.  Many  farmers  found  that  they  could 
breed  mutton  sheep  with  profit,  but  their  iiock  included  only  fine- 
wooled  ewes.  The  vital  question  with  them  was  IIOAV  to  change  most 
cheaply  and  advantageously  from  the  growing  of  fine  wool  to  the  rear- 
ing of  mutton  sheep.  Observations  were  made  on  a  small  flock  of 
Merino  ewes  crossed  by  a  Shropshire  ram.  The  best  of  six  of  the 
Merinos  averaged  120  pounds;  the  best  six  of  the  first  cross  averaged 
140  pounds.  There  was  a  slight  increase  in  the  weight  of  fleece,  which 
was  of  wonderful  evenness  and  density.  Prom  the  results  obtained  the 
conclusion  was  drawn  that  "with  three,  or  at  most  four,  top  crosses  of 
such  a  breed  as  the  Shropshire  upon  even  such  an  extremely  different 
type  as  the  Merino,  offspring  would  result  that  could  not  practically  be 
distinguished  from  the  pure-bred  Shropshire.  The  importance  of  this 
to  the  farmer  lies  in  the  fact  that  by  purchasing  a  pure-bred  mutton 
ram  of  ordinary  constitutional  vigor  he  may  hope  to  establish  in  four 
years  a  flock  of  high -graded  mutton  sheep  that  will  approach  near  to 
the  best  type  of  any  of  the  mutton  breeds." 

Important  as  this  conclusion  may  be,  the  greater  value  lies  in  the 
thought  that  prompted  the  investigation,  that  emphasized  the  tendency 
of  sheep  husbandry  in  all  the  western  States,  that  mutton  and  not  wool 
is  the  prime  object  of  the  sheep  raiser. 


CHAPTER  VIII. 

THE    SHEEP    HUSBANDRY    OF    KENTUCKY,    TENNESSEE,  MISSISSIPPI, 
ALABAMA,   AND  FLORIDA. 

It  is  doubtful  if  there  is  any  other  section  of  the  United  States  that 
presents  so  many  natural  advantages  for  the  successful  and  profitable 
raising  of  sheep  as  that  bounded  by  the  Appalachian  Mountains  on  the 
east  and  the  Mississippi  Kiver  on  the  west,  and  extending  from  the 
Ohio  River  on  the  north  to  the  Gulf  of  Mexico  on  the  south.  Possess- 
ing an  equable  climate,  where  the  cold  is  not  so  severe  during  winter 
as  to  make  the  feeding  of  sheep  a  necessity,  nor  the  heats  of  summer 
so  intense  as  to  work  a  degeneration  in  the  character  of  the  fleece,  it 
has  been  justly  considered  an  ideal  sheep  country.  Particularly  does 
this  apply  to  the  States  of  Kentucky  and  Tennessee,  and  the  northern 
parts  of  Alabama  and  Mississippi.  Here  land  is  cheap  and  good,  well 
watered,  and  the  pasturage  unrivaled  for  its  quality  and  nowhere 
exceeded  in  abundance.  Markets  for  wool  and  mutton  are  within  easy 
reach,  and  nothing  seems  lacking  in  conditions  for  success.  With  all 
these  natural  advantages  there  is  no  section  of  the  Union  where  sheep 
are  fewer  or  more  worthless,  or  where  sheep  husbandry  is  in  a  more 
deplorable  condition.  The  exceptions  to  this  statement  are  found  only 
in  some  sections  of  Kentucky  and  Tennessee.  The  sheep  inhabiting 
this  large  section  are  scrubs  of  English  and  Spanish  breeds,  descended 
from  those  of  the  pioneer  settlers,  and  have  undergone  no  improve- 
ment at  the  hand  of  man,  but  have  lived,  propagated,  and  cared  for 
themselves  in  spite  of  his  indifference  and  neglect  and  the  voracity  of 
his  dog. 

KENTUCKY. 

The  pioneer  sheep  of  Kentucky  were  those  common  to  Virginia,  and 
gave  a  coarse  wool  that  worked  up  well  in  the  household  manufacture. 
They  are  now  represented  in  the  mountain  sheep  of  the  State  and  play 
no  insignificant  part  in  the  sheep  husbandry  of  the  present  day.  The 
first  Merinos  south  of  the  Ohio  River  were  two  animals  sold  by  Seth 
Adams,  in  1809,  to  Judge  Todd,  of  Kentucky,  for  $1,500.  In  1810  Mr. 
Adams  sold  many  Humphreys  sheep  to  various  parties  in  Kentucky 
and  Tennessee.  Some  of  these  were  full-bloods,  but  the  most  of  them 
were  half  bloods.  Among  the  sales  were  85  to  Col.  James  Trotter,  of 
Lexington,  half  of  them  full-blooded  Humphreys  Merinos.  In  1811 
Lewis  Sanders,  a  Mr.  Prentiss,  and  others,  of  Lexington,  introduced 

657 
22990 42 


658  SHEEP   INDUSTRY   OF   THE    UNITED    STATES 

full  blood  Merinos,  which  furnished  fine  wool  for  the  factory  subse- 
quently located  there.  In  April,  1812,  a  small  flock  of  choice  full-bloods 
was  owned  at  Georgetown,  and  in  various  parts  of  the  State  the  animals 
seeni  to  have  been  introduced  in  small  numbers,  and  they  increased 
steadily  and  prospered  exceedingly  well.  They  were  the  subject  of 
much  speculation,  one  incident  of  which  survives.  Samuel  Long,  of 
Lexington,  bargained  with  Mr.  Trotter,  of  the  same  place,  for  one  ram  and 
one  ewe,  for  which  he  was  to  build  Mr.  Trotter  a  four- story  house  50  by 
70  feet.  The  house  cost  $15,000,  and  months  before  it  was  done  Me- 
rinos fell  in  price,  and  six  months  had  not  passed  before  they  could  be 
bought  for  $20.  Mr.  Long  held  on  to  his  Merinos  until  they  reached  the 
value  of  other  sheep,  when  lie  killed  them,  made  a  barbecue,  called  all  his 
friends  to  the  feast,  and  thanked  God  he  was  not  worth  a  ducat.  He 
was  ruined,  and  soon  after  died  of  a  broken  heart.  In  1829  Henry  Clay 
bought  50  full-blooded  Spanish  Merinos  in  Washington  County,  Pa., 
and  had  them  taken  to  his  farm  at  Ashland,  where  they  became  the 
admiration  of  the  neighborhood.  The  Saxony  sheep  were  introduced 
into  the  State  about  the  same  time,  and  in  1830  there  were  many  flocks  of 
tine- wool  sheep.  Some  of  these  were  kept  up  for  many  years,  but  the 
growing  of  fine  wool  was  not  the  largest  factor  in  the  sheep  husbandry 
of  Kentucky. 

The  rich  blue- grass  lands  of  the  State  and  the  genial  climate  give 
abundant  pasture  nearly  the  year  round,  and  mark  it  as  the  favored 
home  of  the  mutton  sheep.  These  have  attracted  much  attention,  not 
to  say  aifection,  and  have  been  tenderly  and  assiduously  cultivated. 
Choice  specimens  were  imported  into  the  State  at  an  early  day  and 
introductions  from  the  best  flocks  of  this  country.  Canada  and  England 
had  made  great  improvements.  The  improved  Leicesters  were  raised 
as  early  as  1829  and  Southdowns  not  much  later.  When  the  Merinos 
lost  their  popularity  in  the  State  many  crosses  were  made  and  experi- 
ments attempted  with  the  breeds — the  Southdown  and  the  Merino — but 
they  generally  ended  in  disappointment,  and  the  Kentucky  people  set- 
tled down  to  the  opinion  that  the  Southdowns  were  their  sheep.  Before 
this  conclusion  many  breeds  had  been  tried,  and  all  had  a  fair  repre- 
sentation on  the  farms  throughout  the  State  in  1850.  In  that  year,  in 
Scott  County,  the  Southdown,  the  Leicester,  the  Saxony  and  Spanish 
Merinos,  and  the  Cotswolds  had  all  been  tried  by  turns,  and  the  Cots- 
wold  was  then  the  favorite,  the  coarse  wool  being  generally  preferred 
for  jeans  and  woolseys.  The  Southdown  was  the  best  for  mutton,  and 
a  cross  of  the  Cotswold  on  the  Southdown  produced  a  fine  carcass,  good 
mutton,  and  fair  yield  of  wool.  At  this  time  a  wool-grower  in  Clark 
County  found  wool-growing  unprofitable.  He  had  kept  100  to  200 
Merino  sheep  that  averaged  about  4  pounds  to  the  fleece,  which  he  sold 
from  16  to  20  cents  per  pound,  or  64  to  80  cents  the  whole  fleece.  In 
consequence  of  low  prices  he  had  reduced  his  flock,  and  used  a  Cots- 
wold  ram  to  give  him  larger  lambs  for  mutton.  The  coarse  and  fine 


EAST    OF    THE,  MISSISSIPPI    RIVER.  659 

wools  sold  at  the  same  price,  and  the  coarser  was  in  greater  demand 
because  it  did  not  lose  so  much  in  washing  and  was  more  easily  made 
into  coarse  jeans  than  fine  wool.  In  Logan  County,  in  the  southern 
part  of  the  State,  bordering  Tennessee,  the  prevailing  breed  was  the 
common  native,  with  the  exception  of  some  of  the  best  flocks,  which 
had  crosses  of  the  Spanish  Merino,  the  Saxony,  the  CotSAVold,  and  South- 
down grades,  with  some  thoroughbred.  Two  pounds  per  head  of  clean 
scoured  wool,  ready  for  the  manufacturer,  was  about  the  usual  clip. 
The  Cots  wolds  and  their  crosses  yielded  from  4  to  10  pounds  of  wool 
suitable  for  the  comb.  The  sheep  were  generally  healthy  and  produc- 
tive in  young,  the  number  of  lambs  being  nearly  or  quite  equal  to  the 
ewes.  The  pure-blooded  sheep  were  not  so  healthy  as  the  native  sheep 
and  half-bloods.  The  small  farmers  made  no  surplus  wool,  but  used 
their  entire  clip  in  household  manufacture.  There  were  a  few  large 
wool-growers,  one  of  Avhom,  with  a  flock  of  600  sheep,  one-half  Saxon 
and  Spanish  Merinos,  and  the  other  half  Cotswolds,  Leicesters  and 
Southdowns,  crossed  on  select  native  sheep,  grew  on  an  averages  pounds 
clean  scoured  wool  per  head.  The  Saxon  and  Spanish  fleece  lost  one- 
half  by  scouring,  the  other  breeds  much  less.  In  Mercer  County  sheep 
were  not  raised  in  great  numbers,  though  about  every  farmer  had  his 
flock.  The  Shakers,  who  in  Kew  Hampshire,  New  York,  and  Ohio 
were  noted  for  their  fine  stock  and  the  care  they  gave  it,  were  here  try- 
ing the  French  Merinos,  which  promised  well  on  account  of  their  thick 
and  heavy  fleeces.  A  cross  from  the  Saxony  and  Spanish  Merinos  on 
the  Cotswolds  and  Leicesters  produced  a  sheep  with  fine,  long  wool 
excellent  for  worsted.  The  average  weight  of  the  Saxon  fleece  was  2  J 
to  3  pounds,  that  of  the  Spanish  Merino  fleece  3J  to  4  pounds.  Other 
large  and  coarse  TOO!  sheep  yielded  fleeces  from  6  to  12  pounds.  A 
flock  of  pure  Cote  n'olds  in  Macou  County,  29  in  number,  gave  240J 
pounds  of  Avool,  an  average  of  8-^  pounds  per  head. 

The  Cotswolds  were  taken  into  Kentucky  from  Ohio  about  1837,  and 
were  for  many  years  a  favorite  breed  in  that  State  and  the  South  on 
account  of  size  and  hardiness,  and  they  still  have  many  admirers  who 
have  flocks  far  superior  to  those  formerly  kept.  From  1850  to  1860 
there  were  many  engaged  in  raising  Cotswolds  for  the  markets  of  the 
North  and  East,  and  the  business  was  profitable.  Before  the  war  of 
1861-765  many  of  these  full-blooded  Cotswolds  were  sent  to  the  Boston 
market,  with  Leicesters  and  Southdowns,  and  commanded  good  prices. 
In  a  report  issued  by  the  Department  of  Agriculture  in  1880  it  is  stated 
tli at  George  S.  Baber,  of  Scott  County,  had  a  flock  of  pure-bred  Cots- 
wolds— keeping  about  40  for  breeding.  They  had  grass  the  whole  year 
and  in  cold  or  stormy  weather  were  fed  some  corn  and  oats,  and  were 
housed  in  very  bad  stormy  weather,  and  cost  in  keeping  the  year  about 
$10  per  head,  having  extra  care  and  attention.  His  flock  clipped  on 
an  average  10  pounds  combing  wool,  and  raised  on  an  average  one 
lamb  to  the  ewe.  The  entire  surplus  was  sold  to  breeders  in  Kentucky 


660        SHEEP  INDUSTRY  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES 

and  other  States  at  prices  ranging  from  $25  to  $100  per  head,  accord- 
ing to  age  and  selection.  Every  two  years  Mr.  Baber  procured  an 
imported  or  Canada  rain  at  a  cost  of  about  $100  for  his  own  breeding. 
He  bred  his  lambs  at  eighteen  months  old. 

The  following,  from  the  records  of  the  Department,  shows  that  com- 
mon Cotswold  flocks  kept  simply  for  the  mutton  and  wool  pay  well.  The 
correspondent  wrote  from  Carroll  County: 

The  sheep  most  profitable  in  our  county  are  the  Cotswolds  and  their  grades.  They 
will  consume  probably  one- fourth  more  food  than  the  fine-wool  sheep,  but  are  hardy, 
needing  no  shelter,  and  generally  live  the  entire  winter  on  our  blue-grass  pastures 
without  other  food,  produce  from  6  to  10  pounds  of  wool  per  head,  and  from  GO  to  100 
pounds  good  mutton  at  one  and  two  years  old.  I  have  about  50  in  my  flock  of  the 
Cotswolds  and  grades,  which  I  have  taken  as  a  sample  for  the  above  statement. 
They  have  not  eaten  a  single  pound  of  hay  or  anything  but  what  they  have  gathered 
for  themselves  in  the  pasture,  winter  or  summer,  for  the  last  two  years.  This  wool 
is  worth,  just  as  it  conies  from  the  sheep,  unwashed,  35  cents  per  pound;  mutton  is 
worth  10  cents. 

But  the  general  use  of  the  Cotswold  was  to  cross  other  breeds,  and 
good  results  were  obtained  by  crossing  on  the  native  ewes.  Three 
crosses  made  a  good  flock.  The  comparative  profit  of  a  flock  of  100 
full-bred  Cotswolds  and  100  common  natives  with  the  Cotswold  cross  is 
given  in  this  statement  of  J.  D.  Guthrie,  Shelby,  Ky.,  who  prefaces  his 
statement  that  improved  long-wools  pay  the  best,  but  that  those  who 
keep  common  or  short- wool  ewes  and  propagate  from  rams  of  the  long- 
wooled  or  mutton  breeds  for  butchers'  use,  or  to  grade  up  for  quality 
and  price  of  both  wool  and  mutton,  were  satisfied  with  the  result. 

100  common  ewes,  cost $300 

2  Cotswold  rams 50 

Feeding,  etc 50 

Total  cost 400 

100  lambs  to  butcher $400 

400  pounds  of  wool,  at  25  cents 100 

Value  of  ewes  and  rams  after  lambing 300 

800 


Net  profits 400 


100  Cotswold  ewes,  cost 1,  200 

2  Cotswold  rams 50 

Feeding,  etc 50 

1,300 

100  Cotswold  lambs,  $10  each $1,  000 

1,000  pounds  of  wool,  at  36  cents 360 

Value  of  ewes  and  rams  after  lambing 1,  200 

2,  560 

.Net  profit 1,260 


EAST   OF    THE    MISSISSIPPI    RIVER.  661 

There  are  many  who  believe  that  the  Cotswold  crossed  on  the  South- 
down make  the  most  profitable  mutton  sheep  that  can  be  produced  in 
the  State,  and  they  come  forward  with  the  figures  to  substantiate  their 
claim.  These  are  too  numerous  to  be  here  reproduced. 

Mr.  A.  T.  Drane,  who'was  engaged  in  breeding  Cotswolds  from  1850 
to  1866,  without  intermixture,  then  crossed  them  with  the  Lincolnshires 
with  apparent  success.  He  lived  in  a  fine  grass  region,  such  as  the 
heavy  breeds  delight  in,  and  the  climate  proved  congenial  and  healthy 
for  them.  They  were  fed  upon  grass  exclusively,  except  at  yeaning 
time,  when  a  little  grain  was  given  them.  Mr.  Draiie  reports : 

They  usually  have  one  lamb  at  a  birth,  but  have  twins  about  often  enough  to  make 
up  for  losses,  and  save  about  one  lamb  to  the  ewe  bred.  They  are  remarkably  good 
nurses.  Their  fleeces  are  heavy,  long,  and  lustrous,  and  command  the  best  prices 
for  combing.  I  sell  rams  chiefly;  seldom  sell  ewes,  and  without  attempting  to  state 
what  it  will  cost  to  keep  a  sheep  a  year,  or  tell  how  many  may  be  kept  on  an  acre 
of  grass,  I  will  merely  give  a  glimpse  of  the  record  of  my  flock  in  1869,  and  let  the 
reader  make  his  own  deductions : 

From  80  sheep  sold  848  pounds  of  wool  in  grease  for $364. 62 

Sold  sheep  during  the  year 638. 00 

Rent  of  one  ram 100. 00 

Total 1,102.62 

I  now  have  on  hand  83  head  of  sheep,  and  my  flock  has  yielded  a  gross  return  of 
$13.78  each,  with  a  gain  of  3  sheep. 

One  of  the  most  eminent  breeders  of  long-wooled  sheep  in  Kentucky 
was  Col.  Robert  W.  Scott,  of  Frankfort,  who,  after  many  years  of 
experiment,  produced  what  he  fondly  thought  was  a  new  permanent 
race,  the  improved  Kentucky  sheep.  The  suggestion  of  the  improved 
sheep  came  from  the  belief  of  Col.  Scott  that  none  of  the  prevailing 
breeds  possessed  all  the  requirements  of  sheep  for  the  great  West  and 
South 5  the  native  sheep  were  inferior  in  carcass  and  in  fleece.  The 
Cotswolds  were  too  delicate  when  young  to  bear  exposure  to  the  wet 
seasons;  the  fleece  of  the  Southdowns  was  too  short,  and  the  Merino 
was  too  small.  Acting  upon  these  impressions,  and  believing  with  Sir 
Robert  Smith,  that  "by  proper  and  judicious  crossing  through  several 
generations,  a  most  valuable  breed  of  sheep  may  be  raised  and  estab- 
lished," Col.  Scott  began  in  1839  his  effort  to  combine  in  the  same  ani- 
mal the  hardiness  and  prolific  quality  of  the  native  sheep,  the  size  and 
weight  of  fleece  of  the  Cotswold,  and  the  symmetry  of  form  and  deli- 
cacy of  mutton  of  the  Southdown ;  and  also  to  combine  in  the  same 
fleeces  the  weight  and  length  of  the  Cotswold  with  the  thickness  and 
softness  of  the  Merino. 

The  foundation  of  the  proposed  improvement  was  a  flock  of  30  ewes 
selected  from  a  flock  of  unimproved  common  sheep,  and  these  were 
bred  to  a  very  large  and  fine  Saxony  Merino  ram,  the  object  being  to 
give  in  the  offspring  more  thickness  to  the  fleece  and  more  fineness  to 
the  fiber  of  the  wool.  This  step  was  thought  advisable  before  uniting 
the  coarse  fleeces  of  the  native  sheep  with  the  coarse  and  still  more 


662        SHEEP  INDUSTRY  OF  THE  UNITTD  STATES 

open  fleeces  of  the  large  imported  varieties,  and  the  effect  was  satis- 
factory. The  cross-bred  ewes  were  bred  on  the  1st  of  October,  after 
they  were  one  year  old,  to  an  imported  Leicester  ram  of  large,  full, 
round  carcass,  and  a  heavy  fleece  of  long  wool.  To  insure  activity 
and  hardiness,  and  finely  marbled  mutton  of  high  flavor,  an  imported 
Southdown  ram  was  used  upon  the  ewes  of  this  class  with  a  result  so 
satisfactory  that  Gol.  Scott  claimed  that  "the  wethers  of  this  class 
were  the  delight  of  the  epicure,  while  the  value  of  the  fleece  was  not 
diminished,  as  much  being  gained  by  increasing  the  number  of  fibers  to 
the  square  inch  as  was  lost  in  the  length  of  them."  The  next  cross  was 
by  a  ram  which  seemed  to  possess  many  of  the  qualities  that  were 
desirable  to  establish  and  perpetuate  in  the  flock.  He  was  three-fourths 
Cotswoldand  one-fourth  Southdown — a  large,  active,  hardy  sheep,  with 
a  thick,  heavy  fleece,  qualities  which  his  progeny  possessed  in  an 
eminent  degree.  This  infusion  of  blood  was  followed  by  two  successive 
crosses  of  pure-blood  Cotswolds,  and  the  next  cross  was  by  a  very  fine 
full-blooded  Oxfordshire  ram,  of  remarkable  softness  and  silkiness  of 
fleece.  Those  were  all  large  animals,  with  round  barrels,  broad  backs, 
and  full  briskets.  They  added  to  the  flock  still  more  weight  of  carcass 
and  fleece,  while  the  beautiful  appearance  and  delicate  flavor  of  the 
mutton  was  not  impaired.  In  the  fall  of  1853,  a  part  of  the  flock  was 
bred  to  an  imported  Cotswold  ram,  and  the  rest  of  the  flock  was  bred 
to  a  Kentucky-raised  Cotswold  ram  directly  decended  from  imported 
stock.  It  was  from  these  crosses  that  Col.  Scott  produced  a  flock 
which  he  described  in  1854 : 

Their  fleeces  are  soft,  thick,  and  long,  though  not  so  long  as  the  pure  Cotswold, 
Lnt  they  are  much  thicker,  which  gives  them  a  perfect  protection  against  the  snows 
and  cold  winds  and  rains  of  winter  and  spring,  the  sheep  being  perfectly  hardy, 
requiring  no  protection  nor  shelter,  except  what  nature  has  thrown  around  them. 
The  cross  with  onr  common  or  native  sheep  adapts  them  perfectly  to  the  soil,  cli- 
mate, and  grasses  of  this  country,  on  which  account,  together  with  the  frequent 
crossing,  they  are  strangers  to  the  diseases  known  to  other  flocks.  The  same  native 
cross,  I  suppose,  insures  in  them  a  prolific  character,  which  is  sadly  wanting  in  the 
large  imported  varieties,  flocks  of  which  are  still  comparatively  rare  here,  though 
some  individuals  have  been  in  the  country  over  twenty  years.  The  Kentucky  sheep 
rarely  fail  to  raise  as  many  lambs,  in  proportion  to  the  number  of  ewes,  as  the  com- 
mon or  native  varieties,  and  sometimes  more,  though  they  have  not  had  the  advan- 
tage of  a  regular  shepherd  or  attendant.  These  sheep  are  also  as  thrifty  as  it  is 
desired  that  they  should  be.  In  summer  they  are  often  moved  from  pasture  to  pas- 
ture, so  that  they  may  eat  the  weeds  and  grasses  which  have  been  refused  by  other 
stock,  while  in  winter  a  short  blue-grass  pasture  is  all  which  they  commonly 
require. 

After  the  early  Saxon  cross  Col.  Scott  bred  to  no  horned  sheep,  and 
always  used  rams  of  the  purest  blood  he  could  obtain.  His  course  of 
breeding  and  choice  of  rams  up  to  1854  resulted  in  a  fine  mutton  sheep; 
but  there  was  a  tendency  to  variation  which  was  tacitly  acknowledged 
by  Col.  Scott,  some  years  later,  in  this  sentence: 

The  tendency  of  all  improved  breeds  of  all  domestic  animals  to  relapse  to  their 
original  status  when  they  are  neglected  or  abused,  is  no  proper  discouragement  to 


EAST   OF   THE   MISSISSIPPI   RIVER.  663 

this  course  of  improvement,  for  such  a  policy  would  condemn  tlie  adoption  of  all  our 
best  breeds  of  horses,  cattle,  sheep,  and  hogs ;  for  all  have  been  produced  by  careful 
and  judicious  crossing  and  selection,  and  all  improvements  in  stock  can  be  main- 
tained only  by  a  reasonable  share  of  the  same  care  and  judgment  by  which  the  im- 
provement was  originally  effected. 

To  maintain  the  improvement,  to  obliterate  discrepancies,  and  pro- 
duce complete  uniformity  and  fixity  of  type,  Col.  Scott  bred  in  1854  to 
five  select  rams  of  his  own  breeding.  The  progeny  showed  some  suc- 
cess in  the  direction  aimed  at,  and  though  there  was  some  variation  in 
their  carcasses  and  fleeces,  they  were  in  all  respects  beautiful  and  valu- 
able animals  of  their  kind.  Still  carrying  out  the  same  design,  in  the 
fall  of  1855  he  tried  chiefly  to  a  mixed  ram,  in  which  was  blended  Cots- 
wold,  Oxfordshire,  Teeswater,  and  Southdown  blood.  He  was  a  finely 
formed  sheep,  of  large  size  and  a  thick  fleece  of  medium  length  and 
fineness  of  fiber,  and  his  lambs  possessed  great  beauty  and  value.  In 
185G  he  bred  chiefly  to  a  large  and  fine  Cotswold,  and  in  1857  to  him 
and  to  a  ram  of  mixed  blood,  the  ewes  being  so  selected  and  bred  as  to 
produce  a  more  complete  uniformity  in  the  progeny,  those  having  a 
predominance  of  Southdown  and  Merino  being  bred  to  the  Cotswold, 
and  those  having  a  predominance  of  Cotswold  qualities  being  bred  to 
the  mixed-blood  rams.  In  1858  two  large  and  fine  rams  of  his  own 
breeding  were  used  in  the  same  manner  and  for  the  same  objects 
chiefly,  that  is,  to  give  uniformity  and  stability  to  the  flock.  A  few 
ewes  were  also  bred,  in  1858,  to  a  very  fine  mixed-blood  ram,  which 
was  a  perfect  model  of  symmetry,  and  which  had  taken  a  premium 
at  the  Kentucky  State  fair,  at  Louisville,  that  year.  In  October, 
1859,  the  flock  of  about  100  ewes  was  again  selected  and  bred  with  a 
view  to  the  same  object,  about  one-half  being  bred  to  the  above-men- 
tioned premium  animal  and  the  remainder  to  a  selected  and  fine  im- 
proved Kentucky  sheep,  Avhich  had  a  fleece  of  remarkable  length,  fine- 
ness of  fiber,  and  was  of  good  size  and  fine  form.  By  this  time  the 
sheep  were  as  essentially  alike  and  uniform,  maintained  their  identity 
and  imported  their  qualities  as  surely,  as  sheep  of  any  other  breed. 
They  had  been  exhibited  with  success  at  many  State  and  county 
fairs,  and  had  been  sold  and  sent  to  almost  every  State  in  the  A\Yst 
and  South  and  to  California;  and  all  that  Col.  Scott  could  raise 
from  a  flock  of  about  100  ewes  found  ready  sale  at  the  uniform  price 
of  $30  for  those  1  year  old  and  under.  After  1860  and  up  to  1866  well 
selected  rams  of  his  own  breeding  and  those  of  Leicester  and  of  Cots- 
wold blood  were  used  by  Col.  Scott  in  such  a  manner  as  to  impart  some 
valuable  qualities  either  to  the  fleece  or  the  carcass,  or  to  the  constitu- 
tion of  the  progeny;  pure  Cotswold,  superior  in  form  and  size  and  fleece, 
being  raised  in  1865  and  1866.  In  the  last-named  year  Col.  Scott  pre- 
pared an  article  for  the  annual  report  of  the  Department  of  Agricul- 
ture which  has  been  used  almost  literally  in  this  sketch,  in  which  he 
claimed  that  through  the  means  used  he  had  secured  essential  uniform- 
ity, and  produced  a  sheep  that  could  face  the  bleakest  winters  and  the 


664        SHEEP  INDUSTRY  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES 

hottest  and  driest  summers  without  any  protection  except  that  which 
nature  gave  them;  that  they  were  almost  entirely  free  from  all  disease, 
and  that  in  springs  and  summers  of  excessive  rains,  clothed  to  the 
knees  and  to  the  ears  by  a  thick,  long,  and  impenetrable  fleece,  they 
bade  defiance  to  the  wind,  rain,  and  snow,  and  seemed  at  all  times  to  be 
comfortable  and  sprightly. 

They  developed  a  great  tendency  to  take  on  flesh  and  fat,  so  much 
so  that  ewes  which  lost  their  lambs  not  ^infrequently  became,  on  grass 
alone,  too  fat  to  breed;  and  in  several  instances  fully  3  inches  of  fat 
formed  on  the  ribs,  though  fed  on  grass  only.  They  were  prolific,  and 
Col.  Scott  raised  one-third  more  lambs  than  there  were  ewes  in  the 
flock. 

A  yearling  ram  of  this  flock  weighed  174  pounds;  a  2-year-old 
ram,  never  shorn,  224  pounds ;  a  grown  ewe,  162  pounds ;  a  ewe  lamb, 
114  pounds.  These  weights  were  taken  in  August,  all  off  of  grass, 
without  extra  keeping  of  any  kind.  The  weight  and  character  of  their 
fleeces  are  thus  gived  in  Col.  Scott's  article: 

The  fleeces  of  these  sheep  vary  from  8  to  15  pounds,  the  whole  flock  of  over  100 
breeding  ewes  having  averaged  over  8  ponnds  of  merchantable  wool,  free  from  burrs 
and  tags,  and  though  not  washed  on  the  sheep's  back,  still  clean  enough  for  domes- 
tic manufacture.  Though  the  fleeces  of  these  sheep  (like  those  of  all  other  breeds), 
are  not  perfectly  uniform  as  to  length,  thickness,  and  fineness  of  fiber,  still  there  is 
a  general  uniformity,  and  the  diversity  is  of  no  practical  disadvantage.  Their  wool 
is  longer  than  that  of  any  sheep  except  those  of  the  Cotswold  family,  and  is  equal 
in  length  to  that  of  many  individuals  of  that  family,  while  it  greatly  excels  the 
wool  of  the  Cotswold  in  fineness  and  softness  of  fiber,  and  in  the  number  of  fibers  to 
the  square  inch.  In  some  individuals  it  is  wavy  or  curly,  but  it  is  never  harsh  or 
wiry.  Except  the  face  and  the  legs  below  the  knees,  the  whole  body  is  covered 
with  a  close  and  compact  fleece,  which,  when  full  grown,  leaves  no  open  line  on  the 
back,  as  with  the  Cotswold,  but  gives  a  perfect  protection  to  the  sheep,  and  causes 
them  to  present  a  smooth,  handsome,  and  portly  appearance.  Their  fleeces  have 
enough  of  grease  and  gum  to  preserve  the  softness  and  vitality  of  the  fibers,  even  to 
their  ends,  but  not  so  much  as  to  give  the  sheep  a  dark  and  dirty  appearance. 

The  improved  Kentucky  sheep  had  a  limited  distribution  in  Kentucky 
and  the  adjacent  States,  but  had  not  that  fixity  of  type  that  was  essen- 
tial to  justify  the  claim  of  a  distinct  race  for  them.  The  consequence 
was  that  in  time  they  ran  out  and  bred  back  to  the  different  strains  of 
blood  that  had  been  used  in  the  crossings.  In  some  flocks  the  Cotswold 
blood  predominated,  but  other  sheep  of  the  same  flock  displayed  their 
Southdown  blood  and  still  others  ran  back  to  the  quality  of  the  hardy 
native  that  lay  at  the  foundation  of  the  improvement.  There  was  an 
increasing  want  of  uniformity  that  was  not  met  by  the  infusion  of  blood 
proper  to  check  the  divergence  from  the  supposed  true  type.  This  was 
even  noticed  by  Col.  Scott  in  his  own  flock,  and  while  seeking  to  per- 
petuate and  fix  the  type  by  breeding  from  rams  raised  in  the  flock, 
as  late  as  1879  he  bred  his  flock  to  a  pure-bred  Cotswold  rain  and  had 
done  so  for  the  two  preceding  years. 


•f    ',-:•: 


EAST    OF    THE    MISSISSIPPI    RIVER.  665 

Charles  Darwin,  in  liis  "Animals  and  Plants  nuder  Domestication," 
says: 

When  two  distinct  races  are  crossed,  it  is  notorious  that  the  tendency  in  the  off- 
spring to  revert  to  one  or  both,  parent  forms  is  strong  and  endures  for  many  gener- 
ations, and  this  strong  tendency  in  crossed  breeds  to  revert  has  given  rise  to  endless 
discussions  in  how  many  generations  after  a  single  cross,  either  with  a  distinct  breed 
or  merely  with  an  inferior  animal,  the  breed  may  be  considered  as  pure  and  free 
from  all  danger  of  reversion.  No  one  supposes  that  less  than  three  generations  suf- 
fices, and  most  breeders  think  that  six,  seven,  or  eight  are  necessary,  and  some  go  to 
still  greater  length.  But  neither  in  the  case  of  a  breed  which  has  been  contaminaled 
by  a  single  cross,  nor  when,  in  the  attempt  to  form  an  intermediate  breed,  half-bred 
animals  have  been  matched  together  during  many  generations,  can  any  rule  be  laid 
down  how  soon  the  tendency  to  reversion  will  be  obliterated.  It  depends  on  the 
difference  in  the  strength  or  prepotency  of  transmission  in  the  two  parent  forms,  on 
their  actual  amount  of  difference,  and  on  the  nature  of  the  conditions  of  life  to  which 
the  crossed  offspring  are  opposed.  *  *  *  As  a  general  rule,  crossed  offspring  in  the 
generations  are  nearly  intermediate  between  their  parents,  but  the  grandchildren 
and  succeeding  generations  continually  revert,  in  a  greater  or  lesser  degree,  to  one 
or  both  of  their  progenitors. 

In  the  inception  and  development  of  the  improved  Kentucky  sheep, 
Col.  Scott  did  not  limit  himself  to  the  crossing  of  two  varieties,  but 
availed  himself  of  several — the  native,  the  Saxony  Merino,  the  South- 
down, the  Cotswold,  and  a  slight  infusion  of  the  Oxfordshire  and  the 
Teeswater.  Here  was  an  attempted  amalgamation  of  blood  which  was 
sometimes  refractory,  would  not  fuse,  and  tended  to  reversion,  to 
prevent  which  the  Cotswold  blood  was  almost  continually  used.  The 
consequence  was  that  after  Col.  Scott's  death  the  flock  not  being  bred 
with  the  required  care  and  watchfulness  it  lost  its  characteristics,  and 
as  a  distinct  race  of  sheep  the  improved  Kentucky  has  disappeared. 
There  is  probably  not  a  flock  in  the  whole  State. 

A  low-grade  Leicester  sheep  was  common  in  the  early  history  of  the 
State,  but  it  was  not  until  about  1830  that  any  pure-bred  Leicesters 
were  introduced.  Shortly  after  this  time  Henry  Clay  placed  some 
imported  ones  on  his  farm  at  Ashland,  following  which  many  were 
imported  from  Canada  and  taken  in  from  the  Northern  States. 

Other  breeds  of  sheep  were,  from  time  to  time,  taken  into  the  State, 
but  as  a  general  thing  they  found  but  little  favor,  and,  by  18G5,  were 
discarded  for  the  Kentuckian's  favorites,  the  Southdowns,  the  Cotswold 
and  Scott's  Kentucky  sheep.  The  latter  had  grown  into  great  favor; 
the  Cotswold,  outside  the  blue-grass  counties,  was  very  popular ;  but  the 
glory  of  the  blue- grass  country  was  the  Southdown.  It  was  and  still 
is  the  aristocratic  sheep  of  Kentucky  and  divides  with  the  generous 
people  of  that  State  their  love  for  horses  and  Shorthorn  cattle.  Its 
popularity  is  unrivaled  and  it  has  almost  superseded  all  other  improved 
sheep. 

The  pure-bred  Southdowns  were  introduced  into  Kentucky  soon  after 
their  importation  into  Pennsylvania,  by  J.  Hare  Powell,  in  1824  and  1825, 
and  the  climate  and  grasses  were  so  well  adapted  to  them  and  they 


666  SEEEP    INDUSTRY    OF    THE    UNITED    STATES 

matured  such  excellent  mutton  that  they  soon  became  the  most  popular 
and  profitable  sheep  that  could  be  raised.  Importations  from  Canada 
and  from  the  best  flocks  of  England  followed;  and  in  a  few  years  the 
blue-grass  sections  of  the  State  were  well  stocked  with  them  or  their 
grades.  In  1855  Mr.  B.  A.  Alexander  imported  10  rams  from  Airdrie 
House,  Scotland,  and  frequently  bought  also  from  New  York  importers. 
The  descendants  of  this  flock  are  now  owned  by  Mr.  A.  J.  Alexander, 
Spring  Station,  Ky.  The  oldest  living  breeder  of  the  Southdown  in 
Kentucky  and  in  the  United  States  is  Cassius  M.  Clay.  He  began  his 
flock  in  3854  and  presents  "an  example  of  persistent  watchfulness  and 
care  in  the  selection  and  management  of  this  breed  of  sheep  for  a  long 
series  of  years,"  and,  in  consequence  of  his  care,  judgment,  and  skill 
as  a  breeder,  his  sheep  show  a  uniformity  of  type  rarely  seen  elsewhere, 
particularly  in  so  large  a  flock  as  Mr.  Clay  generally  maintains.  At 
the  beginning  he  started  with  the  best  sheep  that  could  be  had,  draw- 
ing from  the  early  importations  of  S.  and  J.  Thorne,  New  York,  and  E. 
A.  Alexander,  of  Kentucky;  the  rams  used  were  the  very  best,  and  no 
ewes  of  other  blood  admitted  to  the  flock.  The  first  ram  used  was 
Thorne  I,  a  prize  ram,  the  winner  at  the  Eoyal  Agricultural  Show  at 
York,  England,  in  1853.  Then  came  Thorne  II,  whose  sire  was  Thorne 
I,  followed  by  rams  bred  by  Jonas  Webb,  Sir  John  Lubbock,  Lord 
Walsingham  and  other  noted  English  breeders,  and  Samuel  Thorne,  of 
New  York,  and  E.  A.  Alexander  and  others,  of  Kentucky.  This  was 
a  splendid  foundation,  and  Mr.  Clay  built  upon  it  intelligently.  He 
writes  in  August,  1891 : 

I  have  raised  the  wool  from  3£  pounds  to  7  on  an  average,  with  young  sheep,  and 
the  weight  has  l>een  increased  nearly  a  third.  My  lambs  will  go  at  six  months  to 
80  or  100  pounds.  I  have  a  Luck  the  largest  Southdown  I  ever  saw.  The  theory  of 
improved  live  stock  is  to  use  pure-Llooded  species  and  then  improve  them  Ly  at- 
tention and  high  feeding. 

From  his  long  experience  in  sheep  breeding,  Mr.  Clay  speaks  with 
some  authority  as  to  the  manner  of  building  up  a  Southdown  flock.  He 
recommends  the  use  of  the  native  Cotswold  or  "  mongrel  sheep,"  found 
in  all  parts  of  the  United  States,  because  they  are  the  "  survival  of  the 
fittest"  and  are  at  the  bottom,  making  a  living  on  the  meanest  and 
scantiest  food.  Then  use  a  thoroughbred  Southdown  ram.  The  prod- 
uct (for  mutton  in  all  the  larger  cities)  is  a  half-blooded  lamb  worth 
(under  C  months)  from  $5  to  $8  each.  Nothing  can  excel  this  profit? 
for  the  sheep  pay  all  expenses  and  more  as  scavengers,  clearing  out 
ruts,  brush,  and  manuring  the  land.  For  cleaning  out  weeds  alone 
Mr.  Clay  estimates  that  his  flock  of  200  Southdowns  saved  him  annu- 
ally $150.  Thoroughbred  rams  must  be  used  in  grading  up  the  flock, 
because  if  the  first-class  breeds  are  put  again  with  the  half-bloods  the 
result  is  three-fourths  scrubs,  and  so  on  until  the  whole  flock  returns 
to  the  original  type.  But  it'  thoroughbreds  only  are  used  the  flock  ad- 
vances first  one-half  blood,  then  three-fourths,  etc.,  till  the  whole  flock 
becomes  full-blooded  and  the  scrub  type  is  lost. 


EAST    OF    THE    MISSISSIPPI    RIVER.  667 

There  were  many  early  flocks  in  Kentucky  besides  those  of  Mr. 
Alexander  and  Mr.  Clay,  among  which  may  be  mentioned  those  of  Mr. 
L.  Tarlton,  founded  early  in  the  fifties,  Mr.  Vannieter,  and  many  others. 
Those  of  the  present  day  a,re  too  numerous  to  mention,  and  comprise 
among  their  owners  some  of  the  most  successful  stock  breeders  of  the 
United  States. 

The  pure  Southdown  lamb  or  mutton  is  a  delicious  article  of  food, 
but  it  is  as  a  cross  upon  other  sheep  that  the  Southdown  is  specially 
valuable.  The  cross  upon  the  common  Merino  ewe,  very  usual  in  the 
North,  is  replaced  in  Kentucky  by  the  cross  on  the  grade  Cotswold,  so 
numerous  in  the  State,  and  on  the  so-called  mountain  ewes,  prevalent 
in  the  mountainous  and  hilly  sections.  These  mountain  ewes  are  raised 
very  cheaply  and  marketed  to  farmers  of  the  blue-grass  lands  as  feeders 
and  for  raising  mutton  lambs.  These  sheep  are  large,  very  hardy, 
active,  and  vigorous,  unusually  healthy,  and  the  ewes  take  kindly  to 
the  better  breeds  of  the  blue-grass  region  and  are  very  prolific,  often 
producing  twins.  The  mountain  and  common  ewes  are  bought  when 
2  to  4  years  old  for  $1.50  to  $2,  driven  to  blue-grass  pastures,  and,  when 
in  good  condition,  are  crossed  with  Southdown  rams.  At  the  approach 
of  lambing  time  grain  is  fed  in  small  quantities  to  invigorate  the  ewe 
for  the  trials  of  parturition.  The  lambs  are  plump  and  fat  at  3  to  4 
months'  old,  and  of  standard  weight  for  the  city  buyers,  many  of  whom 
have  standing  engagements  to  take  them  on  a  certain  day  at  a  stipu- 
lated price,  providing  they  have  reached  the  required  weight.  At  3 
months  old,  lambs  sell  for  $3  to  $5  per  head,  and  a  flock  will  average 
one  and  a  half  lambs  to  a  ewe.  This  is  a  profitable  business  in  some 
parts  of  the  State,  and  it  is  reported  that  as  many  as  3,000  have  been 
shipped  from  Winchester  alone  in  one  day,  all  raised  on  land  costing 
from  $125  to  $175  per  acre.  After  the  lambs  are  marketed  the  ewes 
are  fattened  and  sent  to  market,  after  being  shorn  of  about  1J  pounds 
of  wool.  At  the  present  day  not  so  many  Kentucky  lambs  and  fattened 
sheep  find  the  Eastern  markets  as  in  former  years,  nor  are  those  received 
a>  u-ood  as  in  years  gone  by.  They  still  maintain,  however,  a  high  rep- 
utation and  command  higher  prices  than  the  average  Eastern  sheep. 

The  climate  of  Kentucky  is  so  genial  and  the  sheep  so  hardy  that 
they  winter  well  in  the  open  fields  and  forests.  It  is  observed,  how- 
ever, that  the  increasing  destruction  of  forests  gives  more  access  to  cold 
winds  and  the  most  careful  breeders  consider  it  necessary  to  provide 
sheds  or  barns  where  the  sheep  may  seek  shelter  at  will,  which  they  do 
when  the  occasion  arises.  The  time  seems  not  far  distant  when  the 
sheep  will  require  housing  the  greater  part  of  the  winter,  as  in  the 
Northern  States.  The  great  advantage  now  possessed  by  Kentucky  in 
si  i  cep  husbandry  is  in  the  bountiful  supply  of  succulent  food  during 
the  whole  year,  and  the  sheep  should  never  be  without  it.  Blue  grass 
is  accessible  all  winter  and  green  rye  and  wheat  are  sometimes  utilized. 
The  climate  does  not,  as  in  England,  allow  the  use  of  turnips  and  other 


668 


SHEEP  INDUSTRY  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES 


roots,  as  these  freeze  before  they  can  be  fed,  and  are  thus  ruined;  but 
there  is  no  time  when  the  sheep  can  not  get  a  bite  of  blue  grass  or  of 
rye  and  wheat.  Eed  clover  proves  an  excellent  food  for  Kentucky 
sheep,  either  green  or  when  cut  and  dried,  and  is  used  with  rye  and 
blue  grass.  The  Kentuckians  understand  very  thoroughly  the  art  of 
feeding  and  their  fine  flocks  of  sheep  and  herds  of  cattle  attest  the  fact. 
The  sheep  husbandry  of  Kentucky,  built  upon  a  mutton  foundation, 
has  suffered  less  fluctuation  and  depression  than  that  of  the  wool-grow- 
ing States  adjoining  it.  From  1840  to  1880  there  was  scarcely  any 
variation  in  the  number  kept  on  farms.  Flocks  were  maintained  at 
about  the  same  number  and  the  increase  was  marketed  at  a  fair  remu- 
neration. The  proportion  of  sheep  killed  for  mutton  included  all  the 
wethers  and  30  to  40  per  cent  of  the  ewes  and  lambs,  a  rate  which,  com- 
bined with  the  destruction  caused  by  dogs,  kept  the  number  of  the 
flocks  about  stationary.  And  this  was  the  point  generally  aimed  at. 
There  were  no  legislative  scares  which  in  other  sections  decimated 
flocks  and  forced  an  abandonment  of  sheep  raising.  Mutton  as  an  arti- 
cle of  food  is  more  generally  appreciated  in  Kentucky  than  in  most 
States,  and  the  home  market,  which  is  always  the  best  everywhere  and 
for  every  commodity,  was  a  good  one.  The  average  value  of  the  sheep 
per  head  exceeds  that  of  any  other  State  south  of  the  Ohio,  and  is 
exceeded  only  in  a  few  States  where  high-priced  breeding  flocks  and 
an  advanced  system  of  feeding  for  early  markets  prevail.  Since  1880 
there  has  been  a  decline  in  the  number  of  sheep.  In  1880  the  number 
was  1,000,269;  in  1890  it  was  805,978,  showing  a  loss  of  20  per  cent. 
But  the  decline  in  number  was  more  than  compensated  for  in  the  great, 
improvement  and  increased  value  of  the  lesser  number.  The  causes 
for  the  decline  are  twofold — the  low  price  of  mutton  at  some  times,  the 
destruction  by  dogs  at  all  times.  Ten  per  cent  of  the  sheep  of  the 
State  are  annually  killed  by  the  dogs,  causing  an  almost  despairing 
condition  of  sheep  husbandry  in  many  localities  where  the  loss  is  heav- 
iest, some  counties  losing  as  high  as  20  per  cent. 

Sheep  and  wool  of  Kentucky,  1840  to  1890. 


Year, 

Number 
of  sheep. 

Wool. 

Average 
weight 
of  wool 
per  head. 

1840  

1  008  240 

Pounds. 
1  786  847 

Pound*. 
1  77 

1850  

1  10^  091 

2  297  433 

2  08 

18f50  

938  990 

2  329  105 

2  48 

1870  

936  765 

2  234  450 

2  38 

1880  

1  000  269 

4  592  576 

4  59 

1890  "    " 

805  978 

3  699  419 

4  59 

There  has  been  a  still  further  decrease  in  number  to  773,336  in  Jan- 
uary, 1892,  but  a  gratifying  increase  in  value  and  marked  improvement 
in  quality. 


EAST    OF    THE    MISSISSIPPI    RIVER.  669 

TENNESSEE. 

This  State  lias  all  the  natural  advantages  for  sheep  husbandry  that 
are  possessed  by  Kentucky,  with  the  additional  one  of  a  more  temperate 
climate.  The  climate  embraced  within  the  limits  of  the  State  is  "pecu- 
liar iii  the  fact  that  it  is  greatly  modified  by  reason  of  mountain  eleva- 
tions, and  is  not  what  latitude  alone  would  determine."  In  the  valley 
of  east  Tennessee  the  climate  is  not  so  much  modified  by  elevation  as 
by  the  direction  of  the  winds  which  rush  up  the  valleys  from  the  south- 
west, laden  with  a  fructifying  moisture,  and  producing  a  highly  genial, 
productive,  and  healthy  climate.  The  mean  temperature  here  in  sum- 
mer is  not  far  from  74°.  On  the  mountains  of  east  Tennessee  and  in 
the  valleys  the  grasses  are  exceedingly  luxuriant  and  nutritious.  Blue 
grass,  herds  grass,  white  clover,  mountain  meadow,  Randall  grass,  and 
many  wild  but  valuable  kinds  are  so  intermixed  as  to  supply  constant 
grazing  during  the  entire  summer  and  early  fall.  The  temperature  of 
the  mountains  is  cool,  and  the  climate  exceedingly  moist.  Prof.  Kille- 
brew  says: 

Iii  fully  half  the  time  in  summer  the  tops  are  wrapped  in  cloud  and  mist,  and  rains 
are  remarkably  frequent  in  summer  and  snows  in  winter.  The  frequent  rains  keep 
the  grasses  in  a  growing  condition,  and  an  equal  acreage  of  pasture  upon  the  rich, 
black,  feldspathic  soil  of  the  mountain  will  probably  supply  double  the  grazing  that 
it  would  in  the  valleys  below.  In  no  part  of  the  celebrated  blue  grass  region  of  Ken- 
tucky is  the  sod  better  or  thicker  than  upon  the  balds  of  some  of  these  mountains. 
For  wool-producing  sheep  this  region  has  no  superior  in  this  or  any  other  country, 
if  they  could  be  provided  with  suitable  protection  against  the  chilling  rains.  The 
cold  blasts  of  winter  may  be  averted  by  the  sheltering  caves.  The  tropical  heats  of 
the  valley  in  summer  are  unknown  upon  these  airy  heights. 

The  native  sheep  found  on  these  mountains  are  the  descendants  of 
the  pioneer  sheep  taken  into  that  country  by  the  early  settlers  from 
Virginia  and  North  Carolina.  They  are  strong  and  healthy,  as  fleet  as 
the  deer  and  almost  as  wild.  Their  wool  is  white,  soft,  firm,  lustrous, 
and  true,  and  the  sheep  show  a  wonderful  adaptation  to  the  locality 
which  they  occupy.  Experienced  sheep-raisers  on  these  mountains  say 
that  the  higher  the  grazing  grounds  the  better  the  wool.  On  the  other 
hand  carcasses  increase  in  size  as  the  grazing  grounds  approach  the 
valley  until  the  largest  size  of  carcass  is  met  within  the  many  long, 
straight,  and  beautiful  valleys  that  characterize  the  great  valley  of  east 
Tennessee.  One  of  the  most  enterprising  sheep-breeders  of  Tennessee 
thus  speaks  of  the  native  sheep : 

The  sheep  most  numerous  with  us,  called  the  native  or  the  scrub,  are  of  foreign 
origin,  brought  over  to  this  country  by  our  ancestors  from  different  portions  of 
Europe,  each  bringing  the  favorite  breed  of  their  immediate  district,  and  from  them 

rang  the  race  of  sheep  now  known  as  natives.  From  no  care  at  all  in  breeding, 
except  to  let  them  breed  indiscriminately  among  themselves  without  any  regard  to 
improvement,  their  type,  as  a  breed,  is  as  well  fixed  as  any  of  the  carefully  bred 
European  breeds ;  they  can  be  selected  from  any  other  breed  by  the  most  casual 
observer.  This  is  the  breed  of  which  probably  nine-tenths  of  the  sheep  of  the  State 


670        SHEEP  INDUSTRY  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES 

are  composed,  and  this  being  the  fact  it  must  be  the  basis  upon  which  all  improve- 
ments must  be  made  so  as  to  utilize  what  we  now  have.* 

The  ewes  of  the  native  breed  crossed  by  imported  rams  through  sev- 
eral generations  produce  flocks  better  suited  to  the  climate  and  sur- 
roundings of  the  country  than  any  that  can  be  imported.  They  form 
the  surest  and  best  foundation  upon  which  to  build  up  flocks  suited  to 
the  conditions  of  the  climate  and  the  habits  of  the  farmer.  In  this 
connection  Prof.  Killebrew  makes  an  apt  quotation  from  Darwin : 

In  producing  animals  for  butchering  it  is  always  profitable  to  cross  native  breeds] 
with  larger  and  more  precocious  ones;  providing,  of  course  the  feed  and  care  are 
suitable  for  the  development  of  larger  animals.  Native  animals  are  always  a  correct 
expression  of  the  feed  and  care  which  the  farmers  of  a  locality  bestow  upon  their; 
stock;  and.  native  animals  will  do  better  with  that  feed  and  care  than  any  others,: 
because  they  were  produced  by  it  and  are  exactly  adapted  to  it.  Therefore,  before 
introducing  improved  stock,  farmers  should  consider  whether  they  can  give  them 
the  food  and  care  which  they  require,  otherwise  disappointment  and  loss  are  almost 
certain. 

The  most  common  and  profitable  use  of  crossing  has  been  to  improve  common 
breeds  of  animals,  or  rather  to  transform  them  into  the  improved  breeds.  This  has 
become  so  common  in  all  parts  of  the  country,  that  it  is  not  necessary  to  dwell  upon 
it;  it  is  never  amiss,  however,  to  remind  farmers  that  improved  animals  always 
need  improved  care  and  feed.  Five  or  six  crosses  with  careful  selection  will  trans- 
form almost  any  scrub  animals  into  thoroughbreds,  or  into  animals  that  can  not  be 
distinguished  from  thoroughbreds,  and  which  for  all  practical  purposes  are  equal  to 
them.  It  would,  then,  require  but  a  few  years  of  united  endeavor  to  cause  the  scrub 
animals  to  disappear  from  every  part  of  our  country,  and  animals  as  good  as  our  best] 
thoroughbreds  to  take  their  place,  were  it  not  for  the  increased  requirements  of  such 
animals,  and  the  apparent  impossibility  of  so  suddenly  modifying  our  agriculture 
as  to  provide  the  necessary  conditions  for  their  existence. 

The  suggestions  thus  thrown  out  by  Prof.  Darwin  have  been  fol-J 
lowed  by  many  breeders  of  east  and  middle  Tennessee  with  marked  suc- 
cess, and  some  experiments  with  the  Merino  and  Cotswold  may  be^ 
given  from  the  peri  of  Mr.  Crutch  field.  His  first  practical  experience- 
with  sheep  commenced  in  1864,  and  continued  for  over  twenty-five] 
years.  He  had  been  accustomed  to  the  native  sheep  of  the  State  and 
had  never  seen  any  of  the  improved  breeds  until  he  saw  some  Cots- 1 
wolds  owned  by  James  P.  Johnson,  of  Laurel  Hill,  Williamson  County. 
Writing  in  1878,  Mr.  Crutchfield  says: 

In  1864  I  purchased  a  lot  of  native  ewes,  and  was  fortunate  in  getting  the  use  of  a 
superior  Spanish  Merino  ram,  bred  by  R.  Peters,  of  Atlanta,  Ga.,  to  cross  upon  them, 
which  cross  gave  great  improvement  in  carcass,  form,  and  fleece,  covering  the  naked 
places  of  the  natives,  and  making  the  fleece  much  more  dense,  and  the  fiber  finer 
and  stronger. 

I  saved  the  ewe  lambs  of  the  cross  and  bred  them  to  an  improved  Kentucky  buck, 
bred  by  Robert  W.  Scott,  of  Frankfort,  Ky.,  which  increased  the  size  of  carcass, 
and  gave  greater  length  and  yield  of  wool. 

The  ewe  lambs  of  his  get  were  bred  to  the  best  Cotswold  buck  I  could  procure, 
American  breed  and  imported;  never  using  one  buck  longer  than  two  years,  and 

*  Letter  of  Thomas  Crutchfield  to  Prof.  J.  B.  Killebrew.  Sheep  Husbandry  in  I 
Tennessee. 


EAST   OP   THE   MISSISSIPPI   KIVEB.  671 

never  breeding  in-and-in.  In  the  meantime  I  have  added  to  my  flock  American-bred 
and  imported  Cotswold  ewes  at  heavy  cost,  breeding  them  to  the  same  bucks. 

The  imported  and  American-bred  Cotswolds  and  their  offspring  are  not  superior, 
either  in  carcass  or  fleece,  to  those  of  my  own  breeding.  I  clipped  samples  of  wool 
from  Prince  of  Wales,  an  imported  English-bred  buck,  and  also  from  an  ewe  of  my 
own  breeding,  which,  through  several  generations,  could  be  traced  back  through 
the  Merino  cross  to  the  native.  1  sent  these  samples  to  my  wool  merchants  in  Bos- 
ton, Mass.,  with  history,  and  requested  their  opinion  of  the  wool  on  its  merits. 
They  pronounced  the  ewe's  wool  superior  to  the  buck's.  It  was  equally  as  good 
combing  wool,  18  inches  long,  was  of  finer  and  stronger  fiber,  soft  to  the  touch, 
attributable  to  the  shade  of  Merino  in  it. 

The  effects  of  cross  to  the  Spanish  Merino,  in  fineness  and  softness  of  fiber  and 
density  of  fleece  and  strength  of  staple,  remain  for  many  generations.  I  cull  my 
t- \vt-s  annually,  at  shearing  time,  marking  all  that  are  deficient  in  form  or  fleece,  or 
that  are  becoming  aged,  and  set  them  apart  with  the  wethers  for  mutton,  which 
are  sold  the  following  spring,  often  taking  a  better  price  than  ordinary  sheep, 
because  they  gross  less  and  are  better  mutton. 

I  sold  a  lot  last  spring  (fattened  principally  on  grass)  to  the  butchers  of  Chatta- 
nooga that  averaged  166J  pounds  gross,  having  clipped  an  average  of  10|  pounds  of 
nice  combing  wool,  which  sold  at  37£  cents  per  pound.  The  price  for  them  was  6 
cents  per  pound  gross,  netting  me  $14  per  head,  while  the  market  for  ordinary  mut- 
ton was  4  cents.  They  grossed  less  than  one-third  and  were  sold  for  15  cents  per 
pound  net. 

In  1871,  Mr.  Outclifield  had  72  breeding  ewes,  a  cross  from  the 
Improved  Kentucky  impregnated  by  a  Cotswold  ram.  From  50  of 
these  ewes  he  had  85  lambs,  72  living,  13  came  dead,  and  one  was 
killed.  In  reviewing  his  experience  with  his  flock  up  to  1877,  he  said 
that  at  one  time  23  ewes  brought  consecutively  47  lambs,  22  having 
twins  and  the  twenty-third  triplets.  In  1877  50  ewes  raised  79  lambs. 

Since  1866  he  received  for  sheep  and  wool  sold $3, 974. 00 

He  had  on  hand  100  head  valued  at 1, 500. 00 

Value  of  flock  and  increase  from  it 5, 474. 00 

He  had  expended  for  breeding  ewes  and  rams 657. 50 


Leaving  a  gross  profit  for  twelve  years  of 4, 816. 50 

Or  over  60  per  cent  per  annum  upon  the  capital  invested,  supposing  the 
same  to  have  been  invested  at  the  beginning,  while  about  one-half  of  it 
was  invested  in  the  latter  years.  The  cost  of  keeping  is  not  included, 
and  is  counterbalanced  by  the  benefits  derived  from  the  sheep. 

Others  have  followed  Mr.  Crutchfield  in  raising  sheep  and  lambs  for 
the  Chattanooga  market,  and  there  is  now  an  increasing  interest  in  the 
mutton  breeds  in  East  Tennessee,  and  excellent  mutton  raised  there 
commands  good  markets  in  Cincinnati  and  other  Northern  cities. 

Bat  the  best  locality  in  Tennessee  for  raising  all  classes  and  varieties 
of  sheep  has  proven  to  be  the  great  Silurian  limestone  basin  of  middle 
Tennessee.  This  district  is  thus  described  by  Prof.  Killebrew: 

Here  the  meadows  are  luxuriant,  the  pastures  are  green,  the  soil  is  fertile,  the 
Avater  abundant.  Here  are  landscapes  diversified  by  hill  and  dale,  wood  and  stream, 
iueado\v  and  field,  forming  a  thousand  delightful  combinations,  and  making  an 
extended  panorama  of  exquisite  rural  elegance  and  beauty.  Here  all  the  grasses 


672        SHEEP  INDUSTRY  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES 

flourish;  even  the  loftiest  hills  are  set  in  blue  grass,  and  countless  flocks  fleck  the 
landscape  on  every  side.  The  highest  evidence  that  can  be  adduced  as  to  the  vaive 
of  this  basin  for  sheep-raising  lies  in  the  fact  that  sheep  are  growp,  upon  neat  y 
every  farm,  and  up  to  a  certain  number  are  universally  held  to  be  profitable.  Sheep 
require  no  feeding  in  this  division  during  winter,  when  upon  good  grass,  barley, 
wheat,  or  rye  fields,  except  when  there  is  a  fall  of  snow.  Then  some  oats,  fodder,  or 
corn  is  fed.  They  are  very  healthy ;  and,  indeed,  when  attended  to,  prove  a  moot 
profitable  investment  up  to  a  certain  number — say  one  sheep  for  every  5  acres  of 
open  land,  or  two  sheep  on  every  acre  of  permanent  pasture,  presuming  that  the 
farmer  will  have  other  stock  in  proportion  to  the  size  of  his  farm. 

The  cost  of  keeping  sheep  per  annum  is  about  $1.25.  The  wool  of  one  sheep  of  high 
grade  wrill  about  pay  for  the  keeping  of  two.  Lambs  are  a  clear  profit,  and  the  esti- 
mated cost  of  wool  is  below  10  cents  a  pound.  The  average  yield  of  wrool  for  improved 
lands  in  this  basin  is  between  7  and  8  pounds.  Nearly  all  the  natives  have  disap- 
peared from  this  locality,  and  high  grades  have  taken  their  place.  Mutton  sheep, 
near  Nashville,  good  grades,  bring  in  the  markets  cents  per  pound  gross;  lambs, 
grade,  $3.50  to  $4.50.  A  large  trade  in  lambs  has  been  built  up  within  a  few  years 
past.  Hundreds  of  car  loads  are  shipped  every  spring  from  this  basin  to  points 
north,  and  good  prices  realized.  Good  sheep  farms  can  be  bought  ir  %asiu  for 

$20  to  $40  per  acre,  varying  according  to  the  situation  and  soil. 

The  natives  of  tliis  region  were  the  same  as  those  of  the  mountains 
of  east  Tennessee,  and  the  first  improvement  was  made  by  the  Span- 
ish Merino. 

The  first  Merino  sheep  taken  into  Tennessee  were  of  the  Humphreys 
flock,  through  the  agency  of  Seth  Adams,  most  of  them,  if  not  all, 
being  half-bloods.  The  first  known  full-bloods  were  7  purchased  by 
Mr.  Mark  E.  Cockrill,  in  New  York,  and  driven  by  him  on  foot  the 
entire  distance  to  his  home  near  Nashville,  about  1813.  In  March,  1814, 
Mr.  Cockrill  advertised  in  the  Nashville  Whig  that  he  would  have,  in 
the  fall,  full-blooded  Merino  rams  to  let,  and  he  appealed  to  the  farmers 
in  the  vicinity  to  kill  their  common  rams  and  improve  their  flocks  and 
thus  "  contribute  towards  the  establishment  of  independence,  which  is 
the  raising  of  sufficient  wool  for  home  consumption."  From  Mr.  Cock- 
rill's  flock  many  others  were  formed  in  middle  Tennessee.  In  1821  his 
flock  numbered  800  head.  They  were  very  healthy  and  prospered  well. 
The  climate  agreed  with  them,  and  there  was  no  deterioration  in  the 
wool  when  properly  cared  for.  His  ewes  weighed  from  90  to  115  pounds. 
His  wool  was  sent  to  the  mills  at  New  Harmony,  Ind.,  and  Steuben- 
ville,  Ohio,  and  exchanged  for  cloth.  His  fleece  then  averaged  5  pounds 
to  the  sheep,  equal  in  quality  to  the  best  Ohio  wool. 

Mr.  Cockrill  was  an  intelligent  and  progressive  breeder,  and  when 
the  Saxony  sheep  were  imported  and  the  rage  for  finer  wool  set  in  he 
bought  some  of  the  best  Electoral  Saxonies  and  crossed  his  Merino 
flock  with  them,  and  for  many  years  possessed  one  of  the  best  Saxony 
flocks  in  the  United  States,  said  by  him  in  1840  to  be  hardy  and  longer 
lived  than  the  common  sheep  of  the  country,  the  rams  of  first  quality 
producing  5  pounds  of  unwashed  wool.  Two  ewes  weighed  98  and  10U 
pounds,  and  2  ewe  lambs,  5  months  old,  weighed  50  and  62  pounds. 

There  was  no  deterioration  in  the  sheep  in  any  respect,  and,  in  1849, 


EAST    OF    THE    MISSISSIPPI    RIVER.  673 

Mr.  Cockrill  contended  that  by  comparison  he  found  that  he  was  grow- 
ing as  fine  wool  as  any  grown  in  the  United  States  or  Saxony,  and  that 
some  others  were  doing  the  same,  and  that  the  descendants  of  the 
Saxon  importation  in  the*  low  latitudes  of  the  United  States  were  su- 
perior to  those  brought  over,  a  fact  which  he  attributed  to  the  climate. 
In  1851,  Mr.  Cockrill  put  fleeces  on  exhibition  at  the  World's  Fair  in 
London  and  beat  the  Saxony.  The  report  in  making  the  award  said : 

The  wool  transmitted  by  this  exhibitor,  from  Xashville,  is  well  got  up,  and  exhib- 
its, like  the  preceding  specimens  (German  wool),  a  quality  of  fiber  indicative  of 
care  and  skill  in  the  development  and  improvement  of  the  fleece,  which  calls  for  the 
award  of  the  prize  medal. 

The  flock  was  also  successful  at  numerous  other  competitions,  among 
others  at  the  exhibition  of  textile  fabrics  held  at  Cincinnati,  where 
Mr.  Cockrill  was  accorded  a  gold  medal  for  the  best  exhibited  specimen 
of  wool.  In  1860  the  flock  numbered  about  1,200  head,  and  sheared  as 
many  ^  ^  to  the  fleece  and  of  as  good  quality  as  the  flocks  of  Wash- 
ington County,  Pa.  The  flock  survived  the  war  and  the  presence  of 
soldiers  in  its  immediate  vicinity,  but  it  was  somewhat  reduced.  Five 
hundred  head  remained  in  1871,  when  the  average  weight  of  fleece  was 
something  over  4  pounds,  the  grade  very  uniform  and  chiefly  XX  to 
picklock,  and  the  market  value  as  high  as  any  clothing  wool  grown  in 
the  country.  Mr.  Cockrill  bred  his  flock  pure  to  the  time  of  his  death, 
which  occurred  in  1875.  It  became  noted,  not  only  in  Tennessee  but 
all  over  the  United  States,  and  many  of  the  best  Saxon  flocks  of  Ohio 
were  enriched  by  an  infusion  of  its  blood.  It  is  always  referred  to 
when  the  possibilities  of  wool-growing  in  Tennessee  are  under  consid- 
eration, and  certainly  does  show  that  the  State  can  produce  as  good 
wool  as  any  other  portion  of  the  world. 

There  were  other  flocks  of  Merinos  besides  that  of  Mr.  Cockrill. 
Some  of  these  were  abandoned  between  1815  and  1820 ;  others  survived 
for  some  years  longer,  but  by  1860  nearly  all  had  ceased  to  exist  and 
had  given  way  to  mutton  breeds,  and  in  3880  there  were  but  two  or 
three  pure-bred  flocks  in  the  entire  State. 

The  Leicesters  were  the  first  long-wooled  sheep  introduced  into  the 
State,  and  for  many  years  they  were  the  popular  sheep.  Their  fleece, 
though  not  quite  as  heavy  as  the  Cots  wolds  of  the  present  day,  was 
finer  in  texture.  They  could  not  compete,  however,  with  the  heavier 
carcass,  as  well  as  fleece,  of  their  more  hardy  rivals,  and  have  almost 
entirely  disappeared  and  made  room  for  the  Cotswolds.  There  are 
those,  however,  who  still  believe  that  for  general  purposes  the  Leicester 
is  unsurpassed,  if  not  unequaled,  by  any  other  breed  of  sheep,  and  that 
for  Tennessee  it  is  the  best  sheep. 

The  Cotswolds  were  for  a  long  time  the  favorite  sheep,  and  they  were 

extensively  crossed  on  the  native  sheep  and  grades  of  the  Leicester 

and  those  of  the  Merino  that  had  survived  the  general  abandonment 

of  fine-wool  growing.    It  was  found  that  this  cross  made  a  very  marked 

22990 43 


674        SHEEP  INDUSTRY  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES 

improvement  on  the  common  sheep,  and  where  wool-growing  was  still 
the  object  the  Cotswold  was  found  the  most  profitable  and  many  flocks 
were  graded  up,  until  the  whole  middle  section  of  the  State  was  well 
stocked  with  them.  The  first  cross  often  trebled  the  weight  of  fleece, 
and  at  the  same  time  greatly  increased  the  size  and  improved  the  form 
of  the  native.  While  the  Cotswolds  were  well  adapted  to  middle 
Tennessee,  they  were  not  so  well  fitted  for  the  hot  sun  and  somewhat 
scant  pastures  of  the  southern  and  western  portions  of  the  State. 
Level  pastures  and  a  cool  climate  seem  best  to  agree  with  them. 

The  Southdowns  came  into  middle  Tennessee  about  the  same  time  as 
the  Cotswolds,  and  have  now  supplanted  them  in  favor  and  are  increas- 
ing more  rapidly  than  any  other  improved  breed.  One  hundred  ewes 
of  this  breed  will  have  100  per  cent  of  lambs,  twins  occurring  as  often 
as  barren  ewes.  Thoroughbred  rains  crossed  on  the  common  sheep 
produced  lambs  worth  from  $1  to  $1.50  more  per  head  than  lambs  of 
same  age  by  a  common  ram.  Next  to  the  Merinos,  the  Southdowns  can 
best  adapt  themselves  to  any  portion  of  the  State,  and  "  while  they  are 
an  upland  sheep  and  will  thrive  to  perfection  on  the  table-lands,  they 
will  do  equally  as  well  on  the  rich  pastures  of  the  middle  and  western 
portions  of  the  State,  though  in  flocks  of  smaller  size.  They  are  grow- 
ing more  rapidly  in  popular  favor  South  than  either  the  Cotswolds  or 
Merinos." 

In  a  report  upon  sheep  husbandry  in  Tennessee,  published  in  1880, 
Prof.  Killebrew  said  that  the  Southdown,  the  Cotswold,  and  the  Merino 
were  the  three  most  popular  breeds  in  the  State.  They  and  their  prod- 
uce constituted  at  that  time  nine-tenths  of  the  sheep  in  the  State  out- 
side of  the  common  natives  ^>r  scrubs. 

There  are  yet  a  few  descendants  of  the  Leicester  and  some  Shropshire  Downs.  The 
former  are  fast  disappearing,  and  the  latter  have  not  proved  as  profitable  with  ns  as 
they  have  in  England,  or  even  in  some  of  the  Northern  States,  although  they  have 
been  in  the  hands  of  skillful  and  experienced  breeders  to  create  a  demand  for  them, 
either  to  breed  as  thoroughbreds  or  to  cross  upon  the  common  sheep. 

Since  this  was  written  the  Shropshires  have  grown  more  in  favor,  and 
other  breeds  also  have  been  taken  into  this  section  and  many  are  well 
represented.  No  one  breed  combines  all  the  good  qualities,  hence  many 
crosses  have  been  made,  not  only  with  all  the  improved  English  breeds, 
but  also  with  the  natives,  and  the  latter  cross  is  found  to  be  the  most 
profitable. 

The  native  sheep,  as  elsewhere  stated,  constitute  nine-tenths  of  the 
sheep  of  the  State,  yielding  about  2  pounds  of  wool,  and  of  mutton, 
gross,  about  60  pounds.  It  is  upon  these  sheep,  now  nearly  replaced 
by  high  grades  in  this  middle  section  of  the  State,  as  a  basis  that  the 
prosperous  mutton  industry  rests,  and  the  success  is  pointed  to  as  a 
guide  to  other  parts  of  the  State  where  the  natives  still  hold  the 
ground : 

By  using  the  native  ewes  of  fair  size,  good  shape,  and  robust  constitution  as.  a  base 


EAST   OP   THE   MISSISSIPPI   RIVER.  675 

and  crossing  upon  them  the  Spanish  Merino  buck,  saving  the  ewe  lambs  of  such  cross 
and  breeding  them  to  the  Cotswold  buck,  we  can  produce  a  breed  of  sheep  healthier 
and  better  suited  to  our  climate,  soil,  and  pasturage  than  any  of  the  improved 
breeds,  yielding  as  much  mutton  in  carcass  and  as  great  a  quantity  of  wool.  A 
cross  of  Merino  and  Cotswold  would  result  similarly,  but  would  not  utilize  the  great 
number  of  natives.  A  cross  direct  of  the  Cotswold  and  natives  is  a  vast  improve- 
ment, getting  rapidly  to  the  large  carcass  and  great  yield  of  wool;  but  without  the 
Merino  cross  the  density  of  fleece,  fineness  and  softness  of  fiber  imparted  by  it  can 
not  be  attained.  It  is  of  the  utmost  importance  that  those  breeding  either  of  full- 
bloods  or  crosses  should  select  the  best  of  rams.  A  good  Merino  ram  bred  to  the 
native  ewe  adds  100  per  cent  to  the  yield  of  wool,  and  greatly  to  the  carcass  in  sym- 
metry of  form  and  fattening  qualities.  Nor  is  this  all;  the  half-bloods  are  worth 
double  their  dams,  and  can  be  used  as  a  basis  of  still  higher  and  greater  improve- 
ment by  the  use  of  the  large  carcassed,  long-wooled  rams,  which  cross  will  greatly 
increase  the  weight  of  carcass  and  double  the  yield  of  wool.  When  the  number  of 
lambs  produced  by  one  ram  is  taken  into  consideration,  and  when  it  is  seen  over 
what  an  immense  extent,  even  in  his  own  direct  offspring,  his  good  or  bad  qualities 
are  to  be  perpetuated,  how  obvious,  then,  that  none  but  the  best  bucks  should  be 
selected.  How  important,  then,  that  every  scrub  ram  in  the  State  should  be  exter- 
minated, and  his  place  supplied  with  one  of  the  improved  breeds.  In  a  few  years 
the  natives  would  become  extinct,  and  in  their  stead  we  should  have  a  breed  of 
sheep  yielding  from  twice  to  four  times  the  quantity  of  wool,  and  of  a  superior  qual- 
ity, aside  from  the  great  increase  of  mutton  in  carcass.  As  a  general  thing  in  Ten- 
nessee it  is  not  so  much  the  quality  as  the  quantity  of  carcass  desired ;  very  little 
difference,  except  in  special  localities,  is  made  in  the  quality  of  mutton,  just  so  that 
it  i.s  in  good  condition,  and  the  larger  the  carcass  the  greater  the  profit. 

What  Mr.  Crutchfield  did  in  east  Tennessee  with  the  Cotswold  others 
have  done  in  middle  Tennessee  with  the  Southdowns,  and  with  much 
success.  At  Goodie  ttsville,  Davidson  County,  a  few  miles  north  of 
Xashville,  at  the  base  of  a  mountain  plateau,  where  limestone  soil  gives 
rich  pasturage  and  where  there  are  unfailing  streams  of  the  best  water, 
there  was  organized  some  years  since  a  mutton  lamb  club  to  encourage 
and  stimulate  the  protection  and  improvement  *of  sheep.  The  object 
was  twofold,  to  disseminate  improved  stock  and  to  furnish  the  market 
with  choice  lambs.  The  club  was  limited  to  forty  members.  There  are 
two  annual  sale  days — one  in  May,  the  other  in  June.  Expectant  buyers 
are  notified  by  the  secretary  that  on  a  designated  day  in  May  the  mem- 
bers will  offer  their  wool  and  lambs  at  auction  sale.  The  lambs  are 
examined  by  a  committee  of  members  who  see  they  are  up  to  the  regu- 
lation weight  for  the  month  and  not  deficient  in  quality.  Those  only 
which  can  pass  this  examination  are  put  up.  After  the  buyers  have  an 
opportunity  for  inspection  sealed  bids  are  offered  and  the  highest  bidder 
takes  the  property.  As  many  as  1,500  have  been  sold  in  one  day  at 
prices  ranging  from  $6  to  $8  per  100  pounds.  Some  of  these  were  to 
be  used  in  improving  flocks,  others  to  grace  the  tables  of  those  who 
appreciated  good  lamb.  The  sale  in  June  does  not  command  top  prices, 
the  stock  offered  being  not  quite  so  good  and  the  market  not  so  buoyant. 
A  premium  is  given  by  the  club  to  the  member  producing  the  best 
lambs. 

The  friendly  rivalry  engendered  by  this  club  has  greatly  improved 


676  SHEEP    INDUSTRY    OF    THE    UNITED    STATES 

the  sheep  of  the  county,  which  is  shown  on  many  of  the  farms  and  in 
the  better  quality  and  higher  price  of  lambs  and  mutton  in  the  Nash- 
ville market. 

Smith  County  is  in  the  blue-grass  district,  and  there  is  no  better 
grass  county  in  the  State.  Every  hill  arid  valley  that  is  not  covered 
can  be  covered  with  a  rich  blue- grass  pasture.  There  is  always  plenty 
of  pasture  for  sheep  in  summer  and  for  feed  in  winter,  and  yet  but  a 
few  years  since  a  committee  was  appointed  to  consider  the  adaptability 
of  this  county  to  profitable  sheep  husbandry.  The  committee  came  to 
these  conclusions : 

(1)  That  one  acre  of  average  pasture  will  keep  3  sheep  in  good  condition  the  year 
round,  with  only  an  addition  of  a  little  feed  in  winter  for  the  few  days  that  the 
ground  is  covered  with  snow. 

(2)  That  the  net  profits  on  sheep  in  Smith  County,  as  elsewhere,  are  large,  amount- 
ing to  more  than  50  per  cent. 

(3)  That  the  best  breeds  are  the  Leicester,  Cotswold,  a  cross  of  the  Leicester  and 
Cotswold,  and  the  Southdown.     One  of  our  correspondents,  we  have  seen,  prefers  a 
cross  of  the  Leicester  upon  the  Merino,  and  certainly  if  the  lambs,  as  he  claims 
they  do  from  that  cross,  weigh  from  75  to  100  pounds  at  four  or  five   months,  his 
preference  is  justified  by  the  result. 

(4)  That  here  in  Smith  County  sheep  need  scarcely  any  feed  the  year  round. 

(5)  That  what  are  known  as  the  common  scrubs  are  not  worth  keeping.     They 
yield  too  little  wool  and  make  too  little  mutton,  and  are  of  too  poor  a  quality  to  pay 
for  raising  them. 

As  one  proceeds  westward  from  this  favored  blue-grass  region  he 
comes  to  the  plateau  slope  of  west  Tenneseee,  where  in  general  the 
lands  are  low  and  the  surface  generally  broken  by  gentle  undulations, 
except  in  the  river  basins.  Although  the  soil  of  this  portion  of  the 
State,  being  quite  sandy,  is  not  so  well  fitted  for  grasses  as  the  section 
we  have  just  left,  nevertheless  some  grasses  find  a  most  congenial  soil. 
Herd's  grass  grows  luxuriantly  and  orchard  grass  finds  a  congenial 
home.  In  the  bluff  loam  lands,  next  the  Kentucky  line,  clover  attains 
its  highest  development.  The  river  and  creek  bottoms  of  the  extreme 
western  counties  are  covered  with  a  hardy  grass  that  affords  fair  graz- 
ing both  summer  and  winter,  and  there  is  also  a  great  quantity  of 
Smith  cane  that  keeps  green  all  winter,  and  of  which  sheep  are  very 
fond.  The  best  of  all  grasses  in  this  section,  though  not  a  winter 
grass,  is  the  Bermuda,  and  for  successful  sheep  farming  this  grass  alone 
would  suffice.  Turnips  and  fields  of  rye  and  wheat  would  make  up  the 
winter  pasturage.  Blue  grass  will  grow  in  this  section,  but  it  does  not 
make  a  good  sod.  Taken  as  a  whole,  west  Tennessee  has  a  larger  pro- 
portion of  rich  soils  adapted  to  heavy  mutton  sheep  than  any  other  part 
of  the  State,  but  the  sheep  husbandry  has  not  claimed  the  attention  there 
that  its  importance  warrants.  In  many  counties  there  is  not  enough 
wool  grown  to  furnish  stockings  to  the  inhabitants  or  muttoA  to  a  hun- 
dredth part  of  them.  Cotton- growing  absorbs  the  attention  of  the 
people  and  sheep  husbandry  is  neglected.  With  access  by  railroads  to 
good  markets^  where  good  prices  could  be  realized  for  early  lambs  *  and 


EAST    OF    THE    MISSISSIPPI    RIVER.  677 

fat  mutton,  the  business  is  utterly  neglected  and  despised.  Owing  to 
the  milder  climate  January  lambs  are  as  healthful  and  hardy  as  the 
February  lambs  in  the  central  part  of  the  State,  which  is  a  great  advan- 
tage, as  it  gives  the  benefit  of  bare  markets  to  the  west  Tennessee 
breeder. 

If  more  attention  were  given  to  raising  sheep  in  that  division  and  less  to  cotton- 
growing,  great  improvement  would  soon  be  visible,  not  only  in  tbe  general  manage- 
ment and  productiveness  of  the  farms,  but  in  the  financial  status  of  the  farmers 
tlu-mselves.  There  is  nothing  for  which  there  is  so  constant  a  demand  as  fat  lambs 
and  good  mutton.  Wool,  which  can  be  produced  at  about  the  same  cost  as  cotton, 
is  always  of  ready  sale.  A  diversified  agriculture  is  greatly  needed  in  west  Ten- 
nessee, and  there  is  no  branch  of  farming  more  interesting  and  more  remunerative 
than  the  breeding  of  sheep.  With  the  lands  in  west  Tennessee  carrying  a  fair  num- 
ber of  sheep  there  would  be,  in  the  aggregate,  an  immense  addition  to  the  income  of 
the  farmers,  and  thrift,  plenty,  and  contentment  would  take  the  place  of  doubt,  fear, 
and  disappointment.* 

The  writer  just  quoted  recommends  the  discarding  of  long  wooled 
sheep  in  the  western  section  of  the  State,  to  give  place  for  a  variety 
suited  to  the  climate  and  the  grazing  facilities  of  the  country,  and 
suggests  the  Merino  blood-as  a  foundation,  crossed  up  with  Southdown. 
This  would  make  a  most  profitable  breed  for  the  farmer,  giving  him  a 
hardy,  quick-maturing  mutton  sheep,  with  a  sufficient  fleece  to  pay  him 
handsomely  on  his  investment.  To  sum  up  the  whole  and  get  the  best 
breeds  for  the  different  sections  of  the  State,  three  only  are  considered, 
and  those  having  the  most  desirable  qualities  sought  after  by  the 
breeder — hardiness,  fleece,  and  mutton.  For  the  first  the  Merino 
should  be  chosen,  for  the  second  the  Cotswold,  the  best  known  and 
most  generally  used  of  all  the  long- wooled  breeds  in  the  State,  and  for 
mutton  the  Southdown.  For  the  eastern  division  of  the  State  the 
Cotswold  and  Merino  cross,  for  the  middle  division  the  Cotswold  and 
Southdown,  and  for  west  Tennessee  the  Merino  and  Southdown.  The 
keeping  of  large  flocks  by  farmers  is  not  advised,  for  in  nine  cases  out 
of  ten  it  would  entail  annoyance  and  expense,  while  a  few  sheep  well 
cared  for  would  be  profitable  to  every  farmer,  and  if  such  small  flocks 
were  bred  up  to  high  grades,  supposing  at  first  they  were  natives,  the 
profits  would  be  much  increased.  Sheep  should  not  be  the  only  prod- 
uct of  the  farm,  but  they  should  be  one  of  them,  a  factor  in  diversified 
agriculture. 

With  all  the  natural  advantages  of  climate  and  pasturage  Tennessee 
has  shown  little  or  no  progress  in  sheep  industry.  The  few  improved 
breeds  that  have  been  introduced  into  the  State  were  in  such  small 
numbers  and  have  been  so  lightly  appreciated  that  the  impression 
made  by  them  on  the  native  scrubs  is  insignificant.  In  1840  the  num- 
ber of  sheep  in  the  State  was  741,593,  yielding  1,060,332  pounds  of 
wool,  or  1.43  pounds  per  head;  in  1850  the  number  was  811,591  sheep, 
producing  1,364,378  pounds,  or  1.68  pounds  per  head.  In  this  period 

*Sheep  Husbandry  of  Tennessee.     J.  B.  Killebrew,  1880. 


678        SHEEP  INDUSTRY  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES 

tlie  farmers  paid  more  attention  to  horses  and  mules  as  live  stock, 
and  slieep  were  neglected.  The  work  was  mainly  done  by  negroes,  and 
with  the  raising  of  horses  and  mules  in  most  every  part  of  the  State, 
and  cotton,  hemp,  and  tobacco  in  the  middle  and  western  parts,  the 
farmers  were  content,  and  few  even  saw  proper  to  raise  enough  wool 
to  make  clothing  for  the  population,  and  there  was  a  falling  off  in  sheep 
from  1850  to  I860.  The  very  few  who  did  engage  in  the  business  of 
sheep  industry,  even  on  a  small  scale,  became  discouraged  and  dis- 
heartened by  the  destruction  of  their  sheep  by  dogs. 

Almost  every  family  raised  dogs ;  many  of  the  well-to-do  farmers  owning  packs  of 
hounds,  and  no  negro  considered  his  outfit  complete  without  one  or  more  worthless 
curs.  Being  half-fed  in  many  instances,  they  naturally  sought  to  provide  for  them- 
selves, and  the  sheep  being  a  remarkably  timid  animal,  running  from  the  sight  of  a 
dog,  they  fell  an  easy  prey. 

Under  such  circumstances  many  abandoned  the  business. 

The  completion  of  some  railroads,  connecting  with  those  running  to 
the  north  and  east,  gave  the  industry  an  impetus  in  favored  sections 
and  the  prospect  was  encouraging,  but  the  war  of  secession  give  it  a 
setback.  Yast  armies  marched  and  countermarched  over  her  fields 
from  18G1  to  1805,  and  the  sheep  spared  by  the  dogs  were  eaten  by 
hungry  soldiers.  At  the  close  of  the  war,  and  after  the  construction  of 
more  railroads  in  a  system  that  brought  the  great  markets  of  New 
York,  Boston,  Philadelphia,  Chicago,  St.  Louis  and  other  northern  and 
western  cities  near  the  farms  of  the  South,  early  lambs  were  readily 
disposed  of,  and  those  who  had  large  fat  lambs  to  sell  in  May  or  the 
early  part  of  June  received  for  them  $3.50  to  $4.50  apiece,  whereas, 
before  this,  the  farmer  considered  himself  fortunate  if  he  received  $1 
per  head.  This,  and  the  demand  for  fat  ewes  and  wethers  as  well, 
stimulated  the  industry,  and  from  1860  to  1870,  notwithstanding  the 
destruction  during  the  war  period,  there  was  an  increase  in  the  number 
of  sheep  from  773,317  to  826,783,  but  an  apparent  decrease  in  the 
average  yield  of  wool  per  head.  A  new  impetus  was  given  to  sheep 
husbandry  about  1874  and  1875  by  the  introduction  of  the  improved 
breeds  and  the  crossing  them  on  the  altogether  too  numerous  natives. 
This  increased  the  yield  of  wool  to  2.83  pounds  per  head,  but  the  total 
number  of  sheep  declined  from  826,783  in  1870  to  672,789  in  1880,  and 
the  decline  was  due  to  the  activity  of  the  dogs.  It  was  a  difficult 
matter  to  persuade  a  farmer  who  had  lost  a  nice  flock  of  sheep  between  j 
sundown  and  sunrise  that  there  was  any  profit  in  raising  them,  or  any  : 
hope  for  the  industry. 

The  dog  evil  was  such  a  crying  one  that  in  1875  the  legislature  was  j 
compelled  to  take  action,  and,  greatly  to  the  relief  and  satisfaction  of 
the  sheep  raisers,  passed  a  law  imposing  a  special  tax  on  dogs,  and  the  I 
number  of  these  decreased  from  214,717  in  1875  to  182,530  in  1876,  or  a 
total  decrease  of  32,187.    This  gave  great  encouragement,  and  many  j 
farmers  who  had  hitherto  raised  sheep  and  abandoned  them,  or  who 


EAST   OF   THE   MISSISSIPPI   EIVER.  679 

had  never  raised  them,  soon  embarked  in  the  enterprise,  and  many 
more  were  about  doing  so  when  the  supreme  court  of  the  State  stepped  in 
and  decided  that  the  law  of  1875  was  unconstitutional,  that  dogs  were 
property  and  must  be  taxed  like  other  property,  and  that  a  special  tax 
could  not  be  imposed  upon  them.  This  decision  operated  to  the  repeal 
of  the  law  in  1870,  and  again  there  was  a  decline  in  interest  in  sheep 
husbandry  and  advancement  of  flocks.  With  the  repeal  of  the  law 
sheep-killing  increased  and  so  did  the  dogs,  and  many  counties  reported 
a  loss  of  one  quarter  to  three-fourths  of  all  the  sheep.  One  county 
roported  a  loss  of  20  per  cent  killed  by  dogs  within  thirty  days  after 
the  repeal  of  the  law. 

An  investigation  into  the  condition  of  sheep  husbandry  in  Tennes- 
see in  1880  showed  that  the  favorite  breeds  were  the  Southdowns  and 
Ootswold,  and  that  the  former  was  regarded  as  rather  the  hardier  sheep. 
Farmers  situated  convenient  to  railroads  realized  $4  to  $4.50  for  their 
spring  lambs,  and  obtained  from  40  to  70  cents  for  their  wool  when  sent 
to  the  Eastern  markets,  but  the  amount  so  sent  was  insignificant  when 
compared  Avith  the  whole  clip;  indeed,  it  was  scarcely  appreciable. 
Native  sheep  sold  from  $1.50  to  $2  per  head,  and  the  cost  of  keeping 
them  was  50  to  75  cents  per  annum.  Native  wool,  unwashed,  which  cost  5 
to  10  cents  to  raise,  sold  for  20  to  25  cents  per  pound.  Some  of  this 
wool  was  sold  to  local  woolen  mills,  of  which  there  were  only  16  in  the 
State,  but  the  great  bulk  of  it  was  used  at  home  in  the  manufacture  of 
homespun  goods.  In  many  counties  not  wool  enough  was  grown  to 
supply  local  demand,  and  yet  there  is  not  a  county  in  the  State  in  which 
the  farmers  could  not  raise  wool  enough  to  clothe  all  its  people  at  a 
much  less  cost  than  the  same  number  of  pounds  of  cotton.  The  mar- 
kets for  fat  sheep  were  Atlanta,  Louisville,  Memphis,  Nashville,  Cin- 
cinnati, Augusta,  Mobile,  and  a  few  to  Baltimore  and  New  Orleans.  In 
most  of  the  counties  no  lambs  were  sold,  in  others  very  few;  some  coun- 
ties sold  them  to  the  Nashville,  Louisville,  Cincinnati,  New  York,  and 
Boston  markets. 

During  the  period  from  1880  to  the  present  writing,  Tennessee  has 
taken  some  advantage  of  the  frequent  importations  of  English  sheep, 
and  has  shared  in  the  general  improvement  of  the  mutton  breeds,  though 
not  so  largely  nor  so  generally  as  many  less  favored  States.  This  slight 
improvement,  however,  and  the  fact  that  it  is  happily  situated  to  raise 
early  lambs,  has  given  stimulant  to  this  business,  and  the  State  agent 
for  the  U.  S.  Department  of  Agriculture  reports  in  January,  1891,  that 
"  on  lines  of  railroad,  with  easy  shipping  facilities  and  favorable  freight 
rates  to  New  York,  there  has  lately  grown  up  quite  a  market  for  spring 
lambs  at  good  prices,  some  four  months  old  being  sold  as  high  as  $7.50 
per  head  to  meet  the  demand  for  fancy  priced  meat  in  that  city." 

It  can  not  be  said,  however,  that  the  sheep  industry  has  made  sub- 
stantial progress,  nor  can  such  progress  be  made  until  such  time  as  the 
sheep  is  accounted  better  than  the  dog,  and  the  people  and  the  powero 


680 


SHEEP    INDUSTRY    OP    THE    UNITED    STATES 


that  govern  the  State  realize  the  fact  that  its  fertile  lands  will  not  re- 
main fertile  forever  under  a  system  of  agriculture  that  is  exhausting 
them  year  by  year,  and  that  as  a  conservator  of  fertility  and  a  reno- 
vator the  sheep  has  no  equal.  There  is  hope  in  the  thought  that  many 
now  realize  these  facts  and  begin  to  agitate  and  discuss  them.  It  is  a 
question  of  some  care  in  a  few  localities,  and  a  degree  of  considerate 
forbearance  of  the  dog  in  others. 

Sheep  and  wool  in  Tennessee,  1840  to  1S90. 


Tear. 

Number  of 
sheep. 

Wool. 

Average 
of  wool  per 
head. 

1&<0                                             -            

741,593 

Pounds. 
1,  060,  332 

Pounds. 
1.43 

1850 

811  591 

1  364  378 

1  68 

1860 

771?  817 

]  405,236 

1  81 

1870                                        

826,  783 

1,  389,  762 

1.68 

1880 

672  789 

1  918  295 

2  83 

1890                                                

511,118 

1,  196,  213 

2.34 

Of  this  nearly  1,200,000  pounds  of  wool  only  20  per  cent  is  graded  as 
medium  clothing  wool,  the  remaining  80  per  cent  being  graded  as  below 
medium,  or  a  very  low  clothing  wool  or  carpet  wool.  There  does  not 
appear  to  be  a  very  great  competition  in  raising  carpet  wool  in  Tennes- 
see and  probably  never  will  be,  though  some  economists  suggest  it  and 
have  considerately  made  calculations  of  the  amount  needed  for  Ameri- 
can consumption  and  designated  where  it  might  be  grown  south  and 
west  of  Ohio. 

MISSISSIPPI. 


The  sheep  of  Mississippi  are  almost  entirely  scrubs,  and  are  of  two 
kinds,  those  of  English  origin,  common  in  the  northern  part  of  the 
State  and  descended  from  the  sheep  brought  in  by  the  early  settlers 
from  Tennessee,  Virginia,  and  South  Carolina,  and  the  "piney  woods'7 
sheep,  supposed  to  be  descendants  from  the  Spanish  sheep  of  Florida 
and  the  Mobile  district.  These  two  varieties  of  the  scrub  divide  the 
State;  the  English  scrub  and  some  slight  improvements  on  it  prevail- 
ing in  the  northern  and  central  parts,  and  the  piney-woods  sheep  hold- 
ing almost  undisputed  possession  of  the  southern  part.  Together  they 
constitute  nine-tenths  of  the  sheep  of  the  State.  The  first  improve- 
ment in  the  sheep  of  the  State  was  made  by  the  introduction  of  the 
Spanish  Merino. 

The  first  full-blooded  Spanish  Merino  known  to  have  been  taken  into 
Mississippi  was  a  Livingston  ram  by  Gen.  James  Wilkinson,  in  1811  or 
1812.  This  ram  is  reported  as  shearing  13  pounds  of  clean  unwashed 
wool.  From  this  ram  and  a  selection  of  the  best  common  ewes  in  the 
country  many  fine  flocks  were  formed,  and,  with  the  possible  exception 
of  Don  Pedro,  this  one  animal  did  more  to  improve  the  sheep  than  any 
other  one  rani  in  the  United  States  at  that  time.  Many  flocks  traced 


EAST    OF    THE    MISSISSIPPI   RIVER.  681 

their  origin  to  him.  The  plan  pursued  in  the  formation  of  an  improved 
flock  was  that  marked  out  by  Livingston  and  published  in  his  "  Essay 
on  Sheep."  One  flock  has  left  some  record.  In  1824  Mr.  B.  L.  C.  Wailes 
commenced  by  the  selection  of  ewes  as  highly  improved  by  crossing  on 
the  Merino  as  could  be  obtained  in  the  country,  an  improvement  tracing 
its  origin  to  the  Livingston  ram.  His  flock  was  increased  from  time  to 
time  by  the  addition  of  choice  ewes  from  different  flocks,  most  of  which 
obtained  their  blood  from  the  same  Livingston-Wilkinson  ram.  It  was 
subsequently  crossed  by  a  Merino  ram  from  Kentucky,  owned  by  Mr. 
J.  Dunbar. 

In  1831  Mr.  Wailes  purchased  a  pair  of  Saxons  and  introduced  them 
into  his  flock,  and  his  sheep  soon  became  characterized  by  a  plump, 
compact  form,  full  quarters,  and  by  a  fleece  enveloping  the  entire  body 
and  legs  down  to  the  hoofs. 

In  1839  Mr.  Mark  II.  Cockrell,  who  had  large  flocks  of  Spanish  and 
Saxon  Merinos,  became  a  cotton  planter  in  the  State  of  Mississippi  in 
latitude  32J°  north,  and  removed  his  Saxony  flock  from  Tennessee,  in 
latitude  36°,  to  his  cotton  plantation,  where  he  kept  them  six  years. 
In  that  level,  damp  country  where  he  grazed  them  they  did  well,  grew 
larger,  and  produced  soft,  cotton-like  wool,  free  from  hard  hairs.  This 
was  more  particularly  the  case  with  his  Saxons,  but  in  many  cases  the 
Spanish  Merino  showed  like  results.  The  wool  grown  in  that  climate 
was  superior  to  most  of  that  grown  elsewhere.  It  possessed  more  of 
the  requisites  for  a  perfect  fleece  and  fitness  for  superior  broadcloth 
than  the  produce  of  the  same  sheep  in  latitude  36°,  attributed  to  the 
fact  that  in  Mississippi  the  food  was  better  adapted  to  sustain  a  healthy 
condition  of  the  skin,  which  was  kept  oily  by  warmth,  green  herbage 
and  succulent  food  during  winter  as  well  as  summer.  The  pores  of  the 
skin  were  not  closed,  the  wool  did  not  cease  to  grow,  there  was  no 
fever  from  housing,  crowding,  and  from  dry  food,  but  a  regular,  uniform, 
and  continuous  growth  of  fleece  the  whole  year.  Ten  years7  experience 
and  observation  convinced  Mr.  Cockrell  that  in  Mississippi  the  tendency 
was  to  the  improvement  rather  than  to  deterioration  in  the  quality  of 
the  wool,  even  where  the  finest  wools  were  attempted.  A  flock  in  the 
warm  climate  required  but  little  feeding,  a  very  small  investment  in 
land,  and  but  little  labor  in  preparing  for  winter. 

Although  sheep  husbandry  was  not  a  favorite  and  popular  occupa- 
tion, and  did  not  assume  a  high  position  in  economical  importance,  yet 
quite  a  number  of  Merinos  were  kept  in  the  State,  and  were  very 
healthy.  In  1845  Thomas  Affleck,  Washington,  Miss.,  purchased  31 
Saxony  and  Spanish  Merinos  and  15  Leicesters  for  his  plantation,  and 
was  to  add  to  this  purchase  a  fine  Saxony  and  Spanish  flock  from 
Washington  County,  Pa,  In  184G  E.  R.  Brown,  of  Gallatiu,  bought  4 
Spanish  Merinos  of  William  Jarvis,  and  closely  following  this  other 
purchases  were  made  in  Vermont  and  Ohio  for  Mississippi  plantations, 
purchases  due,  in  a  great  measure,  to  Henry  S.  Randall's  letters  oil 


682  SHEEP    INDUSTRY    OF    THE    UNITED    STATES 

"  Sheep  Husbandry  in  the  South."  From  this  time  sheep  husbandry 
began  to  attract  more  attention,  and  there  was  an  inquiry  for  improved 
breeds. 

But  sheep  husbandry  made  no  substantial  progress.  Sheep  were 
healthy  and  flocks  multiplied  with  great  rapidity,  but  dogs  cut  oft*  the 
increase,  and,  as  is  generally  the  case,  the  destruction  was  of  the  best 
sheep,  and  the  increase  was  confined  to  the  common  sheep.  With  all 
the  natural  advantages  of  climate  and  good  pasturage  the  improvement 
of  sheep  was  practically  abandoned  by  1850,  although  the  census  fig- 
ures show  an  increase  from  128,367  sheep  in  1840  to  304,929  in  1850. 
In  this  latter  year  there  were  Southdowns,  Merinos,  and  other  blooded 
sheep,  but  they  bore  no  appreciable  proportion  to  the  great  number  of 
mixed  blood  and  common  sheep.  The  common  scrub  was  the  most 
healthy,  consequently  the  most  popular.  They  ran  on  waste  laud  and 
in  open  woods,  and  cost  next  to  nothing,  ordinarily  not  being  fed  at  all, 
and  only  when  necessity  compelled  were  they  given  a  few  blades  of  Indian 
corn.  Those  in  the  southern  part  of  the  State  had  no  feed  of  any  kind 
except  what  they  hunted  themselves,  and  they  had  no  attention.  With 
all  these  advantages  there  were  but  small  flocks  kept  barely  for  domes- 
tic or  family  use,  giving  about  2  pounds  of  wool  per  head  on  the  aver- 
age and  furnishing  mutton  that  was  claimed  to  be  equal  to  any  in  the 
world.  In  general,  all  effort  at  improvement  had  been  abandoned;  the 
exceptions  were  on  a  few  plantations  where  the  Southdown  was  raised 
for  mutton  and  the  Merino  for  wool. 

There  was  an  increase  in  the  number  of  sheep  from  1850  to  1860,  but 
there  was  no  improvement  worth  noting.  Occasionally  a  planter 
brought  from  a  Northern  State  an  improved  sheep  and  put  with  the 
common  ewes,  but  lack  of  attention  and  knowledge  of  the  art  of  hand- 
ling sheep  frustrated  his  good  intention. 

The  war  of  the  rebellion  operated  against  sheep  husbandry  in  the 
State.  Flocks  were  almost  entirely  neglected  and  attention  was  diverted 
to  raising  horses,  hogs,  mules,  and  cattle  to  supply  the  wants  of  the 
Confederate  army.  The  State  was  one  of  the  chief  granaries  of  the 
South.  The  close  of  the  conflict  found  nearly  all  of  the  sheep  of  the  cen- 
tral and  northern  part  of  the  State  destroyed,  and  no  immediate  effort 
was  made  to  replace  them.  The  price  of  cotton  ran  so  high  that  the 
farmers  were  dazed  and  parted  with  their  stock^  destroyed  all  pasturage, 
and  went  to  raising  cotfon.  The  pasturage  on  which  sheep  and  other 
live  stock  subsisted  was  looked  upon  as  a  curse,  and  an  energetic  war 
was  waged  against  it.  This  was  a  decade  of  sharp  decline,  and  the 
number  of  sheep  fell  from  352,632  in  1860  to  232,732  in  1870.  The 
decline  continued  until  1874,  when  the  lowest  point  was  reached  since 
1840.  There  was  now  an  increasing  interest  in  live  stock  of  every  kind, 
and  sheep  came  in  for  a  share  of  attention.  The  exclusive  culture  of 
cotton  had  proven  unwise  and  unprofitable,  and  grass  and  stock 
assumed  more  importance.  The  grass  that  had  been  banished  from 


EAST    OF    THE    MISSISSIPPI    RIVER.  683 

tlie  plantation,  plowed  under  and  burnt  out,  was  welcomed  back  as  an 
ally,  and  the  sheep  was  once  more  seen  around  the  plantation  home. 
An  investigation  made  by  the  U.  S.  Department  of  Agriculture,  in  1879, 
gives  some  details  of  progress  in  different  sections  of  the  State.  In 
Claiborne  a  flock  of  100  bred  from  the  native  ewes  and  a  Southdown 
ram  sold  in  the  market  for  $3  per  head.  All  the  attention  they  received 
in  twelve  months  was  salt.  A  correspondent  in  Hines  County  writes  : 

I  have  only  been  experimenting  three  years,  and  during  that  time  have  tested  the 
Cotswold  on  the  native  ewe  and  have  found  the  cross  of  good  size,  but  not  so 
easily  fattened.  After  fattening  they  are  much  more  easily  reduced  in  flesh  than 
the  cross  of  the  Southdown  on  the  common  ewe.  I  have  only  my  original  imported 
Cotswolds  two  years,  having  lost  all  their  increase,  i.  e.,  the  full-bloods.  I  feel  very 
much  encouraged  in  sheep  husbandry  and  will  continue  to  increase  my  flock,  but 
can  not  have  over  200  in  one  flock,  as  penning  more  than  this  number  in  one  inclosure 
at  night  will  not  do  in  this  climate. 

The  consensus  of  many  reports  was  that  sheep  did  well  in  most 
parts  of  the  State,  and  that  they  could  be  raised  at  a  very  low  cost. 
The  bane  of  the  industry  was  the  dog. 

There  was  an  increase  in  the  number  of  sheep  from  1870  to  1880  of 
more  than  20  per  cent,  and  the  production  of  wool  was  largely  increased, 
marking  a  gain  during  the  decade  of  446,358  pounds.  This  quantity 
of  wool  was  the  highest  in  the  State's  history,  though  the  number  of 
sheep  was  less  than  at  the  period  before  the  war,  and  was  accounted 
for  by  the  fact  that  sheep  were  more  extensively  raised  for  wool  than 
for  home  consumption  or  market,  owing  to  the  increase  in  the  home  con- 
sumption of  the  fiber  by  woolen  mills  that  had  been  established  in  the 
State,  upon  which  a  Mississippi  writer  remarks : 

This  is  but  another  evidence  of  the  good  results  which  flow  from  the  establishment 
of  manufactures,  which  create  a  ready  local  demand  for  the  raw  product  to  be  man- 
ufactured. The  production  of  wool  will  steadily  increase  with  the  establishment  of 
new  mills;  improved  breeds  will  be  introduced,  more  time  and  attention  will  be  de- 
voted to  the  industry,  and  better  safeguards  will  be  erected  around  it.  The  State  is 
admirably  adapted  to  successful  sheep  raising,  and  it  only  needs  the  establishment 
of  woolen  mills  and  the  vigorous  enforcement  of  friendly  legislation  to  stimulate 
the  industry  until  it  assumes  proportions  commensurate  with  the  favorable  natural 
conditions  which  exist.  *  *  *.  There  seems  to  be  nothing,  except  dogs,  in  the 
way  of  profitable  sheep  raising  in  the  State. 

The  pine  hills  and  level  lands  of  southern  Mississippi  are  especially 
well  adapted  to  sheep-raising,  and  it  is  in  this  part  of  the  State  that 
most  of  them  are  raised,  or,  more  correctly  speaking,  succeed  in  rais- 
ing themselves.  These  are  the  "  piney-woods  "  sheep,  and  are  never 
cared  for  from  one  year  to  another.  They  range  the  woods  and  old 
fields  in  common,  and  no  attention  is  paid  to  their  improvement.  They 
live  on  the  natural  grass  of  the  country,  have  no  diseases,  and  are 
very  prolific,  but  unfortunately  dogs,  hogs,  eagles  and  buzzards  claim 
most  of  the  increase.  Their  owners  realize  from  50  to  100  per  cent 
profit  on  their  investment, which  satisfies  them  and  they  are  indifferent 
to  an  improvement  that  would  promise  more.  They  shear  from  2  to  3 


684        SHEEP  INDUSTRY  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES 

pounds,  which  is  generally  sold  at  the  county  seats  on  certain  days. 
It  is  put  up  at  auction  and  the  price  at  which  it  is  bid  off  sets  the  price 
of  the  clip  of  the  entire  county,  just  as  the  selling  price  of  wheat  in 
Liverpool  fixes  the  price  in  New  York  and  Chicago.  The  wool  is 
mainly  worked  up  by  the  local  mills;  some  of  it,  however,  reaches  the 
Mobile  and  New  Orleans  markets.  The  sheep  of  this  part  of  the  State 
are  shipped  in  moderate  quantity  to  the  New  Orleans  .narket. 

For  over  three  hundred  years  these  upiney- woods"  sheep  have  existed 
on  the  Gulf  coast  without  the  attention  of  man.  They  have  lived  and 
increased  in  spite  of  his  neglect.  They  are  not  appreciated,  because  they 
have  come  without  effort  and  without  cost.  They  do  n  ^  interest  their 
owner,  for  they  are  never  in  his  sight,  except  at  shearinte  .mie,  and  for 
the  rest  of  the  year  he  is  ignorant  of  their  whereabouts.  In  the  heat 
of  summer  the  trees  provide  them  with  shade,  and  the  winter  has  no 
fear  for  them,  as  the  climate  is  so  equable.  As  shearing  t;  ne  approaches 
their  owners  begin  to  think  of  them,  and  about  April  1  tlio  inhabitants, 
sometimes  of  the  county  or  section  of  country,  organize  a  wool  hunt, 
which  means  catching  the  sheep.  This  is  not  a  difficult  undertaking, 
as  the  sheep  are  not  very  wild  and  do  not  stray  far  from  home.  They 
are  corralled  and  caught,  sheared,  marked  with  the  owner's  brand,  and 
turned  loose  until  another  shearing  time  runs  round.  Every  man  is 
entitled  to  the  wool  of  the  sheep  marked  with  his  brand.  The  entire 
clip  is  then  generally  taken  to  the  county  town  and  sold  to  the  highest 
bidder. 

A  correspondent  of  the  Sheep-Breeder  and  Wool-Grower  gives  an 
account  of  the  annual  wool  sale  for  Jackson  County,  Miss.,  for  1889. 
The  day  fixed  was  May  18.  Long  before  daylight  the  teams  from  the 
interior  of  the  county  began  to  arrive  at  the  county-seat,  their  approach 
heralded  by  the  cracking  of  whips  over  the  ox  teams  and  the  shouting 
of  the  negroes.  A  good  three-yoke  ox  team  hauled  about  4,000  or  5,000 
pounds  of  wool.  During  the  day  from  twenty  to  thirty  of  such  teams 
arrived  loaded  with  wool.  Then  came  small  cartloads  drawn  by  a  horse 
in  the  old  primitive  style,  a  man  or  boy  riding  the  horse.  They  own 
only  a  small  flock  of  sheep,  but  they  come  all  the  same  to  be  at  the 
grand  sale  of  wool.  After  all  parties  have  breakfasted  at  one  of  the 
hotels  the  buyers  and  farmers  assemble  at  the  railroad  depot,  where 
the  whole  clip  of  the  county  is  to  be  disposed  of  to  the  highest  bidder, 
and  there  are  bidders  from  New  Orleans  and  Mobile. 

When  this  wool  is  unloaded  on  the  platform  and  on  the  sidewalks  it  makes  a  very 
formidable  show.  The  first  bid  was  22  cents,  but  fiockniasters  would  not  listen  to 
the  bid,  insisting  that  there  was  no  tariff  issue  in  the  way  this  year;  that  last  year 
they  were  cut  out  of  4  to  6  cents  per  pound,  and  they  would  yield  to  no  such  price. 
Kidding  continued,  and  they  bid  one-half  cent  at  a  time  until  they  got  up  to  25£ 
cents;  then  the  farmers  retired  for  dinner,  with  all  hands.  After  dinner,  say  about 
4  o'clock  p.  in.,  they  met  and  compromised  on  26  cents  for  the  clip  of  Jackson  County. 
Those  who  did  not  get  their  wool  in  on  that  day  have  been  bringing  it  in  ever  since. 


HAINEB,   DEL. 


A  FLORIDA  PINEY  WOODS  SHEEP. 
FROM  "AMERICAN  AGRICULTURIST." 


1 7  E 1 


EAST    OF    THE  mSSISSIPPI    RIVER. 


685 


The  return  from  this  wool  admits  of  easy  calculation.  The  sheep 
averaged  about  3  pounds,  which,  at  26  cents  per  pound,  makes  78  cents. 
The  wool,  though  little  better  than  carpet  wool,  sells  at  a  good  figure, 
because  of  the  slight  shrinkage  in  scouring.  This  shrinkage  is  seldom 
more  than  35  per  cent.  The  return  from  mutton  is  so  uncertain  that 
no  reliable  estimate  can  be  made,  but  it  will  not,  in  general,  exceed  60 
cents,  unless  sent  to  the  New  Orleans  market.  The  sheep  belonging  to 
the  poor  whites  are  seldom  sold  for  mutton. 

The  natives  claim  that  the  piney  woods  sheep  are  capable  of  but  little 
improvement,  and  that  improved  breeds  will  not  do  well,  because  one 
man,  some  ten  or  twelve  years  ago,  bought  a  Merino  ram,  for  which  he 
paid  $100,  turned  him  out  with  1,000  ewes,  and  he  died.  That  settled 
the  question  as  to  improved  stock  in  that  section  of  country.  A  recent 
writer,  in  noticing  the  want  of  interest  in  the  sheep  in  this  section  of 
the  South,  makes  this  comment  on  the  system,  or  want  of  it,  followed 
by  the  farmer : 

Those  who  raise  sheep,  if  allowing  them  to  roam  in  the  pine  woods  can  be  called 
raising,  thoroughly  understand  the  animal  with  which  they  deal.  Intelligent  North- 
erners who  have  gone  South  to  teach  the  natives  how  to  raise  sheep  have  uniformly 
failed,  not  only  to  instruct,  but  to  succeed  themselves.  But,  though  the  Southerner 
understands  his  sheep  as  they  are,  he  has  not  the  remotest  idea  how  to  improve  either 
the  mutton  or  the  wool.  Like  the  Armenian  or  Persian,  he  can  handle  profitably  the 
sheep  which  his  father  and  grandfather  raised  before  him;  but  give  him  an  animal 
which  requires  a  different  treatment  and  he  will  invariably  fail.  The  sheep  of  Ten- 
nessee, Mississippi,  and  Alabama  are  absolutely  unimproved,  and  in  spite  of  prohibi- 
tory tariffs  they  will  so  remain  until  immigration  or  education  changes  the  character 
of  the  inhabitants.* 

Whether  from  "  immigration  or  education,7'  or  from  other  causes,  great 
improvement  in  the  live  stock  of  the  State  is  observable  in  the  last  five 
years,  and  stock-raising  gives  promise  of  success.  Large  areas  are 
being  fenced  in  for  grazing  purposes,  and  grasses  sown  for  early  spring 
use.  The  sheep  have  had  some  share  in  this  interest,  but  there  is  great 
objection  to  their  grazing  with  other  stock,  on  account  of  their  nipping 
the  grass  too  close. 

Sheep  and  wool  of  Mississ^pi,  1840  to  1890. 


Year. 

Number 
of  sheep. 

Wool. 

Average 
weight  of 
wool  per 
head. 

is  10            

128  367 

Pounds. 
175  1% 

Pounds. 
1  'J6 

1850 

304  9>:>9 

559  619 

I860               

:r>%>  »jy> 

665  959 

1    88 

1870 

2'52  732 

•'»<  •'>-, 

1880                           -               

<>87  694 

734  64'J 

2  55 

1890 

240  148 

6''9  91  4 

F  Our  Sheep  and  the  Tariff.     William  Draper  Lewis,  1890. 


G86        SHEEP  INDUSTRY  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES 

ALABAMA. 

The  sheep  husbandry  of  Alabama  is  similar  to  that  of  Mississippi, 
just  described,  and  to  that  of  Georgia  bounding  it  on  the  east.  The 
foundation  is  the  English  scrub  in  the  north  of  the  State,  and  the 
Spanish  scrub  in  the  south.  The  progress  of  the  industry  has  been  an 
unaided  struggle  for  existence  on  the  part  of  the  sheep  on  one  hand, 
and  the  persistent  "voracity  of  the  dog,  the  eagle,  the  vulture,  and  other 
xavagers  on  the  other.  There  was  but  little  attention  paid  to  sheep, 
and  no  effort  made  for  their  improvement  worthy  of  note.  A  few  Meri- 
nos found  their  way  into  the  northern  part  of  the  State  between  1820 
and  1840,  bub  they  made  no  impression.  In  1840  there  were  163,243 
sheep  in  the  State,  yielding  220,353  pounds  of  wool,  or  an  average  of 
1.35  pounds  per  head.  Sheep  were  raised  for  wool  only,  for  domestic 
purposes.  It  was  the  same  in  1850  j  wool  was  used  for  making  home- 
spun clothing  and  the  sheep  were  of  the  most  common  kind.  There 
was  the  beginning  of  an  improvement  about  1853,  and  two  small  lots  of 
French  Merinos  from  the  flock  of  S.  W.  Jewett,  of  Vermont,  were  taken 
into  the  State.  A  few  improved  English  breeds  were  introduced  about 
the  same  time  and  there  was  an  interest  engendered  in  sheep,  but  the 
war  of  secession  came  on  and  thoughts  were  turned  in  other  directions. 
Sheep  were  then  doubled  in  number  from  1840  to  1850,  and  maintained 
their  number  from  1850  to  1860.  The  weight  of  the  fleece  increased 
very  perceptibly  where  any  care  was  taken  of  the  flock.  But  there 
was  little  care  bestowed.  A  few  sheep  only  were  kept  upon  the  farms, 
and  their  wool  was  regarded  of  no  special  value  beyond  supplying  the 
limited  wants  of  the  landlord.  The  war  reduced  the  number  of  sheep 
one-half  j  there  was  a  partial  recovery  by  1870  and  a  gratifying  increase 
after  that  time.  The  culture  of  cotton  beginning  at  the  close  of  the 
war  was  overdone,  and  many  turned  their  attention  to  live  stock  and 
the  cultivation  of  grasses.  Sheep  shared  in  the  general  disposition  to 
such  new  avenues  of  agricultural  industry,  and  some  improved  sheep 
were  introduced  into  the  State,  and  with  them  better  care.  But  the 
improvement  was  confined  to  a  few  localities  and  to  a  limited  number  of 
people.  The  generality  of  the  people  had  a  great  aversion  to  sheep, 
and  the  raising  of  them  was  not  looked  upon  as  a  respectable  and  dig- 
nified pursuit.  Still  there  were  those  who  pursued  it  and  made  money. 
A  farmer  in  Lauderdale  reported  many  instances  of  small  flocks  paying 
over  100  per  cent  on  investment,  the  manure  not  taken  into  considera- 
tion. Some  grade  sheep  were  then  (1878)  being  raised  that  would 
average  from  7  to  9  pounds  of  wool,  and  a  few  that  would  go  to  10  and 
15  pounds.  There  was  a  general  disposition  to  cultivate  grasses  in 
some  localities,  and  Bermuda  grass  was  permitted  to  take  possession 
of  old  cotton  fields.  In  most  of  the  States  sheep  were  not  fed  at  all, 
and  it  cost  but  little  to  rear  them.  The  general  opinion  was  that  they 
did  better  running  at  large  than  if  kept  penned  and  fed.  A  case  is 


EAST   OF   THE   MISSISSIPPI   RIVER.  687 

reported  where  a  gentleman  purchased  1,000  head  of  sheep  for  $1,000 
and  turned  them  in  the  woods  back  of  his  plantation,  and  never  gave 
them  any  attention,  except  to  salt  them  once  a  week,  and  that  he  had 
not  failed  to  sell  $1,500  worth  of  wool  and  sheep  each  year  for  eight 
years  in  succession. 

P>ut  while  Alabama  possesses  advantages  to  make  this  business  one  of  great  pro- 
portions even  as  an  export  pursuit,  she  does  not  grow  wool  enough  to  clothe  one- 
t  hi rd  of  her  population.  We  continually  hear  of  hard  times,  scarcity  of  money, 
•wasted  soils,  and  scanty  crops.  We  see  a  spirit  of  unrest  and  instability  character- 
ize our  laboring  classes,  and  here  at  our  doors  are  several  millions  of  acres  of  pas- 
toral lands  as  well  adapted  to  wool-growing  as  those  are  in  the  countries  we  have  enu- 
merated, and  only  waiting  the  spirit  of  enterprise  to  develop  them  into  paying  invest- 
ments. The  mania  for  cotton  has  been  transmitted  from  father  to  son,  and  like  other 
forms  of  insanity  which  are  hereditary,  it  seems  to  be  well-nigh  incurable.* 

The  adaptability  of  Alabama  to  raise  wool  in  large  quantities  is  un- 
questioned, and  it  can  grow  as  fine  a  quality  as  any  other  State  in  the 
Union.  But  with  all  its  advantage  for  so  doing  it  has  some  peculiar 
disadvantages,  and  these  are  set  forth  by  the  writer  just  quoted: 

Of  all  our  domestic  animals,  our  people  have  the  greatest  aversion  to  sheep.  The 
sentiment  uttered  long  years  ago  by  John  Randolph,  that  he  "  would  go  out  of  his 
way  at  any  time  to  kick  a  sheep,"  is  unfortunately  too  general  to  be  removed.  Our 
ideas  of  sheep  husbandry  are  based  upon  the  few  ragged  animals  we  see  upon  some 
of  our  farms,  which  are  really  repulsive.  The  difference  between  them  and  the  bet- 
ter grades  of  the  Merino  and  Cotswold  is  as  striking  as  that  between  the  Indian  pony  of 
the  West  and  the  fine  thoroughbred  horses  of  England,  or  of  the  common  cattle  of  the 
country  and  the  fine  imported  stock  of  our  Middle  States. 

Time,  patience,  and  attention  are  the  chief  factors  in  the  development  of  any 
branch  of  industry.  We  first  used  the  hoe  exclusively  in  the  cultivation  of  cotton ; 
the  lint  was  separated  from  the  seed  by  the  fingers,  and  then  used  only  to  supply  the 
home  demand.  With  the  introduction  of  the  better  and  hardier  breeds  of  sheep, 
with  more  care  in  their  management,  more  system  in  sheltering  and  pasturage,  a 
feeling  of  interest  would  soon  supplant  that  of  aversion,  and  this  industry  would 
soon  develop  more  rapidly  than  has  cotton.  To  effectually  secure  this  position  for 
sheep  husbandry  the  legislature  of  the  State  would  have,  perhaps,  to  be  invoked,  at 
least  to  the  extent  of  securing  protection  against  dogs.  There  is  too  much  intelli- 
gence in  Alabama  to  listen  with  patience  longer  to  the  opinions  of  those  of  our  legisla- 
tors who  are  too  timid,  or  with  too  little  sympathy  with  our  rural  population  to  extend 
protection  to  industries  vital  to  our  well-being.  The  good  of  the  public  is  best  pro- 
moted by  extending  protection  to  those  who  bear  its  burdens,  and  the  law-maker 
who  shrinks  from  a  plain  duty  affixes  to  his  name  the  suspicion  that  personal  aims 
with  him  are  superior  to  the  general  good.  Legislation  upon  this  subject  is  unques- 
tionably needed,  and  to  secure  it  we  have  to  depend  upon  the  diffusion  of  a  more 
enlightened  sentiment  among  those  whose  interests  are  affected  by  it. 

The  force  of  these  remarks  concerning  the  dog  will  be  appreciated 
when  it  is  known  that  20  per  cent  of  the  sheep  of  the  State  are  annually 
killed  by  dogs.  Is  it  strange  that  sheep  husbandry  is  unpopular!  Is 
it  not  strange  that  there  are  any  flocks  in  the  State!  The  reports  made 
to  the  United  States  Department  of  Agriculture  blend  in  one  contin- 
uous wail  about  dogs.  In  1885,  "  the  low  price  of  wool  and  destruction 

*  Address  of  Dr.  C.  M.  Howard  before  the  Alabama  Agricultural  Society. 


688 


SHEEP  INDUSTRY  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES 


by  dogs  have  made  sheep-raising  both  unpopular  and  unprofitable. 
Hence,  sheep  have  suffered  from  neglect."  In  1886,  "the  low  price  of 
wool  and  the  ravages  of  dogs  have  combined  with  the  neglectful  habit 
of  the  people  to  reduce  the  number  of  sheep  in  the  State."  In  1888, 
"  sheep  have  decreased  in  number  in  every  section  of  the  State,  except 
in  the  pine  lands  of  south  Alabama,  where  an  increase  has  taken  place- 
Several  causes  have  operated  to  produce  this  effect,  including  the  low 
price  of  wool,  stock  law,  want  of  attention,  and  the  old  enemy,  the 
dog."  These  combined  causes  acted  disastrously  on  sheep  husbandry, 
and  the  report  for  1889  says :  "  One  may  travel  across  the  State  by  rail 
without  seeing  a  sheep.  The  number  is  gradually  decreasing  and  the 
attention  given  them  lessening  each  year." 

Slieep  and  wool  of  Alabama,  1S40  to  1890. 


Tear. 

Number  of 
sheep. 

Wool. 

Average 
weight  of 

wool  per 
head. 

1  840                

163,243 

Pounds. 
220  353 

Pounds. 
1  35 

1850 

37]  880 

657  118 

1  76 

I860                              

370  156 

775  117 

9  09 

1870 

241  934 

381  352 

1  r)7 

1880                                 

347  838 

762  207 

2  is 

1890         

286,  238 

632  585 

2  21 

It  is  estimated  that  95  per  cent  of  the  sheep  are  still  the  unimproved 
scrub,  and  that  80  per  cent  of  the  wool  is  a  low-grade  clothing  or  car- 
pet wool. 

FLORIDA. 

The  first  land  in  the  present  limits  of  the  United  States  to  feel  the 
pressure  of  the  golden-hoofed  sheep  was  Florida,  and  the  descendants 
of  these  sheep  have  come  down  to  us  through  a  period  of  over  325  years, 
and  are  to-day  seen  all  over  the  northern  and  western  part  of  Florida 
and  along  the  Gulf  coast  to  and  beyond  the  Mississippi.  In  this  sec- 
tion they  constitute  95  per  cent  of  all  the  sheep  known,  and  practically 
defy  all  attempt  at  improvement  or  cross.  In  the  eastern  part  of  the 
State  and  in  some  of  the  central  counties  they  have  given  way  to  low 
grades  of  English  sheep;  from  some  localities  they  have  disappeared 
and  left  no  successors.  The  history  of  sheep  husbandry  in  Florida  in 
the  early  years  of  the  century  is  unknown.  There  are  no  records  prior 
to  1840,  at  which  time  the  census  figures  gave  the  State  but  7,198  sheep 
and  7,285  pounds  of  wool,  an  average  of  1  pound  of  wool  to  each  sheep. 
In  1850  the  sheep  had  increased  to  23,311,  yielding  23,247  pounds  of 
wool.  From  1850  to  the  present  day  efforts  have  been  made,  particu- 
larly in  east  and  central  Florida,  to  improve  the  native  sheep  by  intro- 
ducing English  and  Merino  breeds,  but  they  have  generally  failed.  The 
conditions  were  not  favorable  to  them.  Several  attempts  were  made  in 


EAST   OF   THE   MISSISSIPPI   RIVER.  689 

Orange  County,  but  the  experiment  was  a  failure,  and  in  1878  there 
was  not  a  sheep  in  the  county.  Other  counties  fared  as  badly. 

But  notwithstanding  failure  with  improved  sheep  in  some  counties, 
in  others  the  natives  were  raised  with  great  profit.  In  Suwannee  the 
cost  of  raising  them  was  nominal  and  the  profit  on  first  cost  was  100  per 
cent.  In  Duval  sheep-raising  was  the  most  profitable  industry  until 
the  negroes  gave  up  work  and  became  proprietors  of  about  four  dogs 
each  on  the  average;  then  it  became  worthless.  The  fleece,  although 
light,  was  fine  and  clean,  and  the  mutton  was  thought  by  the  raiser  to 
be  finer  in  flavor  than  that  at  the  North. 

In  Leon  County,  before  the  war  of  secession,  every  planter  raised 
live  stock  and  devoted  many  of  his  broad  acres  to  sheep  walks  and 
pasture  for  cattle,  but  since  the  war  this  industry  has  been  much  neg- 
lected. Of  late  years  more  attention  has  been  paid  to  sheep,  and  some 
thoroughbred  rams  have  been  introduced  which  have  made  great 
improvement;  sheep  do  well,  disease  is  unknown  among  them,  and  it 
is  never  cold  enough  to  necessitate  sheltering  them.  They  yean  in  the 
open  fields  in  December  and  January  with  perfect  impunity.  They  are 
raised  without  being  fed  at  all  on  many  farms,  but  left  entirely  to  sub- 
sist on  the  natural  and  wild  supply  of  food,  and  without  being  shel- 
tered one  hour  from  their  birth  to  their  maturity.  A  successful  sheep 
farmer,  being  within  2  miles  of  Tallahassee,  the  capital  of  the  State, 
gives  his  experience : 

I  began  sheep-raising  in  1874  by  selecting  8  head  out  of  a  lot  that  I  had  bought 
for  killing  and  keeping  them  one  year  as  an  experiment.  I  raised  8  lambs  (one  pair 
twins),  and  as  they  did  well  I  decided  to  increase  my  flock,  and  in  January,  1876,  I 
had  66  head  of  grown  sheep.  I  then  began  to  keep  an  accurate  account  with  that 
branch  of  iny  business.  I  have  bought  some  each  year  and  killed  off  the  inferior 
ones  and  kept  only  the  best,  until  I  have  now  300  head.  I  take  account  of  stock  each 
January  and  charge  myself  with  $2  per  head  for  all  of  the  grown  sheep,  and  credit 
the  account  with  all  sales  of  mutton  or  wool,  and  have  never  failed  to  realize  from 
the  flock  the  whole  amount  of  the  account,  or  $2  per  head  for  the  flock,  and  leave 
the  stock  increased  each  year  and  a  small  balance  over. 

I  have  no  pasturage  except  the  native  grasses  of  the  country  for  summer  grazing. 
The  pasture  lands  are  rather  poor  and  sandy,  and  when  I  began  raising  it  would 
require  from  2  to  3  acres  to  keep  a  sheep.  Now,.after  five  years  of  constant  graz- 
ing, I  can  keep  on  the  same  field  3  to  4  head  to  the  acre.  I  have  some  nut-grass,  and 
while  I  would  not  advise  any  one  to  put  it  on  their  lands,  as  I  deem  it  an  awful  pest, 
it  affords  tolerably  good  pasturage.  I  have  some  Bermuda  grass,  and  think  well  of 
it.  It  affords  good  pasturage,  and  I  believe  when  I  get  my  land  well  set  in  it  it 
will  keep  from  5  to  10  head  per  acre,  from  April  to  September.  This  grass  will  not 
only  afford  good  grazing,  but  when  the  laud  is  made  rich  it  will  afford  good  mow- 
ings and  make  a  good  hay  for  winter  feed.  It  will  also  kill  out  nut-grass.  I  use 
very  little  long  feed  for  my  sheep,  as  the  grazing  of  cultivated  lands  affords  food 
during  the  winter ;  yet  some  hay  is  very  desirable  to  have  and  feed  in  wet,  cold, 
winter  weather.  Cotton  seed  at  the  rate  of  2  to  3  bushels  to  100  sheep  makes  a  good 
feed.  I  also  grow  turnips,  and,  by  using  movable  fences,  can  cut  off  small  pieces  of 
the  turnip  land  and  let  the  sheep  eat  the  turnips  out  of  the  land,  and  while  doing 
BO  they  manure  the  land,  and  as  soon  as  they  eat  out  the  turnips  I  plant  oats  or  rye 
on  the  land  for  late  winter  or  early  spring  grazing.  Sweet  potatoes  are  excellent 
and  cheap  feed,  2  or  3  bushels  to  100  head. 

22990 44 


690        SHEEP  INDUSTRY  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES 

I  believe  in  the  free  use  of  salt,  and  always  keep  it  where  the  sheep  can  have  free 
access  to  it.  I  use  a  box  3  feet  long,  4  inches  deep  and  wide,  and  from  April  to  Sep- 
tember keep  the  inside  and  edges  of  the  box  well  and  freely  coated  with  tar.  The 
sheep  in  eating  the  salt  get  the  tar  on  their  faces  and  noses,  and  it  keeps  off  the 
flies.  I  think  it  otherwise  healthy.  I  also  use  sulphur  with  the  salt  occasionally, 
say  once  in  each  month,  and  particularly  in  winter;  it  keeps  off  the  lice.  I  sow  oats 
in  my  cotton  fields  at  the  last  working,  and  find  it  makes  good  winter  pasturage. 
I  have  no  fine  stock ;  only  the  best  I  could  select  from  the  native  stock  of  the  country. 

My  sheep  average  me  4  to  r>  pounds  of  wool  each  year.  I  shear  in  April  and  Sep- 
tember. The  fall  shearing  is  more  to  keep  the  sheep  from  being  laden  with  burs 
during  the  winter,  as  our  plantations  are  full  of  burs.  I  do  not  believe  a  sheep 
should  be  kept  after  it  is  five  years  old.  I  kill  off  after  they  are  five  years  old,  and 
all  male  lambs  as  early  as  they  will  dress  24  to  30  pounds.  By  such  a  course  I  have 
no  very  old  sheep,  and  rarely  ever  lose  one.  As  for  dogs  I  keep  a  bell  on  every  fifth 
sheep.  It  makes  considerable  noise,  but  I  like  it,  and  the  dogs  fear  it.  I  have  lost 
but  one  sheep  by  dogs  in  two  years,  although  there  are  fully  300  dogs  within  3  miles 
of  my  flock. 

The  best  natural  grass  that  has  made  its  appearance  in  my  pastures  is  a  grass 
called  "velvet"  or  "carpet  grass."  It  completely  covers  the  ground  where  it  takes 
hold,  and  affords  good  grazing.  In  the  fields  on  our  best  lands  there  is  a  weed  called 
"chickweed"  that  grows  all  winter  and  affords  good  pasturage,  and  sheep  are  fond 
of  it.  Old  sedgefields  afford  good  grazing  all  winter,  as  there  is  always  a  green 
crop  under  the  sedge.  Sheep  are  ravenous  feeders,  and  eat  almost  anything  green 
in  winter.  While  the  present  open  mode  of  cultivation  is  continued  there  need 
be  no  fears  of  sheep  suffering  for  the  want  of  feed  in  the  winter,  as  they  will  travel 
3  miles  and  return  the  same  day ;  but  when  the  present  murderous  and  wicked  system 
of  botching  up  the  lands  shall  have  come  to  an  end,  and  we  have  a  population  of 
live  men,  our  farms  will  be  inclosed  and  we  shall  grow  rich  by  the  production  of 
wool  and  mutton.  Then  it  will  be  necessary  to  look  more  after  winter  pasture. 

A  recent  visitor  reports  this  flock  as  numbering  about  150  head,  and 
kept  in  inclosed  fields,  but  not  receiving  much  attention.  They  had  an 
inferior  appearance,  and  seemed  to  be  degenerated  Leicesters,  with 
perhaps  an  occasional  dash  of  the  old  Merino  blood,  which  it  is  believed 
was  introduced  into  Florida  by  the  Spaniards  at  its  first  settlement. 

John  Bradford,  of  the  same  county,  reports  in  1878: 

Ten  years  ago  the  writer  began  with  25  ewes  and  2  bucks,  common  stock.  Four 
years  ago  I  procured  a  Merino  buck.  Have  butchered  about  130  muttons,  lost  heavily 
in  not  looking  after  lambs  in  January  and  February,  and  very  heavily  (some  years 
as  much  as  30  per  cent)  by  roguish  negroes,  and  have  now  130  in  my  flock.  The 
manure  has  more  than  paid  for  the  actual  cost  of  keeping.  Have  only  had  good 
attention  one  winter,  then  with  the  very  best  results,  as  the  wool  clip  and  increase 
of  flock  amounted  to  about  90  per  cent  of  the  value  of  the  flock. 

That  portion  of  the  State  west  of  the  Appalachicola  Kiver,  and  known 
as  west  Florida,  is  the  principal  sheep-growing  region.     It  embraces 
only  a  tenth  of  the  area  of  the  State,  but  pastures  more  than  two- 
thirds  of  the  sheep.     Here  large  flocks  run  at  large  in  the  pine  woods, ' 
and  the  industry  is  a  prosperous  one.     Whether  wool  is  high  or  low< 
the  owner  accepts,  without  complaint  or  comment  on  the  tariff,  what 
he  gets,  for  the  proceeds  are  not  offset  by  any  expenses.     What  he 
receives  is  all  clear  profit.    The  vast  unbroken  ranges  of  these  pine : 
woods  are  well  adapted  to  the  careless  system  of  sheep  husbandry  as 


EAST    OF    THE    MISSISSIPPI    RIVER.  691 

there  carried  on.  The  sheep  shift  for  themselves  and  the  owner's  only 
trouble  and  expense  are  in  shearing  them.  There  are  flocks  ranging 
from  500  to  10,000  each.  One  in  Jackson  County,  owned  by  a  Mrs. 
Carpenter,  had  its  foundation  in  1870  on  7  sheep.  The  increase  to  1890 
was  4,000,  and  it  is  stated  that  none  were  purchased  or  otherwise 
added  to  the  flock  except  by  the  natural  increase.  There  is  a  good 
profit  derived  from  this  flock,  the  clip  in  some  years  selling  for  $4,000. 
Most  of  those  engaged  in  the  industry  in  west  Florida  make  money, 
realizing  a  handsome  profit  each  year  from  the  sale  of  wool  and  from 
the  increase  of  the  flock. 

The  sheep  of  west  Florida  and  of  the  northern  tier  of  counties  are 
those  common  to  the  southern  parts  of  Georgia,  Alabama,  Mississippi, 
and  Louisiana,  known  as  the  "  piney  woods,"  and  from  which  they  derive 
the  name  of  the  "  piney  woods  "  sheep.  They  are  the  scrub  sheep  of 
the  Gulf  coast,  of  whose  origin  and  history  nothing  is  definitely  known. 
In  general  characteristics  of  form  and  fleece  they  suggest  a  Merino 
origin,  and  a  plausible  theory  is  advanced  and  sustained  by  reasoaable 
arguments  that  they  are  the  pure  and  unmixed,  though  deteriorated 
descendants  of  the  Merinos  brought  to  Florida  by  the  Spanish  adven- 
turers in  1565  and  subsequent  years  down  to  the  cession  of  the  country 
to  the  United  States  in  1821.  Records,  however,  are  deficient,  but  the 
fact  that  sheep  were  brought  into  the  country  by  the  Spaniards,  and  that 
these  "  piney  woods  "  sheep  in  wool  and  form  are  of  a  distinct  Merino 
character,  leads  to  the  belief  that  the  flocks  of  the  early  Spanish  colo- 
nists were  the  direct  ancestors  of  the  "  sheep  which  have  so  long  led  a 
semiwild  life  in  the  piney  woods."  Mr.  R.  M.  Bell,  an  agent  of  the 
IT.  S.  Department  of  Agriculture,  who  made  an  extended  observation  of 
these  sheep,  and  whose  experience  as  a  Merino  breeder  gives  weight  to 
his  opinion,  believes  that  these  sheep  introduced  by  the  colonists  were 
of  the  best  Merino  blood,  and  in  a  published  statement  refers  to  their 
piney  woods  descendants  as  "  a  semiwild,  hardy,  valuable  breed  that 
within  the  memory  of  man  have  had  no  attempt  at  improvement  of  any 
sort." 

Commenting  on  this  statement  Prof.  J.  P.  Stelle,  agricultural  editor 
of  the  Mobile  Register,  thus  writes  in  the  Florida  Agriculturist : 

Mr.  Bell  wants  to  know  where  these  sheep  came  from  originally,  and  suggests  that 
the  indications  are  so  strongly  Merino  that  he  is  led  to  conclude  that  the  Spaniards, 
who  introduced  the  industries  into  Florida,  must  have  introduced  Merino  sheep  of 
the  best  blood  from  the  mother  country. 

The  breed  of  sheep  referred  to  is  evidently  the  same  as  we  have  in  the  pine 
belt  all  along  the  Gulf  coast  through  Alabama  and  Mississippi.  To  class  them  as 
semiwild  is  not  exactly  correct,  for  they  are  naturally  the  tamest  sheep  I  ever  saw, 
particularly  when  all  the  attendant  circumstances  are  considered.  They  run  on  the 
wild  range  and  often  do  not  see  a  human  being  for  months  in  a  stretch,  yet  when  one 
does  come  upon  them  they  exhibit  no  fear  or  timidity,  not  near  so  much  as  is  usually 
shown  by  sheep  in  a  pasture  where  they  are  visited  daily. 

For  twenty  years  I  have  been  making  a  careful  study  of  these  sheep.  I  have 
hunted  up  all  the  old  records  accessible,  bat  none  of  these  have  thrown  any  light  on 


692        SHEEP  INDUSTRY  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES 

the  original  introduction.  Tradition  says  that  they  were  found  among  the  Indians 
at  the  early  settling  of  the  country,  and  that  the  Indians  had  considerable  flocks  of 
sheep  which  they  looked  after  for  their  flesh  and  for  their  skins.  The  latter  were 
dressed  with  the  wool  on  and  sewed  together  for  use  as  bedding.  The  Indians  do 
not  appear  to  have  known  anything  about  shearing  off  and  making  any  use  of  the 
wool  as  we  use  it. 

There  are  many  points  in  the  "scrubs,"  as  we  call  them,  that  cause  mo  to  believe 
that  they  spring  from  the  Merino,  as  Mr.  Bell  seems  to  suspect.  The  Merino  intro- 
duced and  turned  out  to  shift  for  itself,  comes  nearer  being  hardy  in  the  piuey  woods 
than  any  of  the  finer  breeds  yet  tried,  and  in  many  efforts  made  in  Alabama  to  grade 
up  the  scrubs,  the  Merino  cross  has  proved  decidedly  the  most  successful.  All  of 
which  points  with  reason  to  a  Merino  origin.  That  the  Merinos  were  introduced  by 
the  Spaniards,  and  at  a  very  early  date,  is  the  most  plausible  hypothesis  to  which  wo 
can  jump,  but  as  in  the  case  of  our  "  native  "  peaches,  it  must  doubtless  ever  remain 
only  a  hypothesis. 

I  am  satisfied  that  our  long-leaf  pine  regions  must  eventually  rank  very  high  as  a 
sheep  country,  and  I  am  furthermore  strongly  of  the  opinion  that  these  scrubs  are  the 
nucleus  upon  which  our  success  must  be  built.  Why  not?  Our  scrub,  in  its  natural 
condition,  is  a  fairly  good  sheep,  both  for  wool  and  mutton;  then  it  grades  up  rather 
well  to  the  Merino,  as  already  intimated.  Of  course  a  great  deal  might  be  done  for 
it  by  selection,  and  its  extreme  hardiness  would  certainly  justify  our  giving  it  special 
attention  in  that  direction.  To  convey  some  idea  of  how  hardy  it  is,  I  may  refer  to 
a  case  under  my  personal  observation  in  Mobile  County,  Ala.  Four  years  ago  Mr. 
John  Robertson,  living  on  the  highlands  in  the  northern  portion  of  the  county, 
bought  and  turned  out  upon  the  range  16  of  these  scrub  ewes  with  2  males.  He  has 
given  his  flock  no  kind  of  attention  since,  other  than  to  shear  and  attend  to  the  lambs 
once  a  year  (in  spring),  and  to-day  his  flock  numbers  200,  all  from  that  original  18. 
Beyond  the  little  attention  just  alluded  to  his  flock  has  not  cost  him  a  single  dollar. 
Of  course  it  would  have  been  the  same  on  any  of  the  good  pine  lands  in  Florida 
where  there  was  no  interference  by  dogs,  hogs,  or  wild  animals. 

My  conclusions  that  our  great  success  with  sheep  must  be  built  upon  the  "  native" 
scrub  have  taken  shape  from  what  I  have  seen  coming  of  efforts  to  start  the  sheep 
business  with  other  breeds  in  the  coast  belt  of  Alabama.  They  have  been  numerous. 
Seeing  what  our  scrubs  were  doing,  people  have  moved  down  from  Kansas  and  Mis- 
souri and  Illinois  to  make  fortunes  off  .sheep,  bringing  their  stock  with  them.  They 
never  stay  long.  The  enterprise  invariably  proves  a  failure,  and  they  go  back  in 
disgust  to  give  our  region  of  country  a  fearful  name  so  far  as  relates  to  the  sheep 
industry.  But  we  go  on  all  the  same  astonishing  the  world  with  the  immensity  of 
our  wool  products,  for  the  world,  after  receiving  the  reports  of  these  unsuccessful 
enthusiasts,  can  not  for  the  life  of  it  understand  how  we  manage  the  matter. 

These  sheep  are  small  and  agile,  and  have,  in  common  with  their 
Spanish  anc  estors,  a  wonderful  hardiness  of  constitution.  The  fierce 
battles  of  the  rams  at  the  rutting  season,  rough  food  and  hard  life  for 
over  three  centuries  are  causes  that  have  by  a  process  of  natural  selec- 
tion and  the  "  survival  of  the  fittest"  eliminated  all  but  the  strongest 
and  healthiest  animals  and  produced  a  type  as  distinct  as  that  claimed 
by  any  well-established  breed.  These  sheep  have  beautifully  shaped 
heads  and  the  horns  of  the  ram  have  a  graceful  curl.  Their  wool  is  but 
little  inferior  to  that  of  the  pure-bred  Merino,  but  it  differs  from  it  in 
not  being  a  finely  crimped,  and  being  long  and  lustrous.  The  fine  char- 
acter of  most  of  the  wool  is  generally  attributed  to  the  mixture  of 
grasses,  herbs,  and  wild  vegetables  forming  the  feed  of  the  animal,  and 
which  grew  in  abundance  iu  every  part  of  the  section  in  which  these 


EAST    OF    THE    MISSISSIPPI    RIVER.  693 

sheep  range.  The  fleeces  run  from  3  to  4  pounds  each,  depending  much 
upon  the  season,  and  sell  for  about  the  same  price  in  the  dirt  as  Ohio 
brook-washed  wool.  There  are  some  of  these  sheep,  however,  grown 
very  close  to  the  Gulf  coast,  that  yield  but  2  pounds  of  wool,  which  is 
so  coarse  that  it  is  almost  exclusively  used  for  making  carpets. 

During  the  summer  and  fall  great  flocks  of  these  sheep  roam  unat. 
tended  through  the  pine  woods,  feeding  on  what  they  can  find.  They 
range  in  groups  during  the  day,  traveling  in  circuits  of  many  miles,  and 
come  together  at  night  in  a  bedding  place  where  they  lodge.  When 
winter  approaches  the  rams  separate  from  the  ewes,  flock  together  in 
bunches  of  10  to  50,  and  feed  by  themselves.  The  ewes  are  not  so 
socially  inclined,  but  divide  up  in  groups  of  2  to  5,  keep,  however,  within 
sight  of  each  other  and  other  groups,  and  usually  come  together  at 
night. 

Thus,  unattended  and  unprotected,  they  are  at  all  times  subjected  to 
the  ravages  of  the  dogs  and  the  thieving  propensity  of  those  who  like 
mutton  but  are  not  willing  to  pay  for  it.  Self-reliant  as  these  sheep  are, 
and  as  much  as  they  have  learned  to  care  for  themselves  by  ceaseless 
vigilance,  many  fall  a  prey.  But  it  is  at  lambing  time  in  the  early 
spring  that  the  flocks  suifer  most.  Then  the  eagles,  the  vultures,  the 
foxes,  the  dogs,  and  the  hogs  combine  to  feed  on  early  lambs.  Of  these 
the  lean  " razor-back"  hogs  are  the  most  greedy  and  the  most  destruc- 
tive. They  seem  to  know  when  lambing  time  approaches,  for  days  before 
they  follow  the  ewes,  and  the  first  faint  bleat  of  a  new-born  lamb  is  a 
signal  as  welcome  to  them  as  the  call  of  a  Northern  farmer  to  his  cattle 
and  chickens  at  feeding  time.  They  make  an  onslaught  on  the  helpless 
thing,  and  if  the  mother  ewe  undertakes  to  defend  her  oifspring  she  sel- 
dom escapes  alive.  It  is  a  striking  commentary  on  the  social  condition 
of  some  parts  of  Florida  and  southern  Georgia,  that  when  a  man  pro- 
poses  to  raise  some  hogs  he  counts  in  as  one  factor  of  his  success  the 
probable  number  of  his  neighbor's  lambs  the  hogs  can  secure.  It  is 
rarely  that  more  than  three-fourths  of  the  increase  survives  the  lamb- 
ing period ;  indeed,  the  owners  of  the  flocks  expect  only  to  save  from  40 
to  70  per  cent  of  lambs,  and  then  only  when  the  feed  has  been  such  as 
to  give  vigorous  health  to  the  ewes  and  there  are  not  too  many  old  ones 
at  lambing  time. 

After  lambing,  and  as  warm  weather  approaches,  comes  the  shearing, 
which  is  preceded  by  grand  "  round-ups"  similar  to  those  of  the  cattle- 
men on  the  Western  plains  and  to  those  already  described  in  Mississippi. 
The  owners  are  assisted  in  this  work  by  the  u ear-flies"  which  come 
about  the  same  time  as  the  shearing  season.  It  is  observed  that  upon 
the  coming  of  these  flies  "  the  sheep  bunch  again  and  resort  to  bedding 
places  where  they  can,  by  numbers  and  stamping,  raise  the  dust  and 
keep  off  the  flies." 

The  owners  await  this  time,  and  a  man  is  sent  to  hunt  the  bedding 
place,  which  is  readily  found,  for  there  are  many  trails  leading  to  it. 


694 


SHEEP  INDUSTRY  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES 


When  ifcis  found  and  the  owners  notified  a  day  is  designated,  and  early 
in  the  morning,  before  daybreak,  men  and  boys  on  horseback,  armed 
with  long  whips  and  accompanied  by  dogs ,  ride  to  the  bedding  place 
and  surround  the  sleeping  and  unsuspecting  flock.  As  the  ring  of 
horsemen  closes  in  upon  them  the  sheep  are  awakened.  Some  try  to 
escape,  but  these  are  run  down ;  the  flock  is  collected  and  driven  in  to 
a  place  already  prepared,  where  each  man's  sheep,  bearing  the  earmark 
or  other  mark  of  the  owner,  are  picked  out.  The  lambs  are  given  the 
mark  of  their  mothers.  Lambs  without  mothers  are  divided  pro  rata 
among  all  the  owners.  The  best  and  most  vigorous  ram  lambs  are  set 
apart  as  sires  5  all  others  are  castrated.  When  the  marking,  castrating, 
and  shearing  are  finished  they  are  turned  ad  rift,  not  again  to  be  disturbed, 
or  indeed  thought  of,  until  shearing  time  again  comes  around. 

Within  recent  years  many  attempts  have  been  made  to  improve  upon 
this  system  of  sheep  husbandry,  but  the  results  have  not  been  gener- 
ally favorable.  In  some  cases  inclosures  have  been  made,  some  care 
given  them,  and  improvement  made  by  the  use  of  Merino  ranis,  and  the 
sheep  have  graded  up  well  to  the  Merino  standard,  but  these  cases  are 
not  common.  A  case  is  cited:  Mr.  L.  H.  Cawthorn,  of  De  Funiak 
Springs,  has  a  large  flock  of  the  piney  woods  sheep.  He  imported  a 
small  flock  of  pure-bred  Merinos  for  the  purpose  of  raising  rams  to  use 
on  his  flock.  The  cross  of  these  ranis  on  his  native  ewes  improved  the 
wool  to  such  a  degree  that  he  received  3  to  4  cents  a  pound  more  for  it 
That  improvements  are  possible  and  practicable  on  these  sheep  admits 
of  no  doubt,  but  they  must  be  made  with  caution  and  skill,  and  prefer- 
ably with  the  Merino.  Some  attempts  to  cross  with  the  Down  breeds 
or  to  raise  the  Downs  pure  have  resulted  in  absolute  failure.  What 
the  future  may  develop  no  one  can  foresee,  much  less  foretell,  but  it  can 
be  assumed,  from  experience  in  other  places  the  world  over,  that  when 
the  proper  conditions  are  known  some  will  be  found  to  take  advantage 
of  them,  and  with  these  hardy,  acclimated  sheep  as  a  foundation  build 
up  a  stock  of  wool- growing  sheep  inferior  to  none  now  known  in  the 
Union. 

Sheep  and  wool  in  Florida,  1840  to  1800. 


Year. 

Number  of 
sheep. 

Wool. 

Average 
weight  of 
wool  per 
head. 

3840  .. 

7  198 

Pounds. 

1  285 

Pounds. 
1  01 

1850  

23  311 

23  247 

1  00 

1860  

30  158 

59  171 

1  96 

1870  

26  599 

37  562 

1  41 

1880  

56  681 

162,  810 

2  87 

1890  

110  351 

395  735 

2  95 

EAST    OF    THE    MISSISSIPPI    RIVER.  695 

SUMMARY  OF  PART  I. 

This  ends  a  detailed  investigation  of  the  history  and  present  condi- 
tion of  sheep  husbandry  in  States  east  of  the  Mississippi  Kiver.  A  few 
words  and  figures  are  presented  in  the  way  of  general  summary  and 
conclusion. 

Up  to  within  a  comparat  ively  recent  day  the  principal  aim  of  sheep 
husbandry  in  the  section  considered  was  the  growth  of  wool.  Mutton 
was  a  secondary  consideration,  and,  in  general,  was  not  considered  at 
all.  But  the  decreasing  profits  of  wool-growing  and  the  increasing  popu- 
larity of  mutton  as  an  article  of  food  in  the  manufacturing  centers  and 
large  cities,  effected  a  change  in  the  east  forty  or  fifty  years  since,  and 
the  mutton  sheep  received  some  attention;  the  old  native  breed  and 
the  fine- wooled  Merino  and  its  grades  were  crossed  by  rams  of  improved 
breeds  of  English  sheep.  This  substitution  began  in  southern  New 
England,  eastern  New  York,  eastern  Pennsylvania,  New  Jersey,  Dela- 
ware, Maryland,  and  Virginia,  and  in  those  sections  is  practically  com- 
plete, mutton  being  the  object  of  sheep-raising  and  wool  a  secondary 
consideration.  Up  to  1880  in  the  country  north  of  the  Ohio  and  west 
of  the  Alleghanles  wool  growing  was  still  the  principal  object.  Within 
the  last  ten  years  western  Pennsylvania,  Ohio,  Indiana,  Illinois,  Michi- 
gan, and  Wisconsin  have  been  repeating  what  was  done  by  the  east 
many  years  before,  making  great  changes  by  replacing  the  Merino  and 
its  grades  with  English  sheep,  so  that,  in  1890,  over  one-half  the  sheep 
between  the  Alleghanies  and  the  Mississippi  River  were  estimated  to 
be  of  native  or  English  blood.  The  change  in  the  two  years  past  in 
the  same  direction  has  been  very  marked.  In  all  the  South  Atlantic 
States,  Kentucky  and  Tennessee,  the  English  mutton  sheep,  represented 
by  the  old  native  stock  and  some  improved  breeds,  is  vastly  predom- 
inant. Taken  as  a  whole  the  entire  country  east  of  the  Mississippi  is 
practically  abandoning  to  the  far  West  and  to  foreign  countries  the 
growing  of  fine  wool,  and  substituting  therefor  the  raising  of  sheep 
for  food,  and,  incidentally,  combing  wool.  This  change  in  the  character 
of  the  industry  has  caused  increased  attention  to  English  breeds  of 
sheep  and  English  methods  of  sheep  husbandry. 

At  the  beginning  of  the  present  century  there  were  in  the  United 
States  about  5,000,000  sheep,  all,  with  the  exception  of  a  few  flocks  in 
Louisiana  Territory,  east  of  the  Mississippi ;  in  1810,  from  7,000,000  to 
10,000,000,  according  to  various  estimates,  yielding  from  13,000,000  to 
15,000,000  pounds  of  wool;  in  1812  the  number  of  sheep  had  increased 
about  15  per  cent,  but  the  wool  clip  was  about  21,000,000  pounds,  or 
over  50  per  cent  increase,  and  of  much  finer  quality  than  in  1810, 
owing  to  increased  care  and  the  introduction  of  the  Merino;  in  1836 
there  were  about  17,000,000  sheep,  and  in  1840,  19,311,374,  producing 
35,804,114  pounds  of  wool.  In  the  last  named  year  all  but  503,595 
sheep  and  699,530  pounds  of  wool  were  produced  east  of  the  Missis- 
sippi. The  number  of  sheep  east  of  the  Mississippi  from  1840  to  1890 
is  shown  in  the  following  table: 


696 


SHEEP   INDUSTRY    OF    THE    UNITED    STATES 


Table,  showing  the  number  of  sheep  in  each  State  east  of  the  Mississippi  for  the  years  1840, 
1850,  I860,  1870,  1880,  and  1890. 


States  and  Territories. 

Number  of  sheep. 

1340. 

1850. 

1860. 

1870. 

1880. 

1890. 

Maine 

649,  264 
617,  390 
1,681,819 
378,  226 
!>0,  146 
403,  462 

3,  820,  307 

451,  577 
384,  756 
1,  014,  122 
188,  651 
44,  296 
174,  181 

452,  472 
310,  534 
752,  201 
114,  829 
32,  624 
117,  107 

434,  666 
248,  760 
580,  347 
78,  560 
23,  938 
83,  884 

565,  918 
211,  825 
439,  870 
67,  979 
17,  211 
59,  431 

542,  248 
192,  824 
362,  112 
56,  530 
20,  231 
46,  759 

New  Hampshire  

Massachusetts  

Rhode  Island 

Total  New  England  States.  . 
New  York                                 

2,  257,  583 

1,  779,  767 

1,450,155       1,362,234 

1,  220,  704 

5,  118,  777 
219,  285 
1.  767,  620 
39,247 
257,  922 
706 

3,  453,  241 
160,  488 
1,  822,  357 
27,  503 
177,  902 
150 

2,  617,  855 
135,  228 
1,  631,  540 
18,  857 
155,  765 
40 

2,  181,  578 
120,  067 
1,  794,  301 
22,  714 
129,  697 
604 

1,  715,  180 
117,  020 
1,  776,  598 
21,  967 
171,  184 

1,  548,  426 
103,170 
945,  002 
22,  294 
153,  763 

New  Jersey  

District  of  Columbia        

Total  Middle  States    

7,403,557     5,641,641 

4,  559,  285 

4,  248,  961 

3,  801,  949 

2,  772.  655 

Virginia                          

1,  293,  772 
538,  279 
232,  981 
267,  107 
7,198 
163,  243 
128,  367 
741,  593 

1,  310,  004 
595,  249 
285,  551 
560,  435 
23,  311 
371,  880 
304,  929 
811,  591 

1,  043,  269 
546,  749 
233,  509 
512,  618 
30,158 
370,  156 
352,  632 
773,  317 

370,  145 
463,  435 
124,  594 
419,  465 
26,  599 
241,  934 
232,  732 
826,  783 
552,  327 
936,  765 

497,  289 
461,  638 
118,  889 
527,  589 
56,  681 
347,  838 
287,  694 
672,  789 
674,  769 
1,  000,  269 

444,  563 
414,  819 
102,  031 
411,846 
110,  351 
286,  218 
240,  148 
511,  118 
508,  164 
805,  978 

North  Carolina    

Florida 

Mississippi  

West  Virginia     

1,  008,  240 

1,102,091 

938,  990 

Total  Southern  States  

4,  380,  780 

5,  365,  641 

4,  801,  398 

4,  194,  779 

4,  645,  445 

3,  835,  256 

Ohio  

2,  028,  401 
99,  618 
675,  982 
395,  672 
3,462 

3,  942,  929 
746,  435 
1,  122,  493 
894,  043 
124,  896 

3,  546,  767 
1,  271,  743 
991,  175 
760,  135 
332,  954 

4,  928,  635 
1,  985,  906 
1,  612,  680 
1,  568,  266 
1.  069,  282 

4,  902,  486 
2,  189,  389 
1,100,511 
1,  037,  073 
1,  336,  807 

3,  943.  589 
2,  240,  841 
1,  278,  000 
688,  387 
809,  009 

Indiana  

Illinois 

Wisconsin                 

Total  Western  States  

3,  203,  135 

6,  830,  796 

6,  911,  774 

11,  164,  789 

10,  566,  266 

9,  159,  826 

RECAPITULATION    BY    GEOUPS. 


3  820  307 

2  257  583 

1  779  767 

1  450  155 

1  362  234 

]  220  704 

Middle  States 

7  403  557 

5  641  641 

4  559  285 

4  248  961 

3  801  ')49 

2  772  655 

Southern  States   

4,  380,  780 

5,  365,  641 

4,801,398 

4  194  779 

4  645  445 

3  835  256 

Western  States 

3  203  135 

6  830  796 

(\  911  774 

11  164  789 

10  566  "66 

9  159  826 

Total 

18  8J7  779 

20  095  661 

18  052  224 

21  058  684 

20  375  894 

16  988  441 

The  following  table  shows  the  comparative  number  of  sheep  east  and 
west  of  the  Mississippi  from  1840  to  3890: 


1840. 

1850. 

1860. 

1870. 

1880. 

1890. 

East  of  Mississippi  
West  of  Mississippi 

18,  807,  779 
503  595 

20,  095,  661 
1  627  559 

18,  052,  224 
4  419  051 

21,  058,  684 
7  419  267 

20,  375,  894 
14  816  180 

16,  988,  441 
27  347  631 

Total  

19  311  374 

21  723  220 

22  471  275 

28  477  951 

35  192  074 

44  336  072 

The  most  noticeable  feature  of  this  table  is  the  fact  that  the  country 
east  of  the  Mississippi  has  not  held  its  own,  the  country  west  of  it 
more  than  trebled  its  number  from  1840  to  1850,  nearly  trebled  it  from 
1850  to  18GO,  and  nearly  doubled  in  each  of  the  two  following  decades. 

There  has  been  great  difficulty  in  ascertaining  the  true  amount  of  the  wool  product 
of  the  United  States,  especially  prior  to  1860,  and  even  now  some  of  these  difficulties 
still  exist,  and  all  estimates  are  necessarily  imperfect.  There  are  several  reasons  for 
this  state  of  uncertainty  about  the  wool  crop,  the  principal  being  (1)  the  imperfect 


EAST   OF   THE  ^MISSISSIPPI   RIVER. 


697 


fcrnsus  laws  and  the  imperfect  execution  of  those  laws  prior  to  1860;  (2)  the  raising 
of  sheep  in  many  localities  in  the  South  for  meat  alone,  and  the  failure  to  shear  the 
flocks  or  account  for  the  wool  on  the  hides;  (3)  the  failure  to  report  the  wool  sold 
to  "butchers  on  the  sheep  to  be  slaughtered ;  (4)  the  existence  of  small  flocks  of  from 
1  to  25  sheep,  which  in  the  aggregate  number  many  hundreds  of  thousands,  and  yet 
the  wool  clip  from  each  flock  being  so  small  that  the  owners  use  it  for  domestic  pur- 
poses, or,  if  they  sell,  fail  to  report  the  amount  of  the  clip.* 

In  the  following  table  the  official  figures  as  given  by  the  census  are 
adopted,  except  for  1890,  in  which  case  other  estimates  are  adopted. 
It  is  believed  for  reasons  above  stated  that  the  census  figures  are  on 
an  average  15  per  cent  below  the  actual  wool  product. 

Table  showing  the  crop  of  wool  in  each  State  east  of  the  Mississippi  for  the  years  1840, 1850, 

I860,  1870,  1880,  and  1890. 


.  States  and  Territories. 

Production  of  wool. 

1840. 

1850. 

1860. 

1870. 

1880. 

1890. 

Pounds. 
1,  465,  551 
1,  260,  517 
3,  699,  235 
941,  906 
183,  830 
889,  870 

Pounds. 
1,  364,  034 
1,  108,  476 
3,  400,  717 
585,  136 
129,  C92 
497,  454 

Pounds. 
1,495,060 
1,160,222 
3,  118,  950 
377,  267 
90,  699 
335,  896 

Pounds. 
1,  774,  168 
1,  129,  442 
3,  102,  137 
306.  659 
77,  328 
254,  129 

Pounds. 
2,  776,  407 
1,  060,  589 
2,  551,  113 
299,  089 
65,  680 
230,  133 

Pounds. 
2,  982,  364 
1,  124,  163 
2,  208,  896 
276,  787 
79,  610 
218,  831 

New  Hampshire         

Massachusetts         

Khode  Island 

Connecticut         .        ...... 

Total  New  England 

8,  440,  909 

7,  085,  509 

6,  578,  094 

6,  643,  863 

6,  983,  Oil 

6,  890,  651 

New  York       .  .           

9,  845,  295 
397,  207 
3,  048,  564 
64,  404 
488,  201 
707 

10,  071,  301 
375,  396 

4,  481,  570 
57,  768 
477,  438 
525 

9,  454,  474 
349,  250 
4,  752,  522 
50,  201 
491,  511 
100 

10,  599,  225 
336,  609 
6,  561,  722 
58,  316 
435,  213 

8,  827,  195 
441,  110 
8,  470,  273 
97,  946 
850,  084 

8,  702,  154 
432,  683 
4,  800,  61  o 
112,  873 
796,  432 

New  Jersey  

Delaware     

District  of  Columbia       

Total  Middle  States.... 
Virginia 

13,  844,  378 

15,  463,  998 

15,  098,  058 

17,  991;  085 

18,  686,  608 

14,  844,  752 

2,538,374 
625,  044 
299,  170 
371.  303 
7,285 
220,  353 
175,  196 
1,  060,  332 

2,  860,  765 
970,  738 
487,  233 
990,  019 
23,  217 
657,  118 
559,  619 
1,364,378 

2,  510,  019 
883,  473 
427,  102 
946,  227 
59,  171 
775,  117 
665,  959 
1,  405,  236 

877,  110 
799,  667 
156,  314 
846,  947 
37,  562 
381,253 
288.  285 
1,  389,  762 
1,  593,  541 
2,  234,  459 

1,  836,  673 
917,  756 
272,  758 
1,  289,  560 
162,810 
762,  207 
734,  643 
1,  918,  295 
2,  681,  444 
4,  592,  576 

1,751,492 
863,  837 
293,  773 
1,  198,  379 
325,  735 
632,  585 
629,  214 
1,  196.  213 
2,  288,  943 
3,  699,  419 

North  Carolina  

South  Carolina 

Georgia  

Florida 

Alabama 

Mississippi  

Tennessee. 

West  Virginia 

JTftnf.nr.'kv 

1,  786,  847 

2,297,433 

2,  329,  105 

Total  Southern  States.  . 
Ohio     

7,  083,  904 

10,210,550 

10,001,409 

8,  604,  891 

15,  168,  722 

12,  979,  590 

3,  685,  315 
153,  375 
1,  237,  919 
650,  007 
6,777 

10,  196,  371 
2,  043,  283 
2,  610,  287 
2,  150,  113 
253,963 

10,  608,  927 
3,  960.  888 
2,  552,  318 
1,  989,  567 
1,  Oil,  933 

20,  539,  643 
8,  726,  145 
5,  029,  023 
5,  739,  249 
4,  090,  670 

25,  003,  756 
11,  858,  497 
6,  167,  498 
6,  093,  066 
7,  016,  491 

21,  808,  847 
12,  989,  226 
7,  206,  920 
4,  144,  089 
4,  741,  532 

Michigan  

Indiana 

Illinois 

Wisconsin  

Total  Western  States  .  . 

5,  733,  393 

17,  254,  017 

20,  123,  633 

44,  124,  730 

56,  139,  308 

50,  890,  614 

RECAPITULATION  BY  GROUPS. 


New  England  States 

8  440  909 

7  085  509 

6  578  094 

6  643  863 

6  983  Oil 

6  890  651 

Middle  States     

13,  844,  378 

15,  463,  998 

15,098  058 

17  991  085 

18  686  608 

14  844  752 

7  083  904 

10  210  550 

10  001  409 

8  604  891 

15  168  722 

12  979  590 

Western  States  .  . 

5,  733,  393 

17,  254,  017 

20,123  633 

44  124'  730 

56  139  308 

50  890  614 

Total  east  of  the  Mis- 
sissippi   

35,  102,  584 

50,  014,  074 

51,  791,  194 

77,  364,  569 

96,  977,  649 

85,  605,  617 

*Wool  and  Manufactures  of  Wool.     Treasury  Department,  1887. 


698 


SHEEP    INDUSTRY    OF    THE    UNITED    STATES 


The  folloAving  table  shows  the  comparative  amount  of  wool  grown 
east  and  west  of  the  Mississippi  from  1840  to  1890 : 


1840. 

1850. 

1860. 

1870. 

1880. 

1890. 

East  of  the  Mississippi  .  . 
West  of  the  Mississippi  . 

Pounds. 
35,  102,  584 
699,  530 

Pounds. 
50,  014,  074 
2,  502,  885 

Pounds. 
51,791,194 
8,  473,  719 

Pounds. 
77,  364,  569 
22,  737,  818 

Pounds. 
95.  977,  649 
59,  704,  102 

Pounds. 
85,  605,  617 
190,  394,  383 

Total 

35  802  114 

52  516  959 

60  264  913 

100  102  387 

155  681  751 

276  000  000 

It  thus  appears  that  while  from  1840  to  1890  there  was  a  decrease  in 
the  number  of  sheep  east  of  the  Mississippi  of  10  per  cent,  there  was 
an  increase  in  the  wool  clip  of  243  per  cent,  or  in  other  words  that  one 
sheep  in  1890  grew  as  much  wool  as  2.73  sheep  in  1840,  and  as  much  as 
two  grew  in  1850.  Taking  the  whole  country  the  increase  in  number 
of  sheep  from  1810  to  1860  was  only  a  little  over  100  per  cent,  and  the 
increase  in  wool  clip  was  about  350  per  cent  during  the  same  period  of 
fifty  years,  while  for  the  next  twenty-five  years,  from  1860  to  1885,  the 
increase  was  greater  than  for  the  former  period  of  fifty  years,  viz.,  over 
140  per  cent  in  number  of  sheep  and  over  375  per  cent  in  wool  clip. 
From  1885  to  1890  sheep  diminished  over  10  per  cent  in  number,  and 
there  was  a  decrease  in  the  clip  of  nearly  9  per  cent. 

In  1840  the  average  weight  of  the  fleece  east  of  the  Mississippi  was 
barely  1.85  pounds;  in  1850  it  was  2.48  pounds;  in  1860,  2.86  pounds; 
in  1870,  3.67  pounds;  in  1880,  4.71  pounds,  and  in  1890,  5.04  pounds. 

This  improvement  has  been  fully  noted  in  the  preceding  pages  and 
the  causes  therefor  amply  enlarged  upon.  With  the  increase  in  fleece 
there  has  been  an  increase  in  the  size  and  weight  of  sheep  of  all  kinds. 
We  have  no  accurate  data  as  to  the  weight  of  the  American  sheep  in 
1800,  and  assume  that  it  was  somewhat  less  than  its  English  ancestor. 

Old  writers  would  have  us  believe  that  six  hundred  years  ago  some 
of  the  English  breeds  of  sheep  were  no  larger  than  rats  and  rabbits. 
There  were  a  great  number  of  breeds  of  sheep  in  the  thirteenth  century. 
The  animal  was  small,  and  a  wether  in  good  condition  weighed  a  good 
deal  less  than  40  pounds.  The  wool  of  the  sheep  was  coarse  and  full 
of  hairs.  The  fleece  was  light,  an  average  giving  1  pound  7f  ounces  to 
each  sheep.  There  was  but  little  improvement  until  long  after  1700. 
At  that  date  an  ox,  without  skin,  head,  and  offal,  did  not  weigh  on 
an  average  more  than  400  pounds.  At  Smithfield  fair  in  1700,  oxen 
weighed  370  pounds,  calves  50,  sheep  28,  and  lambs  18.  The  live 
weight  of  English  cattle  in  1800  was  800  pounds  for  oxen,  140  for  calves, 
80  for  sheep,  and  50  for  lambs.  Messrs.  Armour  &  Co.,  of  Chicago, 
slaughtered  in  1891  more  than  2,000,000  sheep.  Their  average  live 
weight  was  99  pounds,  and  dressed  weight  48  pounds.  These  sheep 
were  mostly  from  points  west  of  the  Mississippi,  and  were  undoubtedly 
grade  Merinos  to  a  great  extent.  The  sheep  east  of  the  Mississippi, 
made  up  more  largely  of  English  blood,  will  weigh  more  than  those 
handled  by  Armour  &  Co. 


EAST    OF    THE^  MISSISSIPPI    RIVER.  699 

In  1890  the  States  east  of  the  Mississippi,  with  an  area  of  852,000 
square  miles,  pastured  17,000,000  sheep,  or  an  average  of  20  to  the 
square  mile;  the  British  Isles,  with  an  area  of  about  120,000  square 
miles,  had  27,000,000  sheep,  or  225  to  the  square  mile.  Were  the  coun- 
try east  of  the  Mississippi  as  densely  stocked  as  Great  Britain  it  would 
support  191,700,000  sheep,  or  nearly  12  where  it  now  carries  1,  and 
would  raise  nearly  or  quite  1,200,000,000  pounds  of  wool,  or  over  19 
pounds  per  head  for  each  inhabitant  of  the  United  States,  or  four  times 
the  requirement  for  clothing  and  other  uses  to  which  wool  is  put. 
There  is  no  reason,  physical  or  otherwise,  why  this  cannot  be  done. 
There  is  no  breed  of  sheep  of  any  value  that  cannot  find  here  a  con- 
genial home,  be  it  on  the  low  sandy  soil  of  some  parts  of  the  South, 
or  on  the  table  lands  and  lofty  peaks  of  the  Appalachian  system.  In- 
deed, under  proper  treatment,  most  breeds  improve  here.  American 
sheep  husbandry  is  yet  in  its  infancy,  and  we  are  not  willing  to  admit 
that  the  breeders  of  the  present  day  cannot  improve  upon  the  mutton 
sheep  we  now  have  as  successfully  as  their  fathers  improved  upon  the 
old  Spanish  Merino,  to  which  the  preceding  pages  bear  ample  testi- 
mony. This  great  improvement  can  at  least  be  paralleled;  it  may  be 
excelled. 

All  improvement  heretofore  made  has  been  by  individual  enterprise, 
much  of  it  blindly  directed.  Although  the  National  Government  has 
for  many  years  maintained  gardens  for  the  propagation  of  foreign  seeds 
and  plants,  mostly  ornamental,  and  has  expended  hundreds  of  thou- 
sands of  dollars  in  the  dissemination  of  common  seeds  and  plants,  it  has 
not  yet  risen  to  the  necessity  of  improvement  of  our  live  stock  by  the 
establishment  of  breeding  farms.  Our  law  makers  have  been  bound 
to  the  theory  which  looked  upon  all  breeding  experiments  as  beyond 
the  province  of  Government  and  outside  the  pale  of  its  constitutional 
powers.  Recently  patriotic  men,  rising  above  party  tradition,  have 
passed  through  Congress  an  act  creating  agricultural  experiment  sta- 
tions in  each  State  and  appropriating  large  sums  of  money  for  their 
maintenance. 

This  is  a  step  in  the  right  direction.  As  yet,  these  stations  have 
mainly  occupied  themselves  in  analyzing  commercial  fertilizers  and 
duplicating  each  the  other's  work,  or,  as  remarked  by  the  Assistant 
Secretary  of  Agriculture,  "they  are  thrashing  a  great  deal  of  old  straw 
for  want  of  the  information  that  it  has  been  thrashed  before."  Three 
or  four  of  them  have  conducted  interesting  and  highly  valuable  feeding 
experiments  with  sheep,  and  one,  at  least,  Wisconsin,  recognizing  the 
great  importance  of  sheep  industry,  offers  no  excuse  for  devoting  many 
pages  of  its  annual  report  to  investigations  on  feeding  sheep  and  notes 
on  cross-breeding.  This  is  practical  work  of  the  highest  value,  and 
should  be  extended.  Breeding  farms  should  be  connected  with  the 
stations  and  patient  experiments  made  to  determine  the  breed  of  sheep 
especially  fitted  for  the  climatic  and  economic  conditions  of  the  locality, 


700        SHEEP  INDUSTRY  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES. 

and  to  dispose  of  full-blood  rams  to  farmers  on  reasonable  terms.  Bet- 
ter still,  Government  would  find  its  advantage  in  establishing  a  grand 
breeding  park  somewhere  in  the  Appalachian  region,  where  every  breed 
of  English  sheep  will  thrive.  When  Government  appropriates  money 
to  maintain  an  expensive  zoological  park,  abstract  discussion  on  its 
right  to  do  as  much  for  the  sheep  would  appear  superfluous.  The 
national  welfare  would  be  promoted  by  the  increase  of  an  industry 
which  would  furnish  the  people  a  cheap,  healthy,  nutritious  food,  and, 
incidentally,  material  for  their  clothing. 


THE  RANQE  HERDER. 


' 


PART  II.-CONDITION  OF  THE  SHEEP  INDUSTRY  WEST  OF 
THE  MISSISSIPPI  RIVER. 


[Chapters  i-iv  by  H.  A.  HEATH.     Chapter  v  by  JOHN  MINTO.] 


CHAPTEE  I. 
THE  SHEEP  INDUSTRY  IN  MONTANA,  AND  NORTH  AND  SOUTH  DAKOTA. 

MONTANA. 

The  young  State  of  Montana  has  a  population,  according  to  the  last 
census,  of  132,159,  which  gives  her  the  relative  rank  of  forty-fifth  among 
the  States  and  Territories  in  point  of  population,  yet  in  her  sheep  in- 
dustry she  stands  well  to  the  front.  In  no  other  Western  State  is  that 
industry  in  a  more  prosperous  condition  than  in  Montana.  In  compar- 
ison with  the  other  range  and  mountain  States,  Montana  is  peculiarly 
fortunate  in  having  the  most  profitable  class  of  sheep  for  the  flockmas- 
ter,  with  a  higher  average  value  for  each  animal.  The  industry  is  sim- 
ilar to  that  of  Wyoming  and  New  Mexico,  in  that  it  is  general  through- 
out the  State,  every  county  being  represented  to  some  extent.  It  is 
thus  a  State  industry  in  fact,  and  any  legislation  necessary  for  its  pro- 
tection or  encouragement  is  readily  secured.  In  consequence  of  these 
favorable  conditions,  the  sheepmen,  who  are  much  abused  in  many  other 
States,  are  here  leading  citizens  and  the  most  prosperous  class  of  far- 
mers and  stockmen.  The  sheep  business  in  many  portions  of  Montana 
is  largely  the  leading  industry  and  fosters  other  interests  which  de- 
pend upon  it.  This  is  especially  true  of  the  eastern  portion  of  the  State 
where  the  sheep  industry  is  comparatively  new.  Most  of  the  sheep 
have  been  brought  in  within  five  years,  and  the  cattle  business  is  grad- 
ually giving  way  to  sheep  and  horses.  Many  cattlemen  have  found  it 
necessary  to  change  their  system  of  ranching  and  fatten  steers  instead 
of  trying  to  raise  cattle,  owing  to  large  losses  of  cows  and  heifers  in 
severe  winters.  As  the  numbers  of  cattle  decline  stockmen  supply 
their  place  with  sheep  or  horses.  Many  former  resident  cattlemen  of 
the  Yellowstone  country  and  eastern  Montana  are  now  engaged  in  rais- 
ing horses  and  sheep  instead  of  cattle. 

The  climate  of  Montana  is  peculiar.  Although  the  State  is  of  high 
latitude  it  is  of  low  altitude.  The  stock  belt  of  Wyoming,  Colorado, 

701 


702        SHEEP  INDUSTRY  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES 

New  Mexico,  etc.,  is  much  of  it  5,000  feet  above  the  ocean;  but  very 
little  of  the  range  country  of  Montana  is  over  4,000  feet,  while  very 
much,  if  not  the  major  part,  is  less  than  3,000  feet  in  altitude.  Through 
this  comparatively  low  section  of  the  Kocky  Mountain  system,  a  warm 
wind  from  the  Pacific  blows  for  long  periods,  its  temperature  in  winter 
often  being  49°  to  50°  F.  This  wind,  however,  may  be  suddenly  chopped 
off  by  an  Arctic  wave,  and  the  thermometer  sink  80°  or  90°  in  a  day  or 
two.  It  is  this  very  disagreeable  freak  of  the  weather  which,  though 
it  does  not  happen  very  often,  "makes  life  a  burden"  to  the  stockmen 
when  it  does  come,  and  renders  special  precautions  necessary.  As  a 
rule,  upon  the  ranges  of  Monana,  it  is  either  too  warm  or  too  cold  to 
snow. 

In  northern  Montana,  according  to  the  records  of  the  War  Depart- 
ment signal  station,  at  Fort  Ben  ton,  for  fifteen  years,  from  1870  to 
1886,  the  average  rainfall  in  autumn  was  2.51,-  winter,  1.93;  spring, 
4.15,  and  summer,  4.75,  or  a  total  average  of  12.65  inches  for  the  year. 
The  records  of  the  signal  office  at  Helena,  in  western  Montana,  for  the 
years  18SO-'89,  inclusive,  show  the  average  annual  rainfall  for  this 
period  to  have  been  a  trifle  in  excess  of  11.5  inches. 

Regarding  the  physical  features,  etc.,  which  give  to  Montana  such 
natural  adaptability  for  sheep  husbandry,  the  following  extracts  from 
a  descriptive  pamphlet,  "  Montana,"  by  the  passenger  department  of 
the  Union  Pacific  Company  describe  it  well  : 

Montana  extends  550  miles  from  east  to  west,  and  nearly  300  north  to  south — a  total 
area  of  about  150,000  square  miles,  or  nearly  100,000,000  acres.  We  can  more  fully 
appreciate  the  meaning  of  these  figures  when  we  remember  that  the  six  New  England 
States  and  the  great  State  of  New  York  would  not  cover  this  area;  that  Minnesota 
and  Iowa  could  be  turned  over  upon  it  and  a  margin  left  for  Connecticut  to  rest  upon, 
or  that  England  and  Wales,  Ireland,  and  Scotland  combined,  do  not  near  equal  it  in 
size. 

This  magnificent  empire  of  the  Northwest  contains  30,000,000  acres  of  fertile  farm 
lands,  a  more  extensive  area  than  is  covered  by  an  entire  average  Eastern  State.  It 
contains  38,000,000  acres  of  unexcelled  grazing  lands,  a  pasture  field  alone  larger 
than  the  great  prairie  State  of  Illinois. 

One-fifth  of  the  area  of  this  vast  Territory,  or  about  20,000,000  acres,  is  mountain- 
ous. While  a  few  of  the  ranges  are  broken  and  grandly  rugged,  the  majority  con- 
sist of  beautiful  swells  of  110  extreme  height,  presenting  acclivities  so  gentle  that 
natural  roads  run  over  them  by  easy  grades  at  many  points.  Valley,  bench,  and 
mountain  often  blend  so  evenly  that  it  is  difficult  to  tell  just  where  the  one  ends 
andthe  other  begins.  The  mountains  are  jeweled  at  all  altitudes  with  copious  springs, 
"clear  and  cold  as  crystal  ice."  Even  the  passes  over  the  highest  ranges  in  Montana 
usually  have  an  altitude  of  only  about  6,000  feet  above  sea  level — no  greater  than 
the  elevation  of  the  plains  at  Cheyenne,  Wyo.,  and  less  than  1,000  feet  greater  than 
Denver,  Colo.,  a  city  surrounded  by  highly  productive  farms.  Nearly  all  the  arable 
mountain  valleys  average  from  500  to  2,000  feet  lower  than  the  most  fertile  ones  of 
Colorado  or  Utah.  Montana's  highest  peak  would  hardly  reach  timber-line  in  Colo- 
rado, and  her  average  mountains  only  reach  heights  which  in  the  Centennial  State 
are  made  to  blossom  as  the  rose.  It  is  a  land  of  gentle  acclivities,  over  which  you 
often  pass  without  knowing  when  you  are  upon  the  summit. 

The  main  range  of  the  Rockies,  the  Bitter  Boot  and  Cuiur  d'  Alene  in  the  western 


WEST    OF    THE    MISSISSIPPI    RIVER.  703 

portion  of  the  State,  and  the  Belt,  Highwood,  Snow,  Judith,  Tobacco  Root,  and 
Bridger  ranges  in  the  southern  and  central  portions — nearly  all  extending  in  a  gen- 
eral north  and  south  direction — are  Montana's  principal  "watersheds."  For  con- 
venience in  description  the  State  is  popularly  divided  into  fire  large  basins,  four 
lying  east  of  the  Rocky  Mouu* tains  and  one  to  the  westward.  These  basins  are 
broken  into  large  numbers  of  minor  valleys  separated  and  sheltered  by  spurs  pro- 
jecting from  the  main  mountain  ranges.  Each  may  be  said  to  have  its  own  peculiar 
river  system — as  complete  and  grand  as  those  of  any  first-class  State — and,  though 
generally  divided  from  each  other  by  mountain  ranges,  are,  as  already  indicated, 
easily  accessible  by  good  wagon  roads  over  low  passes.  The  valleys  are  wider  and 
more  extensive  than  any  other  in  the  Rocky  Mountain  chain,  excepting  along  the 
valleys  of  the  Snake  and  Great  Salt  Lake. 

It  is  claimed  that  Montana  presents  the  finest  river  system  in  America,  and,  there- 
fore, in  the  world.  Here,  almost  within  a  stone's  throw,  are  the  founts  of  two  great 
rivers  of  our  continent  that  finally  flow  into  either  ocean,  the  one  with  its  tributaries 
possessing  2,000  miles  of  navigable  waters  within  Montana's  boundary.  Northward 
for  300  miles,  and  then  eastward  through  peaceful  valleys,  the  fairest  of  all  Montana 
landscapes,  through  occasional  mountain  gorges  not  surpassed  in  grandeur  in  the 
world,  now  thundering  over  dizzy  precipices  and  again  almost  losing  its  identity  in 
unruffled  lakes,  pours  the  mighty  Missouri.  Eastward  from  the  National  Park  and 
across  the  southern  portion  of  the  State,  claiming  features  none  the  less  majestic 
and  even  more  picturesque  than  the  first  named,  is  the  beautiful  Yellowstone. 
Northward  and  southward  from  points  not  many  miles  distant,  and  wandering  in  di- 
verse ways  for  a  thousand  miles  only  to  meet  again  near  the  western  sea,  flow  the 
Hell  Gate  and  the  Snake,  the  two  great  forks  of  the  Columbia. 

Aside  from  the  Missouri,  Yellowstone  and  upper  Columbia — each  possessing  thrice 
the  volume  of  the  Ohio  at  Pittsburg — are  a  dozen  so  large  and  beautiful  that  we 
pause  and  wonder  whence  they  come,  and  that  the  world  knows  so  little  of  their 
manifold  attractions.  Among  these  we  may  name  Jefferson,  Gallatin,  Madison, 
Musselshell,  Bitter  Root,  Sun,  Milk,  Hell  Gate,  Beaver  Head,  and  Flat  Head. 
Adding  to  these  the  almost  numberless  laterals  which  course  through  and  beautify 
every  ravine  and  valley,  we  find  here  unlimited  water  power  and  inexhaustible 
supplies  of  water  for  irrigation. 

Several  millions  of  acres  in  Montana  are  still  set  apart  for  Indian 
reservations,  and  comprise  the  Crow,  Flathead,  Blackfoot,  and  Chey- 
enne agencies.  The  lands  monopolized  but  only  partially  utilized  by 
the  10,336  Indians,  comprise  some  of  the  best  agricultural  and  grazing 
lands  in  the  State.  In  the  message  of  Governor  Toole  to  the  second  leg- 
islative assembly  of  the  State  last  winter  in  regard  to  these  Indian 
reservations,  he  says: 

The  large  Indian  reservations  within  our  borders,  which  were  set  aside  by  the  Gen- 
eral Government,  embrace  some  of  our  best  agricultural  lands,  and  are  far  in  excess 
of  the  requirements  of  the  Indians,  who  are  no  longer  able  or  compelled  to  live  by 
the  chase,  but  in  every  instance  are  the  recipients  of  bounty  from  the  Government. 
The  buffalo  and  wild  game  which  once  abounded  upon  these  great  reservations  are 
practically  extinct,  and  with  their  departure  disappeared  the  only  reason  for  the 
maintenance  of  large  areas  of  land  for  the  occupancy  of  the  Indians. 

The  writer  addressed  a  letter  to  each  of  the  United  States  Indian 
agents  for  information  regarding  sheep  on  their  respective  reservations. 
The  uniform  reply  was  that  there  were  no  sheep  held  on  the  reserva- 
tions, and  that  Indians  owned  none  whatever.  Hon.  M.  P.  Wyman, 


704        SHEEP  INDUSTRY  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES 

in  charge  of  the  Crow  Agency,  makes  the  following  significant  statement 
in  his  letter : 

At  present  there  are  no  sheep  on  this  (Crow  Indian)  reservation,  the  Indians  being 
opposed  to  having  them  graze  on  their  land  and  owning  none  of  their  own.  There 
are  quite  a  number  of  large  sheep  owners  residing  on  the  border  of  the  reserve — Big 
Timber,  Billings,  Livingston,  and  Red  Lodge  being  their  shipping  and  supply  points. 

Maj.  Bonan,  agent  of  the  Flathead  Indians,  says:  " Stock-raising  is 
confined  to  cattle  and  horses."  The  same  is  true  of  every  other  Indian 
reserve  in  the  State.  Sheep-raising  is  too  civilizing  in  its  tendency  to 
suit  the  "noble  red  man,"  besides  he  is  very  easily  prejudiced  against 
this  class  of  stock,  being  made  to  believe  by  designing  men  that  sheep 
would  ruin  the  range.  More  revenue  could  be  derived  from  the  sheep 
men  than  is  now  received  for  the  other  classes  of  stock,  and  the  reser- 
vation would  not  suffer  in  consequence  of  the  change. 

In  1885,  Paris  Gibson,  one  of  the  first  promoters  of  improved  sheep, 
and  now  one  of  the  leading  and  wealthiest  citizens  of  Great  Falls, 
says: 

The  wool-growers  of  Montana  can  congratulate  themselves  upon  the  splendid  po- 
sition which  their  wool  has  gained  among  manufacturers.  It  has  been  steadily  in- 
creasing in  favor,  until  to-day  Montana  stands  without  a  rival  among  producers  of 
American  wools.  The  great  advantage  which  the  superiority  of  our  wool  gives  to 
the  sheep  industry  of  this  Territory  is  becoming  bettor  understood,  and  assures  for 
it  a  substantial  and  rapid  growth.  During  the  dark  period  through  which  we  have 
passed,  my  faith  in  the  sheep  business  of  Montana  has  never  weakened;  and  I  be- 
lieve to-day,  as  I  always  have  since  I  first  came  to  the  Territory,  that  Montana  will 
in  a  few  years  rank  as  the  first  wool-producing  State  in  the  Union,  and  will  be 
second  only  to  Texas  in  the  quantity  produced.  The  future  of  the  sheep  business  in 
Montana,  in  my  opinion,  is  exceedingly  bright  for  many  years  to  come,  and  those  who 
are  now  established  in  the  business  and  understand  the  management  of  their  flocks 
can  not  make  as  much  money  from  a  like  investment  in  any  other  branch  of  stock- 
raising. 

The  prediction  of  this  pioneer  breeder  has  been  verified,  and  two 
years  later  in  a  special  report  on  "Wool  and  manufactures  of  wool," 
by  the  United  States  Treasury  Department,  in  1887,  the  following  was 
said  concerning  Montana  wools : 

These  wools  stand  at  the  head  of  Territory  wools.  The  soil,  climate  and  pasturage 
combine  to  produce  wool  of  the  best  character  possible  on  wild  land.  In  addition, 
the  sheep  industry  of  Montana  has  been  developed  from  the  beginning  by  men  of 
more  than  ordinary  intelligence,  and  usually  with  ample  capital  to  carry  on  its  busi- 
ness with  such  system  as  to  obtain  the  best  results. 

There  has  been  a  steady  improvement  of  the  wool  product  up  to  the 
present  time,  and  most  consignments  are  sent  to  the  Eastern  markets 
in  better  merchantable  condition  than  the  greater  part  of  other  West- 
ern wools.  Owing  to  this  fact,  their  fine  quality,  and  li^ht  shrinkage, 
Montana  wools  are  eagerly  sought  by  the  wool  mer chants  and  readily 
taken  at  prices  which  range  higher  than  similar  wools  produced  in  the 
seiniarid  regions  of  the  plains. 

In  view  of  the  increasing  demand  for  muttons  and  stock  sheep  in 


WEST    OF    THE    MISSISSIPPI   RIVER.  705 

other  States,  notably  North  and  South  Dakota,  a  number  equal  to  the 
natural  increase  of  the  flocks  of  Montana  will  be  readily  taken  at  good 
prices  for  some  years.  However  rapidly  sheep  may  increase  for  many 
years  yet  to  come,  there  is-  little  fear  of  the  business  being  overdone. 
Settlers  may  occupy  within  a  few  years  large  portions  of  the  range 
now  used  by  sheep-owners  within  present  railroad  limits,  yet  these 
settlers  can  produce  enough  grain  and  rough  feed  to  supply  the  flocks 
with  food  instead  of  the  pasturage  which  they  displace.  The  settlers, 
however,  will  mostly  occupy  land  suitable  for  irrigation,  and  their  in- 
terests need  not  to  any  great  extent  conflict  with  those  of  the  flock- 
master.  The  sheep-owners  who  will  be  affected  by  the  inroad  of  the 
settler  are  the  professional  "floater"  and  the  "squatter."  The  latter, 
instead  of  owning  his  home  ranch,  simply  squats  on  some  suitable  un- 
occupied location.  In  the  event  of  an  inroad  of  homesteaders  he  will 
have  to  emulate  the  example  of  the  more  progressive  flockmasters  and 
own  his  home  ranch. 

Another  distinctive  advantage  enjoyed  by  Montana  sheepmen  are 
the  facilities  afforded  by  the  railroads.  At  all  the  principal  shipping 
points  the  railroad  companies  have  erected  large  wool  storehouses,  and 
have  also  extensive  stockyards  wherever  needed.  The  Northern  Pa- 
cific Railroad  has  large  wool  warehouses  at  Miles  City,  Billings,  Big 
Timber,  and  Townsend,  with  capacity  for  a  half  million  pounds  or 
more.  The  Great  Northern  Bail  way  Company  has  a  wool-house  at 
Great  Falls,  and  one  at  Fort  Benton.  The  size  of  each  is  40  by  245 
feet.  It  costs  the  grower  nothing  to  store  his  wool  in  them  until  he  is 
ready  to  sell  or  consign. 

In  the  last  annual  report  of  the  State  veterinarian,  Herbert  Hollo  way, 
V.  s.,  under  date  of  December  31, 1890,  to  the  governor  of  Montana,  are 
found  the  following  official  statements  regarding  the  condition  of  sheep 
in  the  State: 

Probably  for  the  first  time  in  many  years  sheep  are  free  from  diseases  of  all  kinds. 
There  is  not,  to  my  knowledge,  a  sheep  in  the  State  affected  with  a  contagious  dis- 
ease. All  deputy  sheep  inspectors  report  their  various  counties  free  from  scab,  which 
is  the  only  contagious  disease  with  which  we  have  to  contend.  During  the  year  scab 
appeared  in  a  few  flocks,  and  under  the  supervision  of  county  inspectors  about  30,000 
head  have  been  dipped,  which,  however,  have  now  all  been  released  from  quarantine. 
This  is  a  great  falling  off  compared  with  the  number  which  it  has  been  necessary  to 
dip  in  previous  years. 

Now  that  our  flocks  are  free  from  scab  or  any  contagious  disease,  it  is  of  the  utmost 
importance  that  all  precautions  be  taken  regarding  the  entry  of  sheep  from  other 
States  or  Territories.  Quarantine  regulations  can  not  be  too  strict  in  border  counties 
and  on  railroad  lines.  One  of  the  worst  outbreaks  of  scab  with  which  we  had  to 
contend  during  the  year,  and  which  caused  much  expense  and  annoyance,  was  intro- 
duced into  Fergus  County  by  a  flock  of  sheep  brought  from  Oregon.  These  appear 
to  have  passed  through  the  State  without  scab  being  detected.  It  was  ouly  through 
the  most  persistent  enforcement  of  quarantine  regulations  that  the  disease  was  con- 
fined to  the  original  flock. 

Wool-growers  have  had  a  prosperous  year,  with  good  demand  for  all  classes  of 
sheep,  and  sales  show  a  higher  price  realized  than  at  any  time  for  the  past  several 


706  SHEEP    INDUSTRY    OF    THE    UNITED    STATES 

years.  There  has  been  a  good  demand  for  stock  sheep,  and  lambs  reached  as  high  as 
$2.25  per  head.  Two-year-old  wethers  moved  easily  at  $3,  and  in  one  case  $3.1*3  was 
paid  for  a  very  choice  lot.  Ewes  sold  at  from  $2.75  to  $3.50  per  head.  The  wool 
market  opened  low,  and  continued  so  during  the  season.  Nearly  the  entire  clip  of 
wool  was  consigned  to  eastern  commission  houses,  netting  the  grower  from  16^  to  19| 
cents  per  pound. 

Climatic  conditions  to  this  date  have  been  favorable;  sheep  throughout  the  State 
are  in  good  average  condition,  and  although  feed  is  short,  wool-growers  generally 
are  fairly  well  provided  with  hay,  and  all  indications  point  to  1891  as  a  very  pros- 
perous year  for  the  industry. 

PAST   HISTORY   AND   PROGRESS. 

The  present  development  and  condition  of  the  sheep  industry  in 
Montana  are  remarkable.  The  discouragements  which  beset  the  early 
flockm asters,  including  the  original  control  of  the  range  by  cattle 
kings,  compelled  the  industry  to  win  its  way  strictly  on  its  own  merits. 
The  pioneers  in  the  business  deserve  considerable  credit  for  demon- 
strating the  adaptability  of  Montana  for  sheep  raising  and  overcoming 
the  obstacles  which  they  have  encountered. 

In  consulting  the  files  of  the  Montana  Wool-Grower,  the  writer  found 
a  communication  which  appeared  originally  in  the  Daily  Miner,  of 
Butte,  in  1886,  from  the  secretary  of  the  Montana  Wool- Growers'  Asso- 
ciation, from  which  the  following  extract  is  taken: 

It  is  believed  that  the  first  sheep  brought  into  Montana  were  owned  at  the  St. 
Peter's  Mission,  which  was  established  in  1859,  near  the  mouth  of  the  Sun  River. 
However  that  might  have  been,  the  first  authentic  statistics  are  found  in  the  Terri- 
torial auditor's  report  for  1868,  which  gives  the  number  of  sheep  and  goats  in  the  then 
nine  counties  as  1,752,  which  were  assessed  at  a  total  valuation  of  $9,685.50  or  about 
$5.50  per  head.  One-third  of  this  number  was  given  in  by  Madison  County;  while 
Madison,  Deer  Lodge,  and  Meagher  counties  contained  over  three-fourths  of  all. 

This  industry,  in  common  with  most  others  in  the  Territory,  did  not  advance  very 
rapidly  for  the  next  ten  years,  but  in  1881  there  were  assessed  260,402,  valued  for 
taxation  purposes  at  $729,228.50,  average  of  $2.80. 

The  sheep  that  were  brought  to  the  Territory,  says  the  Wool-Grower,  came  from 
various  directions,  but  mainly  from  California  and  Oregon.  They  were  generally  a 
grade  Merino,  many  quite  a  high  grade.  Some  of  the  early  breeders,  however,  brought 
in  coarse-wool  ranis — Cotswold,  Southdown  and  the  like  from  Canada  and  the  East- 
ern States,  producing  at  the  start  all  grades  from  coarse  to  fine,  in  the  larger  flocks 
of  the  Territory.  Since  that  time  large  numbers  of  Merino  rams  have  been  used, 
and  the  wool  now  largely  grades  fine  and  fine  medium  in  many  of  these  flocks,  fully 
95  per  cent  of  the  wool  being  of  these  grades.  Of  the  flocks  of  the  Territory,  there 
are  probably  very  few  that  are  less  than  half  blood,  while  as  a  rule,  they  will  run 
half  to  full  blood  Merino. 

The  following,  from  the  Montana  Stockman,  differs  from  the  Daily 
Miner  as  to  the  traditional  location  of  the  first  flock : 

Montana's  sheep  industry  has  now  reached  proportions  which  place  it  among  the 
main  sources  of  revenue  to  the  State,  and  the  history  of  its  growth  forms  a  chapter  in 
local  history  which  deserves  to  be  placed  on  record.  Current  report  states  that  the 
first  flock  of  sheep  ever  brought  to  Montana  came  from  the  Pacific  coast  in  the  sum- 
mer of  1867,  and  were  located  somewhere  in  the  Prickly  Pear  Valley,  in  the  present 
county  of  Lewis  and  Clarke.  The  band  comprised  about  500  head,  and  no  provision 


WEST    OF    THE  -  MISSISSIPPI    RIVER. 


707 


in  the  way  of  shelter  or  winter  feed  having  been  made,  the  whole  outfit  perished  before 
the  succeeding  spring.  This  unfortunate  beginning  did  not  deter  further  experiment, 
for  in  the  Territorial  auditor's  report  for  the  year  1868,  we  find  the  first  authentic  pub- 
lic record  of  the  existence  of  the  industry  in  Montana.  In  that  document  1,752  head  of 
sheep  and  goats  are  recorded  a*s  being  returned  for  assessment,  at  a  total  valuation  of 
$9,685,  or  about  $5.50  per  head,  and  from  that  time  on  sheep  husbandry  may  be  con- 
sidered one  of  the  permanent  industries  of  the  State.  The  first  few  years  were  nat- 
urally a  period  of  cautious  experiment,  and  the  slow  advance  is  evidenced  by  the  fact 
that  the  increase  in  holdings  during  the  nine  years  succeeding  was  comparatively 
small  in  proportion  to  the  inducements  and  possibilities  for  expansion.  There  was 
a  big  margin  of  profit  in  the  business  in  those  days,  but  with  the  natural  adapta- 
bility of  the  State  to  its  successful  prosecution  still  in  doubt,  the  industry  was  slow 
of  growth. 

The  following  table,  compiled  from  the  Territorial  and  State  audi- 
tor's reports,  show  the  number  of  sheep  assessed  in  the  State  for  the 
years  named,  and  indicates  the  steps  by  which  the  industry  has 
attained  its  present  proportions : 


Tear. 

Number. 

Year. 

Number. 

1877 

79  288 

1884 

593  896 

1878            

107,  261 

1885  

798  682 

1879 

168  891 

1886 

968  298 

1880             

249,  978 

1887  

1  062  141 

1881       

260,  402 

1888  

1,  153,  771 

1882                

362,  776 

1889    

1  368  848 

1883         

465,  667 

1890  

1,555  116 

While  these  figures  are  probably  in  every  instance  much  below  the 
actual  number  of  sheep  owned  in  the  State,  they  approximately  indi- 
cate the  process  of  development  during  the  years  mentioned. 

GENERAL  FACTS   REGARDING  THE   INDUSTRY. 

The  class  of  sheep  most  numerous  in  Montana  is  quite  similar  to 
that  of  other  Western  States  and  Territories  where  sheep  are  a  promi- 
nent branch  of  the  animal  industry.  Montana  sheep  consists  mainly 
of  Merinos,  including  both  Spanish  and  French,  with  the  former  greatly 
predominating.  In  the  foundation  flocks  of  Montana  there  is  found 
very  little  of  the  trace  of  Mexican  sheep,  which  is  so  manifest  in  most 
the  early  flocks  southward  to  the  Gulf  of  Mexico.  This  difference  is  a 
decided  advantage,  because  the  sheep  here  of  similar  grades  to  those 
farther  South  are  larger  in  size,  with  better  constitutions  and  heavier 
fleeces.  The  foundation  of  the  earliest  flocks  came  mainly  from  Califor- 
nia, to  which  additions  have  been  made  of  pure-bred  and  high-grade 
sheep  from  Vermont,  New  York,  Michigan,  Wisconsin,  and  other  East- 
ern States.  But  the  greater  portion  of  the  sheep  came  from  the  West, 
and  every  year  thousands  more  are  brought  in  from  Oregon  and  Cali- 
fornia, as  well  as  from  Idaho  and  Utah.  The  sheep  from  the  East  now 
brought  in  are  principally  breeding  rams,  including  full-blood  Merino, 
many  of  the  Delaine  type,  Shropshires,  and  some  coarse  wool.  At  pres- 
ent a  good  many  flockmasters  are  experimenting  with  the  Down  cross, 


708  SHEEP    INDUSTRY    OF    THE    UNITED    STATES 

especially  the  Shropshire  rams.  However,  the  Merino  blood  predomi- 
nates and  will  unquestionably  so  continue  as  long  as  sheep  are  run  in 
large  flocks  as  at  present.  These  bands  number  from  1,500  to  3,000, 
averaging  about  2,000  sheep.  The  number  of  sheep  owned  by  a  single 
person  or  firm  varies  in  extent  from  1,000  to  50,000.  Large  holdings  of 
20,000,  30,000,  or  50,000  sheep  are  not  numerous,  yet  there  are  one  or 
more  such  holdings  in  each  of  the  principal  sheep  counties.  It  rarely 
occurs  that  a  regular  sheep-owner  has  less  than  2,000  head,  and  the 
very  large  owners  are  about  as  numerous  as  the  smaller  ones  who  each 
own  less  than  1,000  head.  It  is  seldom  that  anyone  claiming  to  be  a 
sheep-owner  handles  less  than  the  average  flock  of  2,000  head  or  more. 

The  great  wealth  of  grass  everywhere  prevalent  indicates  a  fertility 
of  soil  unusual  for  this  portion  of  the  plains  and  the  Eocky  Mountain 
region.  The  level  and  rolling  land  has  a  hard,  dry  soil,  either  clay  or 
a  sandy  loam,  except  in  the  rougher  portions,  which  are  more  gravelly ; 
but  generally  speaking  the  soil  possesses  a  sandy  character  very  sim- 
ilar to  all  the  land  lying  on  the  immediate  eastern  slope  of  the  Eocky 
Mountains.  However,  the  Montana  portion  of  this  arid  grazing  land 
has  not  so  great  an  altitude  as  the  region  south  to  the  Gulf  of  Mexico. 
Nearly  every  county  has  all  grades  of  soil  from  the  rich  bottom  and 
bench  lands  to  the  rough  or  rocky  hills  or  mountains.  The  diversified 
topography  of  the  country  and  the  natural  feed,  everywhere  more  or 
less  abundant,  give  an  adaptiveness  to  stock-raising  in  Montana  that 
accounts  for  the  success  attained,  notwithstanding  the  severe  winters. 

It  seems  remarkable  how  well  sheep  subsist  and  flourish  on  the  native 
grasses  throughout  the  entire  year.  The  blue-joint,  bunch  grass,  and 
what  is  termed  buffalo-grass  are  common  in  most  counties  and  are  gen- 
erally mentioned  with  favor  by  sheep-owners.  But  as  the  subject  of 
Montana  grasses  is  of  sufficient  importance  and  extent  to  require  a 
section  of  this  report  it  will  not  be  further  discussed  here.  Nature  has 
been  kind  not  alone  in  the  matter  of  grasses,  but  in  that  of  other  neces- 
sary element  of  live-stock  husbandry,  the  water  supply,  which  is  avail- 
able for  stock  in  most  localities  in  rivers,  creeks,  lakes,  and  springs. 
Along  most  of  the  streams  there  is  some  timber  or  brush,  especially  the 
Yellowstone  river,  the  cottonwood  and  willows  constituting  the  principal 
timber.  The  growth  along  these  streams,  as  well  as  the  great  variety 
of  so-called  "sages,"  afford  considerable  feed  for  stock  during  the  period 
when  snow  covers  the  ground.  Fortunately  the  winter  grazing  lands 
are  covered  with  snow  for  only  a  short  period  during  the  average  win- 
ter, but  occasionally  there  is  a  winter  in  which  the  snowfall  is  excessive, 
and  if  the  flockmaster  has  not  provided  a  supply  of  hay  or  other  feed 
the  loss  is  quite  large.  There  are  sheep-owners  who  still  persist  that 
it  is  useless  to  provide  winter  feed  because  they  have  managed  to  get 
along  so  far  without  recourse  to  hay  or  grain,  and  the  ranges  reserved 
for  winter  use  seem  to  them  ample  for  emergencies.  While  the  loss  is 
heavier  some  winters  than  others,  they  claim  that  it  is  not  equal  to  the 


WEST    OF    THE. MISSISSIPPI   RIVER.  709 

cost  of  providing  a  sufficient  amount  of  hay  every  year.  One  expe- 
rience of  heavy  and  unusual  losses,  however,  seems  sufficient  to  induce 
them  to  modify  their  method,  and  ever  after  shelter  and  feed  are 
annually  provided  sufficient  to  sustain  the  stock  through  the  stormy 
period. 

The  loss  of  sheep  from  all  sources  in  Montana  is  so  small  that  it  may 
seem  incredible  to  those  unfamiliar  with  the  industry  in  this  State. 
The  loss  from  the  depredations  of  wild  animals  is  less  in  comparison 
than  in  any  of  the  States  or  Territories  southward  in  the  Rocky 
Mountain  region,  or  the  eastern  slope  of  the  same.  The  estimates  of 
the  amount  of  yearly  loss  from  this  source,  as  reported  by  the  sheep 
owners,  are  from  one-half  to  1  or  2  per  cent,  although  one  report  from 
the  Yellowstone  country  placed  the  loss  as  high  as  10  per  cent.  Yet 
after  summarizing  the  reports  for  the  whole  State,  the  annual  loss  from 
wild  animals  does  not  exceed  1  per  cent  of  the  sheep  of  the  State.  The 
annual  loss  of  sheep  from  exposure  and  other  casualties  is  very  much 
larger;  a  conservative  estimate  for  a  series  of  years  would  place  it  at  5 
per  cent,  the  loss  for  any  one  year  depending  on  the  severity  of  the 
winter.  That  the  loss  is  not  much  greater,  in  view  of  the  primitive 
methods  in  vogue  for  conducting  sheep  husbandry,  is  a  high  tribute  to 
the  endurance  and  constitution  of  the  Montana-raised  sheep. 

In  regard  to  the  effect  on  the  constitution  or  the  fleece  of  sheep 
brought  in  from  other  States,  the  general  opinion  seems  to  be  that 
the  change  results  in  improvement,  whether  the  sheep  come  from  the 
west,  south,  or  east.  The  bulk  of  the  sheep  hitherto  brought  in  have 
come  from  Oregon,  Washington,  and  other  States  and  Territories  west; 
and  this  class  of  sheep  stand  the  transition  without  any  perceptible 
change.  But  the  climate  of  Montana  is  so  salubrious  that  the  only 
change  noted  in  the  constitution  of  the  animal  is  that  it  becomes 
strengthened  and  less  liable  to  disease  than  before.  Sheep  brought 
from  the  south  seem  to  attain  greater  size  at  maturity;  the  fleece  be- 
comes more  dense,  the  fiber  stronger,  and  the  staple  longer.  The  same 
is  true  of  sheep  brought  from  the  east,  being  bred  more  carefully  and 
not  accustomed  to  the  "rustling"  methods.  They  do  not  show  any 
improvement  until  after  they  become  acclimated,  and  they  usually  re- 
quire more  personal  attention,  but  both  the  fleece  and  constitution 
ultimately  improve.  The  fleece  becomes  drier,  more  dense,  and  attains 
greater  length  of  staple.  This  is  particularly  true  of  the  Merino  sheep. 
Of  the  medium  or  loug-wooled  fleece  there  is  no  improvement  in  any 
way,  unless  it  may  be  a  slight  improvement  in  density.  The  fleece 
does  not  deteriorate  if  the  sheep  are  well  fed.  Sheep  of  all  breeds 
acclimate  readily  without  any  bad  effects. 

The  class  of  rams  mainly  in  use  previous  to  1890  were  full-blood,  or 
grade  Merinos,  with  the  Spanish  or  American  type  in  the  lead,  and 
only  a  fair  proportion  of  the  French.  Since  then  there  has  been  a 
disposition  to  use  rams  of  the  mutton  breeds  more,  but  not  to  the  total 


710        SHEEP  INDUSTRY  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES 

exclusion  of  Merinos.  It  is  rather  a  partial  substitution,  and  only  oc- 
casionally lias  a  flockmaster  made  a  complete  change  from  fine- wool  to 
coarse  or  middle- wool  rams.  The  use  of  the  mutton-breed  rams  is  in 
the  experimental  stage  yet,  and  is  confined  mainly  to  the  Shropshires, 
although  the  Cotswolds,  Oxford  Downs  and  Southdowns  are  being 
used  to  a  more  limited  extent.  Delaine  Merino  ranis  have  been  used  a 
great  deal  and  give  very  good  satisfaction.  The  most  satisfactory 
cross,  so  far  as  tried  during  the  present  experimental  period,  and  the 
one  which  appears  to  be  growing  in  popularity  with  the  sheepmen,  is 
the  cross  of  the  common  Montana  ewe  with  either  the  pure-bred  Shrop- 
shire or  the  Delaine  Merino  ram.  The  lambs  produced  from  this  cross 
in  nearly  every  case  seem  to  make  the  model  sheep  for  Montana,  and 
when  the  breeding  has  been  judicious,  a  very  profitable  animal  is  the 
result  for  both  wool  and  mutton.  The  great  danger  which  confronts 
the  flockmaster  in  a  new  departure  from  tried  methods  of  breeding  is 
the  tendency  to  breed  indiscriminately.  How  to  breed  the  cross-bred 
ewes  and  not  produce  a  mongrel  or  deterioration  of  wool,  and  perhaps 
an  animal  unsuited  to  the  climate  and  the  customary  methods  incident 
to  the  management  of  flocks  in  Montana,  is  the  problem  yet  to  be  solved 
by  most  of  the  sheepmen.  Successful  cross  breeding  is  an  extremely 
difficult  undertaking  for  any  sheep-breeder,  and  for  the  inexperienced 
or  unskilled  it  is  a  very  hazardous  business.  Already  there  are  manifest 
ill  effects  from  the  indiscriminate  use  of  rams  on  flocks  in  different  por- 
tions of  the  State,  brought  about  by  the  eagerness  of  many  flockniasters 
to  secure  a  large  mutton  carcass.  Some  sheep-owners  have  crossed 
Merino  ewes  with  Oxford  or  Cotswold  ranis,  and  as  might  be  expected, 
bad  results  occurred  at  lambing  time.  The  sheep  of  this  cross  are  in 
many  respects  unsuited  to  range  grazing,  as  they  do  not  thrive  so  well 
in  large  flocks  and  more  feed  is  required  for  them  than  for  fine- wool 
sheep.  The  real  danger  is  the  tendency  to  run  into  extremes.  For  the 
man  who  has  a  few  sheep  only,  a  cross  is  all  right  if  judiciously  made, 
but  the  middle-wool  cross  is  preferable  to  the  long- wool.  The  thing  to 
be  avoided  is  any  radical  change,  especially  with  as  large  flocks  as 
those  of  Montana.  The  Merino  blood  should  predominate  so  long  as 
sheep  husbandry  is  conducted  as  it  is  now.  Eeckless  cross  breeding 
will  eventuate  in  a  mongrel  type,  with  general  deterioration.  The  rams 
used  by  the  flockmaster  are  one  year  old  and  upward,  and  they  are 
kept  in  use  as  long  as  they  are  able  to  get  the  usual  number  of  lambs. 
Ordinarily  at  the  age  of  six  or  eight  years  their  place  is  supplied  by 
younger  ones.  Each  ram  is  given  from  25  to  75  ewes,  the  number  de- 
pending on  his  age,  condition,  or  breed.  The  ranis  are  allowed  to 
remain  with  the  ewe  flocks  from  four  to  six  weeks.  In  the  Yellowstone 
country  the  ewes  are  bred  as  early  as  November  15,  but  the  common 
practice  is  to  so  breed  that  the  ewe  will  drop  her  lamb  soon  after  the 
1st  of  May.  The  general  custom  for  the  State  is  to  turn  in  the  rams 
soon  after  the  1st  of  December  and  let  them  run  with  the  flock  from 


WEST    OF    THE    MISSISSIPPI   RIVER.  711 

four  to  six  weeks.  It  is  a  very  rare  occurrence  for  any  of  the  ewes  to 
fail  to  breed. 

The  average  per  cent  of  lambs  raised  varies  according  to  the  severity 
of  the  winter  in  its  effect  on  the  breeding  ewes,  the  character  of  the 
weather  during  the  lambing  season,  and  the  amount  of  attention  be- 
stowed or  the  facilities  afforded  by  the  flockmaster.  In  the  past  the 
proportion  of  the  lambs  dropped  which  failed  to  reach  maturity  has 
varied  from  10  to  20  per  cent.  The  general  experience,  however,  cov- 
ering the  whole  State,  is  that  in  the  'different  flocks  from  75  to  95  per 
cent  of  the  lambs  are  raised.  For  1890  and  1891  an  unusually  high 
per  cent  of  the  lambs  was  raised,  even  as  high  as  100  per  cent.  This 
may  be  attributed  to  the  favorable  seasons,  the  large  number  of  twins, 
and  the  more  extensive  use  of  middle- wool  bucks.  A  conservative  esti- 
mate of  the  number  of  lambs  raised  in  the  State  will  not  be  less  than 
87  per  cent.  Many  sheep- owners  who  have  well-managed  ranches,  with 
necessary  equipment  and  conveniences,  inform  the  writer  that  they 
save  and  raise  as  high  as  95  per  cent  of  the  lambs. 

It  is  a  matter  of  surprise  to  those  unfamiliar  with  the  industry  in 
Montana  that  the  requirement  of  feed  and  shelter  during  winter  has 
been  in  the  past  and  is  at  present  rather  an  incident  than  a  regular 
and  necessary  provision.  It  seems  incredible  that  there  are  very  many 
flocks  in  the  State  which  are  compelled,  during  extreme  winter  weather, 
to  depend  wholly  on  the  winter  ranges  for  feed,  and  for  shelter  on 
such  as  nature  has  provided.  There  are  hundreds  of  flockmasters  who 
have  handled  sheep  in  this  manner  for  years  without  excessive  loss.  It 
seems  strange  that  in  this  latitude  so  many  sheepmen  should  make  no 
more  provision  for  food  and  shelter  during  winter  than  do  many  of 
the  Texas  flockmasters,  yet  it  is  nevertheless  a  fact,  and  the  average 
loss  has  been  about  the  same.  Yet  it  is  the  judgment  of  the  prudent 
and  conservative  sheep-owners  that  it  is  an  unwise  policy,  for  the  reason 
that  every  few  years  there  is  likely  to  occur  a  winter  of  unusual  sever- 
ity with  heavy  snow  which  may  entirely  cover  the  greater  portion  of 
the  winter  range,  when  great  losses  are  sure  to  occur.  The  amount  of 
the  loss  in  these  exceptional  winters  is  as  much  as  would  have  pro- 
vided permanent  sheds  and  the  cost  of  putting  up  enough  hay  to  carry 
the  flocks  through  the  severe  periods  of  winter  weather.  It  is  only  a 
matter  of  time  when  this  barbarous  custom  must  become  practically  ob- 
solete, for  one  experience  of  this  kind  usually  satisfies  the  sheep-owner. 
Even  if  he  escapes  a  total  loss  of  the  flock  he  is  sure  to  lose  the  profits 
of  one  or  more  years7  labor.  The  expense  of  providing  suitable  shelter 
is  not  large.  The  ordinary  shed,  closed  on  three  sides  and  open  to  the 
south,  will  answer  in  most  cases.  Where  lumber  is  not  conveniently 
attainable  the  roof  may  be  covered  with  brush  or  hay.  A  shed  150 
feet  square  and  7  to  8  feet  high  in  the  center  will  accommodate  the 
average  flock.  Some  prefer  the  oblong  shed  to  the  square  one,  but 
which  is  the  better  depends  entirely  upon  local  circumstances  and  en- 


712        SHEEP  INDUSTRY  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES 

vironments.  It  must  be  remembered,  however,  that  even  where  shelter 
and  feed  are  provided  they  are  not  needed  or  intended  for  constant 
use  during  the  winter  months.  They  may  be  regarded  as  an  emergency 
provision,  to  be  utilized  only  during  a  severe  winter  storm,  or  when  the 
range  is  covered  with  deep  snow.  Most  sheep-owners  who  have  these 
conveniences  usually  prefer  that  the  sheep  be  housed  at  night  in  the 
open  corral,  which  is  inclosed  by  a  stockade.  During  the  day  the 
sheep  are  herded  on  the  winter  range  and  the  sheds  and  feed  utilized 
only  when  storms  are  prevalent.  The  feed  provided  for  such  occasions 
invariably  consists  of  prairie  hay,  which  is  highly  nutritious.  It  is 
seldom  that  more  than  forty  tons  of  hay  are  provided  for  1,000  head  of 
sheep.  The  winter  of  1890-'91  was  unusually  mild,  and  but  little  hay 
was  required  anywhere  in  the  State.  In  the  localities  where  it  was 
used  the  time  in  all  scarcely  exceeded  two  weeks. 

Owing  to  the  excellence  of  Montana  ranges  it  will  not  be  long  before 
they  become  occupied,  and  the  present  unlimited  range  held  by  a  few 
individuals  will  be  circumscribed.  This  will  necessitate  an  increased 
amount  of  winter-feeding.  The  development  of  the  State  by  irriga- 
tion and  otherwise  will  make  this  so  plentiful  as  to  more  than  compen- 
sate for  the  loss  of  winter-grazing.  While  intrenchment  upon  a  portion 
of  the  grazing  lands  now  occupied  by  the  sheep-owner  may  increase 
his  expenses,  yet  it  is  the  .belief  of  many  that  as  a  result  of  more  com- 
fortable shelter  and  regular  feeding  during  the  winter  months  there 
will  be  such  a  marked  improvement  in  the  quantity  and  quality  of  the 
wool  and  mutton  produced  as  to  more  than  reimburse  the  added  cost 
of  feed  and  labor.  Individual  sheepmen  who  have  been  favorably  sit- 
uated and  disposed  to  try  the  experiment  of  full  feeding  are  so  well 
satisfied  with  the  results  that  they  have  no  desire  to  return  to  the  cus- 
tomary methods  of  wintering  sheep.  Under  that  system  the  sheep- 
owner  aims  to  dispose  of  his  surplus  wethers  as  well  as  the  weak  lambs 
and  aged  and  other  undesirable  ewes  before  winter  sets  in.  They  are 
generally  sold  to  stock-feeders  in  the  grain  producing  districts  farther 
east  or  south. 

The  grazing  lands  utilized  by  the  sheepmen  of  Montana  are  a  part 
of  the  Government  domain,  large  areas  of  which  are  still  unsurveyed. 
The  only  land  owned  by  the  sheepman  may  be  1GO  acres,  or  perhaps 
more,  located  where  there  are  water  and  good  hay  land.  This  water 
right  and  claim  are  made  his  home  and  winter  ranch.  During  summer 
the  sheep  are  grazed  on  more  remote  ranges,  while  the  home  ranch  and 
adjacent  range  are  reserved  for  winter  use.  In  some  cases,  within 
railroad  limits,  the  home  ranch  is  leased  from  the  railroad  company. 
Many  of  these  landholdings  have  become  quite  valuable,  because  of 
their  commanding  position  of  the  choicest  ranges,  or  because  of  the 
permanent  improvements  ami  conveniences.  The  value  of  these  homo 
ranches  is  placed  at  from  $1.50  to  $10  per  acre. 

In  reference  to  the  main  object  of  sheep-raisers  of  Montana,  there  is 


WEST    OF    THE    MISSISSIPPI    RIVER.  713 

a  growing  disposition  to  breed  for  both  wool  and  mutton.  Formerly, 
wool  was  the  sole  object,  but  many  flockmasters  feel  that  under  exist- 
ing- conditions  both  are  necessary  to  make  the  business  profitable. 

Shearing  mostly  takes  place  during  the  month  of  June.  Some  flock- 
masters  shear  in  the  latter  part  of  May  and  others  the  first  of  July,  but 
every  fleece  is  clipped  by  July  10.  A  large  number  of  the  owners  have 
the  shearing  done  at  the  home  ranch  by  traveling  crews  of  shearers, 
who  go  from  ranch  to  ranch,  and  who  receive  an  average  price  of  8 
cents  per  head,  board  included.  The  crew  of  shearers  usually  numbers 
from  10  to  12  men.  In  some  cases  sheep  are  driven  to  the  public  corrals 
and  shearing  stations  of  the  railroad  and  sheared  there.  The  wool  is 
sacked  at  once  and  then  taken  to  the  railroad  storehouses  for  storage 
and  shipment.  When  it  is  possible,  and  prices  satisfactory,  the  wool  is 
sold  at  home,  otherwise  it  is  consigned  to  Eastern  commission  houses, 
mainly  to  Boston,  New  York,  and  Philadelphia.  This  season,  however, 
Chicago  received  a  share  of  the  consignments,  but,  owing  to  differential 
rates  made  by  the  "Soo  Line"  and  the  Canadian  Pacific  Bailroad,  the 
bulk  of  the  clip  goes  to  Boston,  as  the  rate  is  but  a  few  cents  more  per 
100  pounds  than  the  rate  to  Chicago.  The  grades  of  wool  represent 
all  known  Western  classes  excepting  the  coarsest,  but  generally  con- 
sist of  fine,  fine  medium,  and  medium;  also  some  coarse.  Sheep-owners 
who  express  themselves  say  the  best  market  for  wool  is  Boston:  for 
mutton,  Chicago.  As  a  general  rule,  growers  prefer  to  sell  in  local 
markets  for  spot  cash,  as  they  secure  the  use  of  money  at  once,  and 
know  what  they  are  to  get.  If  this  is  not  done,  through  failure  to 
obtain  a  satisfactory  offer,  the  wool  is  shipped  to  be  sold  on  commission. 
The  various  expenses  incident  to  such  shipment  and  sale  average  about 
3£  cents  to  4  cents  per  pound.  The  weight  of  fleeces  ranges  from  5  to 
10  pounds.  While  a  few  very  competent  men  estimate  the  average 
for  the  whole  State  at  8  pounds,  yet  the  numerous  reports  from  every 
part  of  the  State  from  actual  experience  warrant  the  writer  in  placing 
the  average  clip  for  the  entire  State  at  7  pounds  per  fleece.  More  sheep- 
men report  their  actual  average  at  8  pounds  than  those  reporting  6 
pounds  average;  so,  from  a  careful  compiling  of  all  the  reports,  7  pounds 
may  be  regarded  as  a  fair  average  for  Montana  fleece.  Mutton  sheep 
are  generally  sent  to  Chicago,  but  most  growers  sell  to  speculators  who 
visit  the  ranches  and  take  chances  on  making  a  bargain.  They  occa- 
sionally fail  to  make  any  profit  unless  they  buy  in  small  lots  until  they 
secure  enough  to  ship  in  train  loads  at  reduced  rates. 

The  portion  of  the  flocks  disposed  of  annually  is  likely  to  vary  in 
numbers  during  different  years,  owing  to  the  changing  demand  for 
wethers  and  stockers.  In  the  eastern  counties  the  per  cent  is  smaller 
than  in  the  western  part  of  the  State,  where  the  business  has  been  con- 
ducted longer.  The  class  of  sheep  disposed  of  consists  mainly  of 
wethers  3  years  old  and  upward,  and  such  ewes  and  lambs  as  can 
be  spared.  Of  these  the  wethers  form  the  larger  part,  although  last 


714        SHEEP  INDUSTRY  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES 

year  a  great  many  stock  sheep  were  sold  to  speculators  in  the  Dakotas. 
Many  of  these  were  culls  or  cheap  sheep,  except  among  those  sold  to 
the  owners  direct.  About  20  to  30  per  cent  of  the  entire  flocks  of  the 
State  are  now  disposed  of  annually,  and  are  sold  after  shearing  is  over. 
The  stock  sheep  are  taken  from  August  to  November,  and  the  mutton 
sheep  and  wethers  from  September  to  November.  The  stock  sheep 
sold  last  year  went  mainly  to  the  Dakotas  at  prices  ranging  from  $2  to 
$3.25,  a  probable  average  of  $2.50  or  $2.75.  The  mutton  sheep  and 
wethers  sold  from  50  cents  to  $1  a  head  higher,  and  netted  the  owners 
from  $3  to  $3.50.  Dealers  resold  them  in  St.  Paul,  Minneapolis,  or  Chi- 
cago. The  bulk  of  those  fit  for  slaughter  are  shipped  in  car-load  lots 
to  Chicago  direct,  or  if  the  sheep  are  not  in  prime  condition,  they  are 
given  a  stop-over  at  some  of  the  feeding  stations  in  Illinois,  and  fin- 
ished for  the  market  on  grain  and  then  sent  on  to  market  and  bring  the 
top  prices.  The  gross  weight  of  these  muttons  runs  from  90  to  130 
pounds,  or  an  average  of  not  less  than  100  pounds.  These  weights 
are  of  sheep  sent  to  market  oft'  the  grass,  and  does  not  include  shrink- 
age incident  to  the  long  shipment  to  Chicago.  Grain-fed  sheep  aver- 
age higher. 

One  of  the  most  expensive  features  of  the  business  in  Montana  is  the 
comparatively  high  wages  paid  herders,  who  command  from  $35  to  $50 
a  month  and  board.  The  prevailing  price  is  about  $40.  The  average 
cost  per  sheep  a  year,  including  all  expenses,  is  variously  estimated  by 
different  sheep-owners  of  Montana  from  25  cents  to  $1.25,  the  cost  de- 
pending on  the  class  of  sheep,  locality  and  environments,  skill  and 
management.  The  reports  name  50  cents,  75  cents  or  $1,  about  evenly 
divided.  The  following  detailed  statement  made  by  Col.  David  Sellers, 
of  Montana,  in  1888,  illustrates  the  basis  of  calculation  and  answers 
the  purpose  of  an  outside  and  conservative  calculation : 

Investment. 

Two  thousand  stock  sheep  at  $2.25 $4,  500 

Horses,  corrals,  stables,  etc 1, 500 

Twenty-five  ranis  at  $15  each 375 

6,375 

Annual  expenses. 

One  herder,  including  hoard $600 

One  man  help,  including  hoard 600 

Two  extra  men,  four  months 400 

Shearing  expenses 200 

Freight,  taxes,  salt,  etc 200 

Other  expenses • 200 

2,200 
Income. 

Wool,  12,000  pounds,  at  18  cents $2,160 

Increase  of  flock,  40  per  cent,  at  $2.25 1, 800 

3,960 


WEST   OF    THE    MISSISSIPPI   RIVER.  715 

After  deducting  expenses  there  is  a  net  income  of  $1,760,  or  over  27 
per  cent,  on  the  investment.  To  keep  a  less  number  of  sheep  would  not 
reduce  the  expense  much,  while  a  few  hundred  more  would  not  increase 
the  expense.  The  extra  men  are  necessary  during  the  lambing  and 
haying  seasons.  The  foregoing  estimate  is  of  a  representative  flock 
well  managed,  having  all  the  necessary  conveniences.  Of  course  there 
are  hundreds  of  owners  who  manage  their  flocks  at  much  less  expense 
than  the  total  amount  given  by  Col.  Sellers,  which  averaged  $1.10  per 
head.  The  average  for  the  whole  State  would  be  from  80  cents  to 
$1  per  head  for  a  series  of  years. 

A  brief  summary  of  the  local  advantages  for  the  industry  enumerated 
by  sheepmen  representing  every  portion  of  the  State  is  as  follows: 
Natural  sheep  country 5  pure  and  invigorating  atmosphere;  free  range; 
abundance  of  nutritious  grasses  of  different  kinds  and  excellent  quality, 
affording  pasturage  the  year  around,  excepting  a  few  stormy  days  of 
winter;  climate  dry  and  healthful;  plenty  of  good  water  available  from 
natural  supply;  no  disease  among  sheep,  and  country  almost  abso- 
lutely free  from  it;  greater  portion  of  State  only  suitable  for  grazing, 
too  dry  for  general  farming— sheep  and  other  stock  easily  fatten  with- 
out grain,  on  the  native  grasses,  until  they  are  fit  for  market;  freedom 
from  dust,  burrs,  and  ticks;  unlimited  open  range  which  can  not  be 
profitably  utilized  for  any  purpose  except  grazing. 

The  chief  disadvantages  and  obstacles  encountered  by  those  engaged 
in  the  sheep  industry  of  Montana,  compiled  from  their  own  statements, 
are  as  follows :  High  priced  and  often  incompetent  herders  and  helpers ; 
occasional  severe  winters,  with  deep  snows,  cold  storms,  and  low  tem- 
perature; localities  with  scarcity  of  forage  in  winter  and  water  in  sum- 
mer; timber  scarce  except  along  the  principal  rivers,  making  lumber 
very  expensive  for  those  who  have  to  make  long  hauls  for  their  neces- 
sary supply;  trouble  with  poisonous  weeds  and  plants  in  some  places, 
such  as  the  wild  parsnips  and  loco  plants ;  isolation  from  social  privi- 
leges incident  to  the  business.  These  item's  comprise  all  the  chief  dis- 
advantages mentioned  by  correspondents  in  the  State,  and  all  of  them 
do  not  apply  to  every  county.  Some  minor  difficulties  are  mentioned 
by  some  of  the  flockmasters,  but  none  that  can  not  be  overcome  by  en- 
ergy, industry,  and  economy. 

Sheep  raised  in  Montana  are  peculiarly  free  from  disease.  There  have 
been  some  cases  of  scab  in  different  portions  of  the  State,  usually  caused 
by  carelessness  in  bringing  the  sheep  from  other  localities ;  but  at  pres- 
ent it  is  of  very  rare  occurrence,  as  the  sheepmen  are  very  prompt  in 
stamping  out  any  known  case,  and  the  restrictive  and  effective  scab- 
law  enables  sheep-owners  to  promptly  eradicate  any  outbreaks.  A  sort 
of  catarrh  sometimes  affects  the  sheep,  and  occasionally  ticks  are  com- 
plained of,  but  so  infrequent  are  these  cases  that  they  are  scarcely  ever 
mentioned. 


716  SHEEP  INDUSTRY    OF    THE   UNITED    STATES 

The  sheep  industry  of  Montana  is  improving  daily,  and  is  unques- 
tionably the  leading  live-stock  pursuit  of  the  State.  It  is  prosperous, 
and  the  outlook  has  not  been  so  bright  in  years.  Where  the  cattle 
business  has  declined  sheep  are  rapidly  replacing  them,  and  with  in- 
creased profit  to  the  stockman.  The  only  places  where  there  is  a  de- 
cline are  in  one  or  two  counties  where  the  range  is  being  bought  and 
fenced,  and  there  the  small  farmers  will  handle  sheep  on  a  reduced 
scale,  like  the  general  farmer  in  the  older  States. 

The  requirements  for  profitable  sheep  husbandry  in  Montana  are  to 
have  good  sheep,  hire  good  men,  and  watch  both  well.  Use  thorough- 
bred rams,  utilize  free  range,  and  provide  meadow  sufficient  to  yield 
40  to  50  tons  of  hay  per  1,000  sheep.  A  beginner  should  start  with 
1,500  sheep,  provide  sheds  for  winter,  and  during  summer  change 
camps  often.  Give  them  plenty  of  salt  and  water,  arid  attend  to  the 
business  personally.  Profitable  sheep  husbandry  in  Montana  requires 
careful  and  prudent  management  in  every  part  of  the  business.  Loose 
and  careless  work  will  invite,  and  usually  results  in,  disaster.  With 
a  good  location  as  to  range  and  hay,  and  a  prudent  management  on 
business  principles,  the  industry  can  be  made  to  yield  profitable 
returns. 

WHAT  THE   INDUSTRY  REPRESENTS  IN  NUMRERS  AND   VALUE. 

According  to  Montana  statistics,  compiled  from  the  official  records 
of  the  several  counties,  the  amount  of  live  stock  in  the  State  on  Janu- 
ary 1,  1801,  was:  Cattle,  649,757;  horses,  161,962;  sheep,  1,555,116. 
These  were  assessed  during  1890  for  taxation  purposes,  and  while  these 
figures  approximate  nearer  to  the  actual  number  than  those  in  the 
assessment  rolls  of  most  of  the  Western  States,  yet  the  natural  in- 
crease, stock  driven  or  shipped  in  from  other  States,  and  the  annual 
sales  on  dispersion,  are  not  taken  into  consideration  in  these  records. 
Hence  they  are  generally  understood  to  be  much  less  than  the  actual 
numbers.  Of  course  every  stockman,  with  the  consent  of  the  assessor, 
pays  only  his  proportionate  share  of  the  taxes,  and  no  more  if  he  can 
help  it. 

The  number  and  value  of  Montana  live  stock,  according  to  the  Stat- 
istician of  the  U.  S.  Department  of  Agriculture,  on  January  1,  1891, 
was:  Cattle,  966,702,  value,  $15,216,716;  horses,  151,547,  value,  $5,- 
978,527;  and  sheep,  2,089,337,  value,  $4,948,595,  an  average  price  per 
sheep  of  $2.37,  which  is  7  cents  less  per  head  than  the  average  assessed 
value  for  1891. 


WEbT    OF    THE    MISSISSIPPI    RIVER. 


717 


The  following  statement  shows  the  number  of  sheep  and  the  assessed 
value  of  the  same  in  the  several  counties  in  Montana  for  the  year  1891, 
as  returned  to  the  State  board  of  equalization  by  the  assessor  of  each 
county : 


County. 

Number  of 
sheep. 

Average 
assessed 
value 
per  head. 

Total 
assessed 
value. 

77  479 

*9  50 

$193  697 

Cll^ttT      

125  723 

2  99 

377  096 

115  845 

3  50 

405  809 

Park                        ..     . 

97  390 

2  52 

245  990 

Gallatin 

6  658 

9  54 

16  920 

Mca^lior 

259  740 

2  45 

648  315 

3  034 

2  50 

7  585 

Lewis  and  Clarke 

40  387 

2  28 

99  no 

Deer  Lod<re  

36  090 

1  80 

65  320 

Mi^soula 

8  604 

1  66 

14  295 

Fergus  

">99  565 

2  51 

754  725 

291  713 

2  25 

656  354 

Cascade  

94  301 

2  24 

211  318 

12  942 

2  36 

30  675 

Beaverhead         ... 

45  370 

2  49 

113  374 

o  return. 

Total  

1  514,847 

2  44 

3  833  583 

Last  year  (1890)  the  cattle  shipments  east  were  108,000  head,  which 
was  more  than  usual  5  while,  on  the  other  hand,  there  was  a  decided  fall- 
ing off  of  southern  cattle  brought  in,  the  number  being  only  63,037. 

In  order  to  have  a  reliable  basis  for  a  correct  statement  of  numbers 
and  values,  a  special  report  was  secured  covering  some  of  the  repre- 
sentative sheep  counties  of  the  State,  of  which  the  following  is  a  briet 
digest  : 

In  Ouster  County  the  number  of  sheep  and  lambs  for  the  present 
year  (1891)  is  235,000,  with  an  average  value  after  shearing  of  $2.75 ; 
ewes,  $2.50,  and  wethers,  $3.  From  150  to  200  men  in  the  county  are 
engaged  in  sheep -raising,  having  bands  of  from  1,200  to  2,500  sheep. 
The  average  investment  of  each  sheep  owner  outside  of  his  sheep,  in 
the  way  of  ranch  properties,  is  from  $1,500  to  $2,500.  The  industry  is 
more  firmly  established  than  ever,  and  the  owners  make  better  pro- 
vision for  winter. 

Meagher  County  has  this  year  340,000  sheep,  one-third  wethers  and 
two-thirds  ewes.  The  value  of  wethers  is  $3  each,  ewes  $2.50,  and 
lambs  81.50  to  $1.75.  In  1890  the  assessor  reported  63  individuals  or 
firms  owning  sheep  in  the  county,  and  this  year  70  sheep-owners.  The 
sheep  represent  about  40  per  cent  of  the  capital  invested  in  the  busi- 
ness. Fifty  thousand  sheep  were  shipped  out  of  this  county  in  1890. 
I  The  stockers  went  to  the  Dakotas,  netting  the  owners  here  $2.50  to 
\  $2.75,  the  wethers  averaging  $3  to  $3.75.  Cattle  are  gradually  giving 
way  to  sheep  in  this  county. 

Dawson  County  has  over  75,000  sheep,  not  counting  lambs,  valued  at 
$3  each.  The  bands  range  in  size  from  1,500  to  5,000,  and  not  an  un- 
healthy flock  in  the  county.  The  sheep  industry  is  yet  in  its  infancy, 
being  about  four  years  since  the  first  sheep  were  brought  into  this 


718  SHEEP   INDUSTRY    OF   THE    UNITED    STATES 

county.  The  industry  is  iii  a  very  prosperous  condition.  The  sheep 
are  strong  and  thrifty,  and  the  wool  staple  of  good  length  and  strength. 

Fergus  County  has  340,000  sheep,  consisting  of  150,000  ewes,  85,000 
wethers,  and  105,000  lambs,  with  a  total  present  value  of  $900,000. 
Two  hundred  firms  or  individuals  are  engaged  in  sheep  husbandry, 
owning  respectively  all  the  way  from  1,200  to  30,000,  the  range  of  ex- 
treme holdings.  The  ranch  properties,  exclusive  of  sheep3  are  valued 
from  $1,500  to  $30,000,  or  an  average  of  $4,500.  The  most  notable 
change  apparent  in  the  business  is  the  discarding  of  the  fine  grades  of 
Merino,  and  breeding  for  medium  wool  and  mutton.  Forty  thousand 
sheep  shipped  out  of  this  county  during  1890  to  Chicago  and  the  Da- 
kotas  netted  the  owners  here  from  $2.25  to  $3  per  head. 

Now,  by  comparing  the  actual  number  of  sheep  in  a  few  counties  with 
the  numbers  reported  for  taxation  purposes  for  1891,  it  is  found  that  it 
is  necessary  to  add  almost  exactly  33J  per  cent  to  the  number  reported 
by  the  assessors  to  equal  the  actual  number.  On  this  basis  of  estima- 
tion there  were  on  January  1,  1891,  2,019,796  sheep  in  Montana,  which, 
with  the  increase  of  the  present  year  (1891)  of  40  per  cent,  807,918  head, 
would  make  a  grand  total  of  2,827,714  sheep,  valued  at  $8,776,212. 
The  wool  clip  of  1891,  which  was  14,138,572  pounds,  netted  the  growers 
$2,356,428.  To  this  number  of  sheep  and  the  wool  add  other  property 
belonging  to  the  sheep  industry  as  an  essential  part,  which  a  low  care- 
ful estimate  would  place  at  least  $9,000,000. 

To  recapitulate  what  the  sheep  industry  of  Montana  represents  in 
numbers  and  values  for  1891:  2,827,714  sheep,  value  $8,776,212  5 
14,138,572  pounds  of  wool  which  net  $2.356,428,  and  property  of 
sheep-owners  other  than  sheep,  at  $9,000,000,  gives  a  grand  total  of 
$20,132,640.  Thus  the  sheep  industry  of  Montana  represents  in  round 
numbers  the  sum  of  $20,000,000,  as  one  of  the  resources  of  this  young 
State  for  1891. 

THE  INDUSTRY  AS  VIEWED  BY  THE  STATE  VETERINARIAN,  HERBERT  HOLLOWAY,  V.  S. 

Over  two-thirds  of  the  surface  of  the  State  of  Montana  is  suitable 
for  the  purpose  of  grazing  sheep.  Foothills,  rolling  prairies,  and  fer- 
tile valleys  afford  water  courses,  sheltered  feeding  grounds,  and  fine 
locations  for  home  ranches. 

The  natural  consequence  of  this  is  that  the  industry  has  grown  in 
twenty-five  years  from  absolutely  nothing  into  one  of  magnificent  pro- 
portions. In  round  numbers  2,000,000  sheep  now  feed  upon  Mon- 
tana ranges,  and  this  year  (1891)  over  12,000,000  pounds  of  wool  were 
shipped,  as  the  annual  clip,  to  eastern  markets.  A  brief  glance  at  the 
history  of  the  first  introduction  of  sheep  into  the  State,  and  a  descrip- 
tion of  what  the  Montana  sheep  is,  as  it  has  been  bred  up  to,  will  be  of 
interest. 

To  the  early  Jesuit  fathers  must  be  given  the  credit  of  making  the 
first  importation  of  sheep  into  what  is  now  the  State  of  Montana.  In  ( 


WEST    OF    THE    MISSISSIPPI   RIVER.  719 

1866  about  450  head  were  driven  from  Oregon  over  the  old  Mullen 
wagon  road  to  the  St.  Peter's  Mission,  near  the  Missouri,  where  they 
were  kept  for  several  years  with  varying  success.  The  band  was  com- 
posed of  breeding  ewes,  and  was  brought  in  for  experimental  purposes. 
About  1876  the  industry  was  put  on  a  firm  footing  5  large  importations 
were  made  from  California,  Oregon,  Washington,  and  Utah,  and  in  1880 
many  bands  were  permanently  located. 

The  winter  of  1880  and  1881  being  very  severe,  the  losses  were  ex- 
ceptionally heavy,  and  the  industry  was  given  a  blow  from  which  it 
required  several  years  to  recover.  Since  then  the  business  has  advanced 
rapidly  and  upon  a  sound  safe  basis. 

The  first  importations  of  sheep  were  principally  of  the  coarser  breeds 
of  Cotswolds,  particularly  those  brought  from  Oregon  and  Washington. 
The  California  sheep  were  of  much  finer  grades  and  decidedly  smaller. 
The  wool-growers  were  quick  to  detect  the  breeds  not  adapted  to  this 
climate.  The  fine,  greasy,  wrinkly,  light-boned,  Spanish  Merinos  were 
at  once  condemned  as  unfit  to  stand  the  rigors  of  our  winters,  and  on 
the  other  hand  the  large,  leggy,  coarse,  open-fleeced  Cotswolds  had  the 
fatal  defect  of  light  fleeces  and  were  not  well  adapted  to  grazing  in  large 
bands.  French  Merinos,  Shropshires,  and  Southdowns  were  experi- 
mented with  until  now  the  Montana  wool-growers  have  nearly  succeeded 
in  producing  a  distinct  class  of  sheep  that  possess  the  good  qualities  of 
all  the  others  and  the  defects  have  been  greatly  overcome.  Generally 
speaking,  there  is  not  a  wool-grower  in  Montana  who  is  breeding  to-day 
to  one  distinct  breed  of  sheep,  but  they  are  breeding  the  Spanish  Merino 
on  the  Cotswold  ewe;  then  a  French  Merino  grade  (half-blood)  on  that; 
then  the  Shropshire  on  that  grade,  and  are  producing  a  sheep  that  has 
size,  strength,  and  constitution,  and  a  medium  wool  averaging  from  6} 
to  7J  pounds  per  fleece. 

As  the  mutton  market  is  continually  improving  and  ready  sales  of 
mutton  sheep  are  easily  made,  it  is  quite  probable  that  a  slightly  larger, 
coarser  grade,  that  will  mature  early,  will  be  bred  from  that  which  is 
now  used. 

As  a  civilizing  and  reclaiming  factor  the  sheepmen  have  a  prominent 
place  in  the  history  of  the  State.  In  the  first  place  the  shepherd  neces- 
sarily must  keep  in  advance  of  populous  settlements.  He  requires 
numbers  of  men  for  lambing,  haying,  herding,  etc.  Buildings  must  be 
erected,  goods  and  machinery  must  be  shipped  in,  and  in  fact  the 
greater  part  of  the  money  received  for  the  clip  is  expended  in  the 
neighborhood  of  the  ranch  during  the  year. 

Up  to  a  certain  point  the  presence  of  sheep  is  therefore  a  blessing. 
It  can  become  an  evil,  however,  as  it  has  in  some  communities.  It  is 
a  well  known  fact  that  sheep  drive  cattle  and  horses  from  the  ranges, 
as  these  latter  animals  have  a  decided  repugnance  to  feed  upon  past- 
ures trampled  by  sheep.  In  connection  with  this  "trampling"  it  may 
be  remarked  that  much  injury  is  done  to  pastures  in  dry  weather,  the 


720  SHEEP    INDUSTRY    OF    THE    UNITED    STATES 

cutting  done  by  the  sharp  feet  of  the  sheep  exposing  the  grass  roots  to 
the  sun's  rays.  This,  together  with  the  fact  that  sheep  eat  the  grasses 
so  much  closer  to  the  roots  than  horses  and  cattle,  is  the  reason  why 
sheep  "kill  out"  a  range  so  rapidly. 

Certain  counties  of  the  State  are  known  as  sheep  counties,  being 
almost  monopolized  by  wool-groAvers.  This  is  carried  to  extremes  in 
some  places.  Large  companies,  having  become  rich  and  powerful,  have 
bought  or  "frozen  out"  small  ranchers,  corralled  the  streams  for  many 
miles,  and  by  so  doing  have  practically  shut  out  settlers  from  very  large 
tracts  of  country.  This  is  a  great  and  growing  evil,  which  threatens 
to  lead  to  serious  complications  of  many  kinds  in  the  near  future.  This 
plan  of  procedure  is  at  variance  with  the  best  interests  of  the  State, 
and  is  bound  to  become  the  subject  of  remonstrance  irom  the  people 
and  subsequent  legislation  or  restriction  of  some  kind. 

Sheep  are  particularly  free  from  diseases  of  all  kinds,  the  dry  soil  and 
dry  atmosphere  being  a  safeguard  against  the  majority  of  sheep  dis- 
eases. "  Scab  n  is  the  only  notable  ailment  with  which  they  are  afflicted, 
but  owing  to  excellent  laws  rigidly  enforced  by  an  inspector  in  each 
sheep  county  there  is  very  little  in  existence  in  the  State  to-day. 

GRASSES   OF   MONTANA. 
[Prepared  especially  for  this  report  by  Rev.  F.  D.  KELSEY,  sc.  D.,  Helena,  Hont.l 

Montana  is  a  State  of  such  vast  extent  and  diversity  of  formation 
that  the  most  casual  observer  would  expect  a  large  number  of  species 
of  plants  to  be  found  in  the  State,  whose  territory  is  nearly  two  and  a 
half  times  as  large  as  all  New  England,  and  whose  lands  are  immensely 
more  broken  up  into  plains  and  mountains,  meadows  and  valleys. 
Eastern  and  northern  Montana  is  one  vast  prairie  of  matchless  fields 
for  grazing,  while  western  and  southern  Montana  contains  several  sys- 
tems of  mountains  and  river  supplies,  each  rich  in  minerals  within,  and 
with  grazing  wealth  upon  them. 

The  botany  of  this  vast  extent  of  country,  with  its  marvelous  diver- 
sities of  conditions,  has  had  but  partial  study,  nor  has  any  systematic 
survey  of  the  whole  ever  been  made.  Three  or  four  local  botanists 
have  worked  up  the  matter  in  spots,  but  what  are  so  few  workers 
among  so  many  things  that  ought  to  be  studied?  Our  State  botany 
has  as  yet  never  been  edited  by  anyone.  In  reports  of  various  kinds, 
in  articles  like  the  present  one,  the  field  has  been  partially  gone  over. 
Meanwhile  in  herbaria  at  Harvard,  Yale,  Columbia,  Washington,  Cali- 
fornia State  University,  Missouri  Botanical  Gardens,  also  in  private 
herbaria  of  such  men  as  Messrs.  Canby,  Eushby,  Scribner,  Braudegee, 
E.  L.  Greene,  N.  L.  Britton,  F.  W.  Anderson,  E.  S.  Williams,  Dr.  J.  H. 
Oyster,  and  the  writer,  much  valuable  material  is  preserved  that  needs 
careful  and  critical  examination  and  editing. 

Dr.  F.  W.  Anderson,  formerly  of  Great  Falls,  Mont,,  and  myself  have 
worked  together  and  compared  our  results,  and  on  the  subject  of  our 


WEST   OF   THE    MISSISSIPPI   RIVER.  721 

native  grasses  I  find  we  have  already  tabulated  one  hundred  and  three 
species.  Our  principal  work  has  been  with  Great  Falls  and  Helena  as 
centers  of  circles,  with  a  diameter  say  of  50  miles,  together  with  ex- 
cursions occasionally  made  to  more  distant  points.  But  could  we  give 
our  attention  to  the  extensive  plains  of  eastern  Montana,  the  water 
courses  running  northward  and  emptying  into  the  Yellowstone,  or  the 
rich  and  distant  flora  of  the  Bitter  Root  Mountains  and  the  Flathead 
Reservation,  we  could  increase  our  list  very  materially.  Yet,  for  the 
purposes  of  this  article,  our  experience  is  such  that  our  list  undoubtedly 
includes  the  principal  forage  grasses.  Dr.  Anderson  has  already  made 
a  valuable  report  to  the  Government,  which  published  his  results  in 
the  report  for  1888. 

One  of  the  best  grasses  of  Montana  for  sheep  is  what  is  called 
"grama,"  or  "  gramma"  (Bouteloua  oligostachya).  A  very  good  illustra- 
tion of  this  grass  when  luxuriant,  and  as  it  grows  in  the  south  land,  is 
found  in  Plate  XLI,  of  "Grasses  of  the  Southwest,"  by  Dr.  Geo.  Yasey, 
Botanist  of  the  U.  S.  Department  of  Agriculture.  With  us  the  grass 
averages  say  8  inches  in  height  and  has  one  or  two  spikes  of  flowers. 
Yet  in  favorable  places  ours  will  grow  to  18  inches.  It  loves  dry, 
arid  plains;  the  whole  plant  above  ground  is  rich  in  food  material, 
eatable  by  cattle,  horses,  and  sheep  close  to  the  ground.  The  ripened 
seeds  are  numerous  and  valuable.  In  all  stages  of  its  growth  and 
maturity,  even  after  our  hot  summer  suns  have  cured  it  standing  on 
the  plains,  and  until  the  winter  snows  have  covered  it  so  that  cattle, 
horses,  and  sheep  have  to  "rustle"  to  reach  it,  this  grass  is  a  treas- 
ure of  inestimable  value.  There  is  no  waste  to  it.  As  a  grass  to 
cultivate,  this  native  Western  plant  calls  upon  Americans  to  try  its 
virtues  which  have  proven  so  rich  for  buffalo,  cattle,  and  sheep.  Dr. 
Geo.  Yasey,  in  his  valuable  work  on  "The  Agricultural  Grasses  and 
Forage  Plants  of  the  United  States,"  gives  a  very  natural  picture  of 
this  estimable  grass  in  Plate  LXII. 

Along  side  of  the  Boutelouas  in  value  for  sheep,  must  be  placed  our 
several  varieties  of  Poa,  of  which  we  have  in  Montana  ten  species: 
Poa  andina,  P.  cenicia,  P.  GusicJcii  Yasey,  P.  Calif  or  nica,  P.  Icevis,  P. 
nemoraliSj  P.  Nevadensis  var.  glauca  Scribner,  P.  pratensis,  P.  serotina, 
and  P.  tenuifolia.  All  these  are  of  great  value  to  the  grazing  industry 
of  the  country.  The  taller  varieties  would  well  repay  cultivation,  but 
all  of  them  grow  in  such  manner  as  to  be  especially  valuable  as  for- 
age plants,  and  yield  themselves  without  any  waste  whatever.  P.  an- 
dina,  P.  Calif  or  nica,  and  P.  tenuifolia  are  especially  valuable  to  the 
sheep  industry.  Go  where  one  will  in  Montana,  from  the  damp  mead- 
ows of  the  streams  to  the  high  bench  lands  and  the  plains,  even  to  the 
peaks  of  lofty  mountains,  and  he  is  ever  greeted  by  these  welcome  Poas, 
which  like  the  gramma  grasses,  are  eaten  by  sheep  without  any  waste. 

Mingled  with  the  Poas  is  to  be  found  the  "June  grass"  (Kceleria 
cristata],  and  like  them  is  nutritious,  delicate,  and  agreeable  in  its  en- 
22990 46 


722        SHEEP  INDUSTRY  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES 

tirety,  having  no  waste.  It  is  also  an  abundant  grass.  Our  average 
height  in  Montana  is  about  a  foot.  It  is  found  everywhere  in  this 
State. 

Another  of  Montana's  sources  of  wealth  lies  in  her  rich,  nutritious 
Agropyrums,  of  which  we  have  seven  species,  viz :  A.  caninum,  A.  di- 
rergens,  A.  glaucum,  A.  repens,  A.  strigosum  (Beauv.),  A.  tenerum,  and 
A.  violaceum.  These  grasses  tend  to  grow  tall  and  thus  are  richer  food 
for  cattle  than  for  sheep,  but  sheep  never  pass  them  by,  as  they  are 
storehouses  of  nutriment  very  acceptable.  Our  July  and  August  suns 
cure  them  as  they  stand,  and  thus  they  become  the  forage  of  hungry 
cattle  all  winter  long.  No  more  valuable  hay  can  be  found  the  whole 
country  over  than  this  natural  product  of  Montana — covering  her  hills 
and  mountains  with  fatness.  A  traveler  is  often  heard  inquiring  with 
utter  astonishment :  "What  can  those  cattle  find  to  eat  up  there  on 
those  dry  and  barren  hills?"  The  botanist  would  quickly  reply:  "  Sir, 
those  cattle  are  feeding  on  the  most  nutritious  hay  to  be  found  on  the 
American  continent;  they  are  feeding  on  Poas,  Agropyrunis,  Boutel- 
ouas,  and  other  grasses  sun-cured  into  hay,  uncut  and  in  most  excellent 
condition."  No  more  common  remark  is  ever  heard  upon  our  railroad 
trains  than  the  expression  of  wonder  at  what  the  cattle  and  sheep  find 
upon  our  apparently  bare  and  bleak  hills  and  benches  and  plains. 
Most  of  these  grasses  do  not  form  a  continuous  sod,  as  they  do  in  a 
heaven -watered  land;  hence  the  name  "  bunch  grass,"  which  is  a  meant 
ingless  term  so  far  as  distinguishing  the  species  is  concerned,  bu- 
which  well  describes  the  prevailing  tendencies  of  all  our  grasses.  The 
soil  therefore  shows  through  the  grass,  and  so  gives  to  our  landscape 
a  grayish  tint  as  one  looks  out  upon  it.  We  miss  that  delightfully  rich 
green  tint  of  a  New  England  or  a  Southern  landscape.  But  the  grasses 
themselves  seem  to  have  more  nutriment  in  them  than  our  Eastern 
grasses. 

Omission  must  not  be  made  of  the  various  Stipas  among  our  valuable 
bunch  grasses.  These  Stipas  have  a  long,  objectionable,  stiff  awn,  and 
a  sharp-pointed  stipe  at  the  base  of  the  flower.  Three  species  are 
abundant,  namely:  Stipa  comata,  8.  spartea,  and  8.  viridula.  The  sharp 
stipe,  assisted  by  the  three  to  five  or  more  times  twisted  awn,  works  its 
way  into  the  hides  of  sheep  and  forms  sores  of  a  serious  nature.  This 
is  especially  true  of  Stipa  spartea,  which  is  a  coarse  and  not  a  valuable 
grass  when  one  considers  the  dangerous  awn  and  stipes,  which  have 
been  styled  far  more  appropriately  than  is  usual  with  popular  names, 
"Devil's  darning  needle."  Fortunately  it  is  not  an  abundant  grass. 
The  other  two  Stipas  are  rich,  valuable  and  abundant,  S.  viridula'bemg 
of  especial  value  for  its  juicy  root  and  base  leaves  and  the  nutritious 
ripe  seeds;  while  Stipa  comata  is  especially  valuable  on  our  plains, 
being  hardy,  and  the  clustered  base  leaves  very  acceptable  to  all  graz- 
ing animals.  Stipa  mridula  has  no  objectionable  feature  at  all,  and 
fortunately  is  quite  abundant  on  good  soil.  A  good  illustration  of  its 
panicle  is  found  in  Dr.  Vasey's  "The  Agricultural  Grasses,  etc.,"  Plate 


WEST   OF    THE  ^MISSISSIPPI    RIVER.  723 

xxxvii.  It  gives  every  promise  of  encouragement  for  a  good  plant  to 
cultivate  in  arid  regions. 

Of  the  Festucas  we  have  three,  F.  tenella,  F.  ovina  and  F.  scabrella* 
Fcstuca  ovina  is  especially  a  grass  for  sheep, being  called  "Sheep's  Fes- 
cue." (A  fine  illustration  of  it  is  given  in  Plate  LXXXII,  of  Dr.  Yasey's 
"Agricultural Grasses,"  etc.)  The  fine,  short  leaves  clustered  at  the 
base,  show  it  to  be  especially  adapted  to  sheep. 

Eatonia  obtusata,  var.  robusta,  is  also  abundant  in  Montana,  and  one 
of  our  valuable  grasses  for  hay  or  for  grazing. 

The  celebrated  "buffalo  grass"  (Buchloe  dactyloides)  has  been  re- 
ported from  Montana;  but  the  grass  is  either  very  scarce  or  unimpor- 
tant, or  those  reporting  it  have  been  mistaken.  The  botanist  now  on 
the  field  has  never  seen  it  in  Montana. 

We  sometimes  meet  with  Danthonia  Galifornica,  and  its  variety 
itnispicata,  also  D.  intermedia.  Also  several  species  of  Deyeuxia;  also 
Phleum  alpinum;  several  species  of  Agrostis,  Ammophila  longifolia, 
Mitnroa  squarrosaj  several  species  of  Bromus  and  Ely  mm.  Oryzopsis 
cmpidata  is  fairly  abundant,  and  wherever  found  is  very  highly  prized 
as  a  grass  for  animals  of  all  kinds.  It  has  no  objectionable  quality, 
and  many  characters  which  place  it  in  the  highest  ranks  as  a  valuable 
forage  plant.  It  also  has  this  in  its  favor  that  it  grows  luxuriantly 
in  very  poor  soil. 

The  grasses  above  mentioned  are  our  chief  grasses.  Some  of  those 
of  minor  importance  are  Beckmannia  erucceformis,  Spartina  cynosuroides, 
Phalaris  arundinacea,  Alopecurus  pratensis,  var.  alpestris,  a  very  valu- 
able grass ;  Ccetabrosa  aquatica,  DistichUs  maritima  and  its  variety 
stricta,  several  species  of  Glyceria,  Hordeum  jubatum  and  H.  nodosum, 
Setaria  viridis. 

Besides  these  grasses  a  few  of  the  Carices  are  eaten  by  cattle  and  by 
sheep,  though  they  can  not  be  looked  upon  with  much  favor  as  food. 

Our  plains  will  be  found  decked  as  a  general  thing  in  the  following 
grasses:  Poatenuifolia*  Bouteloua  oligostachyaj  Stipa  comata  and  viri- 
dula,  Kceleria  cristata,  Agropyrum  glaucum,  Hordeum  jubatum,  and 
Eatonia  obtusata,  var  robusta. 

On  the  mountain  slopes  will  be  found  several  Poas,  Agropyrums, 
Fettucas,  Oryzopsis,  Stipas,  Danthonia,  Phleum  alpina. 

Sheep,  horses,  and  cattle  can  graze  on  our  hills,  mountains,  and 
plains  the  year  round;  in  summer  on  the  rich,  juicy,  green  grasses,  and 
in  winter  on  the  sun  cured,  natural  hay,  standing  where  it  grew.  As 
the  country  fills  up  with  a  greater  populace  these  natural  ranges  will 
prove  less  adequate  to  the  demands  made  upon  them;  but  these  native 
grasses  contain  in  themselves  the  potency  of  vast  wealth  to  this  great 
State  whose  extensive  plains  will  one  day  be  well  watered  from  reser- 
voirs built  to  retain  the  waters  that  now  are  allowed  to  flow  off  in  the 
spring  and  June  freshets.  Then  the  land  will  yield  her  fatness  in  a 
way  that  will  astonish  all  concerned  and  change  the  landscape  from  its 
grey  tints  to  an  English  green  and  make  of  Montana  a  center  of  agri- 


724       SHEEP  INDUSTRY  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES 

cultural  and  pastoral  wealth.  Nor  need  we  import  any  foreign  or  cul- 
tivated grasses,  for  our  own  native  grasses  are  the  best  adapted  to  this 
land  and  are  of  superior  inherent  qualities. 

MONTANA  SHEEP  LAWS. 

The  manifest  importance  of  the  sheep  industry,  its  high  rank  in  the 
essential  resources  of  the  State,  has  made  it  possible  for  the  sheep- 
raisers,  through  concentrated  action,  to  obtain  Avhatever  statutory  pro- 
visions are  necessary  for  the  comfort,  encouragement  or  protection  of 
the  industry.  The  favorable  laws  which  Montana  flockinasters  enjoy 
are  unequaled  by  those  of  any  other  Western  State,  relieving  them  of 
burdens  which  the  sheepmen  in  other  States  have  to  bear  unaided. 

From  a  recent  pamphlet  compiled  by  S.  A.  Balliet,  of  Helena,  and 
entitled  "  Statutory  Laws  of  the  State  of  Montana,  pertaining  to  sheep 
and  infectious  diseases  thereof,"  sections  of  the  compiled  statutes  of 
the  criminal  and  general  laws  of  Montana  comprise  provisions  indexed 
as  follows : 

Driving  stock  from  range ;  poisoning  domestic  animals ;  cruelty  to  animals ;  mark- 
ing or  branding  property  of  another;  cutting  off  ears  of  cow,  etc.;  skinning  dead 
animals  without  consent  of  owner;  carrying  disease  among  sheep;  certain  property 
exempt  from  taxation;  pedigree ;  cattle  or  sheep  driven  must  be  branded  or  marked ; 
duty  of  Territorial  veterinary  surgeon  to  inspect  quarantined  sheep;  duty  of  owner 
of  such  sheep;  tax  to  be  levied;  importation  from  infected  districts  prohibited; 
owners  to  report  diseased  sheep;  report  of  surgeon;  assistants;  laws  repealed; 
takes  effect  June  1,  1887 ;  rams  and  he-goats,  when  not  to  run  at  large ;  penalty ; 
damages  may  be  recovered;  diseased  animals  not  to  run  at  large;  making  false 
pedigree  punished;  misrepresenting  pedigree  punished;  recovery  of  damages  done 
by  animals;  tax  for  fund;  information  of  disease  to  be  furnished  surgeon;  veterin- 
ary surgeon  and  deputies;  appointment  of  deputy  inspector;  deputy  must  reside 
where  oath  of;  deputy,  duties  of;  quarantine;  sheep  coming  into  Territory;  gov- 
ernor to  schedule  by  proclamation  other  States  where  disease  exists;  penalty  for 
bringing  sheep  from  prescribed  districts ;  shipper  must  notify  inspector;  sheep  not 
inspected  not  to  pass  over  public  highway  or  near  range;  scabby  sheep  not  to  be 
removed  from  one  county  to  another ;  penalty  for  failure  to  report  diseased  sheep; 
compensation  of  inspector;  report  of  deputy  inspector ;  records  of  deputy  inspector; 
penalty  for  disregarding  orders  of  inspector;  penalty  for  bringing  diseased  sheep 
into  the  Territory ;  exemptions,  none  on  execution,  to  enforce  certain  judgments; 
additional  inspectors;  repealing  laws;  railroads'  liability  for  damage  to  stock. 

For  the  conviction  of  any  of  the  laws  named,  severe  penalties,  con- 
sisting of  heavy  fines  or  imprisonment,  or  both,  sufficient  to  cause  a 
rigid  enforcement  of  the  same. 

In  addition  to  the  foregoing,  the  State  passed  a  bounty  law  for  wild 
animals  killed:  For  mountain  lions  and  bears,  $5;  wolves,  coyotes,  $2; 
wildcat,  bobcat,  lynx,  $1. 

PERSONAL  EXPERIENCE,  COMMENTS,  AND  OBSERVATIONS. 

The  following  paragraphs,  constituting  the  closing  pages  of  this  re- 
port, merit  a  careful  perusal,  as  they  cover  a  wide  range  of  matters 
pertaining  to  the  sheep  industry  of  Montana.  They  comprise  important 
facts  relating  to  successful  sheep  husbandry,  and  are  especially  valua- 


WEST   OF  THE   MISSISSIPPI   RIVER.  ?25 

ble,  as  the  writers  are  qualified  to  speak  from  personal  experience  in 
the  business,  or  from  having  been  long  identified  and  familiar  with  it; 

Bottle  &  Bradley,  Chico,  Park  County: 

Sheep  should  have  salt  every  two  weeks.  They  should  be  fed  sulphur  with  their 
salt  through  July  and  August,  as  the  sulphur  helps  to  keep  ticks  off,  and  make  the 
sheep  healthy.  They  should  also  be  dipped  once  a  year,  as  it  aids  the  growth  of 
wool,  and  is  a  preventive  for  ticks  and  scab.  We  use  tobacco  for  dip,  but  most  of 
the  sheepmen  use  sulphur  and  lime. 

C.  W.  Cook,  Unity,  Meagher  County: 

In  general  there  are  no  "bad  lands"  in  this  county.  The  number  of  barren  ewes 
in  a  band  depends  largely  on  management,  and  on  the  weather  in  December,  as 
sheep  losing  flesh  will  not  "come  in."  We  have  but  few  diseases,  in  fact  no  general 
disease,  except  scab,  which  was  very  detrimental  to  the  industry  until  the  law  gave 
us  protection. 

Thomas  Kent,  Big  Timber,  Park  County: 

There  are  about  52,000  sheep  on  the  Crow  Indian  Reservation.  Milo  Collins  is  the 
only  Indian  owning  sheep  on  this  reserve.  The  Indians  could  do  well  with  sheep  if 
the  agent  or  interpreters  would  encourage  them,  but  instead  they  seem  opposed  to 
doing  so. 

N.  C.  Brockway,  Musselshell,  Yellowstone  County: 

The  sheep  industry  is  progressing  in  this  part  of  the  country,  but  as  the  ranges 
become  stocked  to  their  full  capacity,  we  shall  be  obliged  to  pay  more  attention  to 
raising  hay  and  to  winter  feeding.  At  present  we  often  winter  sheep  with  no  hay 
whatever,  but  I  think  more  hay  and  better  shelter  would  produce  better  returns. 

Robert  J.  Martin,  Billings,  Yellowstone  County : 

Nine  years'  experience  in  the  county  has  fully  satisfied  me  that  it  is  always  best  to 
have  forty  tons  of  hay  for  each  1,000  sheep,  as  security  through  the  winter.  With 
a  good  shed  and  open  water  you  are  well  situated  for  business. 

D.  H.  Bowman,  Miles  City,  Custer  County: 

The  outlook  is  brighter  for  the  sheepmen  this  year  than  for  years  past.  There  has 
been  a  tendency  among  some  of  our  sheepmen  to  breed  to  the  coarse  wools,  such  as 
Oxfords  and  Shropshires,  but  I  do  not  think  it  a  success. 

W.  W.  Beasley,  Eosebud,  Custer  County: 

We  have  a  splendid  sheep  country,  dry  climate  and  no  rain  in  winter,  dry  snow, 
and  we  don't  require  feed  unless  the  snow  gets  over  twelve  inches  deep.  We  do  not 
feed  any  more  than  five  weeks.  There  is  probably  one-tenth  of  our  breeders  that 
are  using  coarse-wool  bucks  to  increase  the  size  of  the  sheep,  but  as  we  are  a  wool- 
growing  country,  our  mutton  sheep  are  the  best  Western  sheep  that  go  to  Chicago. 
I  am  a  large  shipper  of  mutton  from  here.  They  average  in  Chicago  about  110  to 
115  pounds. 

J.  H.  Eice,  Fort  Benton,  Choteau  County : 

I  have  every  reason  to  believe  that  the  sheep  industry  in  Montana  is  to-day  on  a 
firm  and  profitable  basis.  I  know  of  no  instance,  after  a  twelve  years'  acquaintance 
with  the  country,  where  failure  has  occurred,  provided  the  party  or  parties  had  capi- 
tal enough  to  start  in  proper  shape.  And  we  have  numerous  instances  where  men 
are  to-day  prosperous  and  independent,  who  a  few  years  since  were  getting  their 
start  under  the  share  system. 


726  SHEEP    INDUSTRY    OF    THE    UMTED    STATES 

David  Hilger,  Christina,  Fergus  County: 

The  sliecp  business  of  Montana  is  one  of  the  most  profitable  and  safest  of  any 
stock  investment  that  can  be  engaged  in.  It  requires  good  judgment  and  experi- 
ence to  manage  it  successfully.  One  man  makes  from  20  to  35  per  cent  on  his  invest- 
ment, while  his  neighbor  may  lose  money. 

John  S.  Sharp,  Glendive,  Dawson  County: 

The  outlook  for  the  sheep  industry  is  fairly  good.  We  cannot  produce  wool  alone 
for  the  present  prices,  but  wool  and  mutton  at  present  prices  make  the  business 
reasonably  profitable  as  long  as  we  have  free  range. 

Sabine  E.  Grindall,  Glendive,  Dawson  County: 

My  experience  is  of  short  duration,  but  I  think  there  is  no  better  place  in  the 
United  States  to  raise  sheep.  The  ground  being  very  dry,  we  never  have  foot-rot. 
Not  having  much  snow,  the  sheep  can  feed  some  every  day  in  the  winter. 

Sears  &  Davidson,  Tokua,  Dawson  County : 

There  are  probably  20,000  head  of  sheep  within  50  miles  of  us  hero,  most  of  which 
have  come  in  within  two  or  three  years.  They  are  mostly  let  out  on  shares  to 
ranchmen  who  have  no  capital;  terms,  one-half  wool,  one-half  increase;  let  on  three 
years' time,  lessor  and  lessee  paying  one-half  of  taxes  each.  Most  sheepmen  make 
money.  If  sheep-raising  is  conducted  aright  there  is  good  money  in  the  business, 
more  so  than  in  horses  or  cattle. 

E.  C.  Crosby,  Meyersburg,  Park  County: 

We  keep  our  sheep  in  sheds  in  winter  during  the  night,  and  feed  them  on  the 
range  during  the  day,  except  in  severe  storms,  when  We  feed  hay.  A  good  strong 
band  of  sheep  usually  winter  well  by  being  fed  from  10  to  30  days  during  the  win- 
ter, but  lambs  should  be  fed  much  more  than  old  sheep,  say  from  30  to  90  days.  Hay 
only  is  fed.  Until  the  past  few  years  wool  Avas  our  whole  object,  as  there  was  no 
market  for  mutton  except  a  small  local  one;  but  since  we  have  railroads  and  can 
ship  mutton  to  Eastern  markets,  it  has  grown  to  be  fully  as  much  of  an  object  as 
wool,  and  rams  of  the  mutton  breeds  are  taking  the  place  of  Merino  rams  in  many 
herds. 

James  Davidson,  Stacy,  Custer  County: 

The  sheep  business  has  had  to  contend  with  the  prejudice  of  the  people  against  it, 
and  those  who  are  engaged  in  cattle  raising  have  in  some  cases  encouraged  their 
cowboys  to  drive  and  destroy  the  sheepmen's  property,  such  as  burning  their  hay 
and  sheds  and  killing  their  sheep,  and  beating,  abusing,  and  sometimes  shooting  the 
shepherds,  who  are  without  any  defense.  This  prejudice  is  so  great  against  the 
sheepmen  that  to  be  a  sheepman  is  to  be  ostracised  from  society  in  some  places,  and 
few  people  dare  to  be  so  bold  as  to  face  the  prejudice  which  is  founded  on  the  false 
idea  that  the  business  is  debasing,  and  that  sheep  injure  the  range  permanently, 
which  is  a  mistake.  The  people  who  come  from  Texas  or  Missouri  are  not  familiar 
with  the  business,  but  those  who  come  here  from  California,  or  the  Western  men 
and  the  Scotch  people  have  been  very  successful  in  the  business. 

Paris  Gibson,  Great  Falls,  Cascade  County: 

Be  well  prepared  with  shelter  and  feed.  Hay  may  not  be  required  during  a  period 
of  several  years,  but  occasionally  there  is  a  winter  when  for  a  month  or  more  the 
snow  is  deep  and  the  weather  exceedingly  cold.  At  such  times  the  flockmaster  with- 
out hay  and  proper  shelter  is  likely  to  sustain  great  losses.  The  memorable  winters 
of  1880  and  1881  taught  the  wool-growers  of  Montana  that  they  must  always  be  pre- 


WEST    OF   THE    MISSISSIPPI    RIVER.  727 

suo\\  ;in<l  extreme  cold.  The  lances  in  Montana  ait-  1'rce  from  burrs  and 
well  eovered  with  grass.  Our  \sool.  then-lore,  when  opened  in  market  is 
clean  and  very  attractive.  The  quality  of  wool  from  our  well-bred  flocks  is  unrivaled 
oy  any  wool  in  the  United  States,  and  it  is  far  superior  to  range  wool  produced  else- 
where between  the  Mississippi  and  the  Pacific  Ocean. 

Montana  Husbandman,*  White  Sulphur  Springs: 

We  would  repeat  our  old  admonition  to  wool-growers  in  regard  to  disposing  of 
their  wool,  to  establish  a  rule  and  be  governed  accordingly;  that  is,  if  they  have 
established  a  rule  to  sell  at  home,  to  follow  that  plan  year  in  and  year  out.  But  if, 
on  the  contrary,  they  have  established  a  rule  to  ship,  they  should  follow  that  just 
as  resolutely.  As  to  which  is  best  we  are  unable  to  say.  For  the  past  few  years  the 
shippers  have  had  the  worst  of  it,  but  only  a  few  years  previous  there  was  a  decided 
advantage  in  shipping.  Hence,  in  summing  up  the  results  of  ten  years  it  is  diffi- 
cult to  say  which  has  proven  best. 

The  Northwestern  Farmer  and  Breeder,  St.  Paul,  Minn. : 

Bunch  grass  grows  in  clumps  varying  from  1  to  3  feet  high.  The  leaves  are  long 
and  slender,  growing  numerously  from  the  middle  and  low^er  part  of  the  stem ;  but 
at  the  bottom  no  leaves  occur,  only  dry  without  sheaths.  The  top  or  panicle  is  very 
open  and  much  branched,  and  from  the  tops  of  the  very  numerous  slender  branch- 
lets  grow  the  hard,  nut-like  flowers  and  seeds.  The  seeds  are  very  nutritious  (as 
good  as  oats)  and  greatly  relished  by  stock.  This  grass  grows  up  early  in  season  and 
may  be  found  in  a  comparatively  green  state  late  in  the  fall,  long  after  the  seeds 
have  ripened  and  fallen  off.  It  flourishes  best  in  sandy  soil,  where  its  long,  fibrous 
roots  draw  up  the  moisture.  Bunch  grass  is  exceedingly  nutritious,  and  will  grow  in 
what  is  considered  the  poorest  soil. 

Extract  from  a  paper  on  "Montana  Wool,"  by  H.  M.  Martin,  in  1883: 

The  grades  of  wool  which  are  now  in  best  demand,  and  which  are  likely  to  be  for 
years  to  come,  are  line  and  fine  medium  staple  and  fine  and  fine  medium  clothing. 
The  term  staple  includes  both  combing  and  delaine,  but  not  in  this  connection  do  I 
apply  it  to  the  very  coarse,  long  combing  wools.  Get  rid  of  your  very  coarse  sheep 
and  breed  for  the  above  staple  and  quality,  and  you  will  hit  the  requirements  of  the 
market  almost  every  year.  Now  and  then  coarse  wools  will  have  a  turn,  as  they  did  in 
1879  and  1880,  but  these  will  be  the  exceptions,  and  even  at  such  times  the  grades  here 
recommended  will  sell.  The  proper  methods  of  mixing  bloods  so  as  to  obtain  the  above 
grades  and  staple  are  questions  for  practical  sheep-breeders  to  determine.  Depend 
upon  it,  if  growers  will  take  proper  care  to  produce  wool  answering  the  require- 
ments of  the  above  grades,  as  explained,  and  will  pay  proper  attention  and  per- 
sonally see  that  their  wools  are  carefully  tied  up  and  packed,  they  will  add  to  the 
good  reputation  already  so  well  begun,  and  keep  Montana  wools  where  they  belong. 

L.  W.  Peck,  Fort  Benton,  in  an  address  to  Montana  wool-growers  in 
1883,  says: 

If  we  wish  to  improve  our  business  we  must  keep  exact  records  in  regard  to  what 
we  are  doing.  We  do  not  appreciate  now  the  vast  importance  that  carefully  collected 
statistics  in  regard  to  matters  connected  with  feeding,  summer  and  winter  manage- 
ment, bucking,  lambing,  shearing,  and  many  other  matters  would  have  for  our  in- 
dustry if  they  could  be  collected  and  published.  They  would  not  only  give  great 
satisfaction  to  us  as  showing  just  what  we  had  done  in  years  gone  by,  but  would  be 
far  more  profitable  than  we  now  realize  in  giving  us  points  upon  which  to  improve. 
In  such  matters  a  record  is  what  we  want,  and  not  merely  memory  of  what  took 
place  a  year  or  two  ago.  No  one  can  say  that  we  do  not,  as  individuals,  put  energy 
and  intelligence  into  our  work.  We  have  a  wool  already  that  is  a  favorite  in  the 


728       SHEE?  INDUSTRY  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES 

market — a  light  medium  wool,  which,  when  scoured,  has  a  soft,  glossy  texture  that 
is  much  sought  after  by  manufacturers.  If  we  will  put  some  of  this  energy  and  in- 
telligence into  concerted  action,  I  will  boldly  assert  that  in  ten  or  fifteen  years  we 
shall  find  our  wools  quoted  at  figures  abreast  with  the  best  Australian,  and  far  ahead 
of  other  domestic  wools  produced  from  large  herds,  either  upon  the  Rocky  Mountain 
slopes  or  the  Pacific  coast. 

Eev.  F.  D.  Kelsey,  Sc.  D.,  Helena: 

Montana  is  no  dry  and  dreary  waste  of  desert.  Few  lands  can  show  such  a  variety 
in  grasses  or  greater  value  in  her  species.  From  three  to  five  acres  of  our  native 
grasses  are  sufficient  to  support  a  horse  or  ox  for  a  year;  one  acre  supports  a 
sheep.  Some  people  tell  us  our  grazing  industry  has  reached  its  limit,  whereas  the 
fact  is  we  have  but  began.  It  would  be  a  grand  help  to  Montana  if  she  could  do 
for  the  State  what  the  United  States  Government  is  now  doing  for  the  grasses  of  the 
Southwest,  namely,  issue  volumes  containing  accurate  drawings  of  each  of  our 
grasses,  together  with  a  scientific  description  of  them.  Botany  has  too  often  been 
looked  upon  as  a  school-girl's  play,  instead  of  the  noble  and  profitable  and  necessary 
science  it  really  is.  Botany  is  growing  daily  more  and  more  into  prominence  as  an 
economical  science  affecting  the  wealth  of  the  country.  One  of  the  most  valuable 
exhibits  Montana  could  possibly  make  at  the  great  Columbian  Fair  in  Chicago  would 
be  a  large  collection  of  her  native  grasses  on  which  once  fed  the  fat  hosts  of  buffalo, 
and  which  now  support  the  herds  and  flocks  that  annually  bring  many  millions  of 
dollars  into  our  rising  and  noble  State.  Other  States  may  boast  of  their  oranges, 
plums,  and  cherries,  but  few  fruit-growers  gather  in  profits  at  a  larger  per  cent  than 
men  who  deal  in  hay,  grain  and  grass.  Montana  mines  are  justly  our  pride  and 
boast;  but  let  it  not  be  forgotten  that,  to  the  average  wage-earner,  Montana  grasses 
are  surer  and  more  safe  returns  than  stocks  and  dividends  in  the  mines  and  smelters. 
The  tendency  of  men  in  all  professions,  trades,  and  industries  is  to  follow  in  the 
beaten  track.  Happy  the  man  of  brains  who  experiments  and  introduces  new  proc- 
esses or  new  values.  A  rich  field  for  easy  investigation  lies  open  to  an  intelligent 
and  progressive  ranchman  or  farmer  to  try  experiments  upon  our  native  grasses. 
As  cotton,  corn,  wheat,  oats,  barley,  flax,  potatoes,  tomatoes,  beans,  peas,  pump- 
kins and  all  sorts  of  cultivated  grasses  were  once  wild,  insignificant  weeds  until  some 
progressive  and  aggressive  cultivator  experimented  upon  then!  and  discovered  their 
worth,  so  many  Mgntana  plants  await  the  right  man  to  bring  them  into  notice  and 
vantage  ground  of  blessing. 

NORTH     DAKOTA. 

The  young  State  of  North  Dakota,  Avith  a  population  of  a  little  less 
than  200,000  people,  and  one  of  the  last  of  the  Western  States  to  be- 
come interested  in  sheep  husbandry,  has  recently  attained  great  prom- 
inence because  of  the  rapid  development  of  this  industry,  and  promises 
to  soon  rank  among  the  mutton  and  wool  producing  States  of  the 
Northwest.  Next  to  wheat-raising  live-stock  husbandry  has  been  the 
chief  pursuit  of  the  farmers.  Sheep-raising,  however,  has  taken  tre- 
mendous strides  in  comparison  with  other  branches  of  the  animal 
industry,  and  within  three  years  has  advanced  from  the  least  in  num- 
ber to  the  greatest.  In  fact,  at  the  present  time,  sheep  equal  in  num- 
ber the  total  of  all  other  classes  of  live  stock. 

The  basis  of  all  wealth  and  prosperity  in  North  Dakota  is  agricul- 
ture, diversified  as  much  as  possible,  arid  sustained  by  its  abundant 
grasses  for  live  stock.  Its  farmers  now  recognize  the  importance  of 


WEST   OP   THE   MISSISSIPPI  RIVER.  729 

this  fact  and  arc  disposed  to  encourage  and  to  actively  aid  in  the  devel- 
opment of  any  new  industry  of  the  State.  The  farmers  have  demon- 
strated to  their  own  satisfaction  that  general  prosperity  can  not  be 
secured  by  exclusive  wheat-raising,  hence  are  favorably  disposed  to 
pay  more  attention  to  live-stock  husbandry  as  an  important  factor  in 
general  farming. 

In  regard  to  the  topography  of  North  Dakota,  with  its  area  of  70,195 
square  miles,  the  country  may  be  described  as  a  prairie,  nearly  level 
in  the  eastern  part  of  the  State,  gradually  rising  in  the  central  part 
toward  the  west,  and  in  the  western  part  much  diversified  by  ranges 
or  hills  and  picturesque  buttes.  The  Missouri  Eiver  traverses  the 
State  for  a  distance  of  about  350  miles.  Its  principal  tributary  is  the 
Cheyenne,  which  has  a  course  of  about  300  miles  within  the  State. 
The  Eed  Eiver  of  the  North  forms  the  boundary  between  North  Dakota 
and  Minnesota  for  200  miles.  The  James  Eiver  heads  in  North  Dakota 
and  flows  south  into  South  Dakota.  Its  course  in  North  Dakota  is 
about  225  miles.  There  are  numerous  smaller  streams  and  a  large 
number  of  lakes  and  ponds.  The  largest  body  of  water  is  DeviPs  Lake, 
in  the  central  part  of  the  State,  which  has  a  length  of  about  50  miles 
by  a  width  of  from  2  to  6  miles,  with  a  very  irregular  outline.  Its 
waters  are  strongly  impregnated  with  mineral  salts,  and  it  has  no  out- 
let. As  a  general  rule  the  eastern  part  of  the  State  is  best  adapted  to 
the  raising  of  wheat  and  other  small  grains,  the  central  part  to  mixed 
farming,  and  the  western  part  to  stock-raising.  There  are,  of  course^ 
exceptions  to  this  general  rule.  Many  fine  stock  farms  are  found  in 
the  Eed  Eiver  Valley,  and  many  excellent  grain  farms  in  the  central 
and  western  parts  of  the  State  5  but  the  person  who  makes  stock-raising 
a  special  industry,  and  is  in  search  of  cheap  lauds,  will  naturally  prefer 
the  regions  less  densely  settled  than  the  comparatively  populous  eastern 
portion  of  the  State.  While  there  is  considerable  variety  in  the  char- 
acter of  the  soil  in  regard  to  its  depth  and  its  producing  qualities,  it 
may  be  truthfully  said  that  there  are  no  waste  lands  in  any  part  of  the 
State.  Wherever  any  considerable  areas  are  found,  which  by  reason 
of  the  broken  and  hilly  character  of  the  surface  are  unfit  for  agriculture, 
they  will  be  found  excellent  for  pasturage.  In  fact  the  whole  surface 
of  North  Dakota  was  formerly  covered  with  highly  nutritious  grasses, 
which  supported  vast  herds  of  buffalo.  The  prairie  grasses  predominate 
in  the  eastern,  and  yield  gradually  to  the  buffalo  and  bunch  grasses  in 
the  western  part  of  the  State.  Ample  experience  with  cattle,  sheep, 
and  horses  has  proven  that  climate  and  natural  pasturage  combine  in 
North  Dakota  to  give  the  best  results  in  stock-raising.  The  success  of 
the  older  wheat  farms  has  given  to  North  Dakota  its  reputation  through- 
out the  East.  It  is  still  one  of  the  greatest  wheat-producing  States  in 
the  Union,  and  has  the  soil  and  climate  to  maintain  its  reputation  as 
such.  In  recent  years,  however,  stock-raising  has  become  an  important 
and  constantly-growing  industry.  At  the  rate  at  which  the  sheep  in- 


730        SHEEP  INDUSTRY  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES 

dnstry  is  now  extending  in  the  State  it  is  apparent  that  in  a  few  years 
North  Dakota  will  take  rank  among  the  great  wool-growing  States  of 
the  Union. 

In  the  eastern  part  of  the  State,  and  especially  in  the  rich  Bed  Elver 
country,  sheep  husbandry  is  becoming  quite  an  adjunct  to  general 
farming.  There  lambs  and  mutton  are  the  main  objects  of  the  sheep- 
raiser,  with  wool  a  secondary  matter.  Sheep-raising  is  not  likely  to  be 
followed  there  on  an  extensive  scale,  but  the  farmer  will  find  profit  in 
a  band  of  sheep  sufficient  to  cleanse  and  fertilize  his  land  and  utilize 
his  coarse  feed,  which  ordinarily  goes  to  waste.  Further  west  sheep- 
raising  has  become  more  of  a  leading  pursuit.  Many  stockmen  will 
no  doubt  make  it  an  exclusive  business,  and  what  is  sometimes  denom- 
inated the  Montana  idea,  or  more  correctly  the  western  idea  of  sheep 
husbandry — raising  sheep  for  both  wool  and  mutton — will  be  the  aim 
of  practical  flockmasters. 

The  greater  part  of  the  area  of  North  Dakota  properly  conies  under 
what  is  known  as  the  western  range  country.  A  correspondent,  in  dis- 
cussing the  subject  of  the  adaptability  of  this  country  for  sheep-raising 
in  preference  to  other  stock,  well  says : 

It  is  a  noted  fact  that  there  is  far  less  alarm  over  the  prospect  of  short  winter  feed 
among  sheep-owners  than  any  other  class  of  stockineii.  The  reason  of  this  is  that 
sheep  thrive  on  very  short  feed,  and  where  there  are  any  places  bare  along  our  foot- 
hills flocks  may  be  kept  fairly  well,  even  if  the  grass  has  been  closely  grazed  in 
summer.  It  is  also  a  fact  that  it  is  possible  to  keep  three  or  four  thousand  sheep  on 
hay  about  as  easily  as  to  keep  so  many  hundred  cattle.  Sheep  do  not  seem  to  consume 
food  in  proportion  to  cattle.  This  is  probably  due  to  the  fact  that  they  are  constantly 
rustling  for  themselves  throughout  each  day,  except  when  it  is  storming,  while  cattle 
having  no  herder  are  inclined  to  lie  around  the  premises  and  not  to  go  out  to  feed 
even  in  pleasant  weather.  Sheep  are  better  adapted  to  the  exhausted  condition  of 
our  ranges  by  far  than  cattle. 

The  Langdon  Pioneer  expresses  the  prevailing  sentiment  in  saying 
that  the  profits  of  keeping  sheep  in  North  Dakota  are  on  every  hand 
admitted  to  be  large  and  constant.  They  can  be  cheaply  fed,  and  the 
western  part  of  this  region,  which  has  not  proved  to  be  in  the  highest 
degree  successful  for  wheat-growing,  is  admirably  adapted  to  sheep 
husbandry.  The  unwished-for  drought,  which  sometimes  occurs,  pro- 
motes the  health  of  sheep,  and  the  dry  climate  is  an  unvarying  safe- 
guard against  all  the  diseases  to  which  they  may  be  liable  in  the  moister 
States. 

One  of  the  great  needs  of  agriculture  in  North  Dakota,  and  the  North- 
west generally,  to  insure  greater  prosperity  as  well  as  to  add  to  the 
taxable  wealth  of  the  country,  is  diversified  agriculture.  Governor 
Burke,  in  his  inaugural  address  before  the  second  legislative  assembly 
on  January  7,  1891,  recognized  the  importance  of  the  sheep  industry  in 
the  following  words : 

In  the  way  of  stimulating  a  diversification  of  our  agricultural  pursuits  the  intro- 
duction of  sheep-raising,  as  an  addition  to  the  resources  of  our  farmers,  I  look  upon 


WKST    OF    THE    MISSISSIPPI    RIVER.  731 

a»  \v<>itli\  of  attention  and  study.  These  slu-i-p  as  a  rule  are  held  in  small  flocks, 
and  the  establishment  of  this  industry  appears  to  me  as  a  step  iu  the  direction  of 
making  every  section  of  our  State  wealth -producing. 

There  is  probably  no  new  State  that  has  a  larger  amount  of  unoccu- 
pied fertile  prairie  land  than  North  Dakota.  This  is  mostly  Govern- 
ment laud,  subject  to  preemption  and  homestead,  and  aggregates  over 
16,000,000  acres.  Nearer  the  railroads,  within  the  land  grants  and 
more  thickly  settled  portion  of  the  State,  is  a  vast  amount  of  land 
for  sale  at  prices  ranging  from  $3  to  $10  per  acre.  The  Northern  Pa- 
cific Railway  has  nearly  7,000,000  acres  of  such  lands,  to  say  noth- 
ing of  other  grants  which  are  not  so  large.  This  aggregation  of  cheap 
pasture  land,  in  connection  with  the  healthful,  invigorating  climate, 
makes  animal  industry  a  desirable  pursuit  for  the  Dakota  farmer.  The 
snowfall  in  winter  is  much  lighter  than  in  Iowa  or  Nebraska,  and  sel- 
dom begins  until  after  December.  There  is  no  trouble  in  the  fall  or 
spring  from  muddy  fields  or  nearly  impassable  roads,  so  common  in 
States  farther  south  and  east. 

About  one  year  ago,  in  the  latter  part  of  1890,  Hon.  H.  T.  Helgesen, 
commissioner  of  agriculture  and  labor,  sent  out  a  circular  to  stock- 
men for  the  purpose  of  procuring  information  regarding  stock-raising, 
with  especial  reference  to  sheep.  In  summing  up  the  results  of  the 
reports  received  the  commissioner  says: 

Stock-raising  is  quite  extensively  carried  on  in  Billings,  Burleigh,  Hettinger, 
McHenry,  Morton,  Stark,  and  Ward  counties,  while  the  interest  is  very  perceptibly 
increasing  in  Stutsman  and  some  other  counties.  The  Missouri  slope,  the  west  Missouri 
country,  the  Mouse  River  region,  and  a  small  tract  around  the  Turtle  Mountains, 
are  making  stock-raising  a  leading  industry,  and  in  all  these  localities  the  interest 
in  stock  of  some  kind  is  increasing,  usually  sheep  and  horses. 

The  decided  tendency  is  to  increase  the  sheep  husbandry  of  the  State,  so 'much  so, 
that  in  several  localities  sheep  are  reported  by  experienced  stockmen  to  command  a 
higher  price  than  the  average  farmer  can  afford  to  pay.  The  chief  difficulty  in  many 
counties  is  that  owing  to  the  repeated  short  crops,  most  farmers  desiring  to  start 
in  the  sheep  business  are  hampered  by  want  of  means. 

Most  of  the  counties  that  raise  sheep  to  any  extent  report  that  they  have  paid 
better  than  anything  else,  and  the  next  most  popular  kind  of  live  stock  is  horses. 
All  of  the  counties  heard  from  report  sufficient  pasturage,  and  most  of  them  say 
that  but  a  very  small  portion  of  the  available  pasturage  is  utilized. 

Recent  experiments  have  demonstrated  that  the  soil  and  climate  of 
North  Dakota  are  well  suited  to  the  culture  of  sugar  beets  and  other 
root  crops,  which  form  an  import  ant  adjunct  to  sheep  husbandry.  It  is 
conceded  that  the  beet  pulp  and  the  root  crops  that  can  be  raised  in 
the  agricultural  portions  of  Dakota,  as  well  as  wheat  screenings,  fur- 
nish foods  that  are  unequaled  for  producing  mutton,  and  will  serve  to 
further  stimulate  and  maintain  the  sheep  industry. 

In  addition  to  the  large  amount  of  feed  afforded  by  the  native  and 
cultivated  grasses,  hay  and  other  crops  in  many  portions  of  the  State 
may  be  relied  upon,  and  are  therefore  of  importance  in  considering  the 
resources  of  the  State  with  reference  to  sheep  husbandry.  In  the  first 


732      SHEEP  INDUSTRY  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES 

annual  report  of  the  commissioner  of  agriculture,  made  last  year,  in 
his  analysis  of  the  crops  of  the  State,  he  says : 

The  main  crop  everywhere  is  -wheat,  though  there  is  a  growing  inclination  to 
raise  other  crops.  A  large  increase  in  the  acreage  of  flax  is  noted  in  several  counties, 
but  unfortunately  the  flax  crop  is  unusually  poor  this  year.  Corn,  and  especially 
millet  and  Hungarian,  are  materially  increasing  and  are  usually  reported  as  profit- 
able crops.  Barley  shows  a  marked  increase  over  last  year  in  some  of  the  counties^ 
though  this  is  more  than  offset  by  a  decrease  in  others.  Beans  and  pease  are  grown 
to  an  increasing  extent,  but  are  not  raised  in  sufficient  quantities  to  render  them  of 
much  importance  as  a  crop.  The  total  acreage  in  several  counties  shows  a  decrease, 
especially  in  wheat,  which  is  usually  attributable  in  the  interior  counties  to  the 
persistent  failure  of  crops,  incident  to  lack  of  moisture,  for  the  past  three  years> 
though  it  may  be  in  some  degree  the  result  of  defective  work  by  the  assessors  in  not 
obtaining  correct  figures. 

The  corn  of  the  State  is  raised  chiefly  in  the  Missouri  River  counties  and  along 
the  southern  line  of  the  State,  although  it  is  rapidly  growing  in  popularity  in  nearly 
all  parts  of  the  State. 

In  the  report  of  internal  commerce  for  1889,  P.  F.  McClure,  of  Fieri e, 
writes  of  hay  and  grass  in  the  Dakotas  as  follows : 

The  native  hay  of  Dakota  is  of  such  superior  grade,  so  easily  and  cheaply  gath- 
ered, and  so  abundant,  that  cultivation  of  tame  grasses  has  generally  been  consid- 
ered unnecessary.  It  is  an  indisputable  fact  that  for  centuries  the  Dakota  prairies 
have  been  the  winter  home  of  the  wild  buffalo.  So  well  is  this  understood  that  the 
large  trains  of  ox  teams  used  for  freighting  to  the  Black  Hills  from  1876  to  1885 
were  turned  loose  to  graze  on  the  prairie  grass  in  herds  of  seAreral  hundred,  and 
wintered  on  these  sun-cured  grasses  without  being  fed  a  spear  of  hay  during  the 
winter,  coming  out  in  the  spring  in  better  condition  than  they  were  in  the  preced- 
ing fall.  The  custom  prevails  in  western  Dakota  of  starting  out  with  a  "haying 
outfit,"  consisting  generally  of  a  mowing-machine,  alternated  by  two  teams,  a  rake, 
and  a  couple  of  stacking  teams,  in  July,  and  continuing  operations  until  the  Octo- 
ber frosts.  These  outfits  will  take  in  an  area  of  some  miles,  and  where,  on  old  lake 
beds,  draws,  ravines,  or  valleys,  the  yield  may  be  from  1  to  2  tons  to  the  acre,  yet 
the  average  yield  is  but  1,000  pounds  to  the  acre;  and  a  yield  of  500  pounds  to  the 
acre  pays  to  cut.  A  mowing-machine  covers  from  10  to  12  acres  per  day,  and  the 
stacking  wagons  haul  to  convenient  distances  of  a  mile  or  more  away  and  stack  into 
"ricks,"  of  50  to  100  tons.  Hay  is  thus  put  into  the  "  rick  "  at  a  cost  not  to  exceed 
$1.75  per  ton.  This  buffalo  grass  and  double-stemmed  blue-joint  is  of  a  fine  spear 
and  very  succulent  and  preferred  by  stock  to  tame  or  "  cultivated"  hay.  There  is  no 
coarse  stalk  to  be  left  in  the  bins,  and  to  the  newcomer  it  is  a  matter  of  wonder- 
ment to  see  how  stock  is  worked  on  hay  with  little  or  no  grain.  During  the  drought 
of  1887,  in  Wisconsin,  Illinois,  and  Iowa,  many  thousand  tons  of  Dakota  hay  were 
-shipped  to  Chicago  and  other  cities  and  towns  of  the  States  named.  As  a  result 
orders  from  livery-stable  keepers  have  coine  to  Dakota  localities  for  "prairie  hay" 
in  large  quantities.  The  prairie  grasses  of  Dakota  never  fail,  and  on  several  occa- 
sions in  the  past,  where  hail  or  drought  in  localities  has  stripped  the  Dakota  farmer 
of  his  expected  revenue,  he  has  turned  to  prairie  hay  and  made  a  few  hundred 
dollars  to  tide  over  the  winter. 

Old  grasses  and  clovers,  however,  are  being  successfully  cultivated  in  the  more 
thickly  settled  portions  of  older  Dakota.  On  the  lower  plains  timothy  is  the  best, 
but  on  the  higher  prairies  red-top  is  the  favorite.  Red  clover  is  found  in  small  quan- 
tities in  nearly  every  locality,  and  where  dairying  is  carried  on  occasional  meadows 
of  alfalfa  are  grown,  yielding  from  6  to  8  tons  per  acre. 

The  grass  of  western  Dakota  is  sun-cured  by  the  dry  months  of  July,  August,  and 


WEST   OF   THE   MISSISSIPPI   RIVER.  733 

September,  and  its  succulence  and  nutriment  are  undoubtedly  superior  to  tamo 
grasses:  for  the  experiments  of  feeding  a  ton  of  prairie  grass  and  a  ton  of  timothy 
shows  that  the  prairie  grass  is  eaten  up  clean  and  has  more  nutriment.  At  any  time 
in  the  winter  an  examination  of  the  roots  of  buffalo  grass  shows  it  alive  and  green. 
Nowhere  in  the  world  do  the  native  grasses  grow  with  such  luxuriance  and  richness, 
and  cattle  in  the  winter  have  a  variety  of  feed  to  choose  from.  The  most  common, 
however,  are  the  buffalo,  gramma,  and  the  blue-stem  varieties.  Snows  are  very  light, 
rarely  remaining  on  the  ground  more  than  a  few  days  at  a  time. 

In  order  that  the  readers  of  this  report  may  have  a  clear  view  and  a 
definite  idea  of  the  progress  of  the  industry  in  the  eastern  part  of  the 
State,  the  following  communication,  received  from  Watson  E.  Boisey, 
Bellevyria,  Steele  County,  K  Dak.,  is  submitted,  omitting  such  por- 
tions as  are  not  pertinent.  Mr.  Boisey  writes: 

My  experience  has  been  short,  but  the  results  have  been  such  as  to  encourage  me 
to  raise  sheep  on  a  larger  scale.  The  most  flattering  prospects  of  success  attend  the 
efforts  of  any  one  who  will  give  the  sheep  good  feed  and  reasonable  care.  It  has 
been  evident  for  some  time  that  we  farmers  in  the  rolling  section  of  North  Dakota 
can  not  depend  wholly  on  wheat  raising  for  a  living.  Some  years  the  crop  is  profit- 
able, some  years  not.  On  this  account  some  settlers  have  been  sold  out  and  have  left 
the  State ;  others  have  left  before  being  driven  out,  and  now  the  attention  of  quite  a 
number  of  those  who  remain  has  been  attracted  to  the  sheep  industry  in  this  county 
only  as  an  adjunct  to  wheat  raising.  Until  last  fall  there  were  only  two  men  in 
this  (Steele)  county  who  had  sheep  in  any  number.  H.  D.  Carpenter,  of  Hope,  has 
be».in  raising  them  for  five  or  six  years.  He  began  with  50  sheep,  and  has  bought 
twice  since.  Last  fall  he  sold  90  lambs  for  $400.  He  had  about  an  equal  number  of 
ewe  lambs,  which  he  kept,  as  has  been  his  practice  each  year.  He  now  has  about 
300  ewes,  and  lambs  almost  too  numerous  to  count.  He  told  me  that  his  wool  yield 
last  year,  from  160  to  170  sheep,  was  worth  about  $260,  making  a  total  income  of  about 
$1,060  from  the  160  to  170  sheep.  He  has  raised  sheep  nearly  all  his  life,  having  de- 
voted considerable  attention  to  them  in  northern  Vermont  before  coming  to  Dakota, 
and  he  takes  to  it  naturally.  He  takes  pains  to  have  fine  bucks  (he  uses  the  Oxford 
Down),  and  only  lets  them  cover  a  few  ewes  per  day — perhaps  ten — so  the  lambs  are 
strong.  In  the  lambing  season  he  or  his  men  are  with  the  sheep  day  and  night.  He 
is  the  only  man  in  the  county  who  devotes  his  entire  attention  to  sheep  and  feed 
lor  them,  and  this  only  the  past  year  or  two. 

T.  J.  Foster,  also  of  Hope,  N.  Dak.,  has  about  300  ewes.  It  is  about  three  years 
since  he  commenced  with  them.  He  is  raising  Shropshires  and  is  having  good  suc- 
cess. Quite  a  large  number  of  Norwegians  in  the  northern  part  of  the  county  have 
had  one  or  two  apiece  simply  to  produce  wool  for  stocking  yarn.  But  three  poorish 
crops  in  succession  turned  our  farmers'  attention  to  sheep  raising,  and  quite  a  num- 
ber last  fall  bought  small  flocks  of  from  25  to  100.  One  man,  Nels  P.  Rasmusson, 
of  Barnes  County,  got  about  1,500,  of  which  he  keeps  1,200  in  this  county.  Nearly 
all  have  been  very  fortunate  here  in  wintering  their  sheep,  and  are  doing  well  with 
lambs. 

As  not  many  of  the  railroad  sections  here  in  the  Northern  Pacific  land  grant  are 
under  cultivation,  there  is  ample  pasturage,  and  the  sheep  do  very  well  on  our  nu- 
tritious prairie  grass.  As  they  are  extremely  fond  of  wild  buckwheat,  they  will 
prove  very  valuable  in  helping  us  to  rid  our  lands  of  that  pest,  at  the  same  time 
enriching  the  land.  I  feel  quite  enthusiastic  about  this  industry,  as  we  can  still 
raise  nearly,  if  not  quite,  as  much  wheat  as  before,  and  keep  a  good  flock  of  sheep 
besides.  Where  there  is  a  scarcity  of  prairie  hay  to  be  cut,  millet  can  easily  be 
raised.  I  wintered  my  sheep  on  millet  with  an  occasional  feed  of  rutabagas.  With 
millet  and  rutabagas  no  grain  will  be  needed,  at  least  not  till  the  lambing  season. 


734        SHEEP  INDUSTRY  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES 

Probably  half  my  sheep  were  really  fat  right  after  lambing.  The  grass  com- 
menced growing  this  spring  rather  earlier  than  usual,  which  has  helped  the  sheep 
through  the  lambing  season. 

TEMPERATURE   AND   RAINFALL. 

Most  persons  unfamiliar  with  North  Dakota  have  erroneous  ideas  as 
to  the  temperature  and  the  character  of  the  winter.  The  popular  im- 
pression of  nonresidents  is  that  the  winters  are  of  unusual  duration 
and  severity,  and  that  blizzards  are  of  frequent  occurrence  during  the 
winter  season,  and  that  unless  both  men  and  live  stock  are  carefully 
housed  from  four  to  six  months  there  is  no  certainty  of  surviving  the 
winter.  It  is,  therefore,  supposed  that  the  risks,  expense,  and  hard 
ships  incident  to  winter  make  live-stock  husbandry  an  extremely  haz- 
ardous undertaking  in  this  northern  region.  Nothing  could  be  more 
erroneous.  It  is  true  that  North  Dakota  is  nearer  the  Arctic  regions 
than  Iowa  or  Nebraska,  yet,  as  a  matter  of  fact,  there  is  no  more  risk 
under  similar  methods,  and  the  mortality  of  live  stock  is  no  greater  in 
the  former  than  in  the  latter  States.  Wintering  stock  in  North  Dakota 
is  attended  with  certain  disadvantages,  and  yet  every  other  State  south 
to  Texas  has  certain  other  disadvantages  that  offset  those  which  apply 
to  North  Dakota. 

The  official  records  of  temperature  and  precipitation  for  the  year 
1889,  which  can  be  taken  as  an  average  year,  as  observed  at  Bismarck, 
Fort  Buford,  Moorhead,  St.  Vincent,  Davenport,  Fort  Abraham  Lin- 
coln, Fort  Pernbina,  Fort  Totten,  Fort  Yates,  Gallatin,  and  New  Eng- 
land City,  show  that  the  average  mean  temperature  for  the  year  at  all 
these  points  was  a  fraction  over  40°  F.  The  maximum  temperature 
was  mainly  during  the  month  of  August,  and  the  average  was  a  little 
in  excess  of  100°  F.  The  minimum  temperature,  average  for  all  points 
named,  was  a  trifle  less  than  36°  below  zero,  and  at  each  of  these  places 
it  was  reached  during  the  month  of  February. 

The  average  annual  precipitation  of  rain  and  melted  snow  for  all  the 
places  mentioned  where  the  records  were  kept  was  10.17  inches.  As 
the  greater  portion  of  the  precipitation  occurs  during  the  growing 
season,  the  winters  are  comparatively  dry  and  free  from  storms  or 
damp  weather,  and  prevailing  sunshine  is  the  rule.  The  extreme 
weather  comes  in  the  latter  part  of  the  winter  when  stock  have  become 
inured  to  the  cold,  and  if  they  are  properly  fed  will  readily  withstand , 
it  without  any  unusual  loss,  unless  caught  in  a  sudden  and  blinding 
storm  when  out  on  the  open  range  and  at  too  great  a  distance  from 
winter  quarters.  This,  however,  does  not  often  occur  in  the  case  of 
prudent  and  experienced  flockmasters. 

NUMBERS   AND   VALUES. 

The  recent  separation  of  Dakota  into  two  States,  and  the  imperfect 
system  of  collecting  official  statistics  by  the  State  authorities,  have 


WEST    OF    THE    MISSISSIPPI   RIVER. 


735 


made  the  work  of  securing  even  the  approximate  results  here  given  a 
(litHcult  task.  The  assessors'  returns,  which  ordinarily  are  incomplete 
and  unreliable,  usually  form  a  basis  for  a  fairly  correct  enumeration, 
but  the  State  officials  of  Korth  Dakota  found  such  returns  quite  un- 
satisfactory, therefore  they  are  only  considered  here  for  comparison. 
The  State  board  of  equalization  reports  for  1890  and  1891  show  that 
the  number  of  live  stock  assessed  for  taxation  purposes  was  as  follows : 


Sheep. 

Cattle. 

Horses. 

Mules. 

Hogs. 

1890. 

1891. 

1890. 

1891. 

1890. 

1891. 

1890. 

1891. 

1890. 

1891. 

98,290 

231,355 

232,960 

260,663 

124,237 

134,538 

8,245 

7,410 

159,523 

39,783 

It  will  be  observed  that  sheep  have  increased  wonderfully  in  com- 
paiison  with  other  classes  of  stock.  The  numbers  of  hogs  and  males 
have  declined,  while  horses  and  cattle  show  a  small  increase.  Sheep 
have  increased  in  the  single  year  1891  nearly  135  per  cent  over  the  pre- 
vious year,  which  causes  the  Commissioner  of  Agriculture,  in  his  report 
for  1890,  to  observe : 

Some  stockmen,  whose  opinions  are  thought  to  be  conservative,  estimate  the  total 
increase  in  the  State  at  not  less  than  150,000  to  200,000.  If  these  estimates  are  cor- 
rect, there  are  now  in  the  State  250,000  to  300,000  sheep,  and  next  year,  allowing  for 
natural  increase,  will  see  not  less  than  half  a  million  head  within  oar  herders. 

From  the  best  information  obtainable  by  the  writer  these  estimates 
are  substantially  correct.  The  State  auditor,  in  a  letter  of  October  6, 
1891,  says  that  the  number  reported  by  the  assessors  for  1891  repre- 
sents about  50  per  cent  of  the  sheep  of  the  State.  The  auditor's  report 
and  estimate  do  not  include  all  of  the  sheep  brought  into  North  Dakota 
from  other  States  this  year.  Information  based  upon  careful  estimates 
of  tli e  number  of  sheep  in  hand  January  1, 1891,  the  increase  of  the 
flocks  for  1891  and  the  sheep  brought  in  from  other  States  and  Terri- 
tories, shows  the  number  of  sheep  January  1,  1892,  to  be  557,590  head, 
valued  at  $1,951,565.  The  wool  clip  for  1891  was  at  least  1,750,000 
pounds,  which  netted  the  growers  about  $333,333,  and  the  mutton 
sales  as  much  more.  If  we  add  to  these  estimates  the  value  of  property 
other  than  sheep  necessary  for  conducting  the  business,  it  is  fair  to  es- 
timate that  the  sheep  industry  of  North  Dakota  represents  a  value  of 
nearly  $5,000,000. 

PROMOTERS   OF   THE   SHEEP  INDUSTRY. 

The  rapid  increase  in  the  number  of  sheep  in  the  Dakotas  has  really 
been  quite  remarkable,  and  has  excited  the  attention  of  sheepmen 
everywhere.  A  report  on  the  subject  of  this  industry  in  North  Dakota 
would  be  incomplete  without  devoting  some  space  to  a  class  of  persons 
who  have  been  largely  responsible  for  its  unusual  development.  There 
is  a  class  of  individuals  a,s  well  as  companies  and  corporations  which 


736  SHEEP   INDUSTRY    OF   THE    UNITED    STATES 

are  now  generally  known  as  "  promoters."  This  class  is  composed  of 
shrewd  and  sagacious  business  men  of  means  or  influence  who  have 
taken  advantage  of  the  active  demand  for  sheep  to  employ  their  own 
means,  or  to  borrow  capital  advantageously  to  promote  the  extension 
of  the  industry  and  make  large  profits  on  the  investments.  The  "  pro- 
moter77 found  that  he  could  buy  sheep  quite  low  for  cash  in  Montana 
and  other  Western  States,  provided  he  was  not  particular  as  to  the 
class  of  sheep,  age,  quality,  and  grade  considered,  and  by  purchasing 
them  in  large  numbers  he  could  buy  them  cheap.  He  resold  or  put 
them  out  011  shares  in  small  lots  of  from  50  to  500  head  or  more  to 
responsible  farmers  who  were  eager  for  sheep  and  suitably  equipped  to 
handle  them  without  special  risk  to  the  "promoter,"  under  a  contract 
with  the  farmer  to  properly  care  for,  shelter,  and  bear  all  expenses  of 
maintenance  of  the  flock,  and  thus  make  good  to  the  "promoter77  all 
losses.  In  consideration  of  this  he  was  to  receive  one-half  the  wool  and 
one-half  the  increase  and  at  the  expiration  of  the  contract  return  to  the 
"promoter77  the  original  number  of  sheep  selected  from  the  flock.  In 
the  contract  the  "  promoter  "  usually  reserves  the  right  at  any  time  to 
repossess  himself  of  the  sheep  if  dissatisfied  with  the  way  they  are 
being  handled,  with  recompense  to  the  lessee.  He  also  reserves  the 
right  to  control  the  sale  of  wool,  which  must  be  delivered  to  him  as 
soon  as  clipped. 

When  sheep  were  not  leased  on  shares  they  were  sold  in  small  bands, 
either  for  cash  or  on  time,  when  satisfactory  security  could  be  given , 
and  at  an  advance  which  is  seldom  less  than  50  per  cent  net  for  spot 
cash.  When  sold  on  time  the  usual  advance  over  cost  is  100  per  cent? 
and  as  much  more  as  the  traffic  will  bear,  with  a  minimum  rate  of  in- 
terest of  10  or  12  per  cent  for  a  period  of  from  three  to  five  years,  and 
an  annual  payment  on  the  principal  Avhich  comes  out  of  the  wool  and 
mutton  sales.  The  "  promoter"  took  no  risks  and  was  sure  of  the  bulk 
of  the  profits,  while  the  flockmaster  had  to  wait  until  he  was  out  of 
debt  or  until  he  could  realize  something  from  the  increase. 

So  very  successful  were  the  pioneer  "promoters77  in  realizing  large 
profits  that  during  1890  and  1891  the  number  increased,  and  almost 
every  county  in  the  State  was  under  their  operations.  Banks,  mort- 
gage-loan companies,  and  other  capitalists  became  interested  in  sheep 
speculation.  Companies  were  also  formed  to  enlist  eastern  capital  to 
invest  in  sheep  husbandry.  It  is  estimated  that  in  1890  over  20,000 
sheep  were  brought  into  North  Dakota  by  "  promoters,77  and  a  larger 
number  during  1891,  to  say  nothing  of  the  number  brought  in  by  the 
stockmen  and  farmers  themselves. 

The  development  of  the  sheep  husbandry  in  North  Dakota  by  this 
system  of  "promoters"  has  had  its  advantage  as  well  as  its  disadvan- 
tages so  far  as  the  future  welfare  of  the  industry  is  concerned.  It  has 
enabled  farmers  who  were  barely  making  a  livelihood  by  exclusive 
wheat-raising,  and  who  were  without  capital,  to  enlarge  Qr  extend  oper%> 


WEST    OF    THE    MISSISSIPPI   RIVER.  737 

tions  to  other  lines  of  diversified  agriculture,  to  make  a  small  start  with 
sheep,  and  at  the  same  time  utilize  feed  and  grass  which  otherwise 
would  have  been  lost  or  wasted.  Yery  many  farmers  who  were  un- 
familiar with  the  sheep  husbandry  have  by  this  method  of  starting 
AY  i th  a  small  band  of  sheep  had  an  opportunity  to  learn  their  business 
by  the  time  they  had  a  flock  of  their  own,  and  if  reasonably  success- 
ful they  received  at  least  fair  compensation  for  time  and  labor  expended 
in  getting  a  start. 

So  eager  were  many  of  the  farmers  to  get  a  start  that  they  willingly 
paid  exorbitant  prices  to  the  "promoters"  and  speculators  for  their  sheep, 
or  subscribed  without  hesitancy  to  the  various  conditions  prescribed 
under  the  leases  or  time  sales.  No  doubt  many  of  these  inequitable 
business  transactions  were  made  by  taking  advantage  of  the  inexperi- 
enced, who  were  ready  victims,  owing  to  the  prevailing  excitement 
about  sheep,  and  the  fabulous  profits  of  sheep  husbandry,  which,  on 
paper,  are  so  apparent  and  yet  really  so  deceptive.  The  following  is  a 
sample  of  a  very  conservative  estimate  used  by  certain  North  Dakota 
"  promoters." 

The  following  figures  will  perhaps  be  of  interest,  showing  as  they  do  the  profits  to 
be  derived  from  sheep-raising : 

Cost  and  expense  to  farmer. 

Original  flock,  100  sheep  (average  cost) $350. 00 

Cost  of  keeping  "2\  years,  at  75  cents 187. 50 

Cost  of  keeping  75  lambs  2  years,  at  75  cents 112. 50 

Cost  of  keeping  115  lambs  1  year,  at  75  cents 86. 25 

736. 25 
Return  and  profits. 

Wool  from  original  flock,  June,  1891,  at  $1  per  head $100. 00 

Increase  for  1891,  estimated  at  75  per  cent  of  flock,  worth  June 

1,  1893,  at  least  $2.75  per  head 206.25 

Wool  clip  June,  1892,  at  $1  per  head 175. 00 

Increase,  1892,  estimated  at  115  lambs,  worth  June  1,  1893,  at 

least  $2.50  per  head 387.50 

Wool  clip,  1893,  on  290  sheep 290. 00 

Estimated  increase,  1893,  prior  to  June  1,  200  lambs,  worth 

June  1 400.00 

Original  flock 350. 00 

Total  return 1,  908.  75 

From  this  amount  allow  20  per  cent  for  losses  and  there  still  remains  a  net  profit 
of  100  per  cent  in  two  and  one-half  years.  These  figures  give,  we  believe,  a  con- 
servative estimate,  and  are  based  upon  the  present  low  price  of  wool. 

Others  figured  out  the  annual  net  profit  at  100  per  cent  of  the  origi- 
nal investment.     One  of  the  worst  features  of  the  "promoter"  system 
was  found  in  the  anxiety  for  big  profits.    Cheap  sheep  were  purchased, 
and  consequently  among  them  were  large  numbers  of  culls — a  very  poor 
22990 47 


738        SHEEP  INDUSTRY  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES 

class  of  sheep  to  start  a  flock  with.  Had  not  the  winter  of  1SS9-'90 
been  unusually  mild  the  loss  would  have  been  large,  but  as  the  sheep 
were  well  fed  and  housed  and  run  in  small  flocks  the  loss  was  quite 
light  even  among  aged  ewes.  A  few  flocks  of  scabby  sheep  were  also 
brought  in,  but  under  the  present  restrictive  laws  this  is  not  likely  to 
occur  again. 

There  are  a  few  "promoters"  who  are  really  doing  much  to  foster  the 
sheep  industry.  They  are  experienced  sheepmen  and  bring  in  only 
choice  animals,  and  while  they  lease  sheep  so  as  to  secure  themselves 
from  loss,  their  terms  are  fair  and  equitable.  The  lessees  receive  a  due 
share  of  the  profits  and  a  certain  chance  to  have  a  desirable  flock  of 
sheep  of  their  own  within  a  reasonable  period.  The  day  of  unscrupu- 
lous speculators  is  fast  passing  away,  but  their  misdeeds  remain  in 
some  localities,  to  the  disadvantage  of  the  industry.  The  people  of 
the  State  have,  however,  learned  a  great  deal  of  practical  value  about 
sheep  husbandry  during  the  past  year  or  so,  and  in  almost  every  county 
there  are  some  that  have  demonstrated  what  class  of  sheep  are  best 
suited  to  their  section  of  the  State,  and  what  methods  of  conducting 
the  business  are  most  desirable  in  every  way. 

GENERAL  FACTS   ABOUT  THE   INDUSTRY. 

Generally  speaking,  the  sheep  industry  of  North  Dakota  was  begun 
at  a  time  when  everything  in  the  way  of  agricultural  pursuits  was  at< 
a  low  ebb.  North  Dakota  came  into  statehood  with  all  her  financial 
expectations  based  on  her  great  staple  crop  of  spring  wheat.  This 
crop  was  their  main  standby,  and  other  crops  and  live-stock  hus-j 
bandry  were  merely  incidental ;  therefore,  when  the  wheat  crop  failed 
the  husbandman  was  financially  embarrassed.  More  than  one  failure 
in  succession  meant,  in  most  cases,  ruin,  especially  in  the  newly  set- 
tled portions  of  the  State,  and  that  includes  the  greater  portion  of 
North  Dakota. 

The  years  1889-'90  found  the  farmers  of  North  Dakota  suffering  from 
agricultural  depression  to  a  greater  extent  perhaps  than  any  other 
western  State.  The  farmers  of  this  State  had  but  one  crop  to  depend 
on,  and  when  that  failed  they  had  no  other  resource.  Notwithstanding 
this  discouraging  condition,  it  may  ultimately  result  beneficially  to  thej 
State.  This  experience  has  taught  the  farmers  that  they  can  not  afford 
to  rely  on  a  single  crop,  and  if  they  are  to  prosper  in  this  country,  so 
magnificently  endowed  by  nature,  they  must  study  its  resources  and; 
climate  with  special  reference  to  such  branches  of  agriculture  as  havej 
a  special  adaptation  to  North  Dakota,  and  above  all  strive  for  a  diverJ 
sified  agriculture. 

When  a  very  considerable  number  of  farmers  had  reached  the  dis| 
tressed  condition  which  resulted  from  pursuing  the  single-crop  ideal 
and  like  Nicodemus  of  old,  were  asking,  "What  shall  1  do  to  be  saved?! 
each  one  began  to  look  about  him  with  a  view  to  bettering  his  condiJ 


WEST    OF    THE    MISSISSIPPI    RIVER.  739 

tion  without  abandoning  the  country.  He  readily  discovered  that  the 
country  was  well  grassed  all  over,  and  he  also  observed,  perhaps  with 
envy,  that  his  neighbors  to  the  westward  in  Montana  were  fairly  pros- 
perous, while  he  was  depressed  if  not  actually  distressed.  They  were 
raising  sheep,  horses,  and  cattle  profitably,  with  a  small  outlay  of  time 
and  money,  on  nature's  own  supply  of  native  grasses  which  were  no 
better  in  quality  and  less  abundant  in  quantity  than  in  North  Dakota, 
where  they  were  not  utilized  to  any  measurable  extent.  He  was  led  to 
believe  that  live-stock  husbandry  was  a  necessary  requisite  to  perma- 
nent prosperity  in  North  Dakota,  and  would  succeed  in  many  portions 
of  the  State  independent  of  wheat  culture. 

Whenever  any  agricultural  or  grazing  country  reaches  a  point  of 
adversity,  that  innocent  and  frequently  despised  domestic  animal,  the 
sheep,  seems  to  be  necessary  for  its  salvation;  therefore,  the  sheep  in- 
dustry is  now  one  of  the  most  promising  resources  of  the  young  State 
of  North  Dakota. 

The  sheep  of  North  Dakota,  especially  those  brought  into  the  State 
during  1889-'90,  are  quite  similar  to  those  of  Montana,  as  the  bulk  of 
them  came  originally  from  that  State.  The  predominating  strain  is  of 
the  Merino  blood,  with  a  growing  tendency  favorable  to  the  mutton 
breeds.  Especially  is  this  so  in  the  eastern  portion  of  the  State.  In 
Eiiimons  County,  which  has  the  largest  number  of  sheep  of  any  county 
in  the  State,  80  per  cent  are  grade  Shropshires,  and  the  remaining  5 
per  cent  are  pure-bred  Merinos  and  Shropshires.  A  large  number  of 
sheep  represent  mixed  crosses  of  fine- wool  and  medium- wooled  sheep. 
Other  flocks  represent  a  cross  of  French  Merino  and  grade  Shropshires. 

There  are  very  few  large  holdings  of  sheep  in  the  State,  except  such 
us  are  owned  by  companies  or  "promoters,"  who  sell  or  put  them  out 
on  shares.  The  flocks  put  out  on  shares  range  in  size  from  100  to  500. 
Regular  sheepmen  own  flocks  of  about  1,000  in  number.  In  the  eastern 
part  of  the  State,  in  the  Red  River  country,  where  farming  is  general 
and  the  sheep  are  mainly  Shropshire  or  Cotswold  grades,  25  to  100 
sheep  comprise  about  the  regulation  flock.  In  Richmond,  the  south- 
eastern county  of  the  State,  which  has  about  5,000  sheep,  the  flocks 
run  from  a  dozen  to  200  head.  Generally  speaking,  in  the  farming  dis- 
tricts of  the  State,  500  sheep  are  considered  a  large  flock,  and  in  the 
western  or  central  portion  from  2,000  to  3,000  are  called  a  large  hold- 
ing. In  Steele  County,  near  the  eastern  border,  the  largest  flock  owned 
is  said  to  number  only  1,200  head.  While  the  industry  is  yet  in  its  in- 
fancy, it  is  a  matter  of  noteworthy  interest  that  sheep  husbandry  is 
being  carried  on  by  a  number  of  owners,  and  the  sheep  owned  through- 
out the  State  represent  almost  every  breed,  grade,  or  cross  found  else- 
where in  this  country.  The  business  can  well  be  regarded  as  an  ex- 
tensive experiment  with  brilliant  prospects  before  it;  but  some  time 
must  elapse  before  it  settles  down  to  a  permanent  basis. 

The  native  prairies  afford  most  of  the  grazing.    In  the  Red  River 


740        SHEEP  INDUSTRY  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES 

valley  the  land  is  flat,  and  consists  of  black  soil  with  clay -loam  subsoil. 
Farther  west  the  upland  prairies  have  soil  of  varied  richness.  In  cen- 
tral and  western  North  Dakota  the  prairies  have  great  varieties  of 
soil — the  pocket  lands,  with  a  sandy  soil  and  a  gravelly  soil  on  the 
ridges,  clay  loam,  gravelly  subsoil  and  alkali  soil.  Much  of  the  rough 
or  rolling  prairie  lands  are  suitable  for  summer  grazing,  and  are  util- 
ized only  for  that  purpose.  At  present  there  are  unlimited  areas  of 
cheap  or  free  range,  and  it  Avill  be  many  years  before  they  are  fully  oc- 
cupied, if  ever. 

Grass  is  everywhere  abundant  and  of  numerous  varieties.  Buffalo 
grass  is  common  throughout  the  State,  There  is  also  considerable 
bunch  grass.  Trees  are  scarce,  except  a  few  along  the  streams.  In 
the  western  portion  of  the  State  the  buttes  afford  shade  in  summer  and 
natural  shelter  from  severe  winds.  Water  is  plentiful  in  most  portions 
of  the  State  from  streams,  springs,  etc.  In  the  cultivated  districts 
wells  are  the  main  dependence.  At  present  much  of  the  larger  area 
of  the  State  consists  of  rich  grazing  lands  suitable  for  any  class  of 
stock,  and  as  most  of  it  is  Government  or  railroad  land,  it  is  accessible 
and  available  for  sheep  or  other  stock  with  little  or  no  cost  to  the 
owner — an  advantage  of  vast  benefit  and  assistance  to  beginners  who 
have  engaged  in  the  business  on  borrowed  capital  or  have  sheep  on 
shares. 

The  loss  of  sheep  in  North  Dakota  from  any  source  is,  so  far  in  the 
history  of  the  industry,  remarkably  light.  However,  since  the  industry 
has  become  general  there  have  been  no  unusually  severe  winters,  so 
that  losses  reported  have  been  substantially  at  the  minimum.  Yet,  in 
view  of  the  general  inexperience  in  sheep  husbandry,  the  insignificant 
annual  losses  from  all  sources  are  a  favorable  indication  of  the  adapt- 
ability of  the  country  for  sheep-raising.  Especially  is  this  so  when  we 
consider  the  inferior  condition  of  so  large  a  number  of  Montana  and 
Western  culls  that  were  brought  in  by  speculators  and  "promoters," 
and  the  inexperience  of  many  of  the  men  who  purchased  the  sheep  or 
took  them  on  shares.  The  chief  source  of  loss  is  from  exposure.  From 
the  depredations  of  wild  animals,  the  annual  losses  so  far  are  less  than 
1  per  cent,  and  the  losses  from  exposure,  which  were  mainly  in  the 
central  and  western  parts  of  the  State,  only  amounted  to  from  2  to  3 
per  cent  of  the  flocks. 

In  regard  to  the  character  of  the  wool  and  the  constitution  of  the 
sheep  brought  into  North  Dakota  from  other  States,  it  can  safely  be 
stated  as  a  general  proposition  that  no  adverse  effects  from  the  change 
are  noted,  especially  if  the  sheep  are  not  too  old  or  out  of  condition. 
Sheep  brought  from  the  East  do  fully  as  well  after  the  first  season,  when 
they  become  acclimated,  as  sheep  raised  in  the  State.  Western  sheep, 
if  young  and  healthy,  do  fully  as  well  as  home-bred.  Sheep  of  all 
breeds,  no  matter  where  they  come  from,  seem  to  do  well  here  and  be- 
come acclimated  very  readily.  It  is  the  general  belief  that  sheep 


WEST    OF    THE    MISSISSIPPI    RIVER.  741 

roiight  into  tlie  State  improve  iii  vigor  and  yield  a  greater  quantity 
of  wool.  It  is  largely  a  matter  of  belief,  however,  as  regards  an  in- 
crease of  size.  Western  sheep  seem  to  do  better  here  than  in  Montana 
or  Oregon,  for  the  reason  that  they  are  run  in  smaller  bands,  and  re- 
ceive accordingly  better  care  than  can  be  given  in  the  large  flocks  from 
which,  they  originally  came.  The  great  point  about  the  State's  adapt- 
iveiiess  for  sheep  is  that  in  no  case  is  the  constitution  impaired,  wher- 
ever the  sheep  may  come  from.  They  usually  show  improvement  with 
proper  management  in  an  increased  quantity  and  improved  quality  of 
wool,  especially  after  the  first  year.  The  bulk  of  the  sheep  come  from 
Montana,  Oregon,  and  Colorado.  The  sheep  from  the  South  and  East 
require  more  care  the  first  year  than  those  from  the  West.  The  noted 
improvements  so  far  manifest  among  the  flocks  are  attributed  to  their 
being  run  in  smaller  bands,  the  better  care  given,  and  the  abundance 
of  nutritious  grasses  of  extra  quality  on  which  they  have  to  graze. 

The  class  of  breeding  rams  in  use  in  North  Dakota  includes  almost 
every  known  breed  and  their  grades,  as  well  as  crosses  of  different 
breeds.  Among  the  smaller  flocks  in  the  eastern  part  of  the  State 
Ion .2:- wool  and  medium -wooled  bucks  or  their  grades  are  most  common. 
In  nearly  every  county  the  Merino  ram  is  used,  yet  generally  through- 
out the  State  the  Shropshire  is  the  favorite.  The  Oxford  Down,  the 
Cotswold,  the  Leicester,  and  the  Hampshire  are  more  numerous  than 
was  anticipated  by  the  writer.  Experiment  seems  to  be  the  prevailing 
idea  at  present,  and  what  the  final  result  will  be  is  a  difficult  matter  to 
forecast.  In  Stark  County  the  Dickinson  Merino,  Hampshire  Down,  and 
Shropshire  seem  to  be  the  leading  favorites,  while  in  the  rich  farming 
districts  the  mutton  breeds,  the  long- wools,  and  the  medium- wool  Downs 
constitute  the  favorite  breeds.  But  the  fine-wools  of  Merino  blood 
must  necessarily  be  generally  prevalent  wherever  sheep-raising  is  the 
main  pursuit.  The  ages  of  the  bucks  in  use  run  from  one  year  old  and 
upwards,  although  the  favorate  age  for  finer  breeding  is  two  years  old. 

The  number  of  ewes  bred  to  each  ram  is,  for  Merinos,  from  30  to  50, 
and  for  the  Cotswold  and  Downs  from  40  to  75;  in  some  cases  as  high 
as  100  ewes  are  bred  to  a  single  ram.  The  usual  plan  of  operation  is, 
about  December  1st,  to  let  the  buck  in  with  the  flock  of  an  evening. 
In  the  morning  he  is  turned  away  from  the  flock  and  well  fed  and  housed 
during  the  day.  This  plan  is  kept  up  from  four  to  six  weeks,  or  until 
the  ewes  are  all  bred,  when  he  is  turned  out  with  the  flock  and  remains 
until  the  following  summer,  in  some  cases  as  late  as  August. 

According  to  various  reports  received  from  different  parts  of  the 
State  the  average  per  cent  of  lambs  raised  is  really  quite  large,  espe- 
cially when  it  is  considered  that  the  grazing  districts  are  mainly  of  the 
open  range  country,  and  that  very  many  of  the  flockinasters  are  inex- 
perienced. But  the  flocks  are  uniformly  small,  and  high  results  may 
be  accounted  for  by  that  fact.  The  minimum  averages  about  75  per 
cent,  while  the  maximum  is  as  high  as  130  per  cent.  Another  reason 


742        SHEEP  INDUSTRY  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES 

that  may  be  assigned  for  these  large  results  was  the  mild  winter  and 
the  consequent  good  condition  of  the  ewes.  The  lowest  average  was 
reported  from  those  whose  flocks  consisted  mostly  of  western  sheep, 
while  the  average  reported  from  90  and  above  were  mainly  from  the 
older  and  smaller  flocks  located  in  the  farming  districts. 

In  these  small  flocks  very  few  of  the  ewes,  unless  they  are  old  or  out 
of  condition,  fail  to  breed.  The  largest  number  reported  in  any  county 
failing  to  breed  is  10  per  cent,  while  the  average  for  the  State  is  placed 
at  2  to  5  per  cent,  which,  in  view  of  the  mixed  character  of  sheep  han^ 
died,  is  remarkably  small. 

The  flockmaster  of  North  Dakota  finds  it  necessary  to  feed  and  shel- 
ter during  winter,  and  in  this  respect  his  method  differs  from  that  in 
vogue  in  Montana.  Every  sheepman  expects  to  provide  both  feed  and 
shelter,  which  is  unquestionably  a  wise  and  necessary  provision.  In 
most  portions  of  the  State  shelter  is  only  required  at  night  or  during 
stormy  weather.  The  only  food  absolutely  required  to  carry  sheep 
through  the  winter  is  good  hay.  Yet  flockmasters  who  have  grain 
available  feed  that  as  well,  especially  where  the  sheep  consist  of  the 
mutton  breeds,  and  wheat  screenings  are  abundant.  This  product  is 
a  remarkably  good  sheep  food,  and  makes  more  good  mutton  than 
almost  any  other  obtainable  feed;  besides  it  possesses  the  valuable 
quality  of  cheapness. 

The  ordinary  shelter  provided  for  winter  consists  of  a  great  variety 
of  sheds,  barns  and  the  like.  In  the  eastern  part  of  the  State,  where 
lumber  is  cheap,  good  comfortable  sheds  or  barns  are  provided  by  those 
who  are  able,  but  farther  out  in  the  State,  where  lumber  is  expensive, 
other  material  must  be  used.  Shelter,  which  will  keep  out  wind  and 
snow,  usually  consists  of  a  sod  or  brush  wall,  about  6  feet  high,  with 
poles  to  support  the  roof,  which  is  covered  with  coarse  hay  or  straw.  In 
some  cases  the  back  and  side  walls  are  excavated  from  the  slope  of  a 
hill,  and  the  whole  thing  cheaply  constructed. 

The  sheepmen  are  mainly  landowners,  that  is,  they  own  a  quarter 
section  or  more  each.  On  this  land  is  the  home  of  the  sheep  owner, 
with  barns,  sheds,  etc.,  but  the  land  used  for  grazing  purposes  is  gen- 
erally Government  land.  In  some  places  the  men  lease  the  State  lands 
at  a  cost  of  $20  a  section,  in  order  to  secure  hay  when  they  do  not  have 
an  abundance  on  the  home  farm.  The  grazing  lands  throughout  the 
State  are  what  is  generally  known  as  free  range. 

The  main  objects  in  sheep-raising  in  North  Dakota  are  both  wool 
and  mutton,  the  State  naturally  being  adapted  to  both.  In  the  grain- 
raising  district,  good  mutton  is  especially  desired,  with  as  much  wool 
as  possible,  while  out  on  the  plains,  wool  is  the  chief  object,  with  as 
good  a  mutton  carcass  as  possible. 

Sheep-shearing  begins  in  the  latter  part  of  May,  and  the  season  closes 
in  June,  most  of  the  clip  being  taken  off  during  the  latter  month.  The 
shearing  is  conducted  in  the  ordinary  way,  differing,  however,  from 


WEST    OF    THE    MISSISSIPPI    RIVER.  743 

the  other  raiige  States,  in  that  the  roviug  bauds  of  shearers  are  not  yet 
common  throughout  the  State.  Every  man  is  able  to  do  his  own  shear- 
ing with  what  assistance  he  may  receive  from  his  own  employes  and 
those  of  his  neighbors.  The  expert  shearer  is  not  numerous  in  North 
Dakota  as  in  the  older  sheep  States.  The  fleeces  are  tied  up  in  the  usual 
way,  each  one  separately.  The  wool  produced  in  North  Dakota  repre- 
sents almost  all  grades,  from  fine  to  coarse.  The  chief  grades,  however, 
are  fine,  fine-medium,  and  medium.  The  extreme  range  of  prices,  net,  to 
the  grower  for  these  different  grades  runs  from  14  to  21  cents,  the  greater 
bulk  bringing  16  to  18  cents.  The  cost  of  marketing  runs  from  2J  to 
3J  cents  per  pound.  Last  year  about  14  cents  was  advanced  on  con- 
signments, while  this  year  it  was  less.  The  larger  part  of  th  e  wool  grown 
in  the  eastern  border  of  the  State  consists  of  the  medium  grade.  The 
average  weight  of  fleece  reported  to  the  writer  from  different  counties 
was:  In  Cass  County,  7  pounds;  Barnes  County,  8  pounds;  Emmons 
County,  8  pounds;  Grand  Forks,  7£  to  10  pounds;  McHenry,  6J  to  11 
pounds;  Morton,  8£  pounds;  Hettinger,  7  to  8  pounds;  Pembina,  6 
pounds;  Kenville,  8  pounds;  Kichland,  7  to  8  pounds;  Eansom,  7J  to  8 
pounds;  Stutsman,  6  to  13  pounds;  Stark,  6  to  9  pounds;  Steele,  7 
pounds,  and  Ward,  7  to  8  pounds.  Taking  these  counties  as  representa- 
tive, the  average  could  safely  be  placed  at  7  pounds. 

The  best  market  for  wool  does  not  seem  to  be  confined  to  any  one 
place,  owing  to  the  fact  that  most  of  the  clips  are  small.  The  local 
buyers  pick  them  up  or  they  are  sold  to  the  North  Star  Woolen  Mills 
in  Minneapolis,  which  gets  a  large  share  of  its  wool  in  this  State.  Of 
distant  markets  Boston  and  New  York  are  favorites,  as  well  as  Chicago. 
Xorth  Dakota  wools  are  also  sold  at  Minneapolis,  St.  Paul,  and  St. 
Louis.  Considerable  quantities  of  this  wool  are  scoured  in  Minneapolis 
and  afterwards  shipped  to  eastern  markets.  For  mutton  in  small  lots 
the  local  demand  is  good;  for  larger  lots  or  carloads,  St.  Paul  and  Chi- 
cago are  the  markets.  Some  shipments  are  made  to  Sioux  City,  Iowa, 
and  Winnipeg,  Manitoba. 

The  proportion  of  the  flock  disposed  of  annually,  either  as  stockers 
or  for  mutton,  is  in  most  sections  of  the  State  very  small.  Where  the 
sheep  industry  is  yet  quite  new  it  will  be  a  year  or  so  before  there  will 
be  any  great  surplus  to  dispose  of;  at  present  the  shipments  are  com- 
posed of  aged  sheep.  Stockers  are  sold  usually  from  July  to  October. 
In  sections  of  the  State  where  farmers  have  a  few  mutton  sheep  the  sale 
is  confined  to  wether  lambs.  Most  of  the  sales  are  made  at  home. 
Occasionally  car  shipments  are  made  to  Chicago  or  St.  Paul,  and  in- 
variably bring  the  top  of  the  market.  In  Steele  County  wether  lambs 
have  brought  their  owners  from  $4.50  to  $5  each.  Ewes  bring  all  the 
way  from  $2.50  to  $3.50.  Sheep  sold  for  mutton  range  all  the  way  from 
05  pounds  up  to  150  pounds  live  weight.  Grade  Shropshire  and  Cotswold 
spring  lambs  vary  all  the  way  from  70  to  100  pounds.  Grade  Merino 
wethers  average  from  95  to  115  pounds  when  mature. 


744        SHEEP  INDUSTRY  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES 

Owing  to  the  number  of  small  flocks  through  North  Dakota  regular 
herders  are  not  employed,  the  work  devolving  on  farm  hands  who  do 
general  work,  so  that  the  tending  of  flocks  in  North  Dakota  during  the 
grazing  season  is  in  charge  of  either  the  farmer's  children  or  hired  man. 
Regular  herders  are  employed  only  when  the  flocks  are  of  sufficient 
size  to  require  a  man  in  charge  all  the  time.  The  wages  paid  farm 
hands  or  herders  range  from  $20  to  $30  per  month  with  board,  the  pre- 
vailing wages  being  about  $25.  During  winter  the  wages  are  much 
less,  running  from  $10  to  $15.  This  difference  is  due  to  the  fact  that 
hands  are  much  more  plentiful  in  winter,  and  the  sheep  do  not  require 
so  much  attention  on  account  of  being  in  their  sheds  most  of  the  time. 

The  average  cost  per  head  a  year  varies  greatly  throughout  the 
State.  When  only  a  few  sheep  are  kept,  mainly  mutton  sheep,  the 
average  expense  is  much  greater  than  in  the  range  country  where  only 
hay  rations  are  given.  The  estimates  given  in  a  few  counties  are  as 
follows:  Barnes  County,  $1  per  head;  Emmons,  75  cents  to  $1;  Grand 
Forks,  50  cents  to  $1.25;  McHenry,  75  cents  to  $1 ;  Pembina,  75  cents; 
Eichland,  $1.50;  Ransom,  35  to  60  cents;  Stutsman  and  Steele,  $1, 
and  Stark,  40  to  75  cents.  Many  of  the  small  sheep-owners  estimate 
that  the  wool  pays  all  expenses,  leaving  the  increase  and  mutton  sales 
for  profit.  It  is  safe  to  say  that  $1  a  head  per  year  is  a  correct  average 
estimate  of  the  cost  for  the  State. 

The  local  advantages  for  sheep  husbandry  in  North  Dakota  are  mani- 
fold, and  those  mentioned  in  particular  by  the  enthusiastic  flockmas- 
ters  in  different  parts  of  the  State  can  be  summarized  briefly  as  fol- 
lows: A  natural  sheep  country,  with  an  abundance  of  cheap  feed  for 
both  summer  and  winter;  a  climate  pure  and  invigorating,  the  greater 
portion  being  dry  and  healthful;  grazing  lands  free,  especially  on  the 
public  domain;  everywhere  grass  and  hay  are  plentiful,  and  in  the 
farming  districts  the  refuse  of  wheat,  such  as  straw  and  screenings, 
make  excellent  winter  feed.  Most  of  the  sheep-owners  of  the  State  are 
well  located  in  reference  to  good  markets  for  both  wool  and  mutton. 

The  health  of  sheep  is  uniformly  good,  no  diseases  of  any  kind  being- 
incident  to  them,  although  some  flocks  have  been  troubled  by  scab  and 
ticks.  The  prevalence  of  scab  is  no  doubt  owing  to  the  carelessness 
or  inexperience  of  those  who  have  recently  engaged  in  the  business- 
They  have  purchased,  without  proper  precautions,  from  speculators  or 
"promoters"  who  have  bought  sheep  farther  west  as  cheaply  as  possi- 
ble, and  then  resold  at  as  extortionate  prices  as  they  could  secure. 
The  sheep  affected  with  ticks  are  those  smaller  flocks  in  the  hands  of 
farmers  in  the  great  wheat  belt.  Most  of  the  flockmasters  of  North 
Dakota  are  inclined  to  the  opinion  that  they  have  a  little  the  best  sheep 
country  on  earth,  and  think  that  they  can  produce  finer  wool  and  mut- 
ton than  any  other  place  in  the  country. 

The  chief  difficulty  and  obstacle  encountered,  in  addition  to  the 
above,  is  the  inexperience  incident  to  a  people  new  in  the  industry. 


WEST    OF    THE  .MISSISSIPPI   RIVER.  74f) 

There  is  some  complaint  of  do^s  in  the  thickly  settled  portions  of  the 
State,  but  the  most  common  difficulties  are  the  severe  winters  and  the 
prevalence  of  dust  in  the  air  in  certain  seasons  of  the  year,  which  fouls 
the  wool.  Worst  of  all,  -though,  is  the  danger  of  prairie  fires  which  in 
the  fall  are  apt  to  sweep  over  the  country.  In  Morton  County  the  al- 
kali holes  in  dry  seasons  cause  some  trouble.  A  great  many  of  the 
flockm asters  state  that  there  are  no  particular  disadvantages  of  any 
consequence  only  such  as  are  common  to  any  new  country,  and  even 
these,  when  the  industry  is  better  established,  can  be  overcome  by 
proper  management. 

While  the  industry  is  in  its  infancy  the  enthusiasm  is  remarkably 
intense  and  the  tendency  is  for  everybody  to  get  into  the  sheep  busi- 
ness. In  Stark  County  over  20,000  sheep  were  brought  in  during  last 
year,  and  in  nearly  every  county  of  the  State  the  number  of  sheep 
brought  in  this  year  will  be  equal  to  the  number  owned  at  the  present 
writing.  The  outlook  is  very  bright,  indeed,  for  the  industry,  and  a 
veritable  boom  in  sheep  prevails  throughout  the  State. 

As  to  the  best  methods  for  profitably  conducting  the  business,  the 
industry  is  yet  too  new  for  the  formulation  of  uniform  rules  applicable 
to  the  whole  State,  except  in  a  few  particulars.  The  first  essential  is  to 
have  good  sheep.  If  but  few  are  to  be  kept  on  the  farm  the  mutton 
breeds  are  preferred,  but  farther  west  the  Merino  ewe  of  good  size 
should  be  the  base  of  the  flock,  bred  pure  or  perhaps  crossed  with  mid- 
dle-wool bucks.  Beginners  should  start  with  flocks  no  larger  than  can 
be  given  proper  attention.  Sheds  and  feed  should  be  supplied  in  suf- 
ficient quantity  to  carry  the  flock  through  the  winter.  In  summer  or 
during  the  grazing  season  the  sheep  should  be  changed  on  the  range 
frequently.  In  no  case  should  they  be  run  in  flocks  to  exceed  1,500 
head.  Great  care  should  be  exercised  during  the  lambing  season  and 
sufficient  help  secured  to  guard  against  losses.  So  long  as  sheep  con- 
tinue to  be  brought  into  the  State  it  is  advisable  to  dip  them  all,  after 
shearing,  to  prevent  scab  and  ticks.  In  the  greater  portion  of  this 
State  it  is  well  to  adopt  the  successful  methods  in  vogue  in  Montana, 
except  that  they  should  not  be  run  in  so  large  bands.  Avoid  having 
more  sheep  than  can  be  comfortably  sheltered  in  stormy  weather.  Be 
sure  to  have  plenty  of  feed  and  water  for  any  emergency,  and  give  the 
business  personal  attention.  With  good  stock  and  good  management 
there  is  no  agricultural  or  pastoral  pursuit  that  will  give  better  re- 
turns to  the  husbandman  or  flockrnaster. 

PRAIRIE   FIRB6. 

Prairie  fires  constitute  one  of  the  most  serious  drawbacks  to  sheep 
husbandry  on  the  plains  of  North  Dakota.  They  do  more  harm  and 
cause  stockmen  more  concern  and  anxiety  than  any  other  obstacle  en- 
countered. The  general  but  quite  erroneous  supposition,  especially 
among  nonresidents,  is  that  winter  is  the  great  obstacle.  Stockmen 


746  SHEEP    INDUSTRY    OF    THE    UNITED    STATES 

generally  would  prefer  immunity  from  prairie  fires  rather  than  from  the 
severest  winter  ever  known.  In  the  past  the  disastrous  results  from 
these  fires  each  year  have  been  far  greater  than  the  combined  losses  of 
several  severe  winters.  Heretofore  the  coming  of  prairie  fires  was  of 
regular  annual  occurrence,  while  hard  winters  of  unusual  severity, 
causing  large  loss  of  stock,  are  not  the  rule.  But  few  people  have  an 
adequate  idea  of  the  loss  every  year  from  these  fires.  Besides  the  di- 
rect loss  of  property  it  is  a  serious  drawback  upon  the  prosperity  and 
development  of  the  State.  So  widespread  had  become  this  annual  dev- 
astation, where  grass  must  always  constitute  the  chief  natural  source 
of  wealth,  that  the  last  legislature  felt  it  imperative  to  consider  this  as 
a  matter  of  prime  importance,  and  accordingly  enacted  a  statutory  pro- 
vision which,  if  rigidly  enforced,  will  give  greater  immunity  in  the  fu- 
ture. Mechanical  genius  should  be  encouraged  to  invent  some  method 
of  burning  with  safety  fire-guards,  and  thereby  materially  aid  in  the 
development  of  these  new  and  great  prairie  States. 

The  present  law  in  force  regarding  prairie  fires  will  undoubtedly  re- 
sult in  a  general  and  uniform  action  among  the  farmers  and  stockmen, 
so  that  loss  of  live  stock  and  other  property  will  be  greatly  lessened 
hereafter,  even  if  the  law  does  not  afford  absolute  protection.  The 
sentiment  of  the  people  is  so  favorable  to  a  law  of  this  nature  that  no 
fears  are  entertained  as  to  its  enforcement. 

PERSONAL  EXPERIENCE  AND  OBSERVATIONS. 

The  following  paragraphs,  compiled  from  correspondence  and  personal 
interviews  with  practical  sheep-owners,  are  particularly  valuable  and 
interesting,  because  they  present  briefly  in  their  own  language  many 
pertinent  pointers  regarding  the  sheep  industry.  The  experience,  ob- 
servations, and  belief  of  these  representative  flockmasters  portray 
and  mirror  phases  of  the  industry  in  such  a  graphic  and  pertinent 
manner  that  the  report  for  North  Dakota  would  be  incomplete  without 
them.  They  are  the  voluntary  testimony  of  persons  whose  time  and 
money  are  employed  in  demonstrating  whether  or  not  sheep  husbandry 
can  safely  be  relied  upon  as  one  of  the  permanent  industries  of  this 
young  Commonwealth.  Some  of  the  statements  are  from  the  pioneer 
sheepmen  of  this  region,  and  whatever  facts  appear  are  especially 
worthy  of  consideration : 

T.  M.  Elliott,  Elliott,  Eansom  County: 

I  shipped  in  9,000  head  from  Montana  last  year  and  sold  them  to  farmers  in  bands 
from  50  to  700  head;  prices,  $3.50  to  $4.  I  find  an  increasing  demand  for  them  and 
expect  to  see  many  thousands  of  them  brought  in  this  year. 

H.  S.  Dickinson,  Dickinson,  Stark  County: 

The  outlook  for  sheep  is  good.  There  is  an  increasing  demand  and  they  seem  to 
be  doing  well  so  far.  The  amount  of  wool  shipped  last  year  was  66,000  pounds; 
estimated  at  twice  as  much  this  year. 


WEST    OF    THE    MISSISSIPPI    RIVER.  747 

A.  Billiard,  Dickinson,  Stark  County: 

Two  years  ago  there  were  about  3,000  sheep  tributary  to  this  point;  now  there 
are  about  40,000,  and  the  industry  is  increasing  fast.  Inmost  cases  there  have  been 
excellent  returns. 

J.  H.  Serfield,  Minor,  Ward  County: 

The  northwestern  portion  of  this  State  is  well  adapted  for  sheep-raising.  We 
have  all  the  advantages  here  that  can  be  expected  by  anyone.  We  have  splendid 
ranges,  plenty  of  good  running  water,  and  plenty  of  hay  and  natural  shelter. 

Nels  P.  Kassinussen,  Valley  City,  Barnes  County: 

We  have  just  started  in  the  business  here  and  had  some  loss  this  spring,  mostly 
on  account  of  old  sheep  and  from  overcrowding  in  the  sheds.  I  have  a  flock  of  1,400; 
lost  about  6  per  cent;  nearly  all  were  old.  The  younger  sheep  wintered  well. 

L.  B.  Kichardson,  Grand  Forks: 

I  commenced  the  sheep  business  in  a  small  way  on  the  Mouse  River  in  August, 
1887.  I  now  have  a  flock  of  about  2,500,  and  have  found  sheep-raising  more  profit- 
able than  the  raising  of  any  other  stock  or  general  farming,  in  which  I  am  somewhat 
extensively  engaged. 

G.  B.  Grogan,  Towner,  McBenry  County : 

Have  raised  sheep  as  a  side  industry  for  thirty  years.  Always  found  it  safe  and 
profitable.  Like  Leicesters,  Lincolus,  and  Shropshires  best.  Have  dressed  from 
ewes,  grass-fed  with  no  grain,  125  pounds  per  carcass ;  lambs,  70  pounds;  wethers, 
164  pounds.  Mutton  raised  in  North  Dakota  was  called  too  fat,  though  not  grain- 
fed.  Have  never  seen  a  diseased  sheep  in  eleven  years  in  this  State,  save  sore  eyes 
for  a  few  weeks  last  year. 

T.  F.  Eastgate,  Larimore,  Grand  Forks  County: 

There  is  a  large  range  of  unoccupied  land  west  of  here  that  is  high  rolling  prairie, 
with  good  water  in  coulees  and  lakes,  and  by  herding  in  summer  it  relieves  farm- 
ers of  their  care  during  most  of  the  busy  season.  Sheep  are  brought  home  after 
threshing  and  find  good  feed  on  the  stubble  as  long  as  the  ground  is  bare  (last  winter 
until  February  20).  Good  ewes  will  give  wool  enough  to  pay  all  expenses,  leaving 
the  lambs  for  profit.  The  pelt  will  pay  for  raising  a  sheep,  so  it  is  impossible  to 
lose  on  them  if  they  have  any  care  worth  speaking  of. 

E.  B.  Bergman,  Garden,  Pembina  County: 

As  all  the  land  is  taken,  farmers  here  can  only  have  a  few  sheep  each,  but  I  intend 
in  the  near  future  to  increase  my  flock  so  it  will  pay  me  to  send  it  out  west  about 
100  miles  or  more  from  here  and  keep  the  flock  there  during  the  summer  and  at  home 
during  the  winter — as  I  did  last  winter.  I  fed  my  flock  only  straw  with  little  grain. 
I  have  now  over  200  head. 

C.  E.  Fuller,  Lisbon,  Ransom  County: 

My  98  ewes  produced  142  lambs.  Out  of  this  number  120  are  alive,  and  at  present, 
June  20,  weigh  on  an  average  40  pounds  each.  The  amount  of  feed  to  keep  this 
flock  was  only  10  tons  of  hay  and  2  tons  of  millet.  The  estimated  cost  would  not 
exceed  $25.  They  now  show  a  profit  of  over  100  per  cent  on  original  cost. 

I.  C.  Wade,  Jamestown,  Stutsman  County: 

Do  not  think  there  is  any  better  place  in  the  United  States,  as  the  cool  dry  climate 
is  so  healthy.  The  winters  are  very  dry,  no  rain,  hence  wool  grows  better.  The 


748        SHEEP  INDUSTRY  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES 

short  grass  is  so  nutritious  that  sheep  are  fat  in  the  fall,  and  good  mutton  the  year 
around.  Farmers  readily  make  100  per  cent  per  annum.  I  expect  sheep  will  go 
down  in  price  when  the  number  shall  be  largely  increased.  The  only  thing  that 
holds  the  farmers  of  North  Dakota  from  putting  iu-a  mutton  sheep  is  the  high  price — 
$3.50  to  $4  per  head  for  first-class  two-year  olds.  Sheep  brought  from  Michigan  have 
by  actual  test  increased  from  6£  to  8  pounds  per  head.  Most  of  our  sheep  come  from 
Montana  and  are  Merino  grades,  and  are  being  crossed  writh  Shropshire  bucks. 

H.  D.  Carpenter,  Hope,  Steele  County : 

As  regards  the  matter  of  turning  a  ram  with  ewes,  we  take  him  each  morning  and 
serve  him  to  them;  then  keep  him  away  and  feed  well.  One  year  ago  I  came  here; 
used  an  Oxford  ram  that  served  200  ewes.  This  year  two  rams  served  300  ewes,  90 
yearlings  among  the  number,  and  every  one  of  them  bore  lambs,  most  of  them  rais- 
ing their  lambs.  A  man  6  miles  south  of  here  had  200  Montana  ewes  and  only  1 
buck.  He  has  a  fine  lot  of  lambs  this  spring.  I  have  a  fence  12  feet  high.  I  feed 
my  sheep  out  of  doors  all  winter,  with  the  exception  of  five  or  six  days,  but  people 
must  have  shelter  in  this  country  so  they  can  use  it  in  case  of  a  bad  storm.  We 
feed  on  an  average  every  winter  three  months,  some  more  and  some  less,  but  will 
average  three  months.  I  sell  my  lambs  to  a  butcher  here  for  $4.50  each.  He  sold 
25  out  of  one  car  at  $5  per  head.  The  remaining  75  dressed  60  pounds  each. 

Watson  E.  Boisey,  Bellevyria,  Steele  County: 

We  have  passed  the  trying  part  of  the  year  and  are  pretty  unanimously  of  the 
opinion  that  sheep  can  be  raised  here  very  cheaply — that  they  do  splendidly,  being 
very  free  from  disease,  so  that  we  have  a  low  death  rate,  and  the  profits,  perhaps, 
above  the  average,  as  they  seem  to  grow  longer  wool  and  heavier  fleeces.  There 
seems  to  be  a  premium  on  Dakota-raised  mutton.  They  will  keep  fat  on  our  very 
nutritious  prairie  grasses,  of  which  there  is  an  abundance  for  pasturage,  and  they 
will  pick  their  living  most  of  the  winter,  as  there  are  few  days  that  they  can  not 
run  out  at  le'ast  a  part  of  the  day.  It  seems  to  be  the  general  opinion  that  a  very 
much  larger  number  of  sheep  will  be  raised  in  the  Dakotas  in  the  near  future.  A 
liberal  discounting  of  our  expectations  still  leaves  the  likelihood  that  with  a  reason- 
able amount  of  care  we  can  hardly  fail  to  be  successful  in  this  enterprise. 

W.  K.  Wheat,  M.  D.,  Dickinson,  Stark  County: 

It  has  been  only  three  or  four  years  since  any  attention  was  given  to  sheep  indus- 
try in  this  county,  but  it  has  rapidly  developed  from  a  few  hundreds  at  first  to  a 
number  of  thousands  at  this  time.  Last  year  there  were  shipped  by  rail  from  Dick- 
inson, on  the  Northern  Pacific  Railroad,  66,000  pounds  of  wool,  last  year's  clip.  For 
this  year  it  is  estimated  that  at  least  100,000  pounds  of  wool  from  this  county  alone 
will  be  shipped  to  market,  the  product  of  this  year's  clip.  All  who  have  ventured 
in  the  sheep  industry  are  satisfied  with  their  results  and  believe  that  it  will  in  the 
near  future  be  the  leading  industry  of  this  section  of  the  State.  My  personal  expe- 
rience is  quite  limited.  Last  fall  I  bred  my  ewes  to  thoroughbred  imported  Hamp- 
shire Down  bucks,  and  have  several  hundred  lambs  of  their  get  this  spring.  They 
are  well  marked,  large,  and  vigorous.  I  believe  the  Hampshire,  for  this  section,  to 
be  the  best  sheep  for  mutton  and  wool  combined,  if  profits  are  the  desideratum. 

George  W.  Patrick,  Taylor,  Stark  County: 

If  the  present  prices  can  be  maintained  upon  wool  there  will  be  considerable  profit 
in  raising  sheep.  No  doubt  the  flocks  will  be  doubled  this  year.  There  are  some 
who  will  not  bo  successful  in  raising  sheep,  because  they  will  not  use  the  care, 
patience,  or  knowledge  in  handling  them  that  the  animals  require.  Sheep  require 
more  humane  handling  than  cattle  or  horses.  One  of  the  greatest  difficulties  is  the 
prevention  of  scab.  The  laws  were  not  stringent  enough  the  past  year,  and  a  great 


OF    THEx  MISSISSIPPI    RIVER.  749 

many  sheep  were  shipped  in  that  were  infected  with  it.  I  have  done  very  well  with 
them.  I  received  $1.57  per  head,  net,  for  my  wool  last  year.  Raised  93  per  cent  of 
lambs.  I  have  at  this  date  about  105  living  lambs  per  100  ewes.  I  have  about  510 
sheep  to  shear,  and  340  lambs.  I  am  grading  up  my  ewes  with  Dickinson  Delaine 
rams. 

A.  L.  Hanscom,  Towner,  McHenry  County: 

I  brought  in  about  300  ewes  to  this  county  in  1882,  and  I  never  lost  a  sheep  by  any 
disease,  to  my  knowledge;  if  I  lost  any  it  was  generally  on  account  of  somebody's 
carelessness.  I  have  traveled  over  this  country  from  Maine  to  the  Pacific  Ocean, 
and  I  think  this  is  the  finest  region  for  sheep-raising  on  a  small  scale,  say  about  1,000 
to  2,000  head.  That  would  be  the  largest  number  I  would  advise  keeping  together, 
and  my  choice  would  be  to  get  a  good,  large,  strong,  healthy  sheep.  Cross  Cotswold 
ewes  with  Shropshire  or  Southdown  rams,  then  you  get  good  mutton  and  fleece  of 
wool  and  a  higher  per  cent  of  lambs. 

Dugald  Campbell,  Glencoe,  Einmons  County : 

Eight  years  ago  I  was  almost,  if  not  quite,  alone  in  the  sheep  business  here.  Within 
the  last  two  years  capitalists  have  taken  it  up  and  are  distributing  on  shares,  or 
selling  to  farmers  at  very  high  prices  on  longtime.  The  capitalists  figure  on  getting 
30  to  40  per  cent  on  their  money.  If  they  do,  the  workers  get  nothing  but  experi- 
ence, which  will  not  long  satisfy  them.  In  States  where  little  feed  is  required  and 
large  ranges  can  be  run  over,  the  worker  might  do  well  with  sheep  on  shares,  but 
here  I  fail  to  see  how  he  can  do  more  than  make  living  wages.  In  many  States  there 
are  laws  against  usury,  but  no  Shylock  ever  exacted  such  terrible  usury  as  those 
companies  exact  in  their  contracts  from  the  despairing  wheat  farmers,  who,  in  their 
distress,  are  clutching  at  wool,  which  will  to  many  prove  a  show  indeed. 

William  Kea,  sr.,  Fargo,  Cass  County : 

In  Dakota  I  have  some  doubt  of  sheep  husbandry,  except  out  in  the  northwestern 
part  where  it  is  not  adapted  to  wheat.  Very  many  inexperienced  men  have  gone 
into  the  business  of  sheep-raising,  and  a  good  many  brought  all  "scabby"  sheep  into 
this  locality  and  sold  them  to  men  who  do  not  know  anything  about  sheep.  Some 
want  to  go  out  of  the  business  already.  I  will  give  you  my  method  of  feeding  mut- 
ton sheep :  I  have  open  pens  which  hold  1,000  sheep,  all  round  shed  for  shelter, 
plenty  of  hay  racks,  kept  full  of  hay;  feed  screenings;  have  patent  boxes,  keep  them 
full  so  the  sheep  can  eat  whenever  they  want  to.  I  pump  the  water  by  steam;  keep 
water  troughs  full,  as  they  require  plenty  of  water.  I  find  the  best  feeders  are  a 
cress  from  Merino  ewes  and  Shropshire  bucks.  Merino  sheep  will  not  pay  to  feed 
until  two  or  three  years  old.  Other  breeds  will  feed  from  one  to  three,  so  the  coarse- 
wool  is  much  more  profitable  to  feed.  Merinos  for  wool. 

LAWS  FAVORABLE   TO  THE    INDUSTRY. 

It  is  quite  evident  from  the  laws  enacted  by  the  second  legislative 
assembly  of  Korth  Dakota  last  winter,  that  the  sheep  industry  was  re- 
garded as  of  considerable  importance,  and  one  that  deserved  whatever 
encouragement  and  protection  it  was  in  the  province  of  a  legislative 
assembly  to  enact  in  its  behalf.  So  general  was  the  interest  manifested 
in  regard  to  sheep  husbandry,  that  it  was  not  difficult  to  secure  the 
necessary  legislation  to  promote  the  development  of  the  industry,  and 
thereby  enhance  the  valuable  resources  of  this  young  Commonwealth. 
The  provisions  made  are  in  brief  as  follo 

Making  dogs  property. — Section  UK)  of  tin-  civil  codi  .s  amended 

TV 


750        SHEEP  INDUSTRY  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES 

so  that  there  may  be  ownership  of  all  domestic  animals,  including  dogs. 
By  this  provision  they  become  personal  property. 

Establishing  u'ool  markets. — An  act  to  provide  facilities  for  marketing 
wool  was  approved  February  26, 1891.  With  the  exception  of  the  enact- 
ing clause  the  law  reads  as  follows : 

SECTION  1.  If  any  city,  town,  or  village  of  this  State  shall  in  any  year  provide  a  build- 
ing or  buildings  wherein  not  less  than  one  hundred  thousand  pounds  (100,000  pounds) 
of  wool  may  be  stored  free  of  charge  from  June  15  to  August  31,  both  inclusive,  it 
may  direct  its  clerk  to  notify  the  Commissioner  of  Agriculture  and  Labor  on  or  be- 
fore May  1  in  such  year  of  the  fact  that  such  provision  has  been  made,  stating  the 
regulations  established  by  such  city,  for  receiving,  storing,  and  marketing  wool  and 
the  quantity  of  wool  which  will  probably  be  marketed  at  such  city  in  that  year. 

SEC.  2.  The  Commissioner  of  Agriculture  and  Labor  shall  thereupon,  under  advice 
with  such  city  or  cities,  make  proclamation  to  the  sheep-raisers  of  this  State,  to  the 
manufacturers  of  woolen  goods,  and  to  the  wool-buyers  of  this  State  and  other 
States,  by  notices  in  newspapers,  circulars,  and  such  other  means  as  he  shall  deem 
most  effective,  that  a  wool  market  will  be  held  at  such  city  or  cities,  naming  the 
same,  stating  the  beginning  and  duration  of  such  market,  the  provision  of  free  stor- 
age, the  quantity  of  wool  likely  to  be  received,  and  such  other  facts  and  particulars 
as  he  may  deem  proper  for  publication. 

SEC.  3.  Any  person  purchasing  any  wool  while  the  same  is  stored  in  any  building, 
as  provided  for  in  section  1  of  this  act,  between  July  15  and  August  31,  both  inclu- 
sive, shall  hold  the  wool  so  purchased  free  and  clear  of  any  and  all  liens,  claims, 
and  incumbrances  of  which  he  does  not  have  actual  notice  at  the  time  when  he  shall 
purchase  and  pay  for  the  same,  and  such  purchaser  shall  not  be  liable  in  any  action 
at  law  or  otherwise,  either  for  the  delivery  of  such  wool  or  for  damages  to  the  holder 
of  any  lien  or  incumbrance  on  such  wool. 

SEC.  4.  The  Commissioner  of  Agriculture  and  Labor  shall  make  a  verified  and  item- 
ized statement  of  his  expenses  and  disbursements  incurred  and  made  under  the  pro- 
visions of  this  act,  and  file  the  same  with  the  State  auditor,  who  shall  thereupon  issue 
his  warrants  on  the  State  treasurer  therefor;  but  such  warrants  shall  not  in  the 
aggregate  in  any  one  year  exceed  the  sum  of  1,000  dollars. 

State  veterinarian. — Under  an  act  to  prevent  the  spread  of  contagious 
and  infectious  diseases  among  domestic  animals,  the  governor  is  em- 
powered to  appoint  a  competent  veterinary  surgeon,  who  must  investi- 
gate in  person  or  by  deputy  all  cases  of  infectious  diseases  among  the 
live  stock  of  the  State.  He  is  given  full  powers  to  protect  the  sanitary 
condition  of  domestic  animals.  County  sheep  inspectors  are  required 
to  make  monthly  reports  to  the  State  veterinarian,  and  he  to  make 
annual  reports  of  his  work  to  the  governor. 

Sheep  inspectors. — The  county  commissioners  of  any  organized  county 
shall,  upon  the  presentation  of  a  petition  signed  by  ten  wool-growers 
of  said  county,  appoint  as  sheep  inspector  a  competent  citizen  of  the 
county.  It  is  his  duty  to  inspect  flocks  said  to  have  scab  or  any  other 
malignant  contagious  disease  and  report  in  writing  to  the  State  vet- 
erinarian. If  the  flock  is  diseased  he  reinspects  every  four  weeks,  re- 
porting result  of  treatment  until  the  disease  is  reported  cured.  The 
owner  of  diseased  flock  is  not  permitted  to  range  his  flocks  within  1 
mile  of  any  grounds  used  by  other  sheep,  or  travel  them  upon  any  pub- 
lic highway  or  road.  Scabby  sheep  are  quarantined  and  not  allowed 


WEST    OF    THE,  MISSISSIPPI    RIVER.  751 

to  range  upon  public  domain  within  5  miles  of  other  established  head- 
quarters for  sheep.  Owners  of  sheep  have  the  right  to  stop  and  exam- 
ine flocks  driven  within  5  miles  of  their  headquarters.  Severe  penal- 
tics  are  inflicted  for  spreading  infection.  The  sheep-owner  is  required 
to  dip  scabby  sheep  on  his  own  premises.  The  sheep  inspector  may 
prescribe  what  dip  or  other  remedies  shall  be  applied  and  specify  the 
manner  of  treatment.  The  sheep  inspector  is  allowed  $5  per  day  while 
necessarily  employed. 

Wolf  bounty. — The  county  commissioners  of  each  county  in  the  State 
of  Xorth  Dakota  shall,  upon  the  petition  of  twenty-five  stock-raisers, 
oifer  a  bounty  not  to  exceed  $3  and  not  less  than  $1  for  each  and  every 
wolf  or  coyote  killed  within  the  limits  of  their  county. 

Prevention  of  prairie  fires. — This  law  empowers  the  county  commis- 
sioners to  provide  fire-breaks,  divide  the  county  into  districts,  and  require 
a  good  bond  of  the  road  overseers  as  fire  wardens.  The  road  supervisors 
shall  be  made  to  call  on  all  persons  liable  for  poll  tax  to  work  upon  fire- 
breaks at  least  two  days  in  each  year.  A  legal  fire-break  is  a  strip  of 
plowing  or  burning,  or  partly  plowed  or  partly  burned,  not  less  than  66 
feet  wide.  A  person  refusing  to  respond  to  the  summons  of  the  fire 
warden  is  subject  to  a  fine,  and  any  person  or  corporation  setting  on  fire 
the  prairie  is  liable  to  fine  and  imprisonment. 

There  are  other  enactments  that  are  beneficial  to  the  industry,  such 
as  the  law  relating  to  mixed  shipment  of  stock,  the  law  regarding  brands 
and  earmarks,  and  the  law  encouraging  the  construction  of  artesian  wells 
and  to  promote  irrigation. 

SOUTH  DAKOTA. 

The  sheep  industry  is  yet  new  to  the  young  State  of  South  Dakota 
This  in  a  measure  accounts  for  the  prevailing  enthusiasm  regarding 
sheep-raising  in  the  State.  The  rapid  growth  of  sheep  husbandry  there 
has  been  the  most  sensational  event  of  the  industry  of  recent  years. 
Yet  it  is  a  natural  growth  and  the  legitimate  outcome  of  a  period  of 
depression  which  existed  in  the  agricultural  States  of  the  great  North- 
west. It  marks  a  new  era  in  the  inevitable  development  of  that  coun- 
try. This  industry  is  not  fully  developed,  yet  there  is  no  question  as 
to  its  future  and  its  value  as  an  aid  in  securing  a  greater  diversity  in 
agricultural  and  live-stock  pursuits.  The  farmers  of  South  Dakota 
have  been,  to  a  certain  extent,  deluded  by  the  wheat  craze  which  first 
attracted  settlers  to  the  Territory.  They  were  drawn  there  by  the 
glowing  representations  as  to  the  possibilities  of  the  country  for  wheat, 
set  forth  by  the  enterprising  emigration  and  railroad  agents.  They 
proceeded  at  once  to  raise  wheat  and  stuck  to  it  almost  exclusively, 
until  low  prices,  adverse  seasons,  high-priced  machinery,  and  higher 
interest  rates  nearly  bankrupted  many.  This  compelled  the  farmers 
to  study  the  natural  possibilities  of  the  country,  and  they  naturally 
took  to  sheep-raising  as  the  most  available  way  out.  Those  who  were 


752        SHEEP  INDUSTRY  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES 

able  bought  sheep,  and  others  leased  or  bought  on  time,  and  in  this 
way  the  sheep  boom  was  started.  The  settlers  observed  that  the  few 
scattering  pioneers  who  had  been  engaged  in  the  sheep  business  were 
the  most  prosperous  farmers  of  the  State. 

Not  only  were  farmers  attracted  to  and  interested  in  sheep,  but  mer- 
chants., bankers,  and  speculators,  as  soon  as  they  began  to  investigate, 
discovered  that  sheep  promised  better  returns  than  any  other  class  of 
stock.  The  whole  State  became  interested,  sheep  were  in  demand 
everywhere,  and  in  they  poured  from  all  parts  of  the  country.  Inex- 
perienced men  brought  in  sheep  that  were  unfit,  and  many  mistakes 
were  made  by  beginners.  The  experienced  flockmasters  of  Mon- 
tana and  other  Western  States  and  Territories  took  advantage  of  the 
unusual  demand  to  get  rid  of  the  culls  of  their  flock  to  ignorant  buyers 
or  speculators  desiring  cheap  sheep.  Fortunately  the  inexperienced 
farmer  was  able  to  secure  only  a  limited  number,  and  by  taking  good 
care  of  them,  together  with  their  natural  increase,  he  was  enabled  to 
learn  the  business  as  he  went  along.  The  winter  of  1S89-790,  when 
most  of  the  sheep  were  brought  in,  was  unusually  mild,  and,  as  a  con- 
sequence, those  having  aged  stock  met  with  light  losses,  notwithstand- 
ing the  great  risk  incurred  by  starting  with  unsuitable  sheep. 

While  nearly  every  county  in  eastern  South  Dakota  has  a  consider- 
able number  of  sheep,  yet  the  great  stronghold  of  the  industry  is  in 
James  Eiver  Valley,  which  contains  the  most  select  agricultural  lands 
in  the  State.  The  bulk  of  the  sheep  now  owned  in  South  Dakota  are 
confined  to  the  half  of  the  State  which  lies  east  of  the  Missouri.  The 
west  half  has  been  until  recently  occupied  by  the  Sioux  Indian  Reser- 
vation, but  in  1889  about  one-third  of  the  area  was  ceded  to  the  Gen- 
eral Government  and  it  is  now  utilized  by  stockmen  to  some  extent. 

In  most  of  the  Western  States  and  Territories  the  pioneers  in  the 
sheep  business  were  usually  ranchmen  who  were  located  where  the  range 
Avas  open  and  free  to  almost  any  occupant  who  took  possession  of  it. 
The  sheepman  was  not  necessarily  a  landowner  unless  he  possessed  a 
home  ranch*which  contained  the  sheds  and  other  improvements,  in- 
cluding winter  quarters.  His  pasture  was  usually  Government  land, 
and  in  those  States,  most  of  the  promoters  and  pioneer  sheepmen  hav- 
ing started  with  ample  means,  large  flocks  were  the  rule.  But  in  the 
Dakotas  it  was  different.  Most  of  the  men  who  handled  sheep  were 
limited  as  to  means  and  embarked  in  the  business  as  a  last  resort — the 
only  thing  left  to  save  their  homes  and  lauds.  Consequently  most  of 
the  flockmasters  had  to  start  with  small  flocks,  whether  they  purchased 
or  leased.  So  great  was  the  demand  for  sheep  that  in  order  to  accom- 
modate as  many  as  possible  they  were  sold  or  leased  in  small  lots. 
When  sold  on  time,  at  big  prices,  the  payment  was  secured  by  mortgage 
on  the  stock  or  other  available  chattels  or  by  real-estate  mortgage. 
Whether  they  were  sold  on  time  or  leased  on  shares  a  cast-iron  contract 
was  entered  into  with  such  arbitrary  conditions  that  the  inexperienced 
farmer  was  reluctant  to  take  a  large  number  of  sheep.  In  the  end  it 


WEST    OF    THE    MISSISSIPPI    RIVER.  753 

was  fortunate  for  the  farmer,  because  it  insured  extra  care  of  the  few 
handled  and  at  the  same  time  gave  him  an  opportunity  to  gain  a  little 
practical  experience. 

The  State  of  South  Dakota,  according  to  the  census  of  1890,  has  a 
population  of  328,808,  an  increase  since  1880  of  230,540.  The  present 
population,  when  compared  with  the  immense  area,  is  insignificant. 
The  area  of  South  Dakota  is  77,650  square  miles,  or  nearly  50,000,000 
acres  of  grazing  and  farm  lauds.  There  is  no  timber  land  of  any  extent. 
The  water  surface  of  the  State  is  about  800  square  miles,  comprising  the 
Missouri,  Cheyenne,  and  James  or  Dakota  rivers  and  their  tributaries, 
and  a  few  small  lakes. 

The  geographical  location  of  South  Dakota  is  favorable  in  many  re- 
spects. While  it  lies  wholly  north  of  Nebraska  it  is  in  about  the  same 
latitude  as  northern  Iowa  and  Illinois,  and  southern  Minnesota,  Wis- 
consin, and  Michigan.  The  central  portion  of  the  State  contains  the 
great  Missouri  Valley,  and  its  altitude  is  less  than  that  of  the  western 
portions  of  Nebraska  and  Kansas  or  eastern  Colorado.  The  greater 
portion  of  the  State  is  a  level  or  undulating  plain,  and  the  area  of  the 
rough,  broken,  and  uutillable  lands,  including  the  hills  and  mountains 
which  lie  mainly  west  of  the  Missouri  Eiver,  is  not  much,  if  any,  more 
than  that  of  the  water  surface  of  the  State.  The  only  mountainous  re- 
gion of  the  State  is  that  portion  of  the  Black  Hills  which  is  near  the 
western  border,  occupying  an  area  of  40  by  80  square  miles,  and  the 
altitude  varies  from  5,000  to  7,000  feet  above  the  sea  level.  These  hills 
are  covered  with  a  thick  growth  of  spruce  and  pine,  which,  from  the 
distance,  give  them  a  dark  appearance  that  undoubtedly  suggested  the 
name,  Black  Hills. 

No  portion  of  the  plains  contains  a  deeper  or  richer  soil  than  the 
broad,  open,  and  fertile  expanse  of  Dakota.  Especially  is  this  true  of 
the  eastern  part  of  South  Dakota,  which  at  present  comprises  most  of 
the  cultivated  land  of  the  State.  The  luxuriant  growth  of  grass,  which 
once  supplied  pasturage  for  millions  of  buffalo,  is  an  evidence  of  the 
wealth  of  the  soil. 

The  climate  of  South  Dakota  is  very  similar  to  that  of  Montana  and 
North  Dakota  in  most  respects.  Like  the  latter  it  is  occasionally  sub- 
ject to  those  strong  winds  which  in  winter  are  denominated  "  blizzards," 
the  popular  reputation  of  which  has  done  a  vast  amount  of  evil  in 
prejudicing  the  nonresident  against  Dakota.  These  "  blizzards n  are 
not  of  frequent  occurrence,  and  have  no  special  terror  to  those  familiar 
with  the  country  and  its  climate.  They  are  not  so  injurious  to  live 
stock  as  the  wet,  cold  winter  and  spring  months  of  the  States  in  the 
lower  Ohio  and  Missouri  valleys.  During  the  latter  part  of  winter  tl^e 
thermometer  occasionally  registers  lower,  but  the  weather  is  more  en- 
durable because  of  the  dryness,  freedom  from  storms,  light  snowfall, 
and  almost  never-failing  sunshiny  days.  In  summer  the  nights  are 
cool,  and  the  autumn  weather  is  universally  the  most  delightful  of  the 
year,  and  continues  so  usually  away  into  December. 
22990 48 


754        SHEEP  INDUSTRY  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES 

Until  very  recently  all  that  vast  country  in  South  Dakota  lying  west 
of  the  Missouri,  comprising  something  over  one-half  of  the  entire  area 
of  the  State,  was  set  aside  by  the  Government  as  the  Sioux  Indian 
Reservation.  But  in  1889  the  reservation  was  diminished,  about  one- 
third  of  the  lands  being  ceded  to  the  Government.  This  opened  up  a 
magnificent  and  well- watered  grazing  land,  which  is  destined  to  be- 
come a  wealthy  live-stock  region,  it  contains  the  bulk  of  the  rough 
and  broken  country  and  the  only  mountainous  section  of  the  State,  the 
Black  Hills.  Western  South  Dakota,  according  to  the  State  auditor's 
report  for  1891,  contained  14  per  cent  of  the  horses,  mules,  and  asses; 
15  per  cent  of  the  cattle,  about  9  per  cent  of  the  sheep,  and  a  trifle  over 
1  per  cent  of  the  swine.  This  is  a  significant  showing,  in  view  of  the 
short  time  since  it  has  been  open  to  stockmen,  and  indicates  something 
of  the  possibilities  in  the  future  of  the  animal  industry  of  this  region. 

The  transmissouri  portion  of  South  Dakota  in  all  probability  will  be 
the  only  place  where  live  stock  will  be  held  in  large  flocks,  or  where 
stock-raising  will  be  made  an  exclusive  business  to  any  great  extent, 
the  stock  business  in  the  eastern  part  of  the  State  being  naturally  a 
part  of  mixed  farming. 

The  sheep  industry  of  South  Dakota  is  of  vast  consequence  to  the 
future  welfare  of  the  State,  because  it  is  the  most  pronounced  departure 
from  exclusive  wheat-raising  yet  attempted.  It  is  also  an  advanced 
step  in  the  direction  of  diversified  agriculture,  which  is  so  necessary  to 
insure  permanent  prosperity  to  those  dependent  on  farming. 

The  sheep  industry  has  afforded  the  farmers  of  the  State  much 
needed  relief  and  given  them  renewed  hope,  as  is  shown  by  the  follow- 
ing extract  from  an  article  in  the  Dakota  Farmer  by  C.  A.  Fowler,  of 
Beadle  County,  who  says : 

The  slieep  industry  is  of  vital  importance  to  the  people  of  Dakota.  It  gives  them 
better  returns  for  their  labor  than  any  other  part  of  farming.  The  drought  and 
winds  will  come,  as  they  have  done  from  the  dim  ages  of  the  past,  or  this  country 
would  not  have  been  a  prairie  of  such  vast  extent.  Where  the  rainfall  has  been 
sufficient  there  are  heavy  growths  of  timber,  as  the  coast  mountains,  the  Sierra  Ne- 
vada, the  Rocky  Mountains,  and  the  country  east  of  the  Mississippi  River,  where 
the  rainfall  is  40  inches  or  more  annually,  abundantly  prove.  With  a  flock  of  sheep 
we  will  be  better  contented,  and  not  feel  so  worried  about  blighted  crops,  as  we 
will  have  something  left  to  keep  the  u  wolf  from  the  door."  The  sheep  industry 
must  be  our  main  one  for  some  time  to  come.  Irrigation  we  will  have,  and  it  will 
do  for  Dakota  what  it  does  for  other  irrigated  regions,  but  we  will  be  older  than  we 
are  now  before  the  farmers  are  generally  supplied  with  water.  But  if  Dakota  is 
covered  over  with  sheep  we  can  stay  here,  confidently  believing  that  with  this  in- 
dustry and  irrigation  we  will  have  the  grandest  farming  region  in  America.  When 
thousands  of  springs  are  flowing  from  their  inexhaustible  subterranean  river  we 
will  forget  the  tribulations  through  which  we  have  passed;  forget  our  ruined  fields 
and  blighted  hopes  in  beholding  the  great  fields  of  golden  grain,  the  millions  of 
sheep  upon  the  hills,  and  the  millions  of  happy  and  prosperous  people  who  will 
dwell  in  Dakota ;  and  we  will  forget  the  past,  for  the  "wilderness  and  solitary  places 
shall  be  made  glad,  and  the  desert  will  blossom  as  the  rose." 

The  writer  of  this  report  desires  to  acknowledge  the  valuable  assist- 


WEST    OF    THE    MISSISSIPPI    KIVEK.  755 

ance  given  him  by  M.  F.  Greeley,  Gary,  Deuel  County,  who,  in  dis- 
cussing the  prospects  and  profits  of  Dakota  wool-growing,  said: 

Xow,  I  have  noticed  that  the  dryer  the  season  the  better  my  sheep  do;  the  colder 
the  winter  the  thicker  the  fleece  and  the  longer  the  staple.  In  fact,  the  more 
trouble  the  "wheat  man"  has'the  more  the  ''sheepman"  prospers.  My  attention  was 
first  called  to  the  ease  and  perfection  with  which  wool  and  mutton  can  be  grown  in 
this  region.  Nearly  twenty  years  ago,  when  scattered  along  the  head  waters  of  the 
Minnesota,  I  found  small  flocks  of  sheep  growing  to  perfection,  remarkably  healthy, 
ami  yielding  a  strong,  even  staple  of  wool  with  almost  no  attention  other  than  an 
ample  supply  of  wild  hay  and  grass.  Some  years  later  I  brought  my  own  sheep 
here,  but  was  hardly  prepared  to  find  it  so  perfect  a  sheep  country  as  it  is.  In 
addition  to  this  our  cheap  and  unoccupied  lands  give  many  of  us  an  advantage  over 
the  East,  with  which  they  can  not  possibly  compete,  while  the  perhaps  cheaper 
ranges  of  the  mountains  have  no  such  market  for  mutton  as  we  now  find  it  at  our 
door  and  which  is  constantly  improving.  It  is  usual  for  the  Western  farmer  to  com- 
plain of  high  freights  to  Eastern  markets,  but  in  this  business  a  little  money  goes  a 
great  way.  Less  than  a  cent  a  pound  puts  our  wool  into  the  best  of  markets,  while 
50  cents  a  head  will  land  our  fat  sheep  in  Chicago  stockyards.  This  business  simply 
annihilates  distance,  and  makes  our  lands  devoted  to  this  industry  almost  as  valu- 
able as  though  they  were  a  thousand  miles  east.  We  regret  that  in  showing  up  the 
advantages  of  this  business  it  is  so  frequently  necessary  to  bring  it  into  comparison 
with  other  branches  of  farming.  But  next  to  the  health  and  conveniences  to  market 
which  our  location  and  climate  insure,  the  fact  that  the  business  can  be  carried  on 
with  less  outlay  for  machinery  and  labor  than  almost  any  other  farming  is  certainly 
an  item  worth  considering.  The  help  required  to  care  for  20  cows  will  handle  1,000 
sheep,  and  were  I  to  do  it  alone  I  would  certainly  take  the  sheep  every  time. 
Another  feature  which  strongly  commends  this  business  to  the  poor  man  is  the 
quick  cash  returns  and  the  rapidity  with  which  sheep  multiply.  If  he  can  but  once 
secure  a  small  flock  he  has  not  long  to  wait  before  he  finds  himself  in  possession  of 
a  large  one^  with  no  additional  outlay.  But  I  would  not  have  you  infer  that  because 
our  climate  is  so  well  adapted  to  this  business  and  our  grasses  so  nutritious  and 
everything  so  favorable  generally,  that  a  man  may  succeed  in  it  without  proper 
care  and  management.  A  more  serious  mistake  could  not  be  made.  So  far  as  "  pro- 
tection" of  this  industry  is  concerned,  I  sincerely  hope  a  reasonable  protection  may 
be  extended  till  every  stony  hill  and  every  dry  spot  in  Dakota  becomes  produc- 
tive and  populous.  We  certainly  need  the  money  for  it  here  in  Dakota  as  badly  as 
England  does.  But  the  absence  of  protection  can  not  destroy  or  cripple  our  in- 
dustry. With  our  cheap  lands  and  perfect  climate  we  can  throw  our  wool  away  and 
still  compete  with  any  Eastern  State  raising  mutton  alone. 

One  thing  about  the  sheep-owners  of  South  Dakota  that  augurs  well 
for  the  industry  is  the  facility  with  which  they  form  local  and  State 
associations,  and  maintain  them  better  than  in  any  other  State  I  have 
visited  in  my  investigations  of  the  industry  west  of  the  Mississippi 
Elver.  If  the  interest  in  these  organizations  is  maintained  in  the  future 
as  well  as  it  has  been  in  the  past,  they  will  greatly  aid  the  sheep-owners 
of  South  Dakota  to  attain  a  higher  degree  of  success  with  sheep  hus- 
bandry, and  in  a  few  years  make  it  the  leading  sheep  State  of  the  West, 
if  not  of  the  United  States.  My  observation  is  that  the  lack  of  unity 
and  interest  manifested  by  some  sheep-owners  in  their  common  indus- 
try is  one  of  the  discouraging  phases  of  sheep  husbandry.  There  is  no 
class  of  stockmen  so  indifferent  to  there  own  welfare  as  sheep- owners, 
when  they,  more  than  all  others,  should  be  active  and  cooperative  in 


756 


SHEEP  INDUSTRY  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES 


order  to  realize  the  fullest  legitimate  benefits.  It  is  gratifying  to  state 
at  this  writing  that  South  Dakota  flockmasters  are  a  notable  exception 
to  this  general  rule.  Although  many  of  them  have  had  but  a  limited 
experience,  yet  the  progress  made  has  been  simply  wonderful  in  com- 
parison with  that  made  in  many  other  States  where  the  industry  is 
longer  established.  This  has  been  greatly  promoted  by  the  useful  and 
active  organizations,  which  have  developed  a  spirit  of  emulation  and  im- 
provement. By  this  method  of  getting  together  to  discuss  experience, 
methods,  breeds  and  breeding,  feed  and  feeding,  marketing,  etc.,  each 
one  is  benefited,  sheep  husbandry  is  made  all  the  more  profitable,  and 
exhibits  more  rapid  and  substantial  progress. 

THE    NUMBER   AND   VALUATION    OF    SHEEP. 

• 

At  the  time  of  the  last  annual  meeting  of  the  South  Dakota  Wool- 
Growers7  Association  in  June,  1891,  estimates  were  given  by  counties 
of  the  number  of  sheep  in  the  State  and  the  total  reported  by  sheep- 
owners  present  was  402,307  head.  In  this  estimate  several  counties 
were  omitted,  and  the  returns  of  the  State  board  of  assessment  and 
equalization  a  few  months  later  showed  that  there  was  assessed  in  a 
number  of  counties  double  the  number  of  sheep  reported  at  the  time  of 
the  convention,  which  indicates  considerable  increase  in  a  few  months. 
A  conservative  estimate  of  the  number  shipped  last  year  (1891)  was  not 
less  than  75,000,  although  some  newspaper  estimates  place  the  number 
at  100,000  and  150,000  head. 

The  number  and  value  of  live  stock  of  South  Dakota  as  shown  by  the 
abstract  of  assessment  rolls  returned  to  the  State  auditor  for  the  year 
1891,  as  equalized  by  the  State  board,  is  as  follows:  239,884  horses; 
value,  $8,352,188;  619,317  cattle;  value,  $5,740,703;  6,815  mules  and 
asses;  value,  $244,803;  245,277  sheep;  value,  $420,785;  and  243,710 
swine ;  value,  $409,761.  The  following  table  shows  the  number  of  horses, 
cattle,  sheep,  and  swine  assessed  for  taxation  in  the  counties  of  the 
State  west  of  the  Missouri  Eiver: 

Counties  west  of  the  Missouri  Eiver. 


County. 

Horses. 

Cattle. 

Sheep. 

Swine. 

Butto       

3,556 

18,  461 

121 

194 

5  627 

10,  985 

3,584 

363 

Fall  Kiver  

3,466 
3  5°8 

13,  658 
4  878 

3,144 

1,020 

547 
386 

7,132 

14,  603 

3,494 

739 

Pennington  

5,675 

12,  183 

4,458 

648 

Pratt 

63 

778 

4 

Presho  

109 

325 

399 

8 

Stanley 

566 

1,785 

51 

"2 

Ewiiig 

Martin 

j   206 

11  387 

2  342 

I 

Washington  . 

79 

954 

Zulach 

3 

2  331 

Jackson  

334 

Total  

31  341 

91  328 

18  G17 

2  890 

WEST    OF    THE    MISSISSIPPI    RIVER.  757 

The  foregoing  returns  and  estimates  show  the  relative  rank  of  the 
infant  sheep  industry  as  compared  with  the  other  branches  of  the  an- 
imal industry  in  the  State,  also  give  a  correct  basis  for  estimating  ap- 
proximately the  actual  number  of  sheep  in  the  State.  To  the  whole 
number  of  sheep  reported  by  assessors  there  should  be  added  fully 
one-fourth,  and  to  this  number  the  increase  of  sheep  brought  into  the 
State  and  the  lamb  crop  of  1891.  This  would,  after  making  all  nec- 
essary deductions  for  mutton  sales,  losses,  etc.,  give  the  number  of 
sheep  in  South  Dakota  on  January  1,  1892,  as  534,894  head,  valued  at 
$1,872,130.  The  wool  clip  for  1891  was  nearly  two  million  pounds, 
which,  with  the  sales  of  mutton,  brought  to  the  growers  over  a  half 
million  dollars  during  the  year  1891.  The  actual  value  of  the  sheep 
industry  of  South  Dakota,  at  this  writing  is  not  far  from  a  total 
valuation  of  five  million  dollars. 

GENERAL   FACTS    ABOUT   THE   INDUSTRY. 

Sheep  husbandry  is  a  new  and  undeveloped  industry  of  South  Da- 
kota, and  it  will  be  some  time  before  it  settles  down  to  a  permanent 
basis.  Some  essential  facts  relative  to  the  adaptability  of  sheep  as  a 
profitable  branch  of  animal  industry  have  already  been  demonstrated. 
It  now  remains  for  time  and  experience  to  show  what  methods  of  man- 
agement and  what  class  of  sheep  are  best  for  this  section  of  country. 

At  present  the  class  of  sheep  most  numerous  in  the  State,  the  bulk 
of  which  has  been  brought  here  from  other  States  and  Territories  dur- 
ing the  past  three  years,  are  Merinos,  their  grades  and  crosses.  Espec- 
ially is  this  true  of  all  the  large  flocks  of  500  and  upward.  Flocks 
which  number  less  than  500  are  mainly  owned  by  the  general  farmer 
and  consist  more  largely  of  the  mutton  breeds,  in  which  the  blood  of 
the  Downs  predominates,  the  Shropshire  being  a  leading  favorite.  At 
present  throughout  the  State  the  Shropshire  ram  is  used  almost  as 
extensively  as  the  Merino,  especially  pure-bred  rams.  So  general  are 
these  two  breeds  in  the  State  that  when  sheep-owners  are  asked  what 
dass  of  sheep  are  most  numerous  jn  this  country,  they  invariably 
respond  by  saying,  "Merino  and  Shropshire,  their  grades  or  crosses." 
In  almost  every  county,  in  addition  to  the  Merino  and  Shropshire 
sheep,  there  will  also  be  found  flocks  of  other  mutton  breeds,  both  mid- 
dle-wools and  the  long- wools,  but  generally  the  sheep  most  numerous 
throughout  the  State  are  the  Merinos. 

The  holdings  of  sheep  are  generally  small,  except  those  of  companies 
or  corporations.  The  general  range  of  numbers  is  from  a  dozen  head 
to  1,000,  the  latter  being  now  regarded  as  a  large  flock.  The  "farmer 
tlocks"  usually  number  from  200  to  400,  while  the  holdings  of  the  com- 
panies, speculators,  and  larger  sheep-owners  run  from  500  to  1,000  head 
and  upward. 

All  land  not  under  cultivation  in  South  Dakota  affords  excellent 
pasture  for  shee]>  because  it  is  so  well  grassed  over.  If  the  live  stock 


758  SHEEP    INDUSTRY    OF    THE    UNITED    STATES 

were  increased  a  hundredfold  it  would  not  be  exhausted  or  even  wholly 
utilized.  There  is  no  richer  or  more  abundant  native  pasturage  west  of 
the  Mississippi.  A  considerable  portion  of  this  uncultivated  area  is 
Government  land,  or  the  property  of  non-residents, and  consists  of  level 
or  rolling  prairie  land.  Even  the  rough  and  hilly  portions  of  the  State- 
are  covered  with  nutritious  grass  of  the  buffalo,  gramma  or  blue-joint 
varieties,  which  afford  grazing  almost  the  entire  year,  but  are  not  at 
present  much  used  for  winter  pasturage. 

The  supply  of  water  is  mainly  from  wells  20  to  200  feet  in  depth,  on 
the  farms  and  ranches  which  are  not  accessible  to  the  creeks  and  rivers. 
In  some  localities  springs  afford  the  necessary  water  for  stock.  There 
is  very  little  timber;  therefore,  whatever  shelter  or  shade  is  necessary, 
outside  of  the  hills  and  coulees,  has  to  be  provided  by  the  flockmaster. 
But  such  conveniences  are  not  absolutely  necessary  except  during  the 
occasional  storms  of  winter. 

The  general  character  of  the  soil  of  the  area  mostly  used  now  for 
sheep  pastures  is  what  may  be  termed  good  farm  land.  On  the  level 
and  undulating  prairies  it  consists  of  a  rich,  deep,  black,  and  calcareous 
soil,  with  a  light  clay  or  lime  subsoil.  In  some  places  there  is  con- 
siderable sand.  In  the  rough  and  hilly  portions  of  the  State  the  soil  is 
sandy  and  gravelly,  particularly  along  the  bluffs  and  banks  of  ravines. 
This  grazing  land  is  much  sought  by  tbe  larger  sheep-owners  because 
it  is  practically  free  pasturage,  and  the  abundance  and  character  of  the 
wild  grasses  make  it  very  desirable  for  sheep.  Usually  a  range  of  this 
sort  is  sufficiently  remote  from  the  cultivated  lands  to  make  herding 
quite  inexpensive. 

The  annual  loss  of  sheep  from  exposure  to  weather  or  from  depreda- 
tions of  wolves  or  other  wild  animals  is  remarkably  small,  and  from 
other  sources  it  is  equally  so,  considering  the  inexperience  of  most  of 
the  sheepmen.  The  loss  from  wolves  seldom  exceeds  2  per  cent,  and 
the  average  is  not  above  1  per  cent.  The  sheep  mortality  resulting 
from  exposure  is  hardly  worth  considering.  In  some  extreme  cases  of 
neglect  it  has  been  as  great  as  10  per  cent,  but  the  general  average 
reported  for  the  State  does  not  exceed  from  2  to  3  per  cent. 

It  is  interesting,  in  view  of  the  number  of  sheep  brought  into  the 
State,  to  note  the  effect  of  climate  on  the  constitution  of  the  animals  or 
the  character  of  the  fleece,  as  reported  by  the  sheep-owners  themselves. 
Sheep  are  mainly  brought  in  from  the  West,  although  quite  large  num- 
bers come  from  the  East.  It  is  the  general  and  prevailing  belief  that 
after  the  first  season  or  acclimation  there  is  a  general  improvement 
both  of  wool  and  constitution.  The  wool  of  the  Eastern  sheep  becomes 
drier  and  does  not  show  so  much  oil  and  yolk,  yet  the  fleece  appears 
more  compact  and  a  longer  fiber  is  produced.  It  is  also  believed  that 
the  size  of  carcass  is  increased  and  the  amount  of  wool  augmented  about 
25  per  cent.  Western  sheep,  on  account  of  better  care  and  more  abun- 
dant feed  from  being  run  in  smaller  bands,  show  marked  improvement, 


WEST    OF    THE,  MISSISSIPPI    RIVER.  759 

In  the  farming  districts  the  wool  becomes  heavier  on  account  of  dust 
from  the  fields,  and  in  those  localities  does  not  grade  so  well.    On  this 
subject  representative  sheepmen  express  themselves  as  follows: 
A.  H.  Rogers,  of  Aurora  County,  says : 

Wool  has  good,  strong  fiber,  but  on  account  of  dry  climate  shows  very  little  oil  or 
yolk.  Sheep,  whether  imported  or  natives,  are  extremely  healthy. 

J.  B.  Geddis,  of  Beadle  County,  president  of  South  Dakota  Wool- 
Growers'  Association: 

Wool  improves,  also  the  constitution,  after  the  first  season. 

M.  F.  Greeley,  of  Deuel  County : 

The  first  winter  is  hard  on  them,  with  some  loss  almost  invariably;  afterward  im- 
prove on  what  they  ever  have  been,  every  Avay. 

F.  M.  Hopkins,  of  Edmunds  County: 

Wool  increases  in  weight  from  2  to  3  pounds  per  head  after  the  first  season,  sheep 
also  are  larger  and  stronger;  but  are  liable  to  a  loss  of  3  per  cent  the  first  year. 

The  rams  used  comprise  various  breeds,  grades,  and  ages.  As  the 
flocks  number  from  a  dozen  head  upwards  to  one  or  more  thousands  it 
is  not  strange  that  a  great  variety  of  bucks  are  used.  The  larger  own- 
ers, known  distinctively  as  sheepmen,  generally  confine  themselves  to 
either  the  Merinos,  pure  bred  and  grades,  or  Shropshires,  pure-bred 
and  grades.  Some  use  the  Merino  bucks  two  years  and  then  put  in 
Shropshires  for  two  years,  thus  alternating. 

Where  the  ram  is  allowed  to  run  with  the  flocks  constantly,  from  40 
to  50  ewes  are  given  each;  but  when  they  are  thoroughbred,  from  75 
to  100  are  given  each  ram. 

The  usual  time  for  turning  in  the  rams  is  during  November  or  De- 
cember. Some  turn  them  in  as  early  as  September,  but  this  is  not  the 
rule  unless  the  main  object  is  the  producing  of  early  lambs.  The  mut- 
ton breeds  are  usually  bred  earlier  than  the  Merinos.  Most  of  the 
South  Dakota  sheep-owners  wisely  practice  hand  breeding  and  use  a 
better  class  of  bucks.  After  all  the  ewes  are  bred  the  ranis  are  allowed 
to  run  with  the  flock  until  about  shearing  time.  As  most  of  the  flocks 
are  small  this  practice  is  common.  In  the  larger  flocks  the  method  is 
to  let  the  rams  run  with  the  flocks  from  four  to  six  weeks,  and  hand 
breeding  is  not  attempted.  The  rams,  after  the  season,  are  kept  with 
the  flock  of  wethers. 

The  average  per  cent  of  lambs  raised  varies  somewhat,  the  mutton 
breeds  making  a  larger  showing  than  the  Merinos.  Flockmasters 
variously  estimate  the  per  cent  from  75  to  95.  The  average  for  all 
classes  of  sheep  will  not  fall  much,  if  any,  short  of  85  per  cent.  The 
percentage  of  ewes  in  the  flock  that  fail  to  breed  is  quite  small,  and  is 
estimated  at  from  1  to  5  per  cent  each  year. 

In  South  Dakota  the  general  custom  is  to  provide  both  feed  and 
shelter  during  winter  whenever  it  is  necessary  from  severe  or  stormy 


7GO        SHEEP  INDUSTRY  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES 

weather.  The  chief  feed  consists  of  prairie  hay  and  straw.  The  shelter 
consists  of  everything  from  the  cheaply  constructed  low  and  open  sheds 
to  good  barns.  The  ordinary  shed  is  board  sides,  covered  with  hay  or 
straw,  and  sometimes  shingles  or  common  boards.  A  shed  about  24  by 
100,  7  feet  high,  roof  with  one-third  pitch,  sides  made  of  shiplap  or 
common  boards.  Ventilation  is  pretty  well  provided  for,  but  so  ar- 
ranged as  to  keep  out  the  snow. 

The  flockmasters  of  this  State,  especially  those  living  east  of  the 
Missouri  liiver,  are  also  landowners,  whose  farms  are  worth  all  the 
way  from  $2  to  $20  per  acre,  the  value  depending  on  the  location, 
character  of  soil,  and  improvements.  A  great  many  both  own  and  lease 
land.  The  leases  are  confined  to  school  laud  and  land  held  by  non- 
residents. The  school  lands  are  leased  for  1,  3,  or  5  cents  per  acre. 
In  the  central  and  western  portion  of  the  State  the  range  is  of  such 
almost  unlimited  extent  that  the  grazing  land  is  practically  free,  yet 
nearly  every  sheepman  owns  his  160  or  640  acre  farm,  his  place  of  resi- 
dence, with  improvements,  where  he  raises  his  own  feed  and  winters 
his  stock. 

uls  the  main  object  to  produce  wool  or  mutton1?"  was  a  query  sub- 
mitted to  fifty  representative  sheepmen  in  South  Dakota.  Thirty-six 
replies  were  received  from  men  engaged  in  sheep  husbandry  in  nearly 
as  many  counties.  Two  replied  that  mutton  was  the  main  object,  ten 
said  that  it  was  wool,  while  twenty-four  insisted  and  maintained  that 
both  wool  and  mutton  were. 

May  or  June  is  the  usual  time  for  shearing  sheep.  The  shearing  is 
done  at  home  in  the  barns  or  on  a  floor  in  the  sheds.  The  wool  is 
usually  sold  to  a  local  buyer,  if  possible;  if  not,  consigned  to  Minne- 
apolis, Chicago,  or  Eastern  markets  to  commission  merchants. 

Most  of  the  wool  produced  in  South  Dakota  may  be  classed  generally 
as  fine  or  medium.  The  five  grades  are  fine,  medium  and  heavy  fine, 
low  medium,  fine  medium,  choice  medium  and  coarse.  The  sheep-own- 
ers realize  from  12  to  20  cents  per  pound.  The  gross  price  is  from  2  to 
3  cents  more.  As  South  Dakota  has  all  classes  of  sheep,  likewise  all 
classes  of  wool  are  produced.  The  average  weights  of  fleeces  range  for 
medium  and  coarse  wool  from  6  to  9  pounds,  and  fine  from  7  to  10 
pounds,  an  average  of  not  less  than  7  or  7J  pounds  for  the  whole  Slate. 
The  wool  and  mutton  that  are  not  sold  at  home  go  to  distant  markets 
by  consignments;  the  wool  to  Chicago,  Minneapolis,  St.  Louis,  Phila- 
delphia, and  Boston,  the  mutton  to  Chicago,  St.  Paul,  and  Sioux  City. 

The  number  of  sheep  disposed  of  annually  from  the  flock  by  the 
sheep-owners  of  this  State  is  comparatively  smalJ.  There  are  very  few 
that  dispose  of  stockers,  in  fact  many  more  stockers  are  purchased  by 
the  sheepmen  generally  than  are  sold  for  the  markets.  The  majority 
sell  a  few  lambs  or  aged  wethers  and  the  dispersions  are  mainly  con- 
fined to  that  class.  When  but  a  few  head  are  sold  these  go  to  the  local 
butcher  at  4  cents  per  pound  and  upward.  Those  who  sell  annually 


WEST    OF    THE    MISSISSIPPI    RIVER.  761 

"V 

a  portion  of  the  flock  do  not  at  present  permit  the  number  to  exceed 
from  10  to  30  per  cent.  Some  of  the  larger  owners  or  speculators  ship 
car  lots  to  Chicago,  St.  Paul,  Omaha,  or  Sioux  City,  which  have  so  far 
realized  the  shipper  from  $3  to  $5  per  head,  depending  somewhat  on  the 
class  of  sheep.  Stackers-  brought  last  season  from  $3.25  to  $4  and 
muttons  $3.50  to  $4.50.  F.  M.  Hopkins,  of  Eoscoe,  sold  200  four- 
months  lambs  at  ranch  for  $2  per  head.  The  weight  of  sheep  sold  for 
mutton  varies  from  80  to  150  pounds,  the  average  being  about  100  to 
1 10  pounds  when  shipped.  Lambs  when  sold  early  usually  weigh  about 
55  pounds,  or  if  held  until  fall  about  75  pounds. 

Besides  feed  the  principal  item  of  expense  in  sheep-raising  is  wages 
for  herders,  shearing,  and  day  labor  for  haying.  The  usual  wages  for 
men  by  the  year,  board  included,  is  from  $16  to  $20  per  month;  for  boys 
as  herders,  $8  to  $10.  Day  laborers  during  haying  receive  from  $1  to 
$1.50  per  day.  For  shearing  about  an  average  of  6  cents  per  head  or 
$2.50  per  day  is  paid.  The  average  cost  per  sheep  a  year,  all  expenses, 
is  variously  computed,  the  lowest  estimate  being  35  cents  and  the 
highest  $1.50.  Experienced  men  place  the  cost  at  50  cents  to  $1,  de- 
pending on  the  size  of  the  flock.  Probably  for  a  flock  of  1,000  or  up- 
ward, with  good  management,  the  annual  cost  could  be  safely  placed 
at  from  50  to  75  cents,  the  amount,  as  sheep  husbandry  is  now  con- 
ducted, being  about  $1  or  a  little  less.  The  smaller  sheep-owners  do 
most  of  their  own  work,  and  the  herding  is  done  by  boys.  The  items 
of  expense  to  be  considered  are  shelter,  feed,  wages,  and  interest  on  the 
investment.  The  "promoters"  estimate  of  annual  cost  per  head  as 
shown  in  the  North  Dakota  report  is  not  much  out  of  the  way,  espec- 
ially with  skillful  and  prudent  management. 

In  regard  to  the  local  advantages  for  sheep  husbandry  in  South  Da- 
kota, sheep-owners  in  every  part  of  the  State  express  themselves  well 
satisfied  that  they  are  unexcelled  anywhere  in  the  United  States.  On 
this  point  both  the  older  as  well  as  the  later  flock-masters  are  quite 
agreed  in  all  parts  of  the  State.  Among  the  special  advantages  claimed 
in  behalf  of  sheep  husbandry,  the  sheep-owners  mention  the  following: 
Abundance  of  nutritious  grasses  for  grazing  during  most  of  the  year; 
plenty  of  prairie  hay  for  the  cutting  to  sustain  the  flocks  when  the  range 
is  covered  with  snow;  cheap  range,  with  elevated  lands,  having  a  dry, 
cool,  and  pure  atmosphere;  freedom  from  disease,  also  the  absence  of 
undue  moisture;  natural  adaptability  of  climate,  soil,  and  pasture  for 
sheep;  dry  winters,  with  but  little  snow,  and  consequent  short  feeding 
season;  few  wild  animals.  A  Spink  County  flockmaster  says  that  the 
farmers  "would  go  broke  without  sheep."  Another  resident  of  a  dozen 
years'  experience  says:  "It  is  the  best  and  about  the  only  sure  thing 
we  can  do  to  keep  a  mortgage  oif  or  from  finally  taking  the  farm."  The 
abundance  as  well  as  superior  and  nutritious  quality  of  the  native 
grasses  and  hay  are  considered  a  leading  advantage,  also  the  constant 
supply  of  good  water  from  the  streams  or  wells. 


762  SHEEP    INDUSTRY    OF    THK    UNITED    STATES 

While  it  is  true  that  the  sheep-owners  have  no  real  cause  for  discour- 
agement because  of  any  serious  drawbacks  or  disadvantages  encoun- 
tered, there  are  evidently  certain  obstacles  which  should  be  enumerated 
in  a  truthful  review  of  the  industry.  The  chief  obstacles  encountered 
so  far  are  careless  farming,  inexperience  in  handling  sheep,  liability  to 
ravages  of  wolves,  and,  in  older  settled  portions  of  the  States,  from 
dogs;  an  occasional  severe  winter  or  unusual  drought;  a  prairie  fire 
or  a  blizzard;  high  winds,  which  carry  dust  or  other  foreign  matter  into 
the  fleece,  especially  in  those  localities  where  there  is  considerable 
plowed  land;  scarcity  of  timber  and  its  beneficent  shade;  wire-fenced 
pastures,  and  the  ordinary  disadvantages  to  the  Northwest  as  to  long 
distance  from  market. 

Disease  among  sheep  in  Dakota  is  practically  unknown.  Sometimes 
sheep  brought  in  from  the  South  and  West  are  affected  with  scab,  but 
it  is  soon  eradicated.  Occasionally  a  case  of  sniffles  or  grub  in  the  head 
occurs,  but  as  a  rule  sheep  are  quite  healthy  and  vigorous.  Last 
spring  many  flocks  were  affected  with  ticks,  but  by  properly  dipping 
they  were  easily  eradicated. 

From  the  expressions  of  sheepmen  the  outlook  is  very  bright  for  the 
industry,  and  no  other  agricultural  pursuit  will  compare  with  it.  It 
promises  more  profit  for  the  capital  and  labor  invested  than  any  other 
branch  of  agriculture.  The  demand  for  sheep  is  only  limited  by  the 
ability  of  formers  to  purchase.  No  doubt  many  inexperienced  men  are 
paying  exorbitant  prices  for  their  stock,  and  many  such  will  meet  with 
failure.  This,  of  course,  will  have  a  tendency  to  check  the  present 
un pr ec ed en t ed  dem an d . 

Unless  some  unforeseen  conditions  should  arise,  it  is  the  opinion  of 
sheepmen  who  have  had  some  years  experience  that  South  Dakota  will 
eventually  rank  high,  if  it  does  not  lead  the  Northwest,  for  successful 
and  profitable  sheep  husbandry.  One  successful  and  experienced  wool- 
grower  believes  that  within  five  years  there  will  be  100  sheep  where 
now  there  is  one.  Had  it  been  possible  to  secure  the  sheep  at  fair 
prices  fully  a  half  million  head  would  have  been  brought  into  the  State 
during  1801.  Every  farmer  who  is  able  to  purchase  and  care  for  sheep 
is  eager  to  get  a  start,  because  the  experience  so  far  has  demonstrated 
that  the  business  is  both  safe  and  profitable.  The  growth  of  the 
industry  during  the  past  year  is  illustrated  by  the  progress  made  in 
Beadle  County.  In  1890  it  had  7,500  sheep,  and  in  1801  the  number  of 
mature  sheep  had  increased  to  fully  20,000,  to  say  nothing  of  the  increase 
of  lambs.  Beadle  County  is  simply  an  average  of  most  of  the  counties 
east  of  the  Missouri,  and  as  soon  as  the  territory  west  of  the  Missouri 
River  is  opened  the  surplus  will  be  readily  provided  for  in  that  way. 
But  it  will  require  several  million  sheep  to  utilize  the  grasses  now 
annually  going  to  waste. 

The  best  methods  for  profitably  conducting  sheep  husbandry  in  South 
Dakota  is  a  matter  of  grave  importance,  and  only  a  few  general  rules 


WEST    OF    THI-:    MISSISSIPPI    RIVER.  763 

can  now  be  laid  down  as  applicable  to  the  existing  conditions.  It  is 
safest  to  begin  sheep  husbandry  for  a  permanent  basis  in  connection 
Avith  general  fanning.  Begin  with  a  few  yonug  sheep,  and  as  the  flock 
increases  learn  the  proper  management.  It  is  unwise  to  start  with 
more  than  one  can  properly  feed,  shelter,  and  graze.  Use  none  but 
first-class  rams,  and  breed  so  that  lambs  will  come  Avhen  the  sheep  are 
out  on  new  grass.  Let  wool  and  mutton  be  the  main  consideration, 
and  each  year  dispose  of  the  wool  and  feed  the  calls  of  the  flock  and 
the  wethers  for  mutton.  A  person  who  has  had  experience  in  handling 
sheep  and  desires  to  make  it  an  almost  exclusive  business  had  better 
locate  in  the  rough,  hilly  regions  where  water  is  available  and  cheap 
grazing  lands  are  unlimited,  then  get  all  the  sheep  that  can  be  handled 
properly.  Provide,  of  course,  cheap  sheds  with  plenty  of  ventilation 
and  abundant  hay  for  such  times  as  the  sheep  are  unsafe  on  the  open 
range,  but  even  in  winter,  when  the  weather  will  permit,  let  the  sheep 
run  out.  As  an  experienced  sheep-owner,  at  the  annual  meeting  of 
Dakota  sheepmen,  in  a  well-prepared  paper,  stated : 

Brains  must  enter  into  this  work.  Attention  must  be  paid  to  every  detail.  Feed 
must  be  supplied  in  abundance— be  properly  put  up  and  judiciously  fed,  Sheep 
inu>t  be  kept  full  the  year  round,  if  the  undertaking  is  to  be  made  a  success,  and 
they  must  be  kept  comfortable,  if  the  very  best  results  are  to  be  expected.  Sheep- 
raising  will  have  its  ups  and  downs,  its  "booms"  and  its  "busts,"  just  like  every- 
thing else ;  but  with  so  many  winning  cards  the  Dakota  man  who  sticks  to  it  is  bound 
to  win.  When  a  man  begins  he  must  go  slow  at  first,  but  cling  to  it.  Cull  his  flock 
and  improve  it.  Aim  to  keep  as  many  as  possible  of  good  square  mother  sheep  and 
their  best  ewe  lambs.  Raise  lots  of  cornstalks,  oats  in  the  bundle,  millet,  and  pease. 
If  your  land  is  plowed  and  if  you  wish  to  get  good  prices  and  big  fleeces,  and  whether 
your  neighbor  "goes  in"  or  "out"  staud  by  your  flock  and  they  will  stand  by  you. 
The  man  who  does  this  intelligently  can  never  make  a  failure  of  sheep-raising  in 
Dakota. 

CARK   AND   PREPARATION   OF   DAKOTA   WOOLS. 

After  a  personal  inspection  of  a  number  of  Dakota  wool  clips,  both 
at  the  farm  and  in  the  market  at  Minneapolis,  the  writer  saAv  the  bad 
effects  of  careless  and  inexperienced  handling  of  wool,  AAThich  entailed 
unnecessary  loss.  With  a  view  to  pointing  out  the  way  of  avoiding 
this  hardship  to  the  sheep-owner  and  maintaining  such  a  reputation  for 
Dakota  wools  as  their  merits  dcser\^e,  J.  F.  Nichols,  of  Minneapolis,  an 
expert  on  merchantable  wools,  who  is  thoroughly  familiar  Avith  the 
wools  of  the  Northwest,  at  my  request  furnished  the  following  on  the 
care  and  preparation  of  wools  • 

Growers  in  the  Dakotas  and  the  Northwest  are  very  careless  in  letting  their  sheep 
run  to  straw  stacks,  feeding  from  racks,  and  in  many  other  ways  letting  their  fleeces 
get  loaded  with  chaff,  straw,  seed,  etc.  The  first  thing  most  of  the  growers  in  the 
Northwest  want  to  learn  is  to  keep  extraneous  matter  out  of  the  wool.  Place  feed 
containing  chaff,  seed,  etc. ,011  the  ground,  so  the  sheep  can  eat«it  without  getting  it 
in  their  wool.  Feed  will  not  be  wasted  if  only  enough  for  a  day  is  put  out  at  a  time. 
Chaff,  straw,  burrs,  and  .seeds  hurt  the  sale  of  wool  from  2  to  10  cents  per  pound, 
besides,  it  is  the  cause  of  much  dissatisfaction  on  both  the  buyer  and  seller's  part. 


764        SHEEP  INDUSTRY  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES 

There  is  no  excuse  for  allowing  the  wool  to  get  full  of  chaff,  straw,  or  seeds,  and 
when  the  growers  realize  the  loss  they  have  to  stand  on  such  wool  they  will  stop  it 
at  once  by  fencing  their  straw  stacks  so  sheep  can  not  get  at  them,  and  also  by  dis- 
pensing with  feeding  racks.  All  taglocks  and  the  worst  of  the  greasy  skirting 
should  be  removed  previous  to  or  at  the  time  of  shearing,  and  never  under  any  cir- 
cumstances should  be  tied  up  with  the  fleece.  The  Dakota  and  Minnesota  growers 
do  not  realize  the  importance  of  having  each  fleece  properly  tied.  Wool  can  not  be 
graded  as  satisfactorily  when  received  in  market  in  a  broken  condition.  Wool 
should  be  put  up  sheared  side  out,  each  fleece  separate  and  carefully  tied  in  a  uniform 
package.  Use  wool- twine  for  tying  the  fleece;  two  strings  around  the  fleece  each 
way  are  enough  for  ordinary  fleece.  For  a  large  or  very  short  wool  fleece  three 
strings  each  way  may  be  necessary  to  keep  the  fleece  together  properly.  Do  not  use 
anymore  twine  than  is  necessary.  A  wool-box  is  a  good  thing  to  use  when  tying 
fleeces,  as  it  insures  a  uniform  package.  Wool  can  be  rolled  and  tied  very  nicely  by 
hand  without  a  box,  and  some  buyers  even  prefer  the  fleeces  tied  by  hand.  Do  not 
tie  the  fleece  any  harder  than  is  necessary,  as  unwashed  wool  when  tied  too  solidly 
has  the  appearance  of  being  heavy.  After  the  wool  is  ready  for  market  the  growers 
should  look  for  a  cash  market  to  dispose  of  their  wool.  The  Minnesota  and  Dakota 
growers  can  not  afford  to  send  their  wool  to  commission  houses  and  wait  from  three 
months  to  a  year  for  returns.  Either  send  your  wool  to  a  flrm  who  buys  it  outright 
and  makes  prompt  returns  upon  arrival  of  the  wool,  or  sell  it  to  the  best  advantage 
you  can  at  home  for  cash  or  its  equivalent.  Growers  having  a  dingy  and  heavy 
earthy  wool  should  understand  that  their  wool  is  not  worth  as  much  per  pound  un- 
washed as  bright,  light  wool.  (Most  of  the  wool  from  the  Dakotas  is  earthy.)  You 
usually  get  more  for  your  wool  on  account  of  the  weight  of  fleece  than  those  who 
have  the  bright,  light  wool  in  the  Eastern  States.  For  example,  a  bright  fleece  of 
light  wool  worth  23  cents  would  weigh  about  6  pounds  and  would  bring  $1.38  for 
the  fleece.  The  same  fleece  in  the  Dakotas,  being  earthy,  would  weigh  about  8 
pounds,  and  at  18  cents  the  fleece  would  bring  $1.44.  On  some  fine  grades  the  dif- 
ference in  weight  per  fleece  is  more  in  the  favor  of  the  Dakota  growers.  As  your 
land  and  feed  are  cheaper  you  have  considerable  advantage  over[the  Eastern  growers. 
Sheep  will  always  pay  the  growers  in  the  Dakotas.  Provide  feed  and  shelter  for 
the  sheep  to  avoid  losses  in  winter;  look  out  for  scab;  get  some  good  dip  for  your 
sheep  at  once.  A  cold  water  dip  is  good  and  easy  to  use.  It  Avould  pay  every 
grower  to  dip  his  sheep  after  shearing  each  season.  By  doing  so  you  will  keep 
scab,  ticks,  etc.,  away  and  the  new  growth  of  wool  will  be  stronger,  have  a  better  staple 
and  the  fleece  at  shearing  time  will  be  heavier.  There  are  many  associations  being- 
formed  in  the  Dakotas.  If  you  are  raising  sheep  it  will  pay  you  to  attend  the 
association  meetings.  Co  to  each  meeting  you  can  with  your  mind  made  up  to  tell 
your  brother  grower  how  you  have  conquered  difficulties  in  your  flock.  Your 
brother  growers  will  only  be  too  glad  to  tell  you  how  they  conquered  other  difficul- 
ties in  their  flocks.  By  comparing  notes  each  member  will  get  information  that 
may  some  time  save  heavy  losses.  There  is  a  bright  future  for  the  sheep  industry 
in  the  Dakotos,  and  it  is  the  earnest  hope  of  the  writer  that  this  article  may  lead 
to  better  handling  of  wool  in  the  future. 

SHEEP  PROMOTERS  IN  SOUTH  DAKOTA. 

In  my  report  on  the  sheep  industry  of  North  Dakota  a  section  was 
devoted  to  a  brief  discussion  of  " promoters,"  and  what  is  said  there  of 
North  Dakota,  is  substantially  true  of  South  Dakota,  with  perhaps  the 
exception  of  a  less  amount  of  unscrupulous  operations  by  the  pro- 
moters in  the  latter  State.  In  fact,  speculators  here  have  not  put  out 
as  many  sheep  as  those  of  North  Dakota. 


WEST    OF    THE    MISSISSIPPI   RIVER.  765 

Kegarding  the  operations  of  "promoters"  in  South  Dakota  and  its 
effect  on  the  industry,  Mr.  M.  F.  Greeley,  of  Deuel  County,  has  prepared 
the. following  statement  for  this  report: 

Bringing  large  flocks  of  sheep  into  a  new  country  to  let  on  shares  or  to  aell  on 
time  must  certainly  materiallyaffect  in  some  way  the  sheep  industry.  There  can 
be  no  doubt  but  that  increasing  the  number  of  sheep  in  a  country  where  land  is  very 
cheap — almost  free — and  peculiarly  well  adapted  to  wool  and  mutton  production 
must  help  somebody.  There  are  evils  connected  with  this  way  of  stocking  up  which 
do  not  at  Hrst  appear. 

In  the  first  place,  men  of  inexperience  and  shiftless  habits  will  rent  sheep  when 
they  would  never  think  of  buying  them,  and  when  they  fail  from  inexperience  or 
nonattention  to  business  the  industry  suffers  and  other  men  who,  with  encourage- 
ment, would  make  good  and  successful  shepherds  are  more  or  less  depressed.  Again, 
when  the  farmer  has  but  a  half  interest  in  a  flock  he  is  much  less  apt,  I  find,  to  give 
them  the  attention  and  care  he  would  if  he  owned  them  all.  And  the  fact  is,  that 
when  a  large  flock  of  poor  sheep  have  been  properly  housed  and  fed  twelve  months 
in  a  northern  climate  a  pretty  large  hole  has  been  made  into  half  the  income,  and 
sometimes  with  a  loss  to  make  up — it  is  all  gone.  Of  course  this  is  discouraging, 
depressing,  and  often  disastrous. 

Buying  on  time,  I  think,  is  far  ahead  of  "renting"  in  every  way.  The  man  hav- 
ing all  of  the  income  and  loss  strains  every  nerve  to  make  the  one  as  large  and  the 
other  as  small  as  good  care  and  every  attention  will  make  them.  This  is  human 
nature  only.  If  they  be  good,  thrifty  young  ewes,  and  acclimated,  he  can  well  afford 
to  pay  a  good  price  with  pretty  high  interest,  and  with  suitable  surroundings  and 
a  little  experience  and  common  sense  is  perfectly  safe  in  doing  so.  I  have  known 
more  than  one  man  to  pay  for  the  flock  the  first  year,  and  in  a  feAv  cases  to  have  a 
little  money  left. 

But  there  is  another  side  to  this.  Many  of  the  large  flocks  brought  into  Dakota 
to  sell  "on  time"  are  the  culls  of  a  whole  county,  or  are  in  poor  condition  late  in  the 
fall,  or  have  been  exposed  to  scab  or  other  disease.  This  class  of  sheep  could  prove 
nothing  but  a  loss  to  thoroughgoing  sheepmen.  But  they  are  very  likely  to  be  sold 
to  inexperienced  farmers  for  reasons  only  too  evident.  Here  again  come  loss  and 
disappointment,  and  no  end  of  discouragement  to  the  sheep  business.  Possibly  the 
men  who  rent  or  sell  these  sheep  are  all  right,  but  they  have  employed  inexperienced 
or  unprincipled  buyers.  Again,  sheep  brought  in  large  flocks  are  nearly  always  un- 
acclimated,  and  if  from  the  East  cause  serious  trouble,  if  not  loss. 

Of  course,  some  of  our  most  successful  farmers  rent  farms,  but  as  a  rule  they  do  not. 
Good  farmers  are  able  and  anxious  to  secure  homes  of  their  own.  The  average 
farmer  who  has  to  rent  or  buy  on  longtime  is  not  our  most  thrifty  and  farseeing  one. 
There  are.  of  course,  many  exceptions  to  this.  I  know  of  lots  of  them.  So,  in  many 
instances,  those  who  have  shipped  in  the  sheep  have  done  well,  and  the  ones  who 
have  rented  or  bought  on  time  have  been  equally  prosperous,  and  have  thus  been 
enabled  to  start,  when  without  assistance  they  perhaps  never  would.  I  believe  the 
future  of  the  sheep  industry  in  South  Dakota  would  be  more  promising  had  nothing 
of  this  kind  ever  been  undertaken. 

EXPERIENCE  AND  OPINIONS  OF  REPRESENTATIVE  SHEEPMEN. 

In  making  investigations  of  the  sheep  industry  of  South  Dakota  the 
writer  had  considerable  correspondence  as  well  as  numerous  interviews 
with  representative  sheep  owners,  from  which  the  following  extracts 
have  been  carefully  compiled  with  reference  to  essential  facts  bearing 
on  the  different  phases  of  the  industry  in  the  various  sections  of  the 
State.  These  men  have  acquired  some  valuable  information  by  experi- 


766        SHEEP  INDUSTRY  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES 

ence,  and  are  therefore  well  qualified  to  speak  authoritatively  upon  the  j 
matters  which  they  discuss,  and  their  opinions  deserve  careful  consid- 
eration, because  they  reflect  in  brief  certain  conditions  and  possibilities 
of  the  sheep  industry  of  this  State  that  are  not  covered  elsewhere  in 
this  report,  and  yet  are  of  sufficient  importance  to  become  a  part  of  it. 
Quite  a  variety  of  topics  is  covered  in  the  following  selected  extracts 
from  practical  flockrnasters  of  South  Dakota: 
A.  J.  Bonesteel,  Farnsworth,  Sanborn  County: 

Our  State  is  fast  coming  to  the  front  as  one  of  the  leading  sheep  States.  It  is  the 
least  trouble  to  keep  them  free  from  disease,  and  the  native  grasses  are  just  the  right 
thing  to  make  them  do  well. 

P.  J.  Kunser,  Eedfield,  Spink  County: 

I  have  handled  from  200  to  500  sheep  for  the  last  eight  years,  at  a  handsome  profit  | 
above  all  care  and  feed.     I  have  fed  some  grain  during  winter  with  good  results,  but  ] 
have  wintered    mostly  on  wild  hay,  millet,  and  cornstalks.      I  pasture  my  flock  • 
during  spring  and  summer;  after  harvest  I  run  them  on  farm.     I  commenced  with 
coarse  grades  and  have  bred  to  fine  wools,  which  I  much  prefer. 

F.  M.  Stein,  Clark,  Clark  County: 

I  believe  there  is  not  a  State  in  the  Union  so  well  adapted  to  sheep-raising  as  South 
Dakota.  We  have  over  40,000  sheep  in  Clark  County  alone,  and  it  is  only  a  question 
of  a  few  years  when  South  Dakota  will  stand  at  the  head  as  a  wool-growing  State. 
Our  people  are  beginning  to  realize  that  it  pays  to  raise  sheep  and  does  not  pay  to 
raise  wheat. 

George  D.  Elderkin,  De  Smet,  Kingsbury  County. 

I  think  our  farmers  should  commence  on  a  moderate  scale  and  learn  the  business  of 
rearing  sheep,  allowing  the  increase  of  flock  to  be  proportionate  with  increase  of 
knowledge.  Dakota  is  wild  over  sheep  and  the  tendency  is  to  overdo.  Many  are 
investing  in  large  flocks  without  having  any  previous  experience,  and  such  will  j>rob- 
ably  lose  to  a  greater  or  less  extent. 

O.  O.  England,  Templeton,  Jerauld  County: 

I  have  used  the  following  home-made  clip  with  satisfactory  results  in  ridding  my 
flock  of  ticks  and  the  sheep-louse:  I  use  3  pounds  of  tobacco  stems  steeped  in  10  gal- 
lons of  water.  Fifty  gallons  of  this  dip  will  do  for  75  lambs  and  kill  all  ticks  and 
lice. 

Wilfred  Baker,  Wolsey,  Beadle  County : 

The,  last  five  years  have  been  so  dry  that  it  mostly  used  up  the  grain  and  wheat 
farming,  and  it  actually  drove  the  farmers  into  stock-raising;  but  the  cattle  and  beef 
markets  were  poor,  and  the  corn  crop  too  uncertain  for  pork-raising,  so  the  business 
of  wool  and  mutton  raising  took  a  wonderful  boom,  and  the  importation  of  sheep 
from  other  States  has  been  most  wonderful  the  last  two  years.  In  most  cases  it  will 
prove  a  beneficial  addition  to  the  farmers,  unless  inexperienced  men  get  too  large  a 
flock  to  begin  with. 

C.  A.  Fowler,  Huron,  Beadle  County: 

We  have  a  beautiful  country,  with  a  fertile  soil  and  healthful  climate;  but  the 
insufficiency  of  rainfall  makes  grain-raising  unprofitable.  But  the  great  increase  in 
the  number  of  sheep  shows  that  the  attention  of  the  farmers  is  turned  towards  this 
industry,  which  will  relieve  them  from  their  depression  and  lift  the  mortgages  off 
the  farms.  We  think  \ve  have  here  a  greater  supply  of  subterranean  water  than  any 
other  locality,  and  hundreds  of  wells  will  be  put  down,  and  Dakota  will  "blossom 
as  the  rose."  Have  had  experience  with  sheep  ever  since  my  boyhood  days  and  take 
great  interest  in  the  business. 


WEST    OF    THE    MISSISSIPPI    RIVER.  767 

Frank  M.  Byrne,  Miranda,  Faulk  County : 

I  think  the  Merinos  are  best  adapted  to  our  conditions.  I  prefer  the  Delaines. 
On  account  of  our  dry,  cold  winters  and  healthy  climate  I  am  of  the  opinion  we  can 
raise  as  good  fleeces  as  can  he  raised  in  the  world,  and  because  of  our  distance  from 
markets,  making  freight  charges  an  important  consideration,  I  think  wool  more 
profitable  than  mutton,  and  shall  in  future  breed  accordingly.  I  have  been  engaged 
ill  the  sheep  industry  here  three  years. 

G.  B.  Pope,  Estelline,  Hamlin  Connty: 

My  sheep  are  paying  100  per  cent  profit  now.  We  offset  manure  with  the  keeping 
expense,  and  the  difference  is  in  favor  of  the  manure.  This,  of  course,  is  where  sheep 
are  k<-pt  ns  an  adjunct  to  mixed  fanning;  on  sheep  ranges  this  will  not  apply. 
Western  sheep  do  better  here  than  Eastern  sheep,  as  the  latter  do  not  thrive  on  our 
grass  at  first. 

F.  M.  Hopkins,  Eoscoe,  Edmunds  County: 

We  have  just  wintered  800  head  of  sheep  on  hay  and  no  grain.  They  were  kept 
in  the  sheds  forty  days  during  the  winter ;  balance  of  time  they  were  out  every  day 
grazing.  Total  loss  for  the  year  past  was  2  per  cent.  Lambs  came  during  May, 
when  the  ewes  have  plenty  of  milk,  and  we  are  saving  90  per  cent  of  lambs.  Plenty 
of  range  in  the  hilly  and  rough  lands,  which  will  not  be  taken  for  a  number  of  years ; 
I  mean  Government  lands.  Plenty  of  hay  in  the  sloughs  in  these  rough  lands. 

J.  B.  Geddis,  Virgil,  Beadle  County: 

I  have  been  in  the  sheep  business  for  eight  years  and  have  nevei  had  any  disease 
among  the  sheep  or  met  with  any  losses,  and  have  realized  over  90  per  cent  of  lambs 
each  year,  with  a  profit  in  wool  and  lambs  of  from  75  to  100  per  cent  on  the  investment. 
1  graze  them  on  wild  prairie  that  does  not  cost  any  rent  and  feed  millet  in  winter — 
have  never  fed  any  grain.  The  dry  atmosphere  is  almost  a  sure  preventive  against 
disease.  Dip  twice  a  year,  which  destroys  all  ticks  and  improves  the  wool.  Sheep 
always  fat  and  ready  for  market. 

D.  Koberts,  Faulkton,  Faulk  County: 

South  Dakota  seems  to  be  perfectly  adapted  to  sheep-raising.  Crops  have  failed 
for  the  last  two  years,  and  people  are  somewhat  discouraged  in  raising  grain  and  are 
all  anxious  to  go  into  sheep .  Hundreds  will  go  into  the  business,  as  soon  as  they 
can  get  the  sheep,  who  have  never  handled  them  before.  I  look  for  many  failures 
among  such ;  but  the  careful,  industrious  man  has  no  cause  to  fail  in  sheep  husbandry 
here. 

David  Hall,  Ney,  Sully  County: 

I  have  only  been  in  the  business  about  a  year  and  ten  months.  If  I  get  even  as 
low  a  price  for  wool  this  year  as  last,  it  will  more  than  pay  for  my  sheep  with  the 
second  clip  and  have  $100  over.  I  have  never  fed  any  grain  to  my  sheep  since  I 
owned  them.  The  wild  grass  here  makes  the  best  hay  for  sheep  when  cut  green  in 
July  or  August.  When  crops  are  harvested  sheep  run  at  large  without  a  herder, 
and  wild  animals  never  kave  attempted  to  molest  them.  Anyone  can  lease  thou- 
sands of  acres  of  loan  companies  for  pay  ing  taxes,  which  amount  from  $10  to  $18  per 
quarter  section. 

G.  W.  McLaughlin,  Onida,  Sully  County: 

I  have  had  a  flock  of  sheep  in  this,  Sully  County,  S.  Dak.,  for  the  last  five  years, 
and  they  have  done  well.  Have  had  them  out  on  shares  part  of  the  time.  I  get  one- 
third  of  the  wool  and  one-half  increase,  and  they  have  paid  me  30  to  40  per  cent  on 
the  investment;  have  over  600  now.  We  do  not  need  grain,  and  can  take  good  mut- 
ton out  of  flock  at  any  time.  Hay  can  be  put  in  stack  for  $1  to  $1.50  per  ton,  and 
last  winter  we  did  not  commence  feeding  hay  until  January  31,  and  a  year  ago  com- 
menced December  28. 


768  SHEEP    INDUSTRY    OF    THE    UNITED    STATES 

• 

8.  L.  Berry,  Parker,  Turner  County: 

South  Dakota  is  conceded  to  be  a  very  healthy  climate  for  sheep-raising.  With 
our  natural  pasture,  healthy,  high,  and  dry,  we  never  hear  of  such  a  thing  as  foot- 
rot,  and  if  properly  cared  for  I  do  not  think  that  there  can  be  any  better  stock  kept 
on  the  farm  than  a  flock  of  100  sheep.  We  have  the  advantage  of  cheap  grain  and 
hay  for  winter  feeding.  Our  worst  drawback  is  the  heavy  winds,  which  cause  the 
dirt  and  dust  to  collect  in  the  wool,  thereby  causing  it  to  be  heavy,  a  disadvantage 
when  we  come  to  sell,  as  buyers  discriminate  against  dirty,  heavy  wool,  as  they  call 
the  South  Dakota  wools. 

M.  F.  Greeley,  Gary,  Deuel  County: 

Sheep  are  never  sick  or  ailing  in  this  county.  Range  is  free  or  nearly  so,  and  be- 
ing very  hilly  and  stony  and  well-grassed,  the  business  is  profitable  and  the  income 
sure.  The  heavy  mutton  breeds,  pure,  will  not  be  a  success  here,  as  much  of  the 
year  feed  is  short,  but  grades  of  either  the  Merino  or  mutton  sheep  keep  fat  the  year 
round  if  fed  enough  wild  hay  during  winter  and  fall.  The  greatest  drawback  is  the 
fact  that  Dakota  seems  to  be  the  top  sieve  of  Uncle  Sam's  fanning  mill,  and  many  of 
our  farmers  are  culls — they  make  poor  shepherds.  This  will  always  be  a  sheep  coun- 
try. We  can  raise  them  for  mutton  only.  Better  care  and  feed  will  ultimately  im- 
prove our  staple,  which  now  is  a  little  off. 

D.  J.  Briggs,  Broadland,  Beadle  County: 

I  have  had  sheep  here  only  three  years ;  have  Merinos  and  grades ;  sheep  have  been 
extremely  healthy ;  increase  has  been  from  60  to  90  per  cent ;  average  weight  of  fleece 
has  been  13^  pounds  from  Merinos,  full  blood,  and  10  pounds  from  grades.  There 
have  been  a  good  many  Shropshire  rams  brought  here  the  past  year,  and  we  are  try- 
ing the  crossing  of  them  on  full-blood  Merinos,  and  are  getting  good,  large  lambs ;  don't 
know  how  well  it  will  pay.  This  is  without  doubt  one  of  the  finest  States  in  the 
West  for  sheep.  The  greatest  drawback  is  the  lack  of  water  supply,  and  that  is  be- 
ing overcome  by  means  of  artesian  wells.  We  can  raise  an  abundance  of  millet  hay, 
and  there  is  no  better  feed  for  sheep. 

H.  B.  Latlirop,  Kedfleld,  Spink  County: 

I  have  been  a  resident  of  this  county  since  the  spring  of  1880,  consequently  have 
had  a  pretty  good  chance  to  judge  of  the  natural  tendency  of  the  climate,  which  is  a 
little  too  dry  for  certainty  of  farming,  which,  with  low  prices  and  cost  of  freight, 
makes  it  very  uncertain  business.  My  observation  is  that  this  country  is  remarka- 
bly well  adapted  to  sheep  raising,  and  I  believe  that  every  quarter-section  farm 
would  be  the  better  for  having  fifty  sheep  on  it.  It  being  a  dry  country  makes  it 
favorable  to  the  industry  so  far  as  health  is  concerned.  Our  worst  drawback  is  lack 
of  feed,  caused  by  want  of  moisture,  in  consequence  of  which  we  can  not  carry  as 
many  head  per  acre  as  in  the  more  grassy  regions.  Dogs  are  a  pest  to  us,  especially 
common  curs  and  bird  dogs.  In  some  localities  wolves  are  quite  troublesome.  One 
of  the  worst  drawbacks  is  shiftless,  careless  shepherds. 

Isaac  M.  George,  Brookings,  Brookings  County: 

The  sheep  industry  in  this  State  is  in  its  infancy.  Most  of  the  sheep  are  fine- 
wooled,  shipped  from  the  East  by  unprincipled  men,  and  sold  on  time  for  enormous 
prices.  But  even  under  those  circumstances  the  farmers  are  making  money  out  of 
sheep.  I  am  one  of  the  oldest  sheepmen  in  the  county,  and  am  ready  to  say  that 
sheep  husbandry  is  the  salvation  of  South  Dakota.  I  was  a  little  more  fortunate 
than  some  of  my  neighbors  and  paid  cash  for  my  sheep.  I  bought  Shropshire  grade 
owes  and  bred  to  pure-bred  Shropshire  rams, which  I  think  is  the  best  breed  of  sheep 
in  the  world.  I  have  wintered  from  four  to  five  hundred  every  year,  and  seldom  lose 
one  during  the  winter.  The  last  three  winters  I  went  through  without  any  loss. 


WEST    OF    THE    MISSISSIPPI    RIVER.  769 

When  I  started  with  sheep  I  was  in  debt  $3,000,  but  to-day  I  own  a  home  worth 
$5,000,  and  my  total  indebtedness  amounts  to  less  than  a  tho!i-;and  dollars,  and  it  is 
sheep  that  did  it. 

A.  H.  Rogers,  Plaukiuton,  Aurora  County: 

In  the  fall  of  1890  I  bought  in.  Wyoming  494  grade  Merino  ewes  three  and  four 
y»-ar.s  old.  They  cost  $3.87£  cents  per  head.  We  had  an  unusually  cold  wet  spell 
while  my  lambs  were  dropping;  about  65  of  my  ewes  failed  to  breed;  but  I  have  318 
as  fine  lambs  as  I  ever  saw.  My  wool  clip  averaged  6  pounds  3£  ounces.  This  low 
average  is,  I  think,  due  to  change  of  climate  and  the  fact  that  they  had  only  10£ 
months'  growth  of  wool,  having  been  sheared  in  1890,  late  in  July,  and  this  year  mid- 
dle of  May.  If  sold  at  present  offer  my  wool  would  bring  me  $200.  We  have  any 
amount  of  land  abandoned  for  farming,  which  yields  the  finest  grasses  for  a  sheep 
range.  Water  is  readily  obtained  at  from  20  to  175  feet.  I  bought  my  sheep  in 
September,  1890,  and  did  not  feed  them  a  mouthful  of  anything  until  February  6, 
1891,  at  which  time  they  were  fit  for  mutton. 

Correspondent  of  American  Wool  Reporter,  Willow  Lakes,  S.  Dak. : 

The  sheep  industry  in  this  section  is  growing  very  fast,  in  fact,  I  believe  that 
North  and  South  Dakota  bid  fair  to  be  two  of  the  largest  wool-producing  States  in 
the  I'liion.  The  number  of  sheep  is  increasing  very  fast.  According  to  last  spring's 
assessment  we  had  in  this  county  over  60,000,  and  there  have  been  this  fall  over 
5,000  more  shipped  into  this  county.  All  kinds  of  Fheep  are  bred  here,  but  the  Me- 
rino and  Shropshire  are  the  two  leading  breeds.  The  climate  seems  to  be  perfectly 
adapted  to  sheep,  being  dry  and  not  changeable.  I  came  from  Vermont  and  brought 
full  blood  Merino  sheep  with  me.  They  grow  larger  and  shear  much  heavier  hero 
than  there.  In  some  localities  the  sheep  graze  all  winter,  not  getting  any  hay  what- 
ever. Wool  buyers,  not  being  as  numerous  in  this  locality  last  season  as  we  would 
like  to  see  them  (there  being  only  one  in  this  county),  a  great  many  were  compelled 
to  ship  their  own  wool  to  commission  men.  Their  prices  not  giving  very  good  satis- 
faction, we  would  be  very  glad  to  have  wool  buyers  more  plentiful  another  season. 

INSPECTION  OF   SHEEP. 
AN  ACT  to  amend  chapter  135  of  the  laws  of  1885  in  relation  to  the  inspection  of  sheep. 

Be  it  enacted,  etc.,  That  section  one,  chapter  one  hundred  and  thirty-five  of  the 
laws  of  1885,  be  amended  to  read  as  follows : 

SEC.  1.  In  every  county  in  this^State  containing  two  thousand  sheep  or  more,  the 
county  commissioners  shall  appoint  a  sheep  inspector,  who  shall  be  selected  by  the 
sheep-owners  of  the  county  at  a  meeting  for  that  purpose ;  such  inspector  shall  hold 
his  office  for  the  period  of  two  years,  unless  removed  for  cause.  Any  inspector  may 
act  in  any  adjoining  county  having  no  inspector  on  the  request  of  the  commissioners 
thereof.  The  meeting  mentioned  in  this  section  shall  be  called  by  the  county  com- 
missioners, and  they  shall  give  notice  of  such  meeting  by  notice  published  in  a  news- 
paper of  the  county  for  two  successive  weeks  prior  to  the  date  of  the  meeting,  and 
the  first  publication  shall  be  at  least  twenty  days  before  the  day  fixed  for  the  meet- 
ing, and  said  notice  shall  give  time  and  place  of  holding  the  same. 

SEC.  2.  That  section  two  of  chapter  one  hundred  and  thirty-five  of  the  laws  of 
1885  be  amended  to  read  as  follows :  It  shall  be  the  duty  of  the  sheep  inspector 
whenever  he  shall  have  knowledge  or  information  that' any  sheep  within  his  juris- 
diction have  the  scab  or  any  other  malignant  contagious  disease,  to  inspect  said 
flock  and  report  in  writing  the  result  of  his  inspection  to  the  county  auditor  of  his 
county,  to  be  filed  by  him  for  reference  for  the  county  commissioners  or  any  party 
concerned,  and  said  inspector  shall  give  to  owner  or  agent  directions  for  treatment, 
and  require  from  same  a  report  every  month  thereafter  until  the  inspector  is  satis- 
fied that  the  disease  is  eured,  when  he  shall  again  inspect  the  flock  and  give  his  cet- 

22990 49 


770        SHEEP  INDUSTRY  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES. 

tificate  of  freedom  from  disease,  and  make  report.  The  certificate  of  freedom  men- 
tioned in  this  section  shall  be  a  passport  for  all  other  counties  in  the  State  into  which 
said  sheep  may  be  moved. 

SEC.  3.  That  section  four,  chapter  135  of  the  laws  of  1885,  be  amended  to  read  as 
follows:  The  owner  of  any  flock,  or  his  agent  in  charge  thereof,  when  the  same  if 
reported  by  the  inspector  to  be  so  diseased,  shall  immediately  house  or  herd  the  same, 
or  keep  in  some  inclosure  so  that  they  can  not  range  upon  any  ground  accustomed 
to  be  ranged  upon  by  any  other  sheep,  and  shall  restrain  them  from  passing  over  or 
traveling  upon  any  public  highway  or  road.  The  owner  of  such  sheep  or  his  agent 
in  charge  thereof  shall  at  once  follow  any  directions  for  treatment  prescribed  by 
the  inspector,  and  promptly  and  faithfully  carry  out  the  same  until  a  cure  is  effected, 
and  shall  report  to  the  inspector  as  provided  in  section  2,  chapter  135  of  the  laws 
of  1885,  being  section  2352,  Compiled  Laws.  In  all  cases  where  the  owner  of  sheep 
or  his  agent  in  charge  thereof  believe  themselves  wronged  by  the  report  or  action  of 
the  inspector,  they  may  appeal  to  the  veterinarian  of  the  State  agricultural  college; 
such  appeal  to  be  made  by  notice  in  writing  served  upon  the  inspector  and  upon  the 
county  clerk.  Within  five  days  after  the  service  of  notice  on  the  county  clerk  he 
shall  forward  all  papers  filed  with  him  and  referring  to  such  matter  to  the  said  vet- 
erinarian aforesaid. 

SEC.  4.  That  section  8,  chapter  135  of  the  laws  of  1885,  be  amended  by  striking  out 
the  words  " register  of  deeds"  where  they  occur  in  said  section,  placing  the  words 
"  county  auditor"  in  place  thereof. 

SEC.  5.  That  section  9,  chapter  135  of  the  laws  of  1885,  be  amended  to  read  as  fol- 
lows: The  inspector  shall  receive  three  dollars  per  day  while  necessarily  employed 
in  inspecting  sheep,  and  all  fines  and  penalties  shall  be  paid  to  the  county  treasurer, 
to  be  set  aside  as  an  inspection  fund. 

SEC.  6.  That  section  11,  chapter  135  of  the  laws  of  1885,  be  amended  to  read  as 
follows:  "Whenever  any  sheep  inspector  shall  wilfully  and  falsely  report  any  sheep 
to  be  affected  with  disease,  or  wilfully  and  falsely  report  any  sheep  inspected  by  him 
free  from  disease  he  shall  forfeit  his  office  as  inspector  and  shall  be  subject  to  pen- 
alty of  not  less  than  twenty  five  dollars  nor  more  than  one  hundred  dollars. 

SEC.  7.  That  section  14,  chapter  135  of  the  laws  of  1885,  be  amended  by  striking 
out  the  word  "fees"  wherever  the  same  occurs  in  said  section,  and  insert  in  place 
thereof  the  word  "service." 

SEC.  8.  Repeal.  All  acts  and  parts  of  acts  inconsistent  with  this  act  are  hereby  re- 
pealed. 

Approved,  March  1,  1891.  ' 


CHAPTER    II. 

THE  SHEEP  INDUSTRY  IN  WYOMING,  COLORADO,  AND  UTAH. 
WYOMING. 

The  Dew  State  of  Wyoming  ranks  high  as  a  wool  and  sheep  produc- 
ing region.  When  it  is  considered  how  short  a  time  sheep-raising  has 
been  an  important  branch  of  its  animal  industry,  its  success  is  marked. 
The  industry  now  bids  fair  to  become  the  greatest  live-stock  interest 
instead  of  the  least,  as  it  has  been  heretofore.  Stock-raisers  of  Wyo- 
ming, as  well  as  those  of  Montana  and  South  Dakota,  realize  as  never 
before  the  importance  of  raising  sheep,  and  that  cattle  are  not  the  only 
profitable  class  of  domestic  animals.  The  depression  which  has  befallen 
the  cattle  business  set  men  to  thinking,  and  they  were  not  long  in  dis- 
covering that  a  country  which  will  sustain  cattle  is  not  wholly  unsuited 
for  sheep.  Five  years  of  practical  experience  convinced  them  that  there 
is  more  profit  in  sheep  than  there  is  in  cattle,  and  stockmen  seeking 
localities  for  a  stock  ranch  also  learned  that  one- third  the  capital  required 
to  stock  up  with  cattle  is  sufficient  to  start  with  sheep,  and  this  was  a 
strong  inducement  to  try  sheep  rather  than  cattle. 

Wyoming,  during  its  Territorial  days,  was  noted  for  its  live-stock 
interests — cattle-raising  being  in  the  lead.  The  best  ranges  were  fairly 
\\  HI  stocked  with  cattle  or  horses.  Previous  to  1870  thelive-stock  indus- 
try was  of  little  consequence,  but  soon  thereafter  the  grazing  lands  came 
into  demand,  and  the  number  of  animals  increased  rapidly  every  year 
until  1884,  when  it  was  estimated  that  there  were  about  2,000,000  head 
of  cattle,  with  a  few  sheep  and  horses;  and  the  desirable  ranges  were 
generally  occupied.  Many  wealthy  cattle  companies  had  been  formed, 
Eastern  and  foreign  capital  poured  into  the  Territory,  and  cattle  specu- 
lation was  the  craze.  It  was  difficult  for  the  sheepmen  to  get  much  of 
a  foothold,  as  they  were  ten  years  behind  the  cattlemen;  besides,  they 
lacked  the  financial  backing  of  the  cattlemen.  They  had  to  rely  upon 
their  own  resources  strictly,  and  had  necessarily  to  select  ranges  not 
occupied  with  cattle.  Since  1884  the  cattle  business  has  declined,  and 
the  sheep  business  advanced  until  at  the  present  time  there  are  more 
sheep  than  cattle  in  Wyoming,  and  as  the  State  improves  the  number 
of  sheep  as  well  as  horses  will  increase,  and  together  they  will  excel 
the  cattle  business  in  importance.  The  grazing  lands  of  the  State  are 
better  suited  to  horses  and  sheep  than  to  cattle,  as  they  are  close  grazers, 
and  much  of  the  pasturage  consists  of  short  grass  with  some  browsing. 

Of  the  ten  counties  of  the  State  the  following  are  the  principal  sheep 

771 


772  SHEEP    INDUSTRY    OP    THE    UNITED    STATES 

counties,  ranking  as  to  number  of  sheep  in  the  order  named:  Carbon, 
Uinta,  Fremont,  Albany,  Sweet  water,  and  Laramie.  The  four  remain- 
ing counties  have  a  few  thousand  sheep,  but  cattle  and  horses  now  rep- 
resent the  principal  live-stock  interests  in  those  counties. 

The  breed  or  class  of  sheep  most  numerous  in  the  State  are  of  the 
Merino  type,,  mainly  of  Spanish  blood,  with  a  fair  representation  of  the 
French.  The  coarse- wool  Mexican  sheep  is  strongly  represented  in 
many  flocks  as  the  basis,  but  has  been  crossed  with  the  Merino  until 
many  of  the  original  and  objectionable  qualities  have  been  more  or  less 
eradicated.  The  Mexican  foundation,  however,  has  been  very  service- 
able to  the  industry  because  of  their  adaptability  to  the  country  and 
the  methods  in  vogue  of  handling  sheep;  however,  a  large  number  of 
the  first  sheep  brought  into  the  Territory  came  from  Oregon  and  Cali- 
fornia, mainly  large-bodied  Merino  grades.  The  class  of  sheep  brought 
in  from  the  States  east  were  more  or  less  improved,  many  being  pure 
breeds.  Nearly  all  the  breeding  rams  were  thoroughbred.  During  the 
past  five  years  quite  a  number  of  Cotswold,  Southdown,  and  Shrop- 
shire bucks  have  been  used,  and  generally  with  satisfactory  results. 
At  present  the  Shropshire  rams  are  much  favored.  The  cross  produces 
an  animal  which  gives  great  satisfaction.  There  is  probably  no  other 
State  or  Territory  in  the  open-range  country  that  has  uniformly  so  fine 
a  class  of  sheep.  A  marked  characteristic  of  the  sheep  of  Wyoming 
is  their  large  bodies  and  heavy  fleeces.  This  is  attributed  largely  to 
the  climate.  Owing  to  this  characteristic  the  sheepmen  have  made 
more  money  during  the  last  two  or  three  years  than  their  fellow  crafts- 
men on  the  open  ranges.  The  larger  carcass  gives  superior  mutton 
qualities. 

The  grazing  land  is  a  hilly  and  mountainous  country  and  open  plains. 
In  the  southeast  part  of  the  State  the  plains  are  fertile  and  produce 
buffalo,  bunch,  and  a  native  blue  grass  in  abundance,  while  the  desert 
or  "bad  lands"  of  the  plains,  in  Carbon  and  Sweetwater  counties,  pro- 
'duce  the  various  kinds  of  sage,  such  as  the  common,  sweet,  salt,  and 
black  sages,  together  with  bunch  grass.  During  winter  the  sheep  feed 
on  these  sages  or  browse  on  the  sagebrush  and  greasewood  among  the 
foothills;  and  when  water  is  not  abundant  or  accessible  on  the  plains, 
they  have  to  depend  on  the  snow  for  water.  During  summer  the  water 
is  supplied  by  the  creeks  and  running  streams  or  springs,  which  have 
their  source  in  the  mountains.  Timber  is  of  course  scarce  and  is  not 
needed  for  shade,  as  in  the  warmer  climates.  The  natural  protection 
in  winter  consists  of  hills,  bluffs,  and  mountains. 

Sheep  that  are  brought  in  from  other  States  usually  do  well  and  be- 
come acclimated  without  serious  loss  or  deterioration.  This  is  especially 
true  of  sheep  brought  from  the  North  or  West,  while  those  brought 
from  the  East  usually  require  the  first  year  for  acclimation.  After  that 
they  seem  to  do  as  well  as  the  home  raised  animals,  and  improve  in 
size  and  weight  of  fleece.  Notwithstanding  the  method  of  letting  the 


WEST    OF    THE    MISSISSIPPI    RIVER.  773 

slieep  depend  upon  their  own  resources  for  feed  during  the  winter,  it  is 
a  fact  that,  healthy  and  strong  sheep  usually  come  through  the  winter 
in  good  form  and  condition. 

The  class  of  rams  mostly  used  now  are  full  blooded  Merinos,  which 
includes  a  number  of  the.French.  Heretofore,  many  of  the  flock-mas- 
ters have  been  content  to  use  home-grown  or  grade  bucks;  but  as  the 
methods  improve  and  profits  increase,  the  quality  of  the  bucks  improves. 
As  mentioned,  before,  the  mutton  breed  bucks  are  being  used  with  sat- 
isfactory results.  The  cross  of  the  Shropshire  ram  on  the  Merino  ewe 
produces  a  hardy  and  profitable  animal  of  good  size,  with  an  average- 
weight  fleece  of  high-priced  wool.  The  rams  used  are  two  years  old  and 
upwards.  The  number  of  ewes  given  each  ram  varies  from  35  to  75, 
an  average  of  from  40  to  50  ewes.  The  ram  remains  with  the  flock 
about  thirty  days  from  the  middle  of  December ;  however,  some  flock- 
masters  permit  the  rams  to  run  with  the  flock  until  spring  or  shearing 
time. 

The  average  per  cent  of  lambs  raised  varies  accoiding  to  circum- 
stances, governed  by  the  favorable  or  unfavorable  location  of  the  range. 
It  is  a  rare  occurrence  to  raise  less  than  75  per  cent  o/  the  lambs ;  fre- 
quently they  save  as  high  as  80  or  90  per  cent.  If  the  ewes  are  in  good 
condition  and  mature  they  seldom  fail  to  breed,  unless  the  rams  are 
taken  away  within  thirty  days,  when  from  5  to  10  percent  fail  to  breed. 

It  is  remarkable  how  little  winter  feeding  is  done.  As  a  rule  no 
grain  is  fed,  except  in  rare  cases,  when  the  flock  is  favorably  located 
near  the  railroad,  or  when  a  few  choice  rams  or  other  pure-bred  slieep 
are  held  where  grain  is  accessible.  The  usual  winter  feeding  consists 
of  hay  fed  during  a  few  stormy  days  in  midwinter,  not  to  exceed  an 
average  of  a  dozen  days.  Sheds  for  protection  are  as  rare  a  provision 
as  winter  feeding.  The  flockmaster  trusts  to  nature,  and  her  provis- 
ions consist  of  the  mountain  sides,  canyons,  willow,  or  sagebrush,  bluffs, 
and  foothills.  The  severe  storms  come  from  the  east  or  the  north. 
The  exceptional  artificial  shelter  consists  of  underground  stables  or 
cheaply  constructed  sheds. 

Very  little  land  is  owned  or  leased  by  the  sheepmen.  They  use  for 
the  greater  part  Government  land.  The  portion  of  the  land  that  con- 
stitutes the  home  ranch  is  usually  small  in  area  and  contains  the  win- 
ter corral,  dipping  pens,  and  perhaps  some  hay  land;  this  small  tract 
is  frequently  leased. 

The  main  object  of  sheep-raising  in  Wyoming  has  been  the  produc- 
tion of  wool,  but  the  objects  now  seem  to  be  both  wool  and  mutton, 
and  the  latter,  with  the  class  of  sheep  now  grown,  is  at  present  the 
most  profitable.  But  sales  tend  to  the  decimation  of  the  flocks,  though 
it  is  fortunate  that  the  surplus  sheep  can  be  disposed  of  profitably. 

Sheep-shearing  in  this  State  takes  place  either  during  May  or  June. 
When  a  gang  of  sheap-shearers  make  their  appearance  in  a  county,  a 
date  is  fixed  and  a  suitable  place  arranged  for  the  shearing,  which  is 


774        SHEEP  INDUSTRY  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES 

done  on  a  wholesale  plan.  The  wool  is  immediately  sacked  and  taken 
to  the  nearest  railroad  point  for  storage  and  shipment.  When  the 
flocks  are  within  reasonable  distance  of  railroad  towns,  the  sheep  are 
driven  in  at  the  rate  of  1,000  per  day — that  number  being  shorn  daily 
by  an  average  crew  of  California  shearers,  who  are  mostly  employed 
as  experts,  and  who  receive  from  7  to  10  cents  per  head  for  shearing. 
Where  it  is  possible,  the  wool  is  sold  at  the  nearest  railroad  to  local 
buyers.  The  bulk  of  the  wool  is  consigned  to  commission  houses  in 
Chicago  or  Boston.  A  large  amount  of  the  wool  has  to  be  freighted  on 
wagons  200  miles  to  reach  a  railroad  station.  The  present  system  of 
disposing  of  wool  and  the  long  and  liigh-priced  railroad  haul  is  a  very 
serious  difficulty  encountered  by  Wyoming  sheepmen. 

The  classes  of  wool  produced  are  fine,  fine  medium,  and  coarse  or 
carpet  wool.  The  net  price  realized  for  the  best  Merino  wool  is  12  to 
19  cents  per  pound;  the  coarse  wool  less.  The  average  weight  of  the 
fleece  for  fine  and  fine  medium  ranges  from  6  to  9  pounds  per  sheep. 
Many  flocks,  however,  average  9  to  10  pounds  per  fleece.  The  general 
average  for  the  State  is  about  7  pounds. 

The  best  distant  market  for  muttons  is  Chicago.  The  best  buyers 
for  wethers  are  the  feeders  in  Nebraska  and  the  Mississippi  Valley. 
The  local  market  is  very  good  for  a  moderate  supply  of  fat  sheep,  and 
it  is  constantly  improving  as  the  population  increases.  The  propor- 
tion of  the  flock  that  is  annually  disposed  of  as  feeders  and  stockers 
varies  from  10  to  50  per  cent.  The  sheepmen  living  within  easy  reach 
of  railroads  dispose  of  a  larger  per  cent  than  those  who  are  more  dis- 
tant. A  conservative  estimate  of  the  number  disposed  of  annually  will 
not  exceed  the  increase  of  the  flocks  under  existing  conditions.  The 
best  wethers  are  sold  to  Eastern  feeders  at  the  ranch,  and  bring  about 
$3  per  head,  while  the  culls  and  aged  ewes  bring  from  $2  to  $2.50  each. 
Occasionally  shipments  are  made  to  Chicago  and  net  the  grower  from 
$3  to  $3.50  per  head,  after  paying  the  high  freight  rates  from  the  moun- 
tains— a  grand  tribute  to  the  individual  value  of  the  sheep.  The  aver- 
age weight  of  3-year  old  wethers  shipped  from  the  State  can  safely  be 
placed  at  115  pounds.  Griif  Edwards,  of  Rock  Springs,  at  one  time  in 
1888  shipped  6,300  3-year  old  wethers  to  Chicago  and  their  average 
weight  at  destination  was  135 pounds.  This  shipment,  however,  repre- 
sents the  best  maximum  weight,  which  exceeds  the  usual  average.  Tak- 
ing the  various  classes,  the  range  of  mature  wethers  will  run  from  90  to 
150  pounds. 

The  average  cost  per  sheep  a  year,  all  expenses,  is  variously  esti- 
mated from  30  cents  to  $1.  The  lowest  estimates  come  from  Albany, 
Sweetwater,  and  Fremont  counties.  The  average  annual  cost  per  head 
should  not  be  estimated  at  less  than  50  cents.  Herders  and  ranch 
hands  employed  are  usually  foreigners  or  Mexicans.  The  herders  re- 
ceive from  $30  to  $40  per  month,  and  the  ranch  hands  $20  to  $30  per 
month  by  the  year. 


WEST    OF    THE    MISSISSIPPI    RIVER.  775 

The  principal  disadvantages  and  difficulties  encountered  by  the 
sliei'pmeii  of  Wyoming  are  the  fencing  of  the  free  range  or  public  land 
by  large  corporations,  which  often  includes  the  hay  land  and  watering 
places,  and  especially  desirable  ranges.  The  depredation  of  wild  ani- 
mals is  a  serious  obstacle,  "which  demands  the  constant  watchfulness  of 
the  herders  day  and  night  to  prevent  loss ;  scarcity  of  competent  herders 
and  ranch  hands  to  properly  care  for  the  sheep;  storms  and  deep  snows; 
scarcity  of  railroads  for  transporting  sheep  and  wool;  impassable  roads 
or  long,  tedious  drives  over  rough  or  barren  countries  to  reach  shipping 
stations;  scarcity  of  water  in  many  places  on  the  plains,  and  last,  but 
not  least,  the  present  system  of  selling  wool  by  consigning  to  Eastern 
commission  houses,  with  its  consequent  long  railroad  hauls  and  longer 
freight  bills,  with  uncertainty  as  to  the  time  and  amount  of  returns.  As 
the  profits  of  the  business  depend  on  the  wool  sales  it  works  a  hard- 
ship on  the  producer  to  be  at  the  mercy  of  his  commission  merchant  for 
returns. 

The  local  advantages  of  the  State  for  sheep  husbandry  may  be  men- 
tioned briefly,  as  follows:  It  is  a  natural  grazing  country,  specially 
adapted  to  pastoral  pursuits.  No  portion  of  the  Eocky  Mountain  coun- 
try is  better  suited  in  every  way  for  stock-raising  than  Wyoming. 
Although  the  State  is  located  in  the  arid  regions,  yet  by  virtue  of 
its  characteristics  of  soil,  rainfall,  elevation,  and  natural  food  supply 
throughout  the  entire  year,  this  comparatively  dry  area  is  specially 
adapted  to  grazing  purposes,  and  the  larger  portion  of  the  State  will 
never  be  available  for  anything  else.  The  large  area  and  great  va- 
riety of  grazing  lands  permit  the  system  of  frequent  changes  of  range, 
which  keeps  the  sheep  in  a  thrifty  and  growing  condition.  There  is  an 
abundance  of  free  public  land,  and  there  are  no  contagious  diseases, 
hence  the  sheep  are  healthy,  and  the  small  cost  of  handling  them  is  an 
important  item  on  the  credit  side  of  the  account.  Disease  is  practically 
unknown.  There  are  exceptional  complains  of  catarrh,  tapeworm,  and 
an  occasional  case  of  poisoning.  None  of  these  affections  are  general. 
The  only  disease  which  may  be  said  to  be  common  is  scab,  but  this  is 
well  under  control,  and  in  some  counties  it  has  been  so  nearly  eradicated 
that  inspectors  are  not  needed.  The  stringent  scab  laws  afford  ample 
protection  to  the  flockmasters.  Even  in  infected  flocks  very  little  loss 
occurs,  as  they  are  cured  by  dipping. 

Generally  speaking,  the  sheep  industry  of  Wyoming  is  flourishing, 
although  there  is  something  of  a  decline  in  the  southeastern  part  of 
the  State,  owing  to  the  fencing  of  the  range.  In  localities  where  the 
business  is  unfettered  it  is  looking  up,  and  the  sheepmen  feel  encour- 
aged. They  are  making  more  money  than  any  other  class  of  stock- 
men; however,  not  many  new  men  are  engaging  in  the  business,  being 
deterred  by  the  fear  of  further  tariff  agitation.  The  best  ranches  are 
already  occupied  by  men  who  do  not  care  to  sell.  In  Johnson  and 
Fremont  counties  bright  prospects  are  reported  for  an  increased  num- 
ber of  sheep. 


776  SHEEP    INDUSTRY    OF    THE    UNITED    STATES 

As  to  tlie  best  methods  of  conducting  the  business,  L.  0.  Morrison, 
of  Fremont  County,  says : 

Take  a  herd  of  2,500  to  4,000.     The  herder  is  always  with  the  herd ;  another  goes 
with  the  team  once  a  week  or  so  to  move  camp,  look  up  lost  sheep,  look  for  new 
range,  camp  ground,  etc.     The  herd  is  kept  along  the  streams  or  in  the  mountains 
during  the  summer.     In  November  or  December,  when  the  snow  begins  to  fall,  it 
is  taken  out  into  the  waterless  plains,  where  the  range  has  been  unused  in  summer, 
depending  entirely  upon  snow  for  water,  where  it  remains  until  the  snow  is  gone. 
About  tfce  time  lambing  begins — about  the  10th  of  May — when  the  breeding  ewes 
are  put  in  a  separate  herd.     Two  or  three  extra  hands  are  required  through  lambing 
time.     A  few  shear  in  April,  before  lambing,  though  many  shear  in  July,  after  j 
lambing.     I  prefer  to  shear  in  April.     I  have  been  in  this  country  eight  years.     In 
that  time  we  have  had  but  one  very  severe  winter.     The  condition  of  the  range  \ 
being  favorable  but  few  sheep  died;  but  if  such  a  winter  should  come  now  the  loss  ] 
would  be  very  heavy.     We  always  are  in  fear  of  hard  winters.     Hay  is  out  of  the 
question. 

In  the  unsettled  portions  of  the  State  the  nomadic  range  system  is 
considered  most  profitable,  especially  from  lambing  time  until  regular 
winter  sets  in,  when  hay  can  be  had  and  sheds  provided  during  stormy 
weather.  No  uniform  system  of  conducting  the  industry  can  be  rec- 
ommended, because  portions  of  the  State  are  as  unlike  as  Vermont 
and  Texas,  and  methods  in  vogue  in  Fremont  County  would  bankrupt 
a  nockmaster  on  the  Laramie  Plains ;  however,  by  following  the  plans 
adopted  by  experienced  sheepmen  and  attending  strictly  to  business, 
by  vigilance  and  employing  competent  and  trustworthy  herders  and 
hands,  success  and  profit  are  certain. 

In  northern  Wyoming,  in  Sheridan  County,  the  method  of  E.  B.  Viall, 
of  Beskin,  is  to  be  commended,  and  is  as  follows : 

In  the  first  place  get  good  sheep  to  begin  with.  Keep  them  tame.  Keep  your 
pens  clean  in  winter.  Keep  them  dry.  Run  them  out  on  the  range  every  day.  1 
run  my  sheep  in  the  mountains  from  July  I  until  the  snow  drives  them  out.  They 
do  splendidly.  There  is  plenty  of  shade,  feed,  and  water.  There  is  no  other  animal 
that  does  well  in  the  mountains.  The  greatest  trouble  in  this  part  of  the  country  is 
to  get  a  good  winter  range  where  you  can  get  hay.  The  trouble  is  scarcity  of  water 
to  irrigate  with.  There  is  no  trouble  about  the  range  as  long  as  there  is  no  snow; 
but  to  be  safe  in  the  business  you  must  furnish  hay.  Last  winter  I  fed  considerable 
hay.  Perhaps  this  wiuter,  if  it  is  a  hard  one,  it  will  take  100  tons  to  winter  my  9,000 
or  10, 000  head.  No  one  should  go  into  the  business  unless  he  can  furnish  plenty  of 
good  hay.  I  am  now  57  years  old,  and  have  had  more  or  less  experience  with 
sheep  my  whole  life,  and  I  have  come  to  the  conclusion  that  the  way  to  make  a  suc- 
cess of  sheep  husbandry  is  to  raise  the  best,  keep  everything  strictly  clean,  and  do 
everything  in  season. 

CHARACTER   OF   GRAZING   LANDS. 

In  order  to  form  a  correct  idea  of  the  country  it  is  necessary  to  briefly 
describe  the  physical  features  of  the  State,  which  are  mountainous,  with 
valleys,  bold  bluffs,  foothills,  and  broad  rolling  plains.  The  mountains 
have  a  general  direction  from  the  northwest  to  the  southeast,  and  often 
present  the  appearance  of  broken  and  detached  spurs.  Narrow  valleys 


WEST    OF    THE    MISSISSIPPI    RIVER.  777 

and  wide,  open  plains  lie  between  mountains  capped  with  everlasting 
snows  and  seamed  with  deep  canyons  and  gorges.  The  chief  rangesare 
the  Yellowstone  and  Wind  River  of  the  Rocky  Mountains  in  the  north- 
west, the  Big  Horn  Mountains  near  the  center  and  north,  and  the 
Laramie  and  Medicine  Bow  or  Black  Hills  ranges  in  the  east.  Numer- 
ous rivers  and  their  tributaries  have  their  head  waters  within  the  State 
of  Wyoming. 

The  extent  of  surface  of  the  State  is  355  miles  in  length  by  276  miles 
in  width,  giving  an  area  of  97,883  square  miles;  and  notwithstanding 
the  mountainous  character  of  the  State,  more  than  one-half  of  the  area 
is  considered  good  grazing  land,  available  for  that  purpose  as  free 
public  land.  The  State  as  a  whole  has  an  elevation  of  from  3,000  to 
8,000  feet  above  the  sea  level. 

The  Laramie  Plains,  in  southeast  Wyoming,  are  the  best  known  open 
range,  with  an  elevation  of  5,000  to  6,000  feet.  There  are  no  great  ex- 
tremes of  altitude  except  in  the  Big  Horn  range  in  the  northwest,  and 
Laramie  Peak  in  the  southeast.  A  very  large  portion  of  the  State  con- 
sists of  small  undulating  plains  and  valleys  running  back  into  the  hills 
or  breaks,  which  constitute  the  favored  shelter  and  grazing  grounds 
during  stormy  winter  weather. 

The  valleys  and  even  the  desert  lands,  when  irrigated,  produce  large 
crops  of  grain  or  alfalfa.  The  soil  of  the  valleys  and  plains  is  mostly 
of  a  rich  loam,  although  there  are  various  qualities  of  soil  which  produce 
nutritious  grasses  that  cure  where  they  grow  and  furnish  food  both 
summer  and  winter.  The  grasses  in  the  foothills  and  breaks  are  sparse, 
but  when  cured  are  the  most  nutritious  of  forage  plants.  In  addition 
to  the  grass,  there  is  other  nutritious  herbage  suitable  for  browsing  and 
grazing.  The  mountains  are  mostly  covered  with  a  timber  growth  of 
pine,  spruce,  hemlock,  and  cedar;  in  some  of  the  foothills  aspen,  walnut, 
elm,  ash,  box  elder,  hackberry,  and  small  growth  of  red  cedar;  while 
along  the  rivers  or  principal  streams  may  be  found  two  species  of  cot- 
ton wood  and  thickets  of  willows. 

Governor  Warren  states  that  during  the  past  ten  years  not  more  than 
fifteen  days  each  year  has  it  been  necessary  to  feed  hay  or  grain  to 
strong,  healthy  sheep,  and  then  only  on  account  of  deep  snows  which 
prevented  them  from  reaching  the  ground.  The  grass  is  accessible 
and  nutritious  throughout  the  year. 

NUMBER  AND   VALUE   OF   SHEEP  IN  WYOMING. 

Regarding  the  value  of  sheep  in  Wyoming,  it  is  interesting  to  note 
their  high  average  as  compared  with  that  of  many  other  States  and  Ter- 
ritories. According  to  the  Statistician  of  the  U.  S.  Department  of  Agri- 
culture, in  his  estimate  made  in  June,  1889,  the  average  value  of  the 
sheep  at  that  time  for  the  United  States  was  $2.21  per  head,  while 
Wyoming  sheep  were  placed  at  $2.23  a  head,  and  the  only  other  States 
and  Territories  west  of  the  Mississippi  River  which  had  a  higher  aver- 


778  SHEEP   INDUSTRY    OF    THE    UNITED    STATES 

age  were  Dakota,  Idaho,  Iowa,  Minnesota,  and  Montana,  and  the  excess 
was  but  a  few  cents.  The  estimate  made  then  represented  fairly 
the  cash  value  of  the  sheep.  But  at  the  present  writing  (February, 
1891),  fully  30  per  cent  should  be  added  to  the  average  value.  Favor- 
able tariif  legislation  and  increased  demand  for  breeding  stock  have 
enhanced  their  value  to  that  extent. 

The  total  number  of  sheep  in  Wyoming  for  1891  is  about  the  same  as 
in  1889.  The  governor  of  the  State  estimated  the  number  then  at 
1,250,000,  while  the  auditor,  in  his  annual  report,  only  puts  the  number 
at  459,991  on  which  taxes  were  paid;  but  as  certain  aged  sheep  are 
exempt  from  assessment  and  many  owners  feel  that  they  should  make 
another  exemption  to  cover  the  number  which  may  be  lost  by  wild  ani- 
mals, from  exposure,  or  from  thieves,  the  auditor's  report  is  not  unrea- 
sonable ;  it  is  not  expected  to  be  accurate.  Both  of  these  local  estimates 
are  extremes,  one  a  maximum  estimate  and  the  other  a  minimum.  The 
last  report  of  the  United  States  Department  of  Agriculture  estimates 
the  number  at  1,017,373.  This  estimate  is  conservative  and  is  approxi- 
mately correct.  From  careful  personal  investigations  the  actual 
number  of  sheep  in  Wyoming  on  January  1,  1891,  may  be  placed  in 
round  numbers  at  1,000,000  head.  The  failure  to  show  an  increase  over 
January,  1889,  during  the  two  years  that  have  elapsed,  is  not  owing  to 
any  decline  of  the  industry,  but  is  caused  by  the  large  sales  of  sheep  to 
feeders,  together  with  heavy  losses  in  western  and  central  Wyoming 
during  the  winter  of  1889-'90,  which  was  the  severest  winter  ever  en- 
countered by  sheepmen  in  that  region. 

Values  of  the  animals  vary  as  to  class,  as  described  in  detail  in  the 
preceding  pages.  An  average  value  of  $3  per  head  would  give  a  total 
value  of  $3,000,000,  exclusive  of  the  wool  clip.  The  shipments  of  wool 
this  year  from  Eawlins,  in  Carbon  County,  exceeded  1,500,000  pounds. 
A  conservative  estimate  of  the  value  of  the  wool  clip  for  1890  is 
$1,000,000. 

THE   WATER  SUPPLY. 

The  entire  water  surface  area  of  Wyoming  is  315  square  miles,  and 
consists  of  the  various  mountain  streams  and  lakes,  with  the  rivers  and 
their  tributaries.  The  principal  rivers  are  the  North  Fork  of  the  Platte 
and  its  feeders,  which  drain  nearly  one-third  of  the  State,  the  central 
and  southeastern  portion.  The  southwestern  portion  of  the  State  is 
drained  by  the  Green  Eiver  and  its  tributaries.  In  the  northwestern 
portion  of  the  State  are  the  affluents  of  the  Lewis  and  Snake  rivers. 
And  the  north  and  northeastern  portions  of  the  State  are  drained  by 
the  tributaries  of  the  Yellowstone,  the  Big  Horn,  Powder,  Little  Mis- 
souri, and  Cheyenne  rivers.  The  State  is  one  of  the  best  watered  in 
the  mountain  country  with  these  and  hundreds  of  mountain  streams. 
During  winter  the  sheep  that  are  not  located  near  these  streams  depend 
upon  the  snow  for  water. 


WEST    OF    THE    MISSISSIPPI    RIVER.  779 

The  average  annual  rainfall  in  the  arid  region  is  placed  at  15  inches. 
The  cold  mountains  condense  the  moisture  in  the  country  adjacent, 
thereby  robbing  the  plains  of  their  quota,  making  it  fit  only  for  graz- 
ing, unless  reclaimed  by  irrigation,  which  would  make  of  it  a  produc- 
tive agricultural  country. 

Numerous  rivers,  including  the  Missouri,  Columbia,  and  Colorado, 
with  their  respective  tributaries,  have  their  head  waters  within  the 
State.  Among  the  largest  rivers  are  the  North  Platte,  which  flows 
for  a  distance  of  several  hundred  miles  through  central  and  southwest- 
ern Wyoming,  the  Green  in  the  southwest,  the  Snake  and  Yellow- 
stone in  the  northwest,  and  the  Big  Horn  and  Powder  rivers  in  the 
northeast. 

TEMPERATURE   AND   CLIMATE. 

The  climate  of  Wyoming  is  healthful,  mild,  equable^and  salubrious; 
cool  in  summer  and  averaging  warm  in  winter,  with  but  few  snow- 
storms, and  the  stormy  winds  which  usually  accompany  a  fall  of  snow 
prevent  the  complete  covering  of  the  ground.  Winter  grazing  for  live 
stock  can  therefore  be  depended  upon,  and  is  a  conspicuous. Jfeatuxe  of 
Wyoming.  The  remarkable  wintering  of  live  stock  is  owing  to  the 
peculiar  climatic  conditions  and  influences.  These  are  almost  the  op- 
posite, in  most  respects,  to  those  of  the  low-lying  countries  of  the  same 
latitude  farther  east,  where  the  soil  is  wet,  the  atmosphere  heavy  with 
moisture,  and  the  growth  of  vegetation  rapid,  coarse,  and  rank.  Dur- 
ing the  winters  in  Wyoming  there  are  more  clear,  sunshiny  days,  with 
fewer  storms  and  less  snowfall,  than  in  the  country  eastward.  Besides, 
the  mountain  streams  remain  open  during  the  entire  winter,  so  that 
the  stock  is  not  deprived  of  drink.  The  clearness  and  dryiiess  of  the 
atmosphere  at  all  seasons  of  the  year  make  the  air  pure  and  bracing,  a 
favorable  condition  for  sheep-raising  and  successful  breeding.  This 
important  climatic  advantage  is  favorable  to  the  health  of  live  stock 
generally. 

Another  significant  advantage  of  the  winter  weather  is  the  small 
precipitation  of  rainfall  or  snow  which  takes  place  during  the  winter, 
and  aids  in  explaining,  to  those  unfamiliar  with  Wyoming,  how  it  is 
possible  for  live  stock  to  subsist  on  the  open  ranges  without  other  food 
supply  than  the  native  grasses.  Besides,  the  animals  are  not  subjected 
to  the  chilling  effects  of  rain  and  snow  storms  of  the  lower  and  more 
humid  regions.  The  weather  is  cold,  but  easily  withstood,  because  of 
the  dryness  of  the  atmosphere.  On  the  mountains  opposite  conditions 
prevail.  There  the  heaviest  precipitation  occurs  during  the  winter 
months  in  the  form  of  snow.  A  record  of  the  temperature  has  been 
kept  at  Cheyenne.  For  ten  years  the  mean  temperature  was  59  de- 
grees, the  highest  temperature  about  90  degrees  above,  and  the  lowest 
19  degrees  below  zero.  The  air  may  be  said  to  be  absolutely  pure  and 
the  climate  very  salubrious,  conditions  exceedingly  favorable  for  stock- 
raising. 


780        SHEEP  INDUSTRY  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES 

THE   RELATION   OF   IRRIGATION  TO   THE   SHEEP   INDUSTRY. 

In  view  of  the  growing  importance  of  the  sheep  industry  in  Wyo- 
ming, the  question  of  winter  feeding  is  one  of  great  importance,  and 
must  command  the  thoughtful  consideration  of  every  flockinaster.  As 
the  population  increases  and  flocks  become  more  numerous  throughout 
the  State,  it  is  only  a  question  of  a  short  time  when  the  present  winter 
methods  of  handling  sheep  must  be  abandoned.  The  prudent  hus- 
bandman must  be  prepared  to  adopt  what  may  be  trenchantly  de- 
scribed as  more  civilized  methods,  assigning  to  the  past  the  customs  of 
its  pioneers. 

The  settling  up  of  the  country  under  irrigation  need  not  necessarily 
drive  out  the  sheepmen,  as  feared,  but  instead  it  may  insure  the  per- 
manency and  enhance  the  profits  of  the  business.  In  some  portions  of 
the  State  sheepmen  are  now  compelled  to  feed  more  or  less  hay  or  grain, 
or  both,  during  imdAviuter,  and  also  provide  shelter.  Although  this  is 
very  expensive,  yet  they  find  it  profitable,  obviating  risk  of  heavy  losses 
from  exposure  and  shortness  of  feed.  Most  of  the  hay  and  all  of  the 
grain  are  now  shipped  in,  making  them  very  expensive  for  feed,  but 
when  irrigation. becomes  more  general  the  State  will  produce  its  own 
supply  of  feed.  That  time  is  coming.  There  are  40,000,000  acres  of  ara- 
ble and  grazing  land  in  the  State,  one  eighth  of  which  can  be  irrigated. 
Wyoming  should  furnish  within  herself  the  best  markets  obtainable  for 
all  kinds  of  agricultural  products. 

Under  a  successful  system  of  irrigation,  stock-raising  and  farming 
combined  will  be  both  practical  and  profitable.  Crops  produced  by  irri- 
gation yield  a  larger  quantity  and  better  quality  per  acre  than  when 
produced  otherwise.  The  system  of  letting  the  stock  business  "run 
itself"  in  the  very  nature  of  things  must  end  sooner  or  later  in  every 
portion  of  the  State.  In  certain  localities  it  has  already  stopped,  and 
as  a  result  definite  calculations  can  be  made  as  to  certain  profits  in  the 
business.  The  laud  suitable  for  irrigation  has  remarkable  adaptation 
for  the  construction  of  irrigation  work?,  and  abundant  water  is  acces- 
sible. There  is  no  question  as  to  the  necessity  and  importance  of  irri- 
gation for  stock-raising.  It  will  supplement  the  pasture  and  the  plains, 
and  enhance  the  value  and  usefulness  of  both.  Irrigation  has  been  suffi- 
ciently tested  to  demonstrate  that  by  its  aid  all  kinds  of  small  grain  and 
grass  do  well.  Alfalfa  will  produce  two  crops  a  year,  an  average  of  about 
2  tons  per  acre  at  each  cutting.  The  average  precipitation  for  the  whole 
of  the  mountain  watersheds  is  placed  at  30  inches.  The  irrigable  land 
is  located  in  the  valleys,  which  are  narrow.  The  uplands  bordering 
these  valleys  are  suitable  only  for  grazing,  and  can  not  be  successfully 
irrigated ;  hence  the  stock-raiser  will  have  his  winter  food  produced  con- 
veniently near  his  range.  Irrigation  will  trench  upon  only  a  fraction 
of  the  existing  grazing  lands. 

I  am  convinced  that  irrigation  will  ultimately  become  an  adjunct, 


WEST    OF   THE  ^MISSISSIPPI    RIVER.  781 

which  will  insure  the  perpetuity  of  the  sheep  industry  of  Wyoming. 
The  pasture  laud  possesses  great  value,  and  when  irrigated  for  hay  land 
it  has  a  value  equal  to,  if  not  greater  than,  any  corn  crop  in  other  sec- 
tions of  the  country.  The  hay  produced  in  the  mountain  regions  is  of 
superior  quality  and  fineness,  and  of  greater  value  per  ton  than  that 
produced  in  the  East.  It  is  like  the  native  grasses,  having  a  fine  fiber 
and  is  very  nutritious. 

PERSONAL  EXPERIENCE   AND   COMMENTS. 

The  following  extracts  from  correspondence  or  interviews  with  rep- 
resentative sheepmen  are  given  here  because  of  their  pertinent  relation 
to  the  industry  of  Wyoming.  The  pointers  are  especially  valuable,  be- 
cause they  represent  the  observation  or  experience  of  men  practically 
engaged  in  the  sheep  husbandry  for  some  time. 

W.  D.  Currier,  Albany  County : 

Here  on  the  Laramie  plains  the  sheep  business  is  about  wiped  out.  Six  years  ago 
there  were  forty  sheep  ranches,  now  there  are  six.  Cause,  no  range.  Parties 
bought  the  railroad  land  in  large  blocks,  and  then  fenced  in  both  railroad  and  Gov- 
ernment land  arid  allow  no  one  to  go  inside  the  fence.  There  are  blocks  of  50,000 
and  100,000  acres  so  fenced  here.  I  used  to  run  20,000  sheep  here — now  run  6,000 
or  8,000,  and  shall  have  to  move  out  next  year,  as  they  are  now  fencing  the  last 
of  rny  ranges.  It  is  a  dog-in-the-manger  business,  as  tlaere  is  not  one-fourth  the 
cattle  or  sheep  on  the  Laramie  plains  there  were  six  years  ago. 

T.  J.  Gorman,  Uinta  County: 

Last  year  losses  were  50  per  cent  among  sheep,  depending  on  range.  Sheep  are 
run  on  Government  land  entirely ;  no  leased  land  here.  My  experience  is,  with  sheep 
shearing  7  to  8  pounds  and  wool  worth  16  to  18  cents  here  and  good  mutton  $3. 
Hay  for  three  months  each  winter,  makes  it  a  safe  and  profitable  business,  otherwise 
it  is  unsafe  and  unprofitable. 

A.  Pomeroy,  Uinta  County: 

Our  usual  way  of  conducting  our  shearing  is  by  having  a  corral  made  on  or  near 
our  lambing  ground — on  good  ground;  then  we  hire  men  who  usually  travel  and  do 
nothing  else  but  shear  sheep.  We  pay  about  10  cents  per  head  for  the  shearing. 
The  problem  then  is  the  disposing  of  our  wool.  We  always  try  to  sell  at  home,  for 
when  we  ship  to  commission  men  we  invariably  get  swindled,  and  so  rather  than 
ship  we  would  make  a  sacrifice. 

B.  Sweeney,  Sweetwater  County : 

This  country  will  not  carry  much  stock,  not  as  much  as  many  men  suppose,  and 
the  hard  winters  with  an  overstock  will  spoil  the  business.  There  is  only  one  way 
for  profitably  conducting  sheep  husbandry  that  I  know  of  here ;  that  is,  keep  the 
sheep  as  fat  as  possible  in  the  summer  on  good  range,  and  let  them  take  their  chance, 
with  good  care,  in  the  winter.  Feeding  is  impossible  here.  There  are  some  men 
here  who  have  as  high  as  35,000  sheep ;  the  flock  is  divided  into  bands  of  about  2,000 
each.  It  will  not  pay  to  run  less  than  2,000.  Last  winter  pretty  nearly  broke  a 
good  many  sheepmen  in  this  country,  but  it  was  an  exception.  Ten  per  cent  would 
cover  the  losses  for  some  time  before,  say  four  years.  If  it  was  not  for  the  hard 
winters  and  wild  animals  the  sheep  business  would  pay  \«  t. 


782  SHEEP    INDUSTRY    OF    THE    UNITED    STATES 

D.  L.  Swinney,  Fremont  County: 

I  think  the  sheep  industry  would  be  a  fair  paying  business  if  we  could  get  a  fair 
protection  in  the  custom-house  and  could  get  the  railroads  to  carry  our  wool  and 
mutton  to  market  at  a  more  reasonable  rate  than  we  have  to  pay  now.  I  think  the 
sheep  industry  will  he  the  main  live-stock  industry  in  the  State  in  the  course  of 
time. 

John  McCrady,  Sweetwater  County: 

I  drove  the  first  stock  sheep  that  ever  came  into  this  county,  in  1878,  from  Colo- 
rado. Have  followed  the  business  mostly  ever  since.  Have  also  driven  from  Texas 
here  and  one  drive  from  California;  sometimes  with  a  profit,  but  not  always.  The 
only  way  sheep  can  be  run  in  this  country  at  a  profit  is  on  a  basis  of  5,000  head 
or  more.  It  does  not  pay  to  run  less,  for  the  reason  that  it  requires  the  same  amount 
of  labor  to  run  a  small  bunch  of  500  head  as  2,500.  The  more  sheep  you  have  the 
less  yosr  expense  per  head  of  running  them  will  be.  We  keep  them  on  the  move  all 
the  time,  never  over  five  days  in  one  camp ;  have  movable  camps,  and  never  corral 
unless  to  shear  and  doctor  them,  or  separate  them  in  some  way. 

J.  S.  Woodruff,  Fremont  County: 

Sheep  are  handled  here  in  flocks  of  from  1,800  to  4,000;  2  men  with  each  band. 
They  have  a  team  and  wagon,  tent  and  supplies,  and  go  with  the  flock  all  the  time; 
move  every  few  days.  The  sheep  and  horses  live  exclusively  on  the  range  the  year 
through.  It  requires  about  5  acres  to  each  sheep.  The  grass  arid  sage  are  very 
nutritious,  but  small  and  thinly  scattered,  such  as  will  grow  on  dry  and  barren  soil 
with  no  rain.  An  Eastern  .farmer  could  not  comprehend  or  catch  on  to  our  way 
of  stock-raising  only  to  see  it.  The  profits  aie  large,  and  the  chances  simply  des- 
perate. If  snow  comes,  or  a  hard  winter,  we  are  helpless, 

D.  V.  Bayne,  Johnson  County : 

It  is  very  difficult  to  make  a  specific  statement  with  regard  to  increase  of  sheep, 
because  you  may  unknowingly  trust  too  much  to  an  inexperienced  or  careless  shep- 
herd in  lambing  season,  or  you  may  encounter  a  bad  storm  at  this  critical  time.  It 
is  difficult  to  make  specific  statements  as  to  destruction  by  wild  animals,  because 
so  much  depends  upon  the  guardianship  of  the  herd.  Destruction  by  exposure 
ranges  from  1  per  cent  to  75  per  cent,  as  feed,  care,  and  storms  vary.  In  my  opinion 
sheep  can  be  made  a  success  here  only  in  bands  of  more  than  1,000,  because  you 
must  protect  them  from  Avild  animals,  whether  in  the  wilderness  among  the  pines 
or  in  10  paces  from  your  cottage  door.  Some  men  in  Wyoming  have  done  well  upon 
the  range  system  exclusively,  but  many  times  sheep  fare  better  eating  hay  than  dig- 
ging in  2  feet  of  snow  for  food.  At  present,  grades  are  preferable  to  thoroughbreds, 
because  they  are  better  rustlers  and  better  mothers.  With  Wyoming's  range  facili- 
ties and  healthy  climate  the  development  of  her  agricultural  lands  would  make  her 
an  excellent  sheep  country. 

Dr.  Gilligan,  Green  Kiver,  Sweetwater  County : 

The  local  markets  of  the  towns  of  this  county  are  very  good,  utilizing  a  large 
number  of  muttons  which  dress  an  average  weight  of  68  pounds,  or  112  pounds 
gross.  The  surplus  muttons  from  this  country  go  to  Kansas  City  or  Denver  and 
Chicago.  Cattle  are  scarce  now  in  this  country.  They  have  been  replaced  by  horses, 
mules,  and  sheep,  for  which  this  country  is  especially  adapted. 

W.  W.  Gleasou,  manager  Warren  Live  Stock  Company,  Cheyenne: 

We  now  have  110,000  sheep  and  2.500  Angora  goats.  Our  crop  of  lambs  for  1890 
was  25,000,  and  our  Angora  kids  number  700.  We  turn  off  every  year  as  feeders  or 
mutton  sheep  our  four-year-old  wethers,  five-year-old  ewes,  and  such  lambs  as  are 


WEST    OF    THE^  MISSISSIPPI    RIVEE.  783 

unsuited  by  condition  to  run  through  the  winter.  These  classes,  together  with  the 
culls  of  different  ages,  are  disposed  of  for  muttons.  As  an  experiment  we  will 
hold  over  one  band  of  four-year-old  wethers  and  turn  them  off  at  five  years  old  to 
feed  for  muttons.  We  have  our  winter  feeding  stations  in  Nebraska.  Our  wool  is 
promptly  consigned  to  Dewey*,  Gould  &  Co.,  of  Boston,  as  soon  as  shorn.  Our  wool 
clips  for  1889  amounted  to  302,745  pounds.  In  preparing  this  for  shipment  we  baled 
tlif  wool  instead  of  sacking,  and  saved  $1,422.81  by  that  method.  The  freight  rate 
from  Cheyenne  to  Boston  on  sacked  wool  is  $2.47  and  for  baled  wool  $1.80  per  100 
pounds. 

Robert  C.  Morris,  Cheyenne,  Wyo. : 

The  suitableness  of  climatic  peculiarities,  with  indigenous  grasses  and  nutritious 
herbage,  to  profitable  sheep  husbandry  in  Carbon  County  appears  to  have  been  rec- 
ognized in  a  practical  way  much  later  than  its  adaptability  to  cattle-growing.  Ten 
years  ago,  before  the  division,  the  22,080  square  miles  contained  only  1,540  sheep, 
grazing  in  small  flocks  over  the  vast  pasturage.  The  last  five  years  have  greatly 
increased  this  industry.  At  this  time  there  is,  within  but  little  more  than  half  the 
same  area,  hardly  less  than  200,000.  An  estimate  based  on  reliable  information 
shows  the  assessment  enumeration  to  be  much  too  low.  This  great  increase  holds 
no  inconspicuous  place  among  the  causes  of  decline  in  the  cattle  business.  While 
the  latter  has  been  prosecuted  with  actual  loss  and  dubious  prospects  for  three  or 
four  years  past,  but  now  brightening  considerably,  the  former  has  yielded  encour- 
aging returns,  besides  adding  to  capital  by  augmentations  of  numbers  in  rapid 
natural  increase,  notwithstanding  large  shipments  to  eastern  markets.  The  immense 
flocks  on  the  ranges  must  compel  cattlemen  to  smaller  holdings  and  more  judicious 
care  within  fenced  ranges  for  the  future.  And  there  is  certain  reason  to  fear  that 
the  sheep  enterprise  may  be  overdone.  The  last  wool  clip  of  the  county  is  estimated 
at  about  1,500,000  pounds.  The  sheep  and  their  fleece  are  of  excellent  quality, 
largely  infused  with  Merino  and  other  choice  blood,  producing  superior  grades  for 
all  purposes,  singularly  exempt  irom  the  contagious  distempers  common  elsewhere 
among  these  animals,  especially  in  New  England  and  the  East.  Everywhere  the 
animals  are  healthy,  in  splendid  flesh,  and  promise  an  unexampled  increase  in  the 
coming  season. 

LAWS  AFFECTING  THE   SHEEP  INDUSTRY. 

As  the  animal  industry  of  Wyoming  constitutes  the  chief  business  of 
her  people,  it  has  been  necessary  for  the  best  interests  of  all  concerned 
to  have  special  laws  relating  to  the  live  stock  of  the  State.  The  follow- 
ing extracts  from  the  statutes  at  large  relating  directly  to  the  sheep 
industry  are  included  as  a  necessary  complement  to  this  report: 

SEC.  4144.  The  county  commissioners  shall  appoint  a  sheep  inspector  who  shall  be 
a  citizen  of  the  county  for  which  he  is  appointed,  for  each  county  containing  two 
thousand  (2,000)  sheep,  who  shall  hold  his  office  for  two  years,  unless  sooner  removed; 
and  any  inspector  may  act  in  an  adjoining  county  having  no  inspector  on  request  of 
the  county  commissioners  thereof. 

SEC.  4145.  It  shall  be  the  duty  of  the  sheep  inspector,  whenever  he  has  knowledge 
or  information  that  any  sheep  within  his  jurisdiction  have  the  scab  or  any  other 
malignant  contagious  disease,  to  inspect  said  flocK  and  report  in  writing  the  result 
of  his  inspection  to  the  county  clerk  of  said  county,  to  be  filed  by  him  for  reference 
for  the  county  commissioners  or  any  party  concerned,  and,  if  so  desired,  once  in  every 
two  weeks  thereafter  to  reinspect  said  flock,  and  report  in  writing  the  result  and 
treatment,  if  any,  in  the  same  manner  until  said  disease  is  reported  cured :  Provided, 
That  in  case  of  removal  of  the  flock  6  miles  from  the  range  of  any  other  sheep,  as 
hereinbefore  provided,  he  shall  only  make  one  inspection  every  three  months. 


784        SHEEP  INDUSTRY  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES 

SEC.  4146.  Upon  arrival  of  any  flock  of  sheep  within  this  Territory  from  any  other 
county,  State,  or  Territory,  the  owner  or  agent  in  charge  shall  immediately  report 
them  to  the  inspector  of  the  county  entered  for  inspection,  and  the  inspector  shall 
then  inspect  them  and  report  as  provided  in  previous  section,  and  in  case  of  failure 
from  any  cause  of  the  owners  or  agents  to  report  for  inspection,  a  fine  of  not  less  than 
one  hundred  dollars  shall  l>e  imposed  on  said  owner  or  agent  for  said  offense,  by  any 
court  of  competent  jurisdiction,  which  fine,  when  collected,  shall  be  paid  into  the 
general  fund  of  the  county  treasury,  and  any  judgment  for  such  fine  shall  be  a  lien 
on  such  sheep;  said  fine  to  be  collected  by  suit  brought  in  the  name  of  the  State. 

SEC.  4147.  The  owner  or  agent  of  any  flock  reported  by  the  inspector  to  be  so  dis- 
eased shall  immediately  herd  them  so  they  can  not  range  upon  or  within  one  mile  of 
any  grounds  accustomed  to  be  ranged  upon  by  any  other  sheep,  and  shall  restrain 
them  from  passing  over  or  traveling  upon  or  within  one  mile  of  any  public  highway 
or  road;  and  in  case  this  can  not  be  done  he  shall  immediately  remove  said  sheep  to 
a  locality,  when  they  shall  not  be  permitted  to  range  within  less  than  six  miles  of 
any  other  flock  of  sheep,  and  said  sheep  shall  continue  to  be  herded  under  the  above 
restrictions  until  upon  inspection  they  shall  be  reported  to  be  free  from  disease. 

SEC.  4148.  The  owner  or  agent  or  employes  of  any  flock  of  sheep  requiring  inspec- 
tion or  about  to  be  inspected  shall  afford  the  inspector  all  reasonable  facilities  for 
making  his  inspection ;  and  for  any  violation  of  any  of  the  provisions  of  this  chap- 
ter, said  owner  or  his  agent  or  employes  shall  be  fined  not  less  than  ten  dollars  nor 
more  than  three  hundred  dollars,  and  every  separate  day's  offense  shall  constitute  a 
separate  offense,  and  the  written  report  of  any  offense,  made  by  an  inspector  under 
oath,  shall  be  prima  facie  evidence  of  the  commission  of  said  offense,  and  any  justice 
of  the  peace  of  the  county  in  which  offense  is  committed  shall  have  jurisdiction 
thereof,  and  the  inspector  shall  ex-officio  report  all  violations  of  the  provisions  of  this 
chapter  of  which  he  has  knowledge. 

SEC.  4149.  Every  inspector,  before  entering  upon  the  duties  of  his  office,  shall  take 
the  oath  of  office  prescribed  by  law  and  shall  give  bond  to  the  State  of  Wyoming  in  the 
sum  of  one  thousand  dollars  with  good  sureties,  conditioned  that  he  will  faithfully 
perform  the  duties  of  his  office ;  such  bond  shall  be  approved  by  the  county  clerk, 
who  shall  indorse  upon  every  bond  he  shall  approve  as  follows:  "I  am  acquainted 
with  the  sureties  herein,  and  believe  them  to  be  worth  the  amount  of  the  penal  sum 
of  the  within  bond,  over  and  above  their  just  debts  and  liabilities." 

SEC.  4150.  Such  bond,  with  the  oath  indorsed  thereon  shall  be  recorded  in  the 
office  of  the  register  of  deeds  for  the  county  in  which  the  inspector  shall  reside,  and 
may  be  sued  on  by  any  person  injured  on  account  of  the  unfaithful  performance  of 
said  inspector's  duties:  Provided,  That  no  suit  shall  be  so  instituted  after  more  than 
twelve  months  have  elapsed  from  the  time  the  cause  of  action  accrued. 

SEC.  4151.  Every  inspector  shall  keep  a  fair  and  correct  record  of  all  his  official 
acts,  and,  if  required,  give  a  certified  copy  of  any  record,  upon  payment  of  the  fees 
thereof,  and  in  case  of  the  inspector's  death,  resignation,  or  removal  said  record 
shall  be  deposited  with  the  register  of  deeds. 

SEC.  4152.  The  inspector  shall  receive  for  his  services  five  dollars  per  day  whilst 
necessarily  employed  in  inspecting,  and  for  the  first  inspection  an  additional  fee  of 
one  cent  per  sheep  when  the  flock  inspected  is  five  hundred  head  or  less,  and  for  in- 
spection of  large  flocks  five  dollars  for  the  first  five  hundred,  one-half  cent  per  head 
for  the  second  five  hundred,  and  one-quarter  of  one  cent  per  head  for  the  remainder 
of  the  flock,  to  be  paid  by  the  owner  or  his  agent,  and  ten  cents  per  line  of  ten  words 
for  any  official  report  or  document:  Provided,  If  any  person  shall  keep  several  sep- 
arate flocks  of  sheep,  and  some  flock  or  flocks  be  not  infected  with  scab,  the  owner 
shall  be  required  to  pay  only  the  fees  for  inspection  of  infected  flock  or  flocks :  And 
provided  further,  That  when  an  inspection  is  made  and  the  result  shall  show  no  dis- 
ease, the  inspector  shall  give  the  owner  a  written  statement  to  that  effect,  and  shall 
be  paid  for  such  inspection  out  of  the  county  treasury  at  the  rate  established  by  this 


WEST   OF   THE  ^MISSISSIPPI   RIVER.  785 

section,  as  before  named,  after  his  account  for  said  inspection  shall  have  been  allowed 
by  the  county  commissioners  in  the  same  manner  and  form  as  claims  against  the 
county  are  allowed  and  approved  by  them.  The  inspector  shall  receive  ten  per 
cent  of  all  tines  and  penalties  collected  in  cases  in  which  he  gives  information  of 
the  offense,  and  his  interest  in  the  result  shall  not  affect  his  competency  as  a  wit- 
ness; and  all  fines  and  penalties  as  herein  provided  shall  be  paid  into  the  general 
fund  of  the  county. 

SEC.  4153.  It  shall  be  the  duty  of  the  inspector  between  the  tenth  day  of  August 
and  the  tenth  day  of  December  in  each  year  to  visit  each  flock  of  sheep  within  his 
county  and  make  a  written  report  of  their  condition  as  to  scab  or  other  malignant 
contagious  diseases,  and  when  he  reports  no  disease  he  shall  be  paid  by  the  county 
as  provided  iu  the  last  preceding  section. 

SEC.  4154.  No  sheep  inspectors  shall  be  appointed  by  the  county  commissioners  of 
any  counties  of  this  Territory  until  they  have  been  petitioned  to  make  such  appoint- 
ment by  the  majority  of  the  sheep-owners  of  said  counties  respectively. 

SEC.  4155.  The  inspector  shall  be  allowed  to  appoint  deputy  inspectors  when  his 
duties  are  such  as  to  require  his  presence  in  distant  portions  of  the  county  at  the 
same  time.  Such  appointment  shall  be  approved  by  the  chairman  of  the  board  of 
county  commissioners,  and  when  so  appointed  and  approved  the  official  acts  of  such 
deputies,  as  such,  shall  have  full  force,  and  the  inspector  and  his  bondsman  shall  be 
held  responsible  therefor. 

SEC.  4156.  Whenever  a  sheep  inspector  shall  wilfully  and  falsely  report  any  sheep 
subject  to  disease,  he  shall  be  subjected  to  a  fine  of  ten  times  the  amount  of  fees 
charged  by  him  for  inspecting,  and  if  he  shall  wilfully  and  falsely  report  any  sheep 
inspected  by  him  free  from  disease  that  are  thus  infected,  he  shall  be  subjected  to  a 
penalty  not  exceeding  three  hundred  dollars  for  each  offense. 

Section  4157  provides  for  his  removal  by  the  commissioners  if  found  guilty  of 
either  of  the  offenses  set  forth  in  section  4156. 

SEC.  4158.  Every  owner  of  sheep  having  scab  or  other  malignant  diseases  shall 
have  the  right  to  drive  over  the  intermediate  ranges  to  his  own  dipping  works,  or 
to  any  public  or  private  dipping  works,  but  in  so  doing  he  shall  consult  the  owners 
or  occupants  of  said  ranges  twenty-four  hours  before  reaching  the  nearest  limits  of 
the  same  as  to  where  he  shall  cross  the  same,  and  in  no  case  shall  he  enter  another's 
corral  or  water  at  his  troughs  or  accustomed  watering  places  with  his  diseased 
sheep  without  the  written  or  otherwise  express  consent  of  the  owner,  and  he  shall 
take  every  possible  precaution  to  avoid  mixing  his  diseased  sheep  with  any  other 
flock  or  flocks.  For  each  and  every  violation  of  these  provisions  of  this  section  he 
shall  be  subjected  to  a  penalty  of  not  less  than  two  hundred  dollars  nor  more  than 
five  hundred  dollars,  and  shall  be  held  liable  for  damages  in  case  any  other  flock  of 
sheep  contract  disease  through  his  carelessness  or  failure  to  comply  with  this  law. 

SEC.  4159.  Every  person  driving  a  flock  of  sheep  from  one  range  to  another,  or 
through  any  portion  of  this  State,  shall  use  every  precaution  to  avoid  mixing  his 
sheep  with  those  belonging  on  the  range  through  which  he  may  be  driving,  or  with 
sheep  being  driven  by  other  persons,  and  a  wilful  or  careless  neglect  of  the  pro- 
visions of  this  section  shall  subject  the  party  so  offending  to  civil  suit  for  damages 
by  the  person  with  whose  sheep  hrs  sheep  may  become  mixed,  and  to  a  fine  of  not 
less  than  one  hundred  dollars,  nor  more  than  five  hundred  dollars :  Provided,  That 
this  section  be  not  so  construed  as  to  prevent  the  proper  herding  of  sheep  on  their 
accustomed  ranges. 

SEC.  4234.  The  county  commissioners  of  the  various  counties  in  this  Territory  are 
hereby  authorized  and  required  to  encourage  the  destruction  of  wolves,  wildcats, 
lynx,  bear,  and  mountain  lion,  by  making  payment  out  of  the  county  fund  to  any 
persons  who  shall  engage  in  the  destruction  of  the  several  animals  hereinbefore 
named,  the  sum  of  money  as  herein  designated,  as  a  bounty  for  the  destruction  of 
said  animals,  viz:  For  each  wolf  or  coyote,  one  dollar  and  fifty  cents ;  for  each 
22000 50 


786        SHEEP  INDUSTRY  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES 

wildcat,  twenty-five  cents;  for  each  lynx,  twenty-five  cents;  for  each  bear,  five 
dollars;  for  each  mountain  lion,  five  dollars.  The  person  or  persons  so  engaged, 
who  may  desire  the  compensation  above  named,  shall  present  to  the  clerk  of  the 
county  in  which  the  animals  were  killed  the  entire  skin  or  pelt  of  such  animals, 
together  with  all  the  paws  attached,  accompanied  by  an  affidavit  stating  that  the 
animal  from  which  such  skin  or  pelt  was  taken  was  killed  in  this  Territory  and  in 
the  county  where  the  claim  is  made  by  the  persons  so  presenting,  and  that  the  said 
animal  was  not  killed  before  March  3,  1884.  It  shall  thereupon  be  the  duty  of  the 
county  clerk  to  give  the  person  or  persons  who  shall  produce  the  evidence  herein- 
before required  a  certificate  stating  the  number  of  animals  of  each  kind  killed,  and 
to  what  sum  the  person  or  persons  are  entitled  under  this  section,  which  certificate 
may  be  filed  with  the  clerk  of  the  board  of  county  commissioners  as  a  claim  against 
said  county,  to  be  by  him  presented  to  the  board  of  county  commissioners  at  their 
next  meeting  thereafter,  at  Avhich  time  the  board  of  county  commissioners  may 
order  a  warrant  draAvn  upon  the  county  treasurer,  as  in  other  cases.  It  shall  be 
the  duty  of  the  county  clerk  to  cause  any  person  presenting  the  skin  or  pelt  to 
attach  all  the  four  paws  and  punch  a  hole  in  each  ear  one-fourth  of  an  inch  in 
diameter,  in  the  presence  of  said  clerk  at  the  time  of  the  presentation  of  the  skin 
or  pelt  of  every  animal  hereinbefore  specified,  and  at  once  to  destroy  the  same. 
(S.  L.,  1848,  ch.  100,  sec.  1.) 

COLORADO. 

Colorado,  the  Centennial  State,  was  made  up  of  some  parts  of  the 
original  States  and  Territories  of  Kansas,  Nebraska,  and  New  Mexico. 
It  has  an  east  and  west  length  of  380  miles,  and  is  280  miles  from  north 
to  south,  forming  an  almost  perfect  parallelogram.  There  are  fifty-five 
counties.  They  are  very  large,  and  comprise  an  area  of  104,500  square 
miles,  or  66,880,000  acres. 

There  may  be  said  to  be  three  natural  divisions  of  the  State — the 
mountain  ranges,  occupying  the  central  portion  from  north  to  south ; 
the  foothills,  and  the  plains.  The  mountains  consist  of  three  generally 
parallel  ranges,  with  intervening  plateaus  or  vast  valleys,  known  as 
"  parks/'  which  are  distinguishing  physical  features  of  the  State.  These 
parks  are  numerous,  but  there  are  four  of  chief  importance — South 
Park,  with  an  area  of  12,000  square  miles;  San  Luis  Park,  somewhat 
larger;  then  Middle  Park;  and,  lastly,  North  Park.  All  these  parks 
are  walled  in  by  high  mountains,  are  well  timbered,  and  exceedingly 
fertile. 

The  plains  occupy  one-third  of  the  area  of  eastern  Colorado,  and 
extend  from  the  eastern  mountain  range  by  a  gentle  fall  down  into  the 
fertile  plains  of  Kansas.  The  western  part  of  the  Colorado  plains  be- 
comes steeper  and  rougher  until  the  foothills  appear.  These  arid  plains 
and  eastward  mountain  slopes  have  an  elevation  of  from  5,000  to  8,000 
feet,  and  nearly  one-half  of  the  State  lies  on  the  eastward  slope  of  the 
Rocky  Mountains. 

The  animal  industry  of  Colorado  is  mainly  confined  to  the  plains, 
although  a  considerable  number  of  live  stock  are  raised  in  the  moun- 
tain parks  and  the  many  forks  and  valleys  of  the  mountain  ranges. 
The  mountain  ranges  of  Colorado,  owing  to  their  abrupt  and  prccip- 


WEST   OF   THE    MISSISSIPPI   RIVEE.  787 

itous  character  and  lofty  peaks,  afford  but  a  small  area  of  summer  pas- 
ture as  compared  to  the  mountain  ranges  of  either  NCAV  Mexico  or 
Wyoming;  and  sheep  are  about  the  only  class  of  live  stock  for  which 
the  mountain  pasturage  is  at  all  available.  Picturesque  mountains, 
however,  make  very  poor  sheep  pasture. 

The  soil  of  the  plains  contains  every  element  of  fertility  for  the  pro- 
duction of  grasses  adapted  to  this  latitude,  and  thus  nature  provides 
range  pasture  suitable  for  live  stock  most  of  the  year.  The  plains  are 
not  suited  to  general  agriculture,  because,  as  the  records  show,  in 
thirty  years  the  average  annual  rainfall  has  been  less  than  15  inches, 
and  this,  while  not  sufficient  for  producing  crops,  answers  all  practical 
purposes  in  most  seasons  for  sustaining  the  growth  of  the  native 
grasses.  The  various  grades  of  soil  represented  are  of  the  gravelly, 
sandy,  clayey  loam,  calcareous,  peaty,  and  adobe.  The  soils  are  gen- 
erally excellent  in  quality,  and  with  sufficient  moisture  produce  abun- 
dance of  grass,  and  when  irrigated  will  produce  grain.  The  adobe 
soil  is  black,  heavy,  and  sticky,  and  is  usually  found  along  the  bot- 
toms near  the  streams.  The  area  of  this  class  of  soil  is  small.  Gen- 
erally the  soil  of  most  of  the  open  range  in  eastern  Colorado  is  a  hard, 
sandy  loam  and  impregnated  with  alkali. 

The  live-stock  business  constitutes  the  chief  agricultural  occupation 
of  Colorado,  and  is  as  well  one  of  the  leading  industries  of  the  State. 
The  different  branches  of  the  animal  industry  rank  in  numbers  and 
value  in  the  order  named — cattle,  sheep,  horses,  and  swine.  Since  the 
decline  of  the  cattle  business  in  the  State  the  sheep  industry  has  been 
steadily  advancing,  and  the  same  is  true  of  the  horse  business.  There 
seems  to  be  no  doubt  that  the  sheep  and  horse  industries  will  become 
the  principal  live-stock  interests  of  the  State.  There  is  no  class  of  stock 
more  naturally  adapted  to  Colorado  than  sheep,  and  at  the  present  time 
they  are  the  most  profitable  branch  of  the  animal  industry.  The  prices 
for  the  wool  product  for  several  years  past  have  not  been  remunerative, 
but,  taken  in  connection  with  the  high  prices  for  mutton  during  the  same 
period,  fair  profits  have  been  realized.  The  demand  for  mutton  has 
enabled  the  sheepmen  to  find  ready  sale  for  all  surplus  wethers  and  at 
the  same  time  rid  the  flocks  of  culls  and  aged  sheep,  and  otherwise  im- 
prove the  breeding  flocks.  Since  1888  mutton  has  been  a  better  source 
of  revenue  and  profit  than  the  wool  product;  and  this  has  led  to  some 
marked  changes  in  the  method  of  breeding  and  handling  sheep.  Prior 
to  the  decline  in  the  cattle  business  sheepmen  generally  bred  their  sheep 
with  reference  to  increasing  the  weight  of  fleece  without  regard  to  mut- 
ton qualities  of  the  animal.  But  now,  owing  to  the  insufficient  supply 
for  even  the  home  demand,  to  say  nothing  of  outside  demand  from  feed- 
ers, which  is  growing  greater  every  year,  and  in  consequence  of  which 
the  value  of  every  sheep  has  been  enhanced,  a  change  in  the  system  of 
si i rep-breeding  has  been  adopted,  which  will  increase  the  weight  of 
carcass  without  reducing  the  weight  or  value  of  the  fleece. 


788  SHEEP   INDUSTRY    OP    THE    UNITED    STATES 

In  order  to  secure  the  desired  result  as  speedily  as  possible  many  of 
the  sheepmen  have  invested  in  Downs  or  other  mutton  rams  to  cross 
Avith  the  ewes,  which  have  been  bred  so  many  years  with  a  view  to  in- 
crease the  weight  of  wool.  And  from  this  cross  an  animal  is  produced 
that  generally  meets  the  present  requirements  both  as  to  wool  and 
mutton.  Though  this  experiment  is  fairly  satisfactory,  yet  this  system 
of  breeding  has  only  begun.  The  lambs  are  strong,  vigorous,  and 
hungry  from  the  start,  and  there  is  not  so  much  difficulty  in  getting  them 
to  suckle  as  with  the  Merinos.  They  seem  to  thrive  on  any  kind  of 
range;  the  Down  cross,  however,  requires  considerable  more  feed  than 
the  Merino  or  Mexican.  Another  favorite  cross  is  the  French- Spanish 
cross-bred  Merinos.  Probably  the  most  notable  and  extensive  experi- 
ment of  this  class  in  the  State  has  been  conducted  by  the  Merino  Stock 
Farm  Company  of  Elizabeth,  Elbert  County.  The  flock  of  this  company 
was  established  by  Frank  G.  Willard  in  1872,  and  consists  of  pure-bred 
Merinos.  The  class  of  rams  that  has  been  used  in  the  past  were  thor- 
oughbreds from  Vermont.  The  present  company  now  makes  a  specialty 
of  the  French-Merino  ram,  and  thereby  get  greater  size  of  frame  and 
carcass,  better  rustlers,  and  do  not  sacrifice  the  quantity  or  quality  of 
wool.  The  result  of  this  cross  on  this  particular  flock  produces  a  sheep 
which,  when  mature,  will  weigh  from  100  to  140  pounds  gross,  and  shear 
from  12  to  15  pounds  of  fine  wool  of  good  length  of  staple.  This  one 
flock  is  a  grand  object  lesson  for  the  industry,  and  demonstrates  its 
possibilities  in  Colorado. 

The  sheep  now  in  the  State  of  Colorado  are  mostly  Merinos  and  their 
grades.  A  large  proportion  of  the  sheep  in  southern  Colorado  trace 
back  to  the  Mexican  base,  and  though  this  strain  of  blood  is  not  es- 
teemed highly  by  practical  sheep-raisers,  there  is  no  reason  for  conceal- 
ing the  merits  of  the  Mexican  sheep,  their  adaptability  to  the  climate, 
the  range,  and  to  the  pioneer  methods  of  conducting  the  business.  It 
required  but  very  little  capital  to  get  a  start  with  sheep  of  this  class, 
and  by  using  pure-bred  Merino  rams  the  flocks  were  soon  graded  up. 
It  is  a  well-known  fact  that  the  Mexican  ewe,  the  base  of  many  of  the 
early  sheep  of  Colorado,  was  a  hardy  animal,  an  excellent  traveler  of 
great  endurance,  and  as  a  mother  even  excelled  the  best  improved 
sheep;  and  these  good  qualities  she  transmitted  to  her  progeny.  The 
average  Mexican  ewe  has  a  small  body  and  long  legs,  with  small  wool 
surface.  There  is  little  or  no  wool  on  the  legs  or  bellies,  and  the  fleece 
is  a  sort  of  hairy  wool  of  little  value,  but  the  Merino  cross  soon  obliter- 
ates the  objectionable  qualities.  The  good  qualities  of  the  Mexican  ewe 
were  conveyed  to  the  progeny  of  this  cross  in  a  marked  degree,  making 
a  very  happy  combination,  which  has  helped  the  sheep  industry  to 
attain  its  present  success,  and  has  added  generally  to  the  importance 
of  the  animal  industry  of  the  mountain  regions  and  arid  plains. 

In  connection  with  the  preceding  paragraph  it  must  be  remembered 
that  only  a  portion,  and  not  all,  the  flocks  are  of  the  Mexican  Merino 


WEST   OF    THE-  MISSISSIPPI    RIVER.  789 

sheep,  because  most  of  the  American  flockmasters  started  with  good 
grade  Merinos  which  they  brought  from  either  California  or  from  the 
States  east.  Prior  to  1888  the  Merino  ram  was  used  almost  exclusively ; 
now  small  but  increasing.numbers  of  Shropshire,  Southdown,  Cotswold, 
and  French  Merino  rams  are  beiug  used. 

The  sheep  are  run  in  flocks  of  from  1,500  to  2,000  head.  The  average 
number  owned  by  one  person  or  firm  usually  consists  of  from  one  to 
three  flocks  of  that  size.  There  are  some  large  holdings  throughout 
the  State  that  number  as  many  as  ten,  twenty,  to  fifty  thousand  sheep, 
but  these  are  the  exception  and  not  the  rule.  Under  existing  conditions 
the  disposition  of  sheepmen  is  to  run  smaller  and  better  flocks  and 
handle  them  better  than  heretofore. 

The  sheep  are  held  on  the  open  range  during  the  summer  and  fre- 
quently most  of  the  year.  They  subsist  wholly  on  the  native  grasses, 
which  consist  mostly  of  the  gramma,  buffalo  or  blue  stem,  and  the  bunch 
grasses.  There  are  several  other  varieties  of  less  value.  These  ranges 
are  devoid  of  shade  or  shelter  in  most  places.  Water  is  supplied  from 
occasional  creeks,  springs,  natural  water-holes,  or  wells,  and  in  some 
cases  when  the  range  is  controlled  by  the  flockmaster  reservoirs  are 
constructed  at  convenient  places.  In  winter  the  sheep  are  brought  to 
the  home  ranch,  where,  in  some  cases,  feed  is  provided  when  the  adja- 
cent range  is  insufficent  to  sustain  them,  or  bad  storms  prevent  grazing. 
The  home  ranch  is  generally  located  on  some  creek  where  there  is  good 
shelter  and  water  convenient,  also  considerable  browsing,  besides  abun- 
dance of  grass. 

The  loss  from  depredations  of  wild  animals  is  not  so  heavy  as  in  Wyo- 
ming or  Texas,  except  in  mountain  "  parks."  The  State  bounty  for 
scalps  of  wild  animals,  though  it  is  small,  has  no  doubt  been  helpful  to 
the  sheepmen  and  saved  many  times  its  cost  of  taxable  property  to  the 
State,  besides  causing  a  large  destruction  of  animals  that  ravage  the 
flocks.  The  loss  of  sheep  from  this  source  varies,  as  the  reports  of  the 
sheepmen  range  from  1  to  5  per  cent,  with  an  average  of  less  than  2  per 
cent.  The  loss  of  sheep  from  exposure  is  much  greater,  ranging  from 
3  to  15  per  cent,  an  average  of  about  5  per  cent,  or  double  that  of  the 
loss  from  wild  animal  depredations.  These  sources  of  loss  grow  less 
each  year  as  the  methods  of  handling  sheep  improve. 

Outside  of  breeding  stock  very  few  flocks  of  sheep  are  brought  into 
Colorado  from  other,  especially  eastern,  States.  Occasionally  flocks  are 
driven  into  the  State  from  Oregon,  California,  Utah,  or  New  Mexico, 
but  more  sheep  are  exported  than  are  brought  in.  A  few  years  ago  a 
great  many  flocks  were  brought  in  from  the  States  east  and  seemed  to 
acclimate  readily,  with  no  ill  effects  to  either  constitution  or  fleece. 
Frequently  those  brought  from  the  lower  and  more  humid  country 
needed  the  first  year  to  become  thoroughly  acclimated  or  habituated  to 
the  systems  in  vogue  for  handling  sheep  on  the  plains.  Their  wool 
fiber  becomes  dryer  or  harsher,  and  in  some  cases  appears  to  become 


790  SHEEP    INDUSTRY    OF    THE    UNITED    STATES 

coarse,  but  there  is  no  serious  deterioration.  Many  sheepmen  claim 
that  the  cold  and  dry  winters  improve  the  staple. 

Begarding  breeding  rams  there  exists  some  prejudice  against  the 
highly  bred,  well  fed,  and  carefully  housed  ones  raised  in  the  east. 
They  lack  the  necessary  quality  of  constitution,  and  do  not  thrive  as 
well  as  the  native-grown  rams.  The  western  flockmaster  is  partial  to 
home-raised  rams,  high  grade  or  full-blood,  from  two  years  old  and 
upward,  to  use  on  his  ewes.  From  thirty  to  fifty  ewes  are  bred  to 
Spanish  or  French  Merino  rams,  and  from  fifty  to  seventy-five  to  Shrop- 
shire or  Cotswold.  The  ewes  are  bred  during  the  months  of  December 
or  January;  the  rams  remaining  with  them  about  thirty  days. 

The  average  per  cent  of  lambs  raised  depends  on  the  management  of 
the  Hock,  varying  according  to  the  vigilance  and  skill  of  the  attendants 
during  the  lambing  season.  The  minimum  number  of  lambs  is  about 
75  per  cent,  and  the  maximum  number  raised  is  about  00  per  cent.  Not- 
withstanding the  short  breeding  season  not  more  than  10  per  cent  of 
the  ewes  fail  to  breed. 

Sheltering  and  winter  feeding  are  not  regular  accessories  of  Colorado 
sheepmen,  except  when  necessity  demands  them  during  severe  weather. 
In  the  southern  part  of  the  State  little  or  no  provision  is  made  for 
shelter  or  feed  in  the  winter,  while  in  the  northern  and  eastern  part 
cheap  board  sheds  are  provided,  generally  open  to  the  south  or  east. 
A  great  many,  however,  use  the  sod  or  board  corral,  with  some  sheds 
made  of  poles,  brush,  and  hay.  Still  others  depend  on  the  natural 
shelter  of  the  rough,  broken  country,  with  deep,  rocky  canons,  or  the 
native  cedar  groves. 

The  lands  on  which  the  sheep  graze  is  usually  Government  or  rail- 
road lands.  The  Government  lands  are  free,  while  the  railroad  and 
school  lands  have  to  be  leased  at  an  annual  rental  of  5  cents  per  acre 
or  $32  per  section.  Some  of  the  more  valuable  land  costs  still  more. 
Nearly  every  sheepman  owns  some  land  which  has  water  on  it,  also  the 
home  improvements,  such  as  corrals,  sheep  sheds,  and  other  conven- 
iences necessary  to  the  business.  So  the  sheepmen,  it  can  be  said,  both 
own  and  rent  land — that  is,  they  own  the  water  privileges  and  graze 
the  sheep  on  Government  or  leased  land.  The  sheepmen  feel  that  they 
could  not  afford  to  pay  Government  price  in  order  to  own  sufficient 
range,  because  it  requires  so  many  acres  for  each  animal. 

The  principal  object  of  sheep-raisers  has  heretofore  been  the  produc- 
tion of  wool,  and  that  of  mutton  was  merely  incidental,  but  under  pres- 
ent conditions  it  may  safely  be  said  that  both  wool  and  mutton  are  of 
almost  equal  importance  to  sheep -raisers.  Mutton  has  been  more  profit- 
able since  1888  than  wool.  The  class  of  sheep  that  is  desired  by  the 
practical  flockmaster  of  Colorado  to-day  are  sheep  of  good  constitution 
and  heavy  fleece,  of  good  length  of  staple,  of  clean  wool,  and  at  the 
same  time  large-bodied  animals.  About  such  an  animal  as  would  be 
secured  by  the  cross  of  the  Shropshire  buck  on  a  high  grade  Merino 
ewe  is  preferred. 


WEST   OF   THE   MISSISSIPPI   RIVER,  791 

x 

The  shearing  season  in  Colorado  usually  takes  place  during  June  or 
July.  The  preliminary  preparations  for  this  work  are  very  simple.  A 
few  loose  planks  are  placed  on  the  ground  either  in  the  sheds  or  in  the 
corral,  and  enough  sheep  are  brought  in  from  the  range  for  a  day's  work 
for  the  gang  of  shearers.  *  These  are  generally  Mexicans,  especially  in 
southern  Colorado,  or  expert  California  shearers,  who  command  higher 
wages,  as  they  are  more  rapid  and  skillful.  The  shearers  receive  from 
4  to  6  cents  per  fleece  tied  up.  The  wool  is  immediately  sacked  and 
disposed  of  as  soon  as  possible.  The  local  buyer  generally  gets  the 
clip  if  his  prices  are  at  all  satisfactory,  otherwise  it  is  consigned  to  East- 
ern commission  merchants  in  St.  Louis,  Chicago,  Philadelphia,  or  Bos- 
ton. The  bulk  of  the  wool  produced  grades  as  "  fine,"  "  fine  medium," 
or  "  medium,"  and  in  southern  Colorado  some  coarse  wool  is  produced. 
The  grower  received  from  11  to  15  cents  net  last  year.  The  cost  of 
marketing  is  from  3  to  5  cents  per  pound.  The  weight  of  the  improved 
sheep's  fleece  averages  from  5  to  10  pounds,  while  the  half  and  quarter 
blood  makes  only  from  2  to  5  pounds.  The  average  fleece  of  flocks 
owned  by  Mexicans,  or  the  large  holdings  of  the  same  class  of  sheep  by 
Americans,  produce  an  annual  clip  of  3J  pounds,  while  the  improved 
sheep  will  clip  an  average  fleece  of  about  7  pounds. 

The  best  market  for  the  wool  is  ordinarily  at  home,  to  the  local  buyer, 
or  to  the  representatives  of  Eastern  houses  who  visit  the  ranches  dur- 
ing the  shearing  season.  The  best  markets  for  sheep  that  are  fit  for 
slaughter  are  the  local  markets,  such  as  Denver,  Pueblo,  and  the  min- 
ing camps  and  mountain  towns.  This  demand  usually  exceeds  the  sup- 
ply, owing  to  the  fact  that  feeders  from  the  corn- growing  States  contract 
for  so  many  of  the  mature  wethers  that  this  double  demand,  while  it 
keeps  the  local  market  short,  results  in  giving  the  sheepman  the  top 
prices,  a  benefit  which  he  appreciates  in  view  of  the  low  price  for  wool. 

In  addition  to  the  sale  of  wethers,  Colorado  sheepmen  are  having 
many  calls  for  stock  sheep  to  go  to  Kansas,  Nebraska,  and  Iowa,  so  that 
now  most  of  the  sheepmen  annually  dispose  of  from  15  to  30  per  cent  of 
their  flocks.  Most  of  these  stock  sales  are  made  in  the  fall.  Lambs 
are  sold  from  $1  and  upwards,  ewes  from  $2.40  to  $3,  and  the  wethers 
bring  from  $3  to  $3.50.  These  are  prices  realized  at  the  ranch  for  or- 
dinary sheep,  and  do  not  apply  to  highly  improved  animals.  The  aver- 
age live  weight  of  improved  sheep  sold  for  mutton  is  from  85  to  100 
pounds,  while  the  Mexican  wethers  range  from  50  pounds  and  upwards. 

The  average  expense  per  sheep  a  year  varies,  of  course,  in  the  differ- 
ent counties.  Free  or  leased  range,  winter  shelter,  feed,  and  other  ex- 
penses enter  into  the  account,  which  makes  it  difficult  to  approximate 
a  uniform  cost.  The  estimates  given  the  writer  by  representative  sheep- 
men of  the  different  counties  vary  from  50  cents  to  $1  per  head.  Some 
estimate  that  $500  will  cover  the  annual  expenses  of  a  flock  of  1,500 
sheep.  The  wages  paid  to  herders  is  $20  to  $30  per  niouth?  exclusive 
of  board. 


792  SHEEP    INDUSTRY    OF    THE    UNITED    STATES 

The  local  advantages  for  sheep  husbandry  in  Colorado  are  the  cheap 
or  free  ranges,  the  cool,  dry,  and  healthful  climate,  the  ability  of  the 
State  under  irrigation  to  produce  the  supply  of  winter  feed  when  neces- 
sary, the  freedom  from  disease,  the  nutritious  grasses  which  cure  before 
frost  comes  and  enable  sheep  to  graze  most  of  the  year.  The  area  of 
free  range  is  large  and  can  be  utilized  all  of  the  year  except  in  winter, 
when  the  flocks  are  supposed  to  be  located  on  the  home  ranch  or  farm, 
where  the  winter  supply  of  feed  is  stored.  The  water  is  always  pure, 
cool,  and  abundant,  if  not  always  convenient.  In  most  portions  of  the 
State  where  stock  is  held  in  winter  there  is  natural  shelter.  The  country 
seems  naturally  better  adapted  to  sheep  than  to  other  domesticated 
animals.  They  are  uniformly  healthy,  and  there  seems  to  be  a  con- 
stant immunity  from  the  usual  affections  of  sheep  located  in  the  more 
humid  regions,  such  as  foot-rot,  ticks,  maggots,  and  worms.  There  is 
always  likely  to  be  a  good  home  market  for  mutton  in  the  cities  and 
towns,  and  throughout  the  mountain  country  generally.  Sheepmen 
have  the  advantage  of  competing  lines  of  railroads  for  shipping  from 
Denver  or  Pueblo. 

In  every  portion  of  the  State  where  sheep  are  held  there  are  of  course 
obstacles  and  difficulties  to  be  encountered.  Those  that  are  enumerated 
here  do  not  all  apply  to  any  one  county,  put  are  intended  to  cover  the 
State.  Briefly  mentioned  they  are  as  follows:  Droughty  summers  and 
consequent  shortage  of  winter  feed,  exorbitant  freight  rates,  low  prices 
for  the  average  wools,  absence  of  running  water  on  the  range  and  great 
depth  of  wells,  expensive  building  and  fencing  materials,  high  rates  of 
interest,  limited  range  in  some  counties,  poisonous  weeds,  such  as  loco, 
animal  depredations,  incompetent  shepherds,  high  wages,  no  corn  crops, 
insufficient  cheap  hay,  low  prices  of  wool,  inability  to  control  free  range 
from  traveling  herds  or  "  floaters,"  occasional  snowy  winters,  would-be 
farmers  and  homesteaders  occupying  the  Government  land,  severe 
winter  storms  or  blizzards.  These  constitute  the  principal  ills  of  the 
Colorado  flockm aster. 

Disease  of  any  kind  among  sheep  in  Colorado  is  practically  unknown. 
Scab  is  the  only  affection  that  has  been  at  all  prevalent,  and  that  is 
pretty  well  eradicated  or  well  under  control,  and  is  of  little  further 
consequence.  An  occasional  case  of  tapeworm  was  reported  in  the 
counties  of  Las  Animas,  Lincoln,  and  Arapahoe. 

The  sheep  business  in  Colorado,  generally  speaking,  has  recently  re- 
covered from  a  decline,  and  in  most  counties  may  be  said  to  be  in  a 
fairly  prosperous  condition  at  present,  with  a  bright  outlook  for  the 
future,  providing  there  is  no  further  tariff  agitation  and  the  country 
does  not  become  too  thickly  settled  again,  as  it  was  in  1886  in  what  is 
known  as  the  "rain  belt"  in  eastern  Colorado,  where  so  much  of  the 
land  was  taken  up  by  homesteaders  and  since  largely  abandoned  after 
a  few  years  of  failure  in  cropping,  meantime  keeping  out  stockmen. 
The  prevalence  of  scab  some  years  ago  also  had  a  demoralizing  influence 


WEST    OF    THE    MISSISSIPPI    RIVER.  793 

on  the  industry.  The  low  price  of  wool,  unsettled  values  generally  on 
account  of  tariff  agitation,  together  with  high  freight  rates  to  Eastern 
wool  markets  and  settlers  homesteading  Government  land  had  depressed 
the  business,  but  favorable  legislation  and  the  increased  demand  for 
mutton  have  checked  the  decline  and  given  the  industry  a  new  stimulus. 
The  demand  for  stock  sheep  is  once  more  the  rule  in  many  sections  of' 
Colorado. 

In  regard  to  the  best  methods  for  profitably  conducting  sheep  hus- 
bandry in  Colorado  under  existing  circumstances,  it  is  well  to  state 
that  the  consensus  of  the  opinions  of  representative  sheepmen  of  differ- 
ent parts  of  the  State  is  in  substance  as  follows :  First,  select  the  best 
possible  location  for  the  home  ranch  or  farm — a  place  where  irrigation 
may  be  carried  on  to  produce  the  necessary  feed  crops,  and  to  have  ad- 
jacent, or  conveniently  near,  plenty  of  outside  grazing  land.  Next,  start 
with  good  sheep  and  run  them  in  medium  sized  flocks.  It  pays  better 
than  to  run  large  flocks  of  inferior  sheep.  Be  sure  to  have  plenty  of 
grass  and  water  in  summer  and  provide  abundant  feed  in  winter,  also 
shelter  for  at  least  three  months.  Change  the  range  frequently.  Keep 
the  corral  clean  and  have  plenty  of  salt  for  the  sheep.  Have  a  compe- 
tent man  and  dog  with  each  flock,  and  bring  the  sheep  into  the  corral 
at  night.  Take  good  care  of  them  at  all  times  and  extra  care  of  the 
lambs,  and  when  the  grass  dries  up  in  the  fall  put  the  lambs  on  the 
farm  or  home  ranch.  In  breeding,  grade  up  to  produce  more  wool  and 
mutton.  Select  extra  good  rams,  either  full  fleeced  and  large  sized 
Merinos  or  mutton  breed  rams  to  breed  on  the  ewes.  Experienced 
flockmasters  say  that  sheep  should  be  bred  up  so  that  2-year-old  wethers 
will  weigh  100  pounds  gross  and  shear  7  or  8  pounds  of  wool,  and  that 
such  sheep  with  proper  management  will  pay  25  per  cent  profit  above 
all  expenses.  Do  not  trust  too  much  to  hired  help.  Give  the  business 
your  personal  attention,  and  let  some  other  man  run  for  the  legislature. 
As  a  rule  it  is  safe  to  provide  feed  and  shelter  for  three  months  of  the 
year;  especially  provide  feed  for  early  spring,  when  the  sheep  are  weak 
and  unable  to  "  rustle."  The  aged  sheep  should  be  fattened  on  alfalfa 
for  the  mutton  market.  With  good  breeding,  good  feeding  and  water- 
ing, combined  with  eternal  vigilance  and  good  business  sense,  the  sheep 
industry  is  profitable  to  the  producer.  A  safe  insurance  against  loss 
from  exposure  is  the  provision  of  shelter  and  feed. 

Mr.  Frank  Hall,  United  States  Treasury  expert,  in  his  report  on  the 
resources  of  Colorado,  gives  valuable  information,  from  which  some 
facts  are  gleaned  which  pertain  to  the  sheep  industry  of  this  State. 
The  price  of  agricultural  products  in  Colorado  for  1889  were  as  follows : 
Corn,  per  cwt.,  86  cents;  oats,  per  cwt.,  $1.05  to  $1.07;  wheat,  per  cwt., 
$1.60;  hay,  per  ton,  $10  to  $16.  Speaking  of  grasses,  he  says: 

The  grasses,  both  tame  and  wild,  are  successfully  grown,  making  great  yields  of 
nutritious  hay,  and,  as  shown  by  analysis,  are  nearly  double  in  valuable  albumi- 
noids when  compared  with  the  same  grasses  in  rainy  sections.  Timothy,  orchard, 


794       SHEEP  INDUSTRY  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES 

and  blue  grass  make  two  crops  a  year,  producing  1£  to  2£  tons  per  acre.  Clovers  are 
among  the  best  forage  plants,  and  are  admirably  adapted  to  the  soil  and  climate ;  but 
the  greatest,  best,  and  most  profitable,  and  useful  is  the  alfalfa  plant.  It  has  no 
equal  in  any  country,  nor  is  there  a  section  where  it  thrives  more  luxuriantly  than 
in  Colorado.  Having  once  a  good  stand  it  defies  all  attempts  to  eradicate  it.  It 
makes  three  and  sometimes  four  cuttings  a  year,  averaging  from  1^  to  3  tons  an  acre 
per  cutting,  and  in  some  localities  of  the  State  it  is  cut  each  month  from  June  to 
October. 

The  estimated  wool  clip  of  1888  is  9,000,000  pounds.  Vast  improve- 
ment in  breeds  of  cattle  and  sheep  and  in  the  qualities  of  wool  pro- 
duced has  taken  place  in  the  past  five  to  eight  years.  The  better  flocks 
of  sheep  have  paid  about  20  per  cent  011  the  capital  invested.  The  clip 
per  head  in  1888  was  a  fraction  over  6  pounds.  Spanish  Merinos  bred 
up  from  Mexican  ewes  predominate.  There  are  comparatively  few 
Downs  or  mutton  breeds  in  the  State.  The  flocks  are  raised  in  many 
of  the  mountain  forks  and  valleys  as  well  as  on  the  plains.  All  Colorado 
wools  are  shipped  to  Eastern  markets  because  there  are  no  manufacto- 
ries here  to  consume  products. 

In  regard  to  the  future  of  the  sheep  industry  of  Colorado,  the  Field 
and  Farm,  published  at  Denver,  has  the  following  in  its  issue  of  March 
7,1891: 

The  most  promising  branch  of  the  live-stock  business  just  at  present  is,  no  doubt, 
the  sheep  industry.  Colorado  now  oft'ers  special  inducements  in  this  line,  and  hun- 
dreds of  people  who  are  not  in  the  business  to-day  will  sooner  or  later  become  en- 
gaged in  it.  The  occupation  of  the  flock  master,  which  has  heretofore  been  carried 
on  in  a  nomadic  and  very  primitive  manner,  will  hereafter  be  more  carefully  carried 
out.  Irrigation  must,  from  the  necessity  of  the  surroundings,  become  a  great  factor 
in  the  future  success  of  wool-growing  on  the  plains. 

The  old  and  unwarranted  notion  about  allowing  sheep  to  go  through  the  winter 
without  feeding,  and  with  only  the  frozen  grasses  for  subsistence,  has  gone  by,  and 
forage  has  become  a  regular  item  of  annual  expense  to  the  sheep-raiser.  Alfalfa  hay 
has  proven  itself  a  splendid  winter  feed  for  the  wooly  tribes,  and  much  of  it  has  been 
consumed  the  present  winter.  Alfalfa  is  best  grown  by  irrigation,  and  with  the 
many  farms  under  ditch  bordering  on  the  natural  grazing  areas,  a  vast  amount  of 
this  forage  will  be  provided  hereafter,  and  sheep  will  be  more  generally  fed  as  the 
years  roll  by. 

It  does  not  require  a  great  acreage  of  alfalfa  to  provide  a  supply  of  hay  sufficient 
to  carry  an  ordinary  band  of  sheep  through  the  average  Colorado  winter.  The  time 
is  fast  approaching  when  many  of  the  heavy  sheep  ranchers  far  out  in  the  arid  re- 
gion will  build  storm  dams  at  convenient  places  on  their  ranges  to  conserve  the  rains 
and  irrigate  small  tracts  of  alfalfa  land.  The  three  cuttings  a  season  will  furnish  a 
very  satisfactory  lot  of  prime  hay,  which  may  be  fed  out  in  severe  winter  weather  as 
the  emergency  of  the  flock  may  demand.  Other  ranchmen  who  make  a  specialty  of 
mutton  will  utilize  great  quantities  of  alfalfa  in  preparing  their  wethers  for  the  win- 
ter market,  which  is  a  most  profitable  one  in  the  cities  and  mountain  towns  of  Colo- 
rado. 

THE  NUMBER  OF  SHEEP  AND  VALUE  OF  THE  INDUSTRY. 

The  number  of  sheep  in  Colorado,  the  product  of  wool,  and  the  mone- 
tary value  of  this  particular  industry  have  never  been  published  offici- 
ally except  in  an  incidental  way,  and  never  accurately.  The  local 


WEST    OF    THE    MISSISSIPPI    RIVER. 


795 


officials  of  the  State  have  taken  great  pains  to  investigate  the  mining 
industries,  the  cattle  business,  and  the  irrigation  enterprises,  and  have 
endeavored  to  collect  all  the  valuable  information  possible  regarding 
them  for  their  own  benefit,  as  well  as  for  the  edification  of  the  general 
public  both  at  home  and  abroad.  The  sheep  industry,  however,  has 
been  slighted;  yet  as  a  matter  of  fact  there  is  no  industry  in  Colorado 
that  pays  as  large  a  percentage  of  profit  on  the  investment  or  gives  em- 
ployment to  as  many  persons  for  the  same  amount  of  capital  employed. 
This  significant  statement  is  verified  by  the  facts,  and  is  an  important 
item  regarding  the  resources  of  Colorado. 

The  only  counties  in  the  State  which  did  not  receive  taxes  from  sheep 
property  during  1890  were  Baca,  Clear  Creek,  Dolores,  Fremont,  Gil- 
pin.  Hinsdale,  Montezuma,  Pitkin,  and  Sedgwick.  The  leading  coun- 
ties represented  in  the  sheep  industry  are  Arapahoe,  Elbert,  El  Paso, 
Huerfauo,  Lincoln,  Las  Animas,  Weld,  Montrose,  and  Archuleta.  In 
regard  to  the  statement  that  has  become  current,  that  there  are  a 
smaller  number  of  sheep  in  Colorado  than  there  were  two  years  ago,  I 
have  no  hesitation  in  now  saying,  after  fully  investigating  the  matter, 
that  it  is  a  mistake.  It  is  true  that  since  1888  an  unusual  number  of 
sheep  have  been  either  shipped  or  driven  out  of  the  State,  yet  in  this 
number  there  should  be  included  a  large  number  that  were  brought  in 
from  Oregon  and  New  Mexico  for  the  very  purpose  of  selling  to  feed- 
ers. The  increase  of  Colorado  flocks  during  this  period  exceeded  the 
number  consumed  within  the  State  and  those  shipped  or  driven  out; 
but  these  two  sources  of  decrease  together  will  not  equal  the  number 
that  have  been  increased  by  the  lamb  crops  since  1888  by  at  least 
100,000  head. 

The  report  of  the  Statistician  for  the  U.  S.  Department  of  Agriculture 
for  January  and  February,  1891,  gives  the  numbers  and  values  of  farm 
animals  for  Colorado  as  follows: 


Animals. 

Number. 

Value. 

Average. 

i 

Animals. 

Number. 

Value. 

Average. 

124  052 

$6  567  661 

$53  75  i 

Hogs 

23  606 

$126  353 

$5  35 

Mules 

4  SOU 

401.  616 

83.67  i 

Milch  cows 

62,  285 

1  750  831 

28  11 

Shepp  

1,  819,  569 

4,  306,  555 

2.37 

Other  cattle  .  .  . 

1,  017,  465 

16,  046,  133 

1."'  77 

1 

The  Statistician's  reports  are  ordinarily  very  accurate,  and  accepted 
as  such 5  but  as  far  as  Colorado  is  concerned  the  numbers  of  both  cat- 
tle and  sheep  are  placed  too  high,  and  the  average  value  of  cattle  is 
also  in  excess  of  actual  value. 

This  report  also  places  the  average  value  of  each  sheep  in  the  United 
States  at  $2.50,  and  places  the  average  value  of  Colorado  sheep  at 
$^.37.  On  this  basis  the  only  States  or  Territories  west  of  the  Missis- 
sippi Eiver  that  equal  or  exceed  the  average  value  of  sheep  in  this 
State  are  Minnesota,  Iowa,  Missouri,  Dakota,  Montana,  Utah,  and 
Washington;  and,  with  the  exception  of  Utah,  none  have  nearly  so 
many  sheep.  This  is  certainly  a  creditable  comparison  for  Colorado. 


796        SHEEP  INDUSTRY  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES 

Another  estimate  of  the  number  of  live  stock  in  Colorado  was  made 
by  the  live-stock  department  of  Atchison,  Topeka  and  Santa  Fe  Kail- 
road  Company,  which  is  as  follows:  Horses,  227,690;  mules  and  asses, 
13,770;  cattle,  1,000,700;  goats,  7,150;  swine,  38,010;  and  sheep, 
854,800.  They  also  estimate  the  number  of  steer  cattle,  from  yearlings 
up,  for  sale  and  which  can  be  shipped  during  1891,  at  300,000  head, 
and  the  number  of  wethers  for  sale  and  shipment  during  1891  at  213,700 
head. 

The  Colorado  Bureau  of  Immigration,  which  has  devoted  consider- 
able attention  to  collecting  information  regarding  the  resources  of  the 
State  and  in  making  exhibits  of  her  products,  in  their  investigations 
show  that  but  little  attention  was  devoted  to  sheep,  the  board  seeming 
to  rely  on  the  assessors'  reports  mainly  for  information  about  this 
industry.  Of  the  sheep  on  hand  during  1890,  they  estimate  that  253,774 
were  grown  for  mutton  and  572,034  for  wool;  in  all,  825,808  sheep  in 
the  State — au  increase  of  168,262  head  over  the  number  reported  by  the 
assessors  to  the  auditor  of  State. 

In  making  an  estimate  for  this  report  the  number  of  sheep  given  by 
the  auditor  of  State,  in  his  last  biennial  report  for  1890.  is  taken  as  a 
basis  for  calculation  as  to  the  actual  number.  The  auditor's  report 
simply  consists  of  an  abstract  of  the  number  reported  by  the  assessors 
in  each  county  for  taxation  purposes,  and  the  total  number  given  for 
the  State  is  657,546,  valued  at  $758,584.  To  this  number  should  first 
be  added  200,000  head,  the  number  known  to  have  been  sold  and 
shipped  or  driven  out  of  the  State  before  the  assessor  made  his  rounds, 
and  this  would  bring  the  number  up  to  857,546  head,  giving  an  excess 
of  over  20,000  above  the  board  of  immigration's  estimate.  To  this  num- 
ber there  should  be  added  the  lamb  crop  of  1890,  which  at  a  low  esti- 
mate is  214,454  head,  and  is  not  included  in  the  assessors'  inventory. 
This  would  bring  the  number  up  to  1,062,000  head,  and  to  this  can 
safely  be  added  60  per  cent  more,  which  gives  a  total  number,  at  a  con- 
servative estimate,  of  1,699,200  sheep  now  on  hand  in  Colorado.  The 
60  per  cent  increase  is  the  lowest  average  estimate  that  reputable  sheep 
men  say  should  be  added  to  the  assessor's  report  to  give  the  actual 
number,  lambs  not  included. 

The  average  value  of  the  different  animals  of  the  flocks  may  be  class- 
ified as  follows:  Lambs,  $2;  ewes,  $2.75;  wethers,  $3;  which  would 
give  a  total  value  of  the  sheep  of  the  State  at  about  $4,462,500.  The 
wool  clip  of  1890  is  estimated  by  many  at  11,000,000  pounds,  but  from 
the  best  information,  based  upon  the  amount  left  in  the  hands  of  the 
growers  in  December,  1890,  and  the  shipments  made  up  to  that  time, 
the  annual  wool  clip  for  1890  will  not  exceed  10,000,000  pounds,  valued 
at  about  $1,500,000.  An  estimate  of  other  property  necessary  for  the 
prosecution  of  the  business,  such  as  ranches,  ranch  property,  leases, 
etc.,  added  to  other  items,  would  give  what  the  sheep  industry  repre- 
sents to  the  State  of  Colorado,  which  I  think,  at  a  low  conservative  esti- 


WEST   OF   THE   MISSISSIPPI   RIVER.  797 

mate,  to  be  at  least  $10,000,000.  Further  comparing  the  sheep  industry, 
properly  managed,  with  any  other  industry  of  the  State,  it  is  by  far  the 
best  paying  agricultural  pursuit  in  Colorado.  At  the  present  rate  of 
improvement,  unless  some  unusually  adverse  condition  or  unforeseen 
calamity  besets  the  industry,  it  will,  before  another  decade  passes,  rep- 
resent at  least  a  valuation  of  $25,000,000. 

SHEEP  LAWS. 

The  laws  relating  to  the  inspection  of  flocks  have  been  very  beneficial 
to  the  industry  affording  necessary  protection  from  "floaters  "or  roving 
flocks  of  sheep  that  have  no  regular  range  or  habitation.  The  sheep 
laws  of  Colorado  are  very  similar  to  those  of  Wyoming,  so  that  only 
such  portions  of  the  law  are  given  here  as  may  be  of  special  interest  to 
flock  masters  generally.  The  laws  relating  to  live  stock  in  general  in 
Colorado  are  specially  favorable  and  helpful  to  those  engaged  in  the 
animal  industry. 

The  sheep  inspection  law  in  section  1  provides  that  the  county  com- 
missioners in  every  county  having  2,000  sheep  shall  appoint  a  sheep 
inspector  for  that  county. 

Section  2  provides  that  the  inspector  shall  inspect  every  flock  of 
sheep  which  he  knows  or  is  informed  has  the  scab  or  any  other  conta- 
gious disease,  and  report  in  writing  the  result  of  said  inspection  to  the 
county  clerk.  If  found  diseased,  he  shall  reinspectthe  flock  every  two 
weeks  and  report  as  before,  until  the  same  is  cured.  If  the  flock  is 
removed  6  miles  from  the  range  of  other  sheep,  he  shall  make  an  inspec- 
tion every  three  months. 

Section  3  provides  that  upon  the  arrival  of  any  flock  of  sheep 
into  the  State  the  owner  or  agent  shall  immediately  report  them  to  the 
inspector  of  the  county  for  inspection,  etc. 

Section  4  provides  that  diseased  sheep  shall  not  be  herded  within  1 
mile  of  any  ground  accustomed  to  be  ranged  upon  by  any  other  sheep, 
and  that  they  shall  be  restrained  from  passing  over  or  traveling  upon 
or  within  1  mile  of  any  public  highway  or  road.  In  case  this  can  not 
be  done  the  sheep  shall  immediately  be  removed  to  a  locality  where 
they  shall  not  be  permitted  to  range  within  less  than  6  miles  of  any 
other  sheep,  until  they  are  reported  free  from  disease. 

Sections  5  to  13  relate  to  fines,  duties,  etc.,  of  owners,  inspectors, 
and  others. 

Section  14  provides  that  every  owner  having  contagiously  diseased 
sheep  shall  dip  or  otherwise  treat  the  same  on  his  own  premises, 
and  that  when  he  has  more  than  one  ranch  or  set  of  ranches  he  may 
drive  the  sheep  over  intermediate  ranges  to  where  his  dipping  works 
or  other  facilities  for  treating  the  disease  are  situated,  but  in  so  doing 
he  shall  consult  the  owners  or  occupants  of  said  ranges  as  to  where  he 
shall  cross  the  same,  and  in  no  case  shall  he  enter  another's  corral,  or 
water  at  his  troughs  or  watering  places,  unless  he  has  the  written  or 
otherwise  expressed  consent  of  the  o\viier. 


798        SHEEP  INDUSTRY  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES 

Section  16  provides  that  no  person  shall  keep  or  herd  sheep  to  the 
number  of  ten  or  more  at  or  within  2  miles  of  any  city,  town,  or  village 
in  this  State;  that  the  act  shall  not  prevent  anyone  from  driving  sheep 
to  market,  etc.;  that  the  act  shall  not  apply  to  any  person  who  owns 
a  stock  ranch  or  farm  within  the  above-described  limits. 

The  scalp  bounty  law  is  another  favorable  provision  for  the  sheep- 
men of  the  State.  The  amount  of  bounties  paid  out  for  wild  animals7 
scalps  in  1890  was  $24,781.  The  counties  which  received  the  largest 
bounties  were  Arapahoe,  Eagle,  Garfield,  Las  Animas,  Mesa,  liio 
Blanco,  and  Routt.  Each  of  these  counties  received  about  $1,000  or 
more. 

The  law  provides  that  every  person  who  shall  kill  a  wolf  or  coyote 
shall  receive  a  premium  of  $1  for  each  such  animal  killed,  and  $10  for 
every  bear  or  mountain  lion.  Every  person  claiming  such  premium 
shall  produce  the  scalp,  including  the  ears,  entire,  to  the  county  treas- 
urer of  the  county  in  which  the  animal  was  killed,  within  three  months 
after  the  killing.  And  such  person  shall  swear  to  the  truth  of  his 
statements. 

The  county  treasurer  shall  pay  all  premiums,  and  charge  them  up  to 
the  State.  He  shall  burn  all  scalps  in  the  presence  of  a  reputable  wit- 
ness. Heavy  tines  and  penalties  are  imposed  upon  any  person  for 
deception  or  otherwise  trying  to  defraud  the  State. 

In  some  portions  of  the  State  live  stock  at  certain  seasons  of  the 
year  become  poisoned  from  eating  the  loco  weed.  The  State  has  in  force 
for  the  eradication  of  the  weed  a  law  which  went  into  effect  in  1881,  and 
since  then  the  State  has  paid  out  in  premiums  on  loco  AV'eed  certificates 
the  sum  of  $425,139.67.  The  least  amount  paid  out  in  any  one  year  was 
in  1881,  amounting  to  $6,597.39 ;  the  largest  sum  was  in  1884,  and  was 
$116,944.10.  In  1890  the  loco  weed  certificates  only  amounted  to 
$16,910.24. 

The  loco  law  provides  that  any  person  who  shall  dig  up,  not  less  than 
3  inches  below  the  surface  of  the  ground,  any  loco  weed  during  the 
months  of  May,  June,  and  July  shall  receive  a  premium  of  1J  cents  per 
pound  for  each  pound  of  such  weed  dug  up,  the  stipulation  being  made 
that  the  weed  shall  be  weighed  when  thoroughly  dry.  The  claimant 
when  producing  the  weed  must  swear  that  it  is  loco  weed,  and  was 
dug  up  within  the  last  two  months.  The  county  clerk  must  certify 
to  weight  of  weeds,  and  then  burn  them.  All  such  premiums  are 
paid  out  of  the  State  treasury. 

! 

NOTES  FROM  PERSONAL  EXPERIENCE. 

The  following  pages  contain  valuable  information  and  pertinent  point- 
ers regarding  the  sheep  industry  of  Colorado.  It  is  the  expression  of 
wool- growers  in  their  own  language,  representing  their  views,  experience, 
or  observation  on  various  practical  subjects  relating  to  the  business  of 


WEST    OF    THE  ^MISSISSIPPI    KIVER.  799 

wool  and  mutton  production.    The  men  making  the  statements  are  prac- 
tical sheepmen,  representing  the  different  sheep  districts  of  the  State. 
H.  C.  Sherman,  Sterling,  Logan  County: 

Brains  are  required  the  same  as  in  any  other  business.  It  requires  constant  care 
and  watchfulness ;  eternal  vigilance  is  the  price  of  success.  It  is  a  losing  business 
without  such  qualifications,  but  with  them  and  a  good  location  it  is  above  an  aver- 
age in  Colorado. 

H.  Giraudot,  Orchard,  Morgan  County : 

AVe  generally  sell  about  the  same  number  of  wethers  and  dry  ewes  as  will  equal 
the  number  of  lambs  raised.  We  mean  to  keep  our  number  good  and  not  increase 
the  number  of  sheep  in  the  flock.  The  most  profitable  flock  to  run  in  is  a  baud  of 
1,500  head.  But  if  the  flockmaster  has  sufficient  range  to  permit  a  change  of  pas- 
ture about  twice  or  three  times  a  month  in  winter,  he  could  run  double  the  number 
in  the  flock. 

J.  J.  Bristol,  Bristol,  Larimer  County: 

The  general  outlook  for  sheep  business  is  not  encouraging.  The  range  is  over- 
stocked and  vast  tracts  are  fenced,  so  that  there  is  not  the  room  for  the  business  to 
extend.  For  the  past  six  years  the  business  has  not  been  profitable,  and  nearly  all 
the  sheep  have  been  disposed  of.  This  section  formerly  supported  about  75,000 
sheep;  now,  there  are  not  6,000  in  the  county. 

Dudley  and  Chalmers,  Garo,  Park  County: 

On  account  of  the  altitude,  sheep  are  very  free  from  disease  and  put  on  flesh 
quickly  in  summer  during  the  green  grazing,  and  Avlien  properly  taken  care  of  in 
winter  by  feeding  our  very  strong,  rich  hay,  they  will  grow  to  good  size — 100  pounds 
for  this  class  of  sheep,  which  shear  8  pounds  or  upwards  of  medium  and  fine  me- 
dium wool.  We  never  corral  with  fence  except  during  lambing  and  shearing  season, 
which  makes  much  less  dirt  in  the  wool. 

Ed.  West,  Trinidad,  Las  Aniinas  County: 

I  have  handled  sheep  here  for  eighteen  years.  1  consider  them  away  ahead  of  any 
other  kind  of  stock  for  making  money.  I  have  both  cattle  and  horses,  but  there  is 
no  comparison  for  profits.  "  Give  me  more  sheep."  The  care  of  them  is  a  lonesome 
life,  and  they  require  good  management  and  a  live  man.  No  " deadhead"  has  any 
business  with  sheep.  Only  about  one  man  in  five  that  starts  in  the  business  ever 
makes  the  sheep  business  a  success  in  this  country. 


Walt.  M.  Houser,  Gardiner,  Huerfano  County: 


Will  say  our  sheep  in  Huerfano  County  are  generally  of  too  small  carcass,  also 
shear  too  light  a  fleece.  I  think  our  model  sheep  should  be  pure,  or  half  French 
and  one-half  Spanish  Merino  rams,  crossed  on  our  common  Mexican-grade  sheep.  I 
think  when  wool-growers  breed  to  good  rams  and  procure  feed  for  the  flocks  in  win- 
ter they  will  generally  be  prosperous. 

George  F.  Hodge,  Deer  Trail,  Arapahoe  County: 

Sheep  can  be  kept  in  this  State  profitably  by  any  man  exercising  good  judgment 
and  attending  to  his  business.  Grain  can  be  got  at  very  low  rates,  owing  to  the  num- 
ber of  railroads,  and  hay  can  be  cut  almost  anywhere.  All  good  sheepmen  are  pre- 
pared for  winter,  and  generally  come  out  in  spring  with  feed  to  spare.  For  the  last 
three  winters  there  has  not  been  any  necessity  to  feed  outside  of  the  range.  A  sheep 
well  summered  is  half  wintered,  and  nearly  all  sheepmen  here  now  understand  it  so. 


800  SHEEP   INDUSTRY    OF    THE    UNITED    STATES 

William  B.  Miner,  Fort  Collins,  Larimer  County : 

I  have  been  in  the  range  sheep  business  in  Colorado  and  California,  and  I  think  it 
the  best  busimess  in  the  world  if  properly  attended  to,  if  the  man  be  a  natural  sheep- 
man. But  every  man  can  not  make  money  at  the  business,  for  he  will  not  give  it 
proper  attention  at  the  proper  time.  A  very  small  per  cent  of  the  men  in  this  sec- 
tion have  made  money  at  the  business  for  the  reasons  I  have  stated. 

H.  Schneider,  Atwood,  Logan  County: 

Until  the  last  five  years  our  main  dependence  was  wool,  but  since  that  time  our 
surplus  sheep  have  been  sold  for  mutton.  Had  it  not  been  for  this  source  of  reve- 
nue, owing  to  the  prevailing  low  price  of  wool,  but  few  sheep  would  have  been  held 
here  now.  Men  who  have  properly  cared  for  their  sheep  have  done  fairly  well; 
others  have  failed.  We  feed  alfalfa,  an  excellent  and  cheap  feed;  only  those  who 
have  land  under  ditch  can  grow  it.  I  have  been  sheep-raising  here  for  the  last 
seventeen  years,  and  have  been  fairly  successful. 

John  Bobertson,  Meeker,  Kio  Blanco  County : 

I  was  twenty  years  a  Scotch  farmer  and  stock-raiser,  spent  two  years  in  West 
Virginia,  some  time  in  Virginia,  but  neither  State  suited  me  as  Colorado  does.  Now 
I  can  make  a  fairly  good  living,  and  my  past  practical  experience  is  all  required  here. 

N.  E.  Wheeler,  Carr,  Weld  County: 

The  cost  of  running  sheep  varies,  as  some  men  run  strictly  sheep,  others  mixed 
farming,  and  others  stock,  and  very  few  keep  any  records  or  sheep  account.  How- 
ever, sheep  are  the  only  stock  that  has  paid  any  profit  for  the  past  four  years  Avith 
proper  handling  There  is  considerable  hard  work,  great  risk,  and  none  too  muon 
pay  for  the  sheepmeu. 

Edward  K.  Packard,  Eaton,  Weld  County: 

In  ten  years'  experience  I  have  lost  money  one  year,  come  out  even  one  year,  and 
balance  of  time  got  ahead  some.  I  like  the  business  and  have  given  close  attention 
to  it.  I  start  into  the  winter  with  about  2,000,  and  sell  mutton  during  the  winter 
to  make  room  for  the  increase  in  the  spring.  When  a  ewe  gets  six  years  old  I  turn 
her  off  for  mutton. 

E.  J.  Sheridan,  Monte  Yista,  Rio  Grande  County: 

My  experience  is  based  on  six  years'  practical  knowledge  in  the  Rocky  Mountains, 
in  an  altitude  varying  from  7,000  to  10,000  feet  above  sea  level.  It  may  be  useful  to 
state  that  besides  the  great  advantages  in  the  increase  of  quantity  and  quality  of  wool 
by  the  grading-up  process  from  native  mothers  and  Merino  rams,  that  the  graded 
animals  themselves  are  better  able  (all  things  else  being  equal)  to  fight  the  hardships 
of  early  spring  than  the  native  stock.  This  I  attribute  to  their  warmer  and  weightier 
fleeces.  Were  I  to  take  another  departure  for  further  improvement  in  mutton,  with 
the  least  detriment  to  wool,  I  would  use  Cotswold  rams  on  my  graded  Merino  ewes 
and  feed  and  corral  in  spring. 

John  E.  Law,  New  Windsor,  Weld  County: 

I  now  have  5,000  sheep,  and  have  increased  the  weight  of  fleece  in  eight  years  from 
4  to  7  pounds.  The  price  realized  for  eight  clips  was  from  14  to  18  cents.  Of  late 
years  have  ewes  bring  lambs  only  at  3,  4,  and  5  years  old.  I  cull  out  yearly  all  the 
old  ewes  and  sell  for  what  they  bring,  50  cents  to  $2  per  head.  Have  sold  the  wethers 
in  fall  or  winter  after  they  are  3  years  old.  In  this  way  have  had  only  young  strong 
sheep  to  winter,  and  by  taking  out  of  flock  all  lambs  that  do  not  keep  up  in  con- 
dition and  any  other  weak  sheep,  and  feeding  them  hay,  I  get  the  flock  through  the 
winter  in  good  condition  without  much  loss,  if  winter  is  reasonably  fair.  The  ranges 


WEST    OF    THE    MISSISSIPPI    RIVER.  801 

are  now  so  occupied  we  must  count  on  having  to  feed  more  than  formerly  of  winters. 
If  users  of  the  range  could  as  individuals  have  security  in  their  occupancy  of  their 
ranges  it  would  be  a  great  advantage  over  present  conditions.  Now  one  flock  eats 
oif  the  range  from  another,  so.  one  can  not  so  well  reserve  one  part  of  his  range  for 
winter  feeding  while  using  another  part  for  summer,  without  danger  of  his  reserved 
feed  being  partly  taken  by  some  one  else.  My  ranges  are  perhaps  as  good  as  the 
average  for  producing  pasture.  My  flocks  range  over  something  like  eighty  sections 
of  land,  and  in  the  spring,  before  the  new  grass  comes  on,  the  old  feed  seems  to  be 
almost  completely  cleaned  up.  There  are  a  great  many  horses  and  cattle  feeding  on 
the  same  ranges.  To  sum  up,  from  an  experience  and  observation  of  a  number  of 
years,  should  estimate  that  eight  to  ten  sections  of  land  would  be  needed  to  support 
well  continuously  1,000  head  of  sheep,  where  sheep  have  exclusive  use  of  range. 

Alexander  Day,  Pueblo : 

I  am  fully  persuaded  from  long  experience  and  close  observation  that  by  proper 
care  and  handling  of  the  cross-bred  sheep  in  smaller  numbers  there  is  no  stock  that 
can  be  handled  with  better  results  than  can  sheep.  Alfalfa  as  a  forage  is  unsurpassed 
by  anything  for  sheep  feed.  Its  rapid  growth  enables  us  to  cut  from  4  to  6  tons  per 
acre.  This  will  enable  us  to  feed  sheep  very  cheap  in  winter,  and  free  range  in  sum- 
mer gives  us  advantages  over  the  Eastern  States  that  will  in  the  near  future  be  of 
vast  importance  to  Colorado.  At  present  there  is  a  great  inquiry  for  stockers,  a 
thing  unknown  for  several  years,  and  it  is  only  the  prejudice  against  the  brutes  that 
keeps  many  out  of  the  business.  It  may  not  be  out  of  place  to.  say  that  my  experi- 
ence is  that  the  demand  for  mutton  has  doubled  in  the  United  States  in  the  last  five 
years ;  and  although  wool  may  be  low  in  Colorado,  it  is  overbalanced  in  the  high- 
priced  mutton.  Wool  will  pay  the  expenses,  and  the  mutton  is  clear  profit. 

J.  F.  Gibbs,  Greeley,  Weld  County: 

There  is  no  doubt,  and  I  would  be  glad  to  have  you  emphasize  the  fact,  that  a 
large  part  of  Colorado  and  the  plain  country  generally  will  always  be  devoted  to  sheep- 
raising.  It  can  never  be  irrigated,  reservoirs  or  no  reservoirs.  The  cattlemen  can 
not  use  it  to  advantage.  Sheepmen,  protected,  will  sink  wells  and  raise  water  for 
their  flocks.  With  anything  like  a  ghost  of  a  chance  farmers  will  raise  sheep  rather 
than  cattle  everywhere.  Two  crops  per  year  are  better  than  one.  A  bond  with  a 
wool  coupon  and  mutton  coupon  is  as  good  a  bond  as  any  with  Uncle  Sam's  name 
on  it. 

W.  N.  Baehelder,  Orchard,  Morgan  County: 

Sheep  business  has  been  fair  for  the  last  ten  years  on  account  of  the  high  prices  for 
mutton.  If  bred  for  wool  alone  it  would  not  have  paid.  There  is  or  has  been  for  the 
past  four  years  a  growing  demand  for  feeders  in  Nebraska  and  Kansas ;  demand  not 
so  good  this  year,  on  account  of  short  corn  crop  in  those  States.  There  is  good  money 
in  sheep  in  this  State  if  fed  alfalfa  hay  three  months.  It  is  excellent  feed  for  sheep 
and  is  produced  in  large  quantities;  in  fact  is  our  best  crop  in  Colorado. 

C.  G.  Strang,  Hugo,  Lincoln  County: 

My  experience  leads  me  to  the  conclusion  that  the  best  sheep  for  our  section  of  the 
country  is  a  grade  produced  by  breeding  up  from  Mexican  stock  with  thoroughbred 
Merino  rams  and  then  crossing  with  first-class  Shropshire  or  other  varieties  of  Down 
sheep  so  as  to  combine  the  fine  wool  of  the  Merino  and  the  hardy  constitution  of  the 
Mexican  with  the  mutton  qualities  of  the  Downs.  Thoroughbred  sheep  do  not  seeui 
to  be  able  to  stand  the  exposure  and  traveling  to  which  sheep  in  large  herds  are  nec- 
essarily exposed.  Sheep-owners  are  feeding  more  grain  and  hay  to  their  sheep  and 
are  building  shelters.  As  a  result  they  have  increased  the  yield  of  wool  and  the  size 
of  the  sheep.  Better  care  and  feed  pay  well. 
22990 51 


802  SHEEP   INDUSTRY    OF    THE    UNITED    STATES 

William  Green,  Hastings, Las  Animas  County: 

The  Government  would  do  well  to  make  an  inquiry  into  sheep  scab  and  tapeworm 
amongst  the  flocks  of  the  West.  The  loss  of  wool  from  scab,  and  lambs  from  tape- 
worm are  very  serious  questions,  which  ought  to  be  handled  by  the  United  States 
Government  at  once  with  a  view  to  the  discovery  of  preventives  or  remedies. 

Kollan  Sherman,  Denver: 

I  have  spent  nearly  twenty-five  years  in  this  State;  have  been  engaged  in  sheep- 
raising  twelve  years;  know  when  the  first  sheep  came  into  this  part  of  the  State; 
know  when  the  first  herd  of  cattle  was  turned  on  this  range.  Cattle  used  to  get  fat 
here  in  winter,  twenty  years  ago.  But  the  range  is  too  short  now.  I  have  seen  1,800 
Indians  and  thousands  of  buffalo  and  antelope  here.  Men  have  tried  to  farm  here 
but  failed  in  this  section.  Without  irrigation  it  is  only  fit  for  stock  and  best  for 
sheep.  Give  the  sheep  industry  proper  protection  and  this  State  will  treble  her  sheep 
industry.  I  have  crossed  the  Shropshire  ram  on  the  Merino  and  think  it  a  success 
in  the  line  of  wool  and  mutton. 

UTAH. 

The  Territory  of  Utah,  with  its  population  in  January,  1892,  of 
215,000,  spread  over  a  surface  of  82,190  square  miles,  or  52,601,600 
acres,  presents  a  vast  and  interesting  field  of  study.  No  Territory  in 
the  United  States  is  oftener  spoken  of,  more  generally  visited  by  people 
crossing  the  continent,  and  yet  less  is  actually  known  about  its  varied 
and  wonderful  resources  than  of  any  other  of  the  States  and  Terri- 
tories. 

The  Territory  forms  a  part  of  the  great  plateau  of  the  Eocky  Moun- 
tains, its  valleys  being  elevated  from  3,000  to  7,000  feet  above  the  sea, 
while  its  mountain  peaks  reach  an  altitude  of  from  10,000  to  13,500  feet. 
The  Wasatch  Mountains  extend  from  tne  northeastern  to  the  south- 
western part  of  the  Territory,  dividing  it  nearly  equally,  and  it  is  in 
the  northwestern  half  that  we  find  Great  Salt  Lake  and  the  great 
American  desert.  On  the  west  of  Great  Salt  Lake  and  extending 
farther  south  and  also  occupying  more  space  is  the  Great  Desert,  which 
occupies  an  important  place  in  this  report,  since  it  furnishes  sustenance 
a  part  of  the  year  to  five- sixths  of  the  sheep  owned  in  the  Territory. 

RAINFALL  AND  IRRIGATION. 

The  annual  precipitation  of  Utah  is  very  light,  ranging  from  12  to  20 
inches,  or  an  average  of  15.72  inches,  nearly  one-half  of  which  falls  dur- 
ing the  months  of  March,  April,  and  May — just  the  time  needed  to  start 
vegetation. 

The  supply  for  irrigation  purposes  is  furnished  by  the  large  number 
of  springs  and  the  melting  of  snows  in  the  mountains,  on  some  of  which 
snow  lies  the  year  round,  yet  but  little  remains  after  August ;  but  by 
that  time  the  crops  are  all  matured  and  very  little  or  no  water  is  needed 
to  irrigate  with.  Irrigation  is  a  great  factor  in  the  agriculture  of  the 
Territory,  and  is  entitled  to  and  receives  considerable  attention. 

The  total  acreage  of  irrigable  lands  in  Utah  is  2,304,000;  the  number 


WEST    OF   THE   MISSISSIPPI   RIVER.  803 

of  acres  covered  by  present  ditches  is  735,226,  leaving  the  number  of 
acres  that  can  be  used  when  irrigated  at  1,568,774.  Thus  it  will  be 
seen  that  only  about  one-third  of  the  irrigable  land  suitable  for  agri- 
cultural purposes  is  under  irrigation.  One  of  the  largest  and  most  im- 
portant irrigating  canals  in  the  Territory  is  that  owned  by  the  Bear 
Elver  Canal  Company,  which,  when  completed,  will  irrigate  200,000 
acres  of  land  and  also  furnish  Ogden  with  a  large  portion  of  the  water 
necessary  for  that  city.  This  canal  heads  in  the  Bear  Eiver  Canyon 
and  has  a  never-failing  source  of  supply  in  Bear  Lake.  This  company 
has  expended  nearly  $2,000,000,  and  has  over  100  miles  of  canals.  Near 
the  Toponee  Eanch  the  water  is  carried  over  the  Malad,  100  feet  below 
the  top  of  its  banks,  on  an  iron  viaduct  costing  $30,000. 

NUMBER   OF   SHEEP   IN   THE  TERRITORY. 

The  number  of  sheep  in  the  Territory  in  1860  was  37,332;  in  1870, 
59,672;  in  1880,  233,121;  in  1890,  1,950,900,  and  in  1892,  2,800,000. 

In  obtaining  the  above  access  has  been  had  to  different  records  and 
careful  comparisons  were  made,  so  that  the  figures  given  can  be  relied 
upon  as  nearly  correct.  It  is  hard  to  tell  how  the  figures  were  obtained 
for  the  years  1890,  1891,  and  1892.  They  have  been  published  nearly 
everywhere,  yet  the  assessors  were  not  able  to  find  quite  one  and  a 
half  million  sheep  in  1891 ;  but  they  do  not  include  any  on  their  list 
under  twelve  months  old.  From  conservative  estimates  carefully  made 
by  those  who  are  in  a  position  to  know,  there  were  owned  in  the  Territory 
the  1st  of  January,  1892,  2,000,000  sheep  one  year  old  and  over. 

There  would  seem  to  be  more  than  three  times  as  many  sheep  in  the 
Territory  as  of  all  other  farm  animals  combined.  Sheep  husbandry  is, 
in  fact,  the  leading  live-stock  industry  of  Utah.  This  is  especially  true 
of  the  past  three  years,  when  sheep,  in  numbers,  have  reached  their 
highest  limit.  This  growth  has  made  the  greatest  progress  during  the 
past  five  years,  until  now  the  range  is  pretty  nearly  stocked  up  to  its 
capacity.  Yet  the  sheep-feeders  of  Nebraska,  Kansas,  and  Iowa  have 
bought  more  largely  in  Utah  than  elsewhere  during  the  past  two  years, 
and  they  are  likely  to  keep  the  number  down  to  an  even  basis.  An- 
other thing  that  will  tend  largely  to  keep  the  numbers  from  increasing 
is  the  demand  that  has  sprung  up  the  past  year  for  lambs  to  feed  for 
the  mutton  market.  Buyers  have  been  all  over  the  Territory  this  sea- 
son trying  to  contract  for  lambs,  and  some  contracts  for  picked  lambs 
are  reported  to  have  been  made  at  or  near  Ogden  at  $2.25  per  head. 
The  usual  asking  price  is  $2,  yet  some  have  sold  for  $1.75  and  as  low 
as  $1.50  per  head,  for  October  delivery. 

RANGE   FACILITIES. 

Of  the  52,600,000  acres  in  Utah,  there  is  but  little  over  2,000,000 
acres  that  can  be  used  for  agricultural  purposes  when  irrigated.  There 
are  covered  with  salt  and  fresh  water,  and  barren  land  where  no  vege- 


804        SHEEP  INDUSTRY  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES 

tation  of  any  kind  grows,  perhaps  5,000,000  acres.  This  would  leave 
for  range  land  between  40,00t>,000  and  45,000,000  acres,  which  would 
include  both  mountain  and  desert  lands,  the  former  furnishing  winter 
and  the  latter  the  summer  range. 

The  desert  lands  can  only  be  used  in  the  winter  season  when  partly 
covered  with  snow.  The  snow  hardly  ever  falls  so  deep  on  the  desert 
as  to  cover  the  sage  brush,  of  which  one  kind,  called  white  sage,  is  very 
nutritious  and  upon  it  the  sheep  feed  and  do  well.  For  variety,  and 
nearly  equal  to  the  white  sage  for  feed,  is  a  bunch  grass,  which  abounds, 
growing  in  apparently  the  most  barren  places.  It  ripens  and  cures 
early  in  the  season,  retaining  all  its  nutriment.  It  remains  for  winter 
grazing,  because  no  water  is  near  for  stock  that  might  wander  out  on 
the  desert  during  the  grazing  season.  Bunch  grass,  like  the  sage  brush, 
is  rarely  covered  with  snow.  When  feeding  on  it  and  the  white  sage 
sheep  quench  their  thirst  with  snow.  If  it  is  a  favorable  season  many 
of  them  come  off  the  desert  in  fine  condition.  When  the  snow  leaves 
the  desert  the  sheep  are  removed  to  the  foothills  and  lower  lands,  and 
continue  to  advance  up  the  mountain  side  until  July  or  August,  when 
they  are  high  up  in  the  heart  of  the  mountains,  where  they  feed  on  wild 
wheat,  meadow  grass,  peavine,  and  other  mountain  herbage,  and  browse 
on  the  quaking  aspen  and  a  variety  of  bushes  and  shrubs.  As  winter 
approaches  they  move  down  toward  the  lower  lands  and  valleys.  The 
amount  of  feed  on  the  range  depends  on  the  fall  of  snow,  which  is 
lighter  some  seasons  than  others  and  melts  off  the  mountains  earlier, 
so  that  occasionally  there  is  difficulty  in  getting  water. 

It  has  been  demonstrated  that  in  the  high,  dry,  bracing  air  of  the 
interior  stock  grow  and  fatten  on  much  less  than  at  the  sea  level,  and 
the  same  degree  of  heat  or  cold,  as  marked  by  the  thermometer,  appears 
to  affect  them  less. 

The  grazing  lands  of  Utah  are  almost  unlimited,  and  furnish  a  great 
variety  of  feed.  They  include  the  second  tables  of  the  river  courses, 
the  slopes  of  the  foothills  and  lesser  ranges  not  too  far  from  water, 
and  the  coves  and  valleys  of  the  mountains. 

Some  of  the  more  valuable  grazing  lands  are  just  above  the  line  of 
where  water  can  be  carried  for  irrigation,  but  here  the  cattle  hold  the 
range,  unless  the  sheepmen  own  it.  Sheep  will  feed  on  range  that 
cattle  could  not  live  on,  and  partly  for  this  reason  the  cattlemen  try  to 
hold  the  best  range.  There  has  been  more  or  less  strife  on  this  point, 
and  the  sheepmen  fought  the  measure  in  the  legislature  which  pro- 
hibited their  flocks  running  to  a  stream  nearer  than  7  miles  from  a  town 
or  village. 

In  southern  Utah  very  little  or  no  feed  is  given  to  the  sheep,  but  in  the 
northern  counties,  where  they  do  not  run  on  the  desert,  many  of  them 
are  fed  during  the  severest  part  of  winter.  Grain  is  seldom  made  a 
part  of  their  rations,  but  straw  and  alfalfa  hay  serve  the  purpose. 
Sometimes  a  little  oats,  bran,  or  chops  are  given,  but  those  who  never 


WEST    OF    THE    MISSISSIPPI   RIVER.  805 

fed  alfalfa  hay  have  no  idea  what  an  excellent  feed  it  makes.  In  con- 
versing with  dairymen  near  Salt  Lake  City  they  invariably  said:  "No, 
we  do  not  want  ensilage  to  feed  our  cows;  it  is  not  as  good  as  alfalfa 
hay,  or  as  easily  and  cheaply  fed." 

GENERAL  FACTS  ABOUT  SHEEP  HUSBANDRY. 

The  class  of  sheep  in  Utah  is  mainly  of  the  Merino  type,  and  as  the 
large  French  Merino  rams  are  the  principal  ones  used,  the  good  effects 
are  seen  in  the  increased  size  of  the  carcass,  and  in  the  length  and 
fineness  of  staple,  so  that  it  is  safe  to  say  that  the  average  clip  will 
run  from  5  J  to  6 J  pounds.  While  the  average  weight  of  fleeces  in  Utah 
is  a  little  below  that  of  the  principal  Western  States  or  Territories,  her 
average  shrinkage  is  55  per  cent,  and  is  from  10  to  15  per  cent  less  than 
the  shrinkage  in  other  States ;  hence  the  price  paid  for  Utah  wool  is 
proportionately  higher. 

There  are  not  very  many  flock-owners  in  southern  Utah  who  shear 
twice  a  year,  as  it  hardly  pays.  The  usual  time  of  shearing  runs  from 
the  middle  of  April  to  the  middle  of  June.  During  this  season  there 
are  gangs  of  men  who  make  a  business  of  going  from  flock  to  flock  to 
do  the  work.  The  sheep  are  often  driven  into  a  corral  for  shearing. 
A  man  that  can  not  shear  100  sheep  or  more  in  a  day  is  not  wanted  in 
the  gang.  They  usually  begin  work  early  in  the  season  at  the  south, 
working  north,  ending  in  the  northern  Territories  late  in  July,  when 
they  return  south  again  for  the  second  or  fall  clipping. 

Utah  is  a  great  field  for  the  wool  commission  men  of  St.  Louis,  Chi- 
cago, Philadelphia,  and  Boston.  They  have  their  agents  out  soliciting 
consignments  as  soon  as  the  shearing  season  opens.  This  brings  the 
buyer  right  to  the  door  of  the  Utah  wool- grower,  yet  some  of  the  larger 
flockowners  ship  their  wool  on  their  own  account,  and  still  others  ship 
through  their  local  wool-growers'  associations.  There  is  a  Territorial 
Wool-growers'  Association,  besides  several  county  and  local  associa- 
tions. At  Nephi,  in  Juab  County,  the  Utah  Wool-growers'  Company  has 
a  membership  of  about  seventy-five,  representing  some  400,000  sheep. 
It  has  built  a  large  warehouse,  and  buys  the  wool  direct  from  its  mem- 
bers or  ships  it  and  sells  it  for  them.  Until  the  past  year  Nephi  has 
been  the  principal  wool  market  for  central  and  southern  Utah.  Now 
the  bulk  of  the  trade  is  at  Salina,  a  little  farther  south,  and  the  termi- 
nus of  an  extension  of  the  Rio  Grande  and  Western  Railroad. 

The  breeding  season  is  during  November  and  December.  The  aver- 
age number  is  about  3  rams  for  100  ewes,  yet  some  run  2  to  100. 
The  rams  are  often  permitted  to  run  with  the  flock  until  spring,  unless 
the  owner  has  a  good  place  to  keep  them  or  herd  them  separately.  A 
very  few  are  using  Shropshire  rams,  others  Southdowns  or  Cotswolds, 
but-  the  majority  use  the  French  and  Spanish  Merino  and  their  grades. 
Of  late  years  more  attention  has  been  given  to  the  selection  of  well- 
bred  ranis  to  use  on  the  range  flocks,  and  the  good  results  are  notice- 


806        SHEEP  INDUSTRY  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES 

able  in  the  improvement,  both  in  the  size  of  carcass  and  length  and 
fineness  of  staple.  The  percentage  of  ewes  that  fail  to  breed  is  not 
very  great,  not  exceeding  10  per  cent. 

Owners  run  their  sheep  in  flocks  of  2,000  to  2,500  head  each,  placed 
in  charge  of  a  competent  man,  who  is  paid  from  $35  to  $45  per  month, 
including  board.  A  company  outfit  is  provided,  consisting  of  team  and 
wagon,  tent,  feed,  provisions,  etc.  It  takes  one  man  to  look  after  the 
outfit,  do  the  cooking,  and  look  after  changing  location  occasionally. 
Often  boys  are  employed  as  herders.  A  company  outfit  goes  with  from 
one  to  three  flocks.  It  is  essential  to  the  success  of  the  flock  to  have 
a  good,  careful,  steady  man  in  charge,  especially  during  lambing  season, 
which  is  perhaps  the  most  critical  period  of  the  year.  Should  the  lamb- 
ing season  be  cold  or  stormy  the  loss  is  often  over  50  per  cent.  The 
lambing  season  is  the  most  important  part  of  the  year  to  the  flock- 
master,  and  is  the  time  when  extra  watchfulness  and  vigilance  are 
necessary  if  a  large  percentage  of  the  lambs  be  saved.  Sheep  are  lia- 
ble to  scatter  and  get  lost;  the  ewe  may  leave  her  lamb,  or  wild  ani- 
mals may  take  it.  Extra  help  is  often  provided  during  this  season  by 
the  successful  and  humane  owner;" others  separate  the  breeding  ewes 
from  the  rest  of  the  flock,  and  range  them  where  some  protection  is 
afforded  and  where  they  maybe  kept  quiet,  with  plenty  of  feed  and  water. 
After  the  lamb  gets  dry  and  nurses  a  few  times  it  is  able  to  get  along 
very  well.  There  is  not  one  sheep-owner  in  a  hundred  in  this  Terri- 
tory who  has  shelter  for  his  flocks  more  than  the  natural  protection 
afforded  by  rocks,  valleys,  canyons,  bushes,  and  trees. 

There  are  not  many  flocks  owned  in  Utah  of  less  size  than  1,000  head, 
and  from  this  they  run  up  to  15,000,  and  some  to  25,000  head ;  but  the 
average  size  of  flocks  owned  by  one  person  or  firm  will  run  from  3,500 
to  4,500.  A  person  who  does  not  own  at  least  1,000  head  or  more  is 
certainly  not  in  the  business  to  any  extent,  as  he  can  not  afford  the  ex- 
pense of  an  outfit  for  a  small  flock.  There  are  a  number  of  persons  in 
the  business  who  began  as  herders,  saved  their  wages,  invested  in 
sheep,  and  after  a  time  became  flockmasters. 

If  a  flockmaster  saves  from  65  to  75  per  cent  of  his  lambs  it  is  about 
all  that  he  expects.  Much  depends  upon  the  method  pursued,  the  con- 
dition of  the  season,  and  range  occupied.  Under  some  conditions  85 
to  90  per  cent  of  the  lambs  are  saved,  but  these  are  exceptions. 

Sheep,  if  properly  cared  for,  are  generally  very  healthy  and  quite  free 
from  diseases.  Watchful  care  is  necessary  to  prevent  the  scab  from 
getting  started,  but  by  the  timely  use  of  the  best  sheep  dips  this  dis- 
ease can  be  managed.  The  big-head  is  about  the  greatest  obstacle  to 
contend  against,  as  there  seems  to  have  been  no  effective  remedy  dis- 
covered for  it.  The  loss  by  wild  animals  and  dogs  is  not  as  great  as 
from  exposure,  hard  winters,  or  lack  of  feed. 

The  future  outlook  for  the  industry  is  good,  since  there  is  a  growing 
demand  for  mutton,  and  a  market  opened  up  by  feeders  from  Nebraska 


WEST    OF    THE    MISSISSIPPI    RIVER.  807 

and  Kansas.  Mutton  slieep  have  advanced  from  $2.50  to  $3.50,  and 
even  more  is  asked  for  nice  picked  feeders.  The  number  of  sheep  in 
the  Territory  for  the  past  year  or  two  has  not  materially  changed,  and 
there,  perhaps,  will  not  be  much  change  in  this  respect  for  the  next  year 
or  two. 

Utah  depends  largely  upon  outside  demands  for  her  wool  product. 
There  are  not  far  from  100,000  sheep  consumed  for  mutton  within  her 
borders.  Salt  Lake  City  will  use  half  of  that  number  in  a  year.  Then 
from  500,000  to  600,000  will  be  shipped  and  driven  out  of  the  Territory 
for  mutton  or  to  feed.  As  previously  stated,  a  large  demand  has  lately 
sprung  up  for  lambs  for  the  Eastern  mutton  market,  and  while  sheepmen 
are  loath  to  part  with  them,  the  prices  of  $1.50  to  $2.25  per  head  will 
secure  from  50,000  to  75,000  head  this  year.  It  is  believed  that  the 
prices  will  not  go  lower.  A  large  number  of  owners  have  determined 
to  feed  and  fatten  their  own  mutton  and  ship  to  market  themselves. 
Corn  and  oats  are  too  scarce  and  high  priced  to  feed  profitably,  yet  these 
men  say  that  does  not  matter,  as  they  have  a  cheaper  and  much  better 
feed  in  alfalfa — that  it  will  not  take  many  tons  of  it  to  fatten  a  thousand 
sheep  for  market,  and  that  they  can  compete  successfully  with  those  in 
Nebraska  who  feed  corn  or  oats,  or  both.  This  means  the  opening  of  a 
new  and  profitable  branch  of  the  business,  and  will  stimulate  the  farm- 
ers to  grow  more  than  300,000  tons  of  alfalfa  a  year  to  supply  the  in- 
creased demand  made  by  the  sheep-feeders  alone.  It  also  means  that 
hereafter  more  alfalfa  will  be  fed  during  the  bad  weather  in  winter  to  the 
common  stock  sheep  throughout  the  Territory  where  before  no  feed  was 
given.  Thus  we  see  a  very  great  change  for  the  better  in  the  near 
future.  The  business  will  be  more  settled,  will  be  placed  on  a  firmer 
basis,  and  be  more  profitably  conducted  in  every  way. 

It  is  not  a  very  easy  matter  to  get  at  the  exact  amount  of  the  1892 
wool  clip  of  Utah,  but  it  will  be  found  to  run  close  to  13,500,000  pounds. 
Of  this  amount  there  are  worked  up 'by  Utah  mills  at  least  1,000,000 
pounds.  The  largest  and  most  extensive  woolen  factory  in  the  Terri- 
tory is  the  Provo  Woolen  Mills,  established  nearly  twenty  years  ago 
at  Provo.  These  mills  have  a  capital  stock  of  $300,000,  and  consume 
annually  500,000  pounds  of  Utah  wool.  They  manufacture  flannels, 
linseys,  cassimeres,  blankets,  shawls,  yarns,  overshirts,  underwear, 
knit  hosiery,  etc.  The  next  mill  of  importance  is  that  of  the  Deseret 
Woolen  Mills  Company,  at  Salt  Lake  City,  which  has  a  capacity  of 
350,000  to  400,000  pounds  of  wool  per  year.  These  are  the  two  princi- 
pal woolen  mills,  yet  there  are  several  other  smaller  ones.  It  would 
seem  that  there  is  a  good  opening  in  the  Territory  for  other  woolen 
factories,  for  they  can  evidently  take  the  wool  product  as  it  comes  from 
the  grower  and  work  it  up  as  cheaply  as  any  of  the  factories  in  the 
East,  and  have  the  expense  of  transporation  a  long  distance  in  their 
favor. 

The  prices  realized  on  the  clip  of  1890  were  even  a  little  better  than 


808        SHEEP  INDUSTRY  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES 

those  of  last  year,  which  ranged  from  17  to  20  cents  per  pound.  The 
prices  for  the  clip  of  1892  will  not  average  quite  so  much  as  that  of 
last  year,  the  ruling  local  prices  being  for  fine  15  to  18  cents,  and 
medium  from  1J  cents  more.  It  would  seem  that  the  gradual  fall- 
ing off  of  the  price  each  year  would  be  a  disadvantage  to  the  wool- 
grower  and  cut  heavily  on  the  profits  of  the  industry,  but  the  decline 
in  the  price  has  in  a  measure  been  offset  by  a  lighter  commission, 
transportation,  storage,  insurance,  dray  age,  interest  on  advances,  etc. 
The  wool-grower  does  not  have  to  wait  so  long  for  returns  on  his  ship- 
ment, and  commission  men  are  satisfied  to  handle  and  sell  the  clip  and 
take  less  money  for  their  services  than  formerly. 

EXPERIENCE   OF   SHEEP-OWNERS. 

The  following  expressions  from  experienced  and  successful  sheepmen 
will  accurately  reflect  the  status  of  the  industry  in  Utah  at  the  present 
time : 

J.  S.  Houts,  Ogden,  Weber  County: 

On  account  of  our  high  altitude,  dry  climate,  and  free  range  we  can  raise  sheep 
cheaper  here  than  any  place  in  the  United  States.  Sheep  are  healthier  and  grow 
more  wool.  Alfalfa  is  the  best  feed  in  the  world  for  sheep,  for  on  it  they  soon  get 
fat.  Sheepmen  are  learning  its  value  and  feeding  more  of  it  each  winter,  and  thus 
get  better  sheep.  Our  shearing  is  done  by  people  who  make  it  a  business,  and  who 
are  able  to  clip  100  sheep  per  day. 

Thomas  E.  Cutler,  Lehi,  Utah  County : 

The  average  size  of  flocks  in  this  section  is  2,000  head,  ranged  on  public  lands. 
Losses  by  wild  animals  are  not  more  than  1  per  cent,  and  from  exposure  not  more 
than  2|  per  cent.  We  breed  our  ewes  in  December,  allowing  about  one  ram  to  run 
with  50  ewes  for  from  one  to  two  months,  and  we  raise  about  40  per  cent  of  our  lambs. 
Sheep  are  profitable  in  this  country  if  well  cared  for,  but  only  those  accustomed  to 
our  conditions  can  succeed.  Many  sheep  will  be  fed  at  home  in  the  future,  as  there 
is  trouble  about  who  shall  occupy  the  range,  the  sheepmen  or  cattlemen. 

William  E.  Watson,  Mount  Pleasant,  San  Pete  County: 

Our  summer  range  is  on  the  mountains,  browsing  shrubbery,  grass,  and  wild  oats, 
in  the  winter  it  is  desert  range,  white  sagebrush  and  bunch  grass.  The  usual  .shear- 
ing time  is  May  and  June.  Most  of  the  wool  is  sold  to  commission  men,  and  some 
ship  through  local  associations.  My  fleeces  average  6  pounds.  Our  settlers  and  small 
cattlemen  are  prejudiced  against  the  sheepmen.  Sometimes  our  range  gets  very 
short.  We  lose  more  sheep  from  the  big-head  than  from  scab  or  other  diseases.  The 
business  requires  careful  attention,  frequent  changes  of  ranges,  often  moving  from 
200  to  300  miles  to  obtain  a  location  near  water. 

Charles  Adams,  Prowan,  Iron  County: 

It  is  customary  for  most  of  us  here  in  the  southwest  to  shear  our  sheep  twice  a 
year — in  April  and  October;  and  we  get,  on  an  average,  about  3  pounds  of  wool  to  a 
sheep.  Sheep  eat  snow  for  drink  from  four  to  six  months  a  year.  Our  range  is  being 
overstocked,  so  that  when  we  have  an  unusually  dry  season  some  flocks  have  to 
move  out.  Where  care  is  exercised  and  sheep  dipped  occasionally,  scab  does  not 
bother  much,  and  sheep  are  generally  healthy.  Forty  to  fifty  dollars  per  month  is 
paid  for  herdsmen,  and  the  average  cost  per  year  per  sheep,  all  expenses,  runs  from 
75  cents  to  $1. 


WEST   OF   THE   MISSISSIPPI   RIVER.  809 

George  A.  Bradshaw,  Beaver,  Beaver  County: 

We  are  using  French  Merino  rams ;  some  few  use  the  Spanish  and  others  the  De- 
laine. Our  sheep  shear  7  pounds  of  medium  to  medium  fine  wool.  We  run  from 
2,000  to  2,500  sheep  in  a  flockrhave  a  team  and  wagon,  and  keep  moving  from  place 
to  place,  only  halting  during  lambing  season  and  to  shear  the  sheep.  The  average 
price  paid  for  help  is  $30  and  board.  I  have  been  engaged  in  the  sheep  business  over 
fifteen  years,  and  I  am  satisfied  with  it. 

William  Probert,  Provo,  Utah  County : 

While  some  few  are  breeding  to  the  Downs,  the  majority  of  owners  are  satisfied 
with  the  French  Merino.  We  own  our  summer  range  and  herd  on  Government  land 
in  the  winter.  In  winters  we  sometimes  have  severe  storms  and  cold  spells  of 
weather,  from  which  occasionally  heavy  losses  occur,  and  frequently  in  lambing  sea- 
son if  the  weather  is  unfavorable  we  meet  with  severe  losses. 

J.  M.  Jensen,  Box  Elder,  Box  Elder  County: 

Here  in  northern  Utah  I  use  the  mountain  country  for  summer  range,  and  in  win- 
ter the  low  hills  and  flats ;  and  during  the  worst  weather  I  feed  alfalfa  hay.  By  sep- 
arating my  breeding  ewes  from  my  stock  sheep  I  save  85  to  100  per  cent  of  my  lambs. 
My  average  clip  is  7  pounds.  Prices  range  from  $2  to  $4  per  head  for  muttons  or 
stockers,  and  their  average  weight  is  120  pounds.  The  average  wages  paidherders 
and  campmen  per  month  is  $35  to  $40,  so  that  the  average  cost  of  all  expenses  is  75 
cents  per  head  annually. 

James  Whittaker,  Junction,  Piute  County : 

The  class  of  sheep  here  is  Merino  grades,  upon  which  some  use  the  Merino  or  Cots- 
wold  ram.  As  our  sheep  must  be  kept  up,  we  fix  a  day  and  a  large  number  of  expert 
shearers  soon  strip  a  flock  of  their  fleeces.  To  make  a  success  of  the  business  re- 
quires close  and  careful  attention — move  camp  every  eight  or  ten  days  during  lambing 
season,  guard  night  and  day  to  keep  away  the  coyotes,  and  never  let  the  scab  get  the 
start  of  you,  but  use  the  best  dips  often.  The  outlook  is  not  bright  on  account  of 
the  low  price  of  wool,  legislative  enactments  requiring  us  to  keep  away  from  moun- 
tain streams  near  villages,  etc. 

A.  McFarland,  Weber,  Weber  County: 

Our  profits  from  sheep  here  have  been  very  satisfactory.  The  land  is  not  very  rich 
naturally,  but  by  feeding  sheep  upon  it  in  the  winter  we  have  so  increased  its  fertil- 
ity that  land  producing  but  15  bushels  of  wheat  to  the  acre  has  been  made  to  yield 
50  bushels.  Having  the  use  of  the  Government  land  during  the  summer,  the  long- 
est season  with  us,  it  makes  the  expense  light,  not  to  exceed  $1  per  head.  We  own 
about  13,000  sheep,  sometimes  more  and  sometimes  less,  owing  to  our  sales.  Our 
flock  averages  6-pound  fleeces. 

Ralph  H.  Hunt,  Weber,  Weber  County: 

Last  winter  was  a  severe  one  on  sheep  in  our  section,  and  then  the  late,  cold, 
stormy  spring  has  been  a  hard  one  on  sheep  that  were  shorn  early,  and  in  many 
cases  heavy  losses  have  occurred  among  the  lambs.  Our  present  grazing  prospects 
were  never  better,  owing  to  the  unusual  late  rains.  Those  who  winter  their  sheep 
on  the  desert  west  of  Salt  Lake  do  not  feed  or  shelter,  but  we  do  on  this  side  of  the 
lake.  Our  feed  is  alfalfa  hay  almost  exclusively,  which  can  not  be  surpassed  by  any 
kind  of  feed  that  grows,  and  we  harvest  about  three  crops  per  year,  or  about  8  tons 
per  acre. 

John  S.  Painter,  Nephi,  Juab  County : 

Our  summer  range  in  the  mountains  usually  is  very  good,  with  plenty  of  water 


810  SHEEP   INDUSTRY    OF    THE    UNITED    STATES. 

and  shade;  the  winter  Tange  on  the  desert  is  also  good  while  snow  lasts.  We  breed 
principally  to  French  Merino  rams  during  December,  and  many  let  them  remain  with 
the  flock  until  shearing  time  in  April  and  May.  Our  shearing  is  done  by  gangs  of 
professional  shearers,  who  easily  handle  1,500  per  day.  Sometimes  we  sell  our  wool 
to  local  buyers,  or  to  our  association,  or  ship  to  Eastern  markets  through  them.  Buy- 
ers come  here  mostly  from  Nebraska  and  buy  our  muttons  to  feed.  Sheep  are  getting 
too  numerous  for  our  range,  and  laws  passed  by  our  legislature  requiring  us  to  keep 
our  sheep  from  streams  near  towns  and  villages  are  liable  to  cause  some  trouble. 

E.  J.  Cutler  &  Sons,  Glendale,  Kane  County: 

We  have  been  engaged  in  the  business  for  twenty  years,  and  are  satisfied  that 
Utah  can  not  be  beaten  by  any  country  for  ranging  sheep,  though  to  make  it  a  suc- 
cess one  must  get  good  herders  that  will  stay  with  the  flocks,  keep  them  from  stray- 
ing, and  move  them  frequently  to  good  feed.  The  average  wages  paid  for  good  help 
is  $35  per  month,  including  board.  We  estimate  that  it  does  not  cost  us  more  than 
25  cents  per  head  per  year,  and  we  keep  on  an  average  10,000  head.  Of  course  we 
range  the  year  round,  and  do  not  feed  or  shelter.  Our  shearing  is  done  sometimes 
during  April,  May,  or  June,  owing  to  the  season.  Some  convenient  place  is  secured 
large  enough  to  hold  a  flock,  with  small  pens  adjoining,  where  a  few  head  are  run 
in,  shorn,  and  the  wool  sacked  on  the  ground,  and  later  hauled  to  the  railroad  sta- 
tion, sold  there  to  wool-buyers  or  shipped  to  Boston,  Philadelphia,  Chicago,  or  St. 
Louis.  We  realize  from  15  to  19  cents  net  for  it,  so  that  from  our  common  sheep  the 
wool  brings  us  from  75  cents  to  $1.25. 

Charles  Crane,  Kanosh,  Millard  County: 

I  range  about  20,000  French  Merino  grades,  and  breed  to  pure  French  Merinos 
from  1  to  4  years  old ;  unless  it  is  a  very  unfavorable  season,  raise  80  per  cent 
of  the  lambs.  The  clip  from  my  flock  runs  from  8|  to  14  pounds.  I  own  4,000  acres 
of  land,  and  I  estimate  the  average  cost  per  sheep  a  year  at  70  cents.  The  advan- 
tages possessed  by  Utah  for  sheep  husbandry  in  the  mountain  and  desert  lands, 
where  no  other  domestic  animals  can  exist,  and  for  which  no  other  use  will  ever  be 
found,  can  not  be  surpassed.  The  greatest  obstacles  we  have  to  encounter  are 
wolves,  lynx,  hard  winters,  cold  Mays  during  lambing  season,  poor  feed,  and  poor 
management.  The  public  domain  should  be  leased  to  actual  stockmen,  and  the 
lease  money  paid  applied  to  the  purchase  of  the  domain ;  then  the  ranges  would  be 
protected  and  improved,  pastures  cultivated,  and  seed  sown  on  the  land. 

A.  M.  Everts,  Nephi,  Juab  County : 

I  raised  thoroughbred  Merinos  in  Vermont  for  thirty  years.  I  came  on  a  visit  to 
Utah  five  years  ago,  became  interested  in  caring  for  sheep  in  the  winter  of  1887  and 
1888,  on  the  great  desert  range,  where  at  one  time  could  be  seen  30  sheep  wagons, 
with  an  average  number  of  2,000  with  each  wagon.  Among  all  these  I  saw  but  few 
rams  fit  for  use.  In  the  spring  of  1888  I  shipped  out  300  registered  Vermont  Merino 
rams  for  sale,  and  have  since  made  other  similar  shipments  until  the  whole  number 
would  reach  2,000  head,  and  all  have  been  used  to  grade  up  the  loose-wooled,  light- 
shearing  sheep  so  common  in  all  parts  of  the  range  country.  I  have  crossed  the  con- 
tinent seventeen  times,  but  have  found  no  better  sheep  country  than  the  free  moun- 
tain ranges  in  this  Territory  in  summer,  and  the  American  desert  in  winter.  The 
only  shelter  that  99  out  of  100  sheep  get  is  God's  great  and  glorious  firmament.  Our 
best  market  for  wool  is  Nephi  or  Salina,  and  for  mutton  every  herd  is  visited  by 
buyers. 


i 


CHAPTER   III. 

THE  SHEEP  INDUSTRY  IN  MINNESOTA,  IOWA,  NEBRASKA,  MISSOURI,  AND 

KANSAS. 

MINNESOTA. 

The  climatic  conditions  of  Minnesota  are  favorable  for  the  sheep 
industry.  Malarial  diseases  are  almost  unknown  and  the  atmosphere 
is  dry  and  invigorating.  The  average  mean  temperature  in  summer  is 
70.50°  F. ;  winter  mean,  25°.  The  annual  mean  temperature  for  St. 
Paul  and  vicinity  in  1891  was  44°.  There  is  an  interval  of  five  months 
or  more  nearly  every  year  between  killing  frosts,  when  the  temperature 
is  favorable  to  vegetation. 

The  Minnesota  wolf-bounty  law  assists  in  promoting  the  sheep 
industry,  and  thus  enhancing  the  taxable  wealth  of  the  State.  This 
law  provides  a  bounty  of  $5  for  the  scalp  of  any  wolf  killed  between 
the  months  of  November  and  May,  and  $3  for  those  killed  from  May  1 
to  November  1.  When  a  wolf  is  killed,  if  the  bounty  is  to  be  secured, 
the  head  and  ears  complete  must  be  delivered  to  the  county  auditor  in 
twenty  days,  and  oath  must  be  made  that  it  was  killed  within  the 
county.  This  is  a  wise  provision  and  of  great  value  to  the  State  as 
well  as  to  stock-owners,  and  should  be  kept  in  force  so  long  as  wolves 
are  prevalent. 

The  adaptability  of  Minnesota  for  the  sheep  industry  and  the  favor 
with  which  it  is  regarded  by  the  farmers  and  breeders  is  clearly  mani- 
fest by  the  steady  development  of  the  industry  since  sheep  were  first 
introduced  into  the  State.  Authentic  statistics  give  the  number  of 
sheep  for  different  periods  during  the  past  thirty-two  years,  as  follows: 
The  number  in  1860  was  13,044;  in  1870,  131,343;  in  1880,  267,598;  in 
1890,  327,375;  and  in  1892  it  was  357,101. 

NUMBER  AND   VALUE   OF   SHEEP. 

The  distribution  of  sheep  throughout  the  State  is  ascertained  by  the 
abstract  of  assessment  of  1891  for  taxation  purposes.  This  shows  that 
the  largest  number  of  sheep  owned  in  any  one  county  was  in  Cotton- 
wood,  which  received  taxes  on  20,818  head.  The  counties  having  10,000 
and  less  than  15,000  were  Jackson  and  Olmsted ;  those  having  5,000  and 
less  than  10,000  are  Blue  Earth,  Clay,  Dakota,  Dodge,  Douglas,  Fari- 
bault,  Fillmore,  Goodhue,  Kandiyohi,  Lincoln,  Lyon,  Martin,  Mower, 
Murray,  Nobles,  Ottertail,  Polk,  Eedwood,  Renville,  Eice,  Stearns, 
Steele,  Wabasha,  Wright,  and  Yellow  Medicine;  those  having  1,000 

811 


812  SHEEP   INDUSTRY    OF    THE    UNITED    STATES 

and  less  than  5,000  are  Anoka,  Becker,  Big  Stone,  Brown,  Carver, 
Chippewa,  Ckisago,  Freeborn,  Grant,  Heimepin,  Houston,  Isanti,  Kitt- 
son,  Lac  qui  Parle,  Le  Sueur,  McLeod,  Marshall,  Meeker.  Morrison, 
Mcollet,  Norman,  Pipestone,  Pope,  Eock,  Scott,  Sibley,  Stevens,  Swift, 
Todd,  Wadena,  Waseca,  Washington,  Watonwan,  Wilkin,  and  Winona; 
those  having  500  and  less  than  1,000  are  Benton,  Bamsey,  St.  Louis,  and 
Sherburne;  and  those  having  less  than  100  are  Aitkin,  Carlton,  and 
Lake.  The  only  county  which  paid  no  taxes  on  sheep  was  Itasca.  The 
average  assessed  value  for  the  State  was  $1.32,  ranging  far  less  than  $1 
in  some  counties  to  more  than  $2  in  others. 

The  annual  report  of  the  St.  Paul  Chamber  of  Commerce  for  1892 
gives  the  total  number  of  live  stock  in  Minnesota  for  1891  as  follows: 
Sheep,  337,078;  hogs,  357,078;  cattle,  1,065,229;  and  horses,  461,453. 

They  also  report  the  wool  clips  for  1890  as  677,120  pounds,  and  for 
1891  as  1,361,725  pounds. 

According  to  the  ninth  annual  report  of  Minneapolis  Chamber  of  Com- 
merce the  total  shipments  of  wool  received  during  1891  were  5,442,202 
pounds.  Total  wool  shipments  from  Minneapolis  were  5,436,825  pounds. 

There  are  three  stockyard  companies  in  the  vicinity  of  St.  Paul  and 
Minneapolis,  which  are  designated  as  follows:  The  Union,  Twin  City, 
and  the  Minnesota  Transfer.  Officials  of  these  stockyards  give  the 
amount  of  sheep  handled  in  each  yard  for  the  year  1891  as  follows : 
Union,  89,423;  Twin  City,  60,550;  Minnesota  Transfer,  26,895. 

While  these  live-stock  markets  are  yet  in  their  infancy  their  growth 
has  been  vigorous  and  substantial.  With  the  rapid  yet  substantial 
development  of  the  live-stock^interests  of  the  Northwest  the  "  twin 
cities"  seem  likely  to  have  one  of  the  leading  live-stock  markets  of  this 
country.  The  establishment  of  large  packing  houses  indicates  what 
may  be  expected.  The  farmers  of  Minnesota  are  peculiarly  fortunate 
in  having  a  home  market  of  such  magnitude  both  for  wool  and  mutton, 
as  well  as  all  classes  of  live  stock.  Dealers  as  well  as  manufacturers 
handle  considerable  wool  at  Minneapolis,  and  there  are  located  here 
branch  wool  houses  from  Eastern  markets. 

The  number  of  sheep  in  Minnesota  at  the  present  time,  not  including 
the  lamb  crop  of  1892,  is  not  less  than  400,000  head;  value,  $1,250,000. 
The  wool  clip  for  1892  will  exceed  2,000,000  pounds.  From  the  present 
condition  of  the  sheep  industry  there  is  every  reason  to  believe  that 
sheep  will  from  this  time  become  more  and  more  the  favorite  class  of 
stock  for  the  enterprising  and  general  farmer  of  the  State. 


GENERAL  FACTS  ABOUT  THE  INDUSTRY. 


Sheep-raising  in  Minnesota  can  not  be  regarded  as  a  leading  pursuit 
of  the  farmers  and  stockmen.  In  value  sheep  rank  below  all  other 
classes  of  live  stock  and  in  number  are  exceeded  by  every  other  class, 
except  horses.  In  fact,  there  are  more  dogs  than  sheep  in  the  State. 


WEST    OF    THE   MISSISSIPPI   RIVER.  813 

Yet,  while  sheep  do  not  rank  in  number  or  value  with  the  other  classes 
of  domestic  animals,  there  are  enough  to  form  the  basis  of  an  important 
branch  of  the  animal  industry  of  the  State.  Though  sheep  are  to  be 
t'<  mud  in  nearly  every  county,  not  one  farmer  in  ten  raises  them.  Stock- 
raising  is  not  to  any  considerable  extent  an  exclusive  business  in  the 
State,  but  is  apart  of  mixed  farming.  The  general  farmer  raises  a  few 
horses,  hogs,  cattle  and  occasionally  sheep  are  added.  Only  a  limited 
number  of  farmers  raise  sheep,  and  the  majority  of  them  do  so  on  a 
small  scale.  The  bulk  of  the  sheep  to-day  mainly  consist  of  pure-bred 
or  high-grade  Cots  wolds,  Southdowns,  Shropshires,  Merinos,  and  Ox- 
ford Downs — ranking  numerically  in  about  the  order  named.  The 
flocks  as  a  rule  range  from  10  to  50  in  number,  where  kept  on  farms. 
The  exceptions  are  the  Merino  flocks  and  those  of  the  men  who  make  a 
specialty  of  raising  pure-bred  mutton  sheep.  It  is  stated  that  in  Rtn- 
ville  County,  which  is  probably  an  average  sheep  county  of  the  State, 
there  is  only  an  average  of  about  6  head  of  sheep  to  each  farm  in  the 
county.  What  are  known  as  the  prairie  counties  have  the  largest  num- 
ber of  sheep.  There  seems  to  be  a  more  general  purpose  among  the 
farmers  in  these  counties  to  breed  up  their  flocks  as  closely  as  possible 
to  pure-breds. 

The  sheep  industry  in  Minnesota  is  in  good  condition  and  thriving. 
Mutton  is  the  chief  object  of  the  sheep-raisers,  although  the  wool  prod- 
uct is  by  no  means  lost  sight  of,  and  some  few  breed  with  special  refer- 
ence to  it.  Experienced  flockmasters  breed  for  both  wool  and  mutton. 
Sheep  now  pay  the  farmer  better  than  any  other  class  of  stock,  and  in 
the  prairie  country,  those  who  are  now  engaged  in  raising  a  few  sheep 
find  it  the  most  profitable  branch  of  mixed  husbandry. 

The  most  notable  recent  change  in  the  sheep  industry  is  the  change 
from  fine- wools  to  the  mutton  breeds,  like  the  Cotswolds  or  the  Downs. 

Sheep  raising  compared  with  other  branches  of  live-stock  husbandry 
is  more  certain  in  results  and  requires  less  capital.  It  is  a  significant 
fact  that  while  the  growers  of  every  other  class  of  stock  are  complain- 
ing, the  sheep-raiser  is  apparently  contented  and  well  satisfied.  The 
only  other  class  of  stock  which  seems  to  promise  equal  profits  are  well- 
bred  horses,  and  they  require  considerable  more  capital.  The  chief 
obstacle  to  sheep  husbandry  is  the  fact  that  it  about  doubles  the  cost 
of  fencing.  It  is  believed  by  most  of  the  shepherds  that  sheep  of  the 
various  breeds  and  grades,  without  exception,  show  improvement  in 
both  the  wool  and  constitution  when  brought  into  Minnesota  from  other 
States.  Breeding  animals  are  brought  from  the  East  and  wethers  for 
feeding  from  the  West. 

The  class  of  rams  used  on  the  Minnesota  flocks  include  all  the  im- 
proved breeds,  pure-bred  and  high  grades,  and  occasionally  crossbreeds 
are  used  as  an  experiment.  However,  experienced  growers  now  use" 
purebred  animals  of  the  following  breeds:  Cotswold,  Oxford  Down, 


814  SHEEP    INDUSTRY    OF    THE    UNITED    STATES 

Shropshire,  Southdown,  and  Merino.  The  age  of  the  buck  used  is  from 
a  yearling  up  to  5  years  old.  The  usual  time  for  breeding  the  ewes 
is  during  November  or  December,  and  one  ram  usually  suffices  for  the 
average  flock,  although  in  large  flocks  each  ram  is  given  about  50  ewes. 
The  ram  is  usually  kept  with  the  flock  from  four  to  six  weeks,  and  is 
then  removed  until  spring,  when  he  is  allowed  to  run  with  the  flock 
until  September  1.  During  the  breeding  season  the  usual  practice  is 
to  let  the  buck  remain  with  the  ewes  about  six  hours  out  of  twenty - 
four.  There  are  some  exceptions,  the  ewes  being  bred  much  earlier 
where  it  is  an  object  to  raise  spring  lambs  for  market,  and  often  a  greater 
number  of  ewes  are  bred  where  hand  breeding  is  practiced  and  the  buck 
is  judiciously  fed  and  handled  during  the  breeding  season.  As  the 
flocks  are  small  and  receive  proper  care,  it  is  seldom  that  a  ewe  fails  to 
breed,  unless  she  is  very  old.  The  average  per  cent  of  lambs  raised 
varies  from  80  to  120,  the  excess  over  100  being  due  chiefly  to  the  great 
number  of  twins  among  the  mutton  breeds.  It  is  perhaps  a  safe  esti- 
mate that  the  average  for  the  State  is  not  far  short  of  95  per  cent, 
ravages  of  wolves  and  dogs  not  considered. 

The  time  of  shearing  occurs  during  the  months  of  May  and  June, 
usually  the  latter  part  of  May  or  first  of  June.  In  the  large  flocks  a 
shearer  is  provided  for  about  every  100  sheep,  but  ordinarily,  if  the 
flock  is  small,  the  owner  shears  his  own  sheep,  using  much  better  care 
than  is  ordinarily  given  by  the  professional  shearer  in  the  range  coun- 
try. The  usual  practice  is  to  provide  a  platform  in  the  shed,  and  pens 
are  constructed  near  at  hand.  As  each  sheep  is  caught  its  feet  are 
cleaned  and  trimmed.  It  is  then  sheared  and  cleaned,  the  fleece  is 
trimmed,  and  the  long,  dirty,  and  stained  locks  put  in  one  sack,  and 
the  short,  hairy  tags  in  another.  The  main  fleece  is  then  neatly  and 
securely  tied  and  put  in  a  shipping  sack.  The  prudent  flockmaster, 
of  course,  keeps  a  pair  of  scales  near  at  hand  and  all  extra  heavy  shearers 
are  noted,  and  those  sheep  producing  an  inferior  or  light  fleece  are 
marked  so  that  they  may  be  put  among  the  feeders  or  sold.  If  at  time 
of  shearing  ticks  are  prevalent  the  sheep  are  dipped  as  soon  as  shorn. 
The  wool  is  usually  shipped  at  once  to  some  manufacturer  in  the  State 
or  consigned  to  some  dealer  in  Minneapolis,  Chicago,  or  some  Eastern 
market.  The  farmer  who  has  only  a  few  fleeces  usually  sells  it  to  the 
local  merchant,  who,  when  he  has  secured  sufficient  quantity,  sells  it 
to  the  mill  or  consigns  it  to  commission  men.  Where  additional  help 
is  required  during  shearing  the  wages  paid  are  about  $2  per  day. 
Many  of  the  farmers  store  their  wool  in  some  dry  place  until  they  have 
opportunity  to  market  it.  All  grades  of  wool  are  produced  from  floe 
to  coarse,  the  bulk,  however,  is  a  medium.  The  fleeces  range  in  weight 
from  5  to  10  pounds  each,  the  average  for  the  State  being  not  much 
less  than  7  pounds.  The  bulk  of  the  wool  is  handled  at  Minneapolis, 
and  only  a  limited  number  of  individual  consignments  are  made  to 


WEST   OF   THE   MISSISSIPPI   RIVER.  815 

Chicago  or  Eastern  markets  from  this  State,  unless  reshipped  from 
Minneapolis  by  the  dealers.  The  farmers  usually  sell  wethers  and  fat 
sheep  to  the  local  butchers  or  buyers,  and  the  shipments  are  made  in 
car  lots,  usually  to  St.  Paul  or  Minneapolis  markets,  and  sometimes 
to  Chicago.  The  nearness  of  these  markets  to  the  Minnesota  growers 
makes  the  net  price  received  very  close  to  the  St.  Paul  quotations. 

The  farmer  who  has  a  lot  of  wool  to  sell  prefers  to  sell  it  in  bulk  on  its 
merits  and  for  cash.  Those  who  have  consigned  wool  to  distant  markets, 
after  considerable  delay,  receive  returns  with  various  grades  reported 
which  they  do  not  understand,  and  sundry  deductions  in  the  bill  of  par- 
ticulars which  accompanies  the  returns.  This  method  is  never  very  satis- 
factory to  the  grower.  Farmers  who  sell  wool  do  not  understand  why 
the  buyers  and  speculators  do  not  carry  wool  as  they  do  provisions  and 
grain.  Another  difficulty  encountered  by  the  small  sheep-owner  is  the 
fact  that  he  does  not  have  the  opportunity  to  deal  with  the  regular 
wool-buyers  direct,  as  do  the  sheepmen  in  the  States  west,  where  it  is  a 
more  exclusive  business.  As  a  consequence  he  has  to  dispose  of  his 
wool  to  the  local  merchant  for  whatever  he  is  pleased  to  pay,  in  order 
to  realize  ready  cash.  If  he  ships  to  a  distant  market  his  consignment 
is  so  small  and  the  time  of  returns  so  uncertain,  and  usually  so  unsat- 
isfactory, that  he  does  not  care  to  make  a  second  attempt.  Thus,  so 
far  as  the  wool  clip  is  concerned,  the  farmer  feels  that  he  is  practically 
at  the  mercy  of  the  man  who  purchases  or  handles  his  wool.  Often  the 
meager  price  received  for  the  wool  is  made  so  by  the  farmer  himself,  as 
so  many  are  indifferent  in  the  preparation  of  the  fleece  for  the  market. 
Many  of  them  permit  the  sheep  during  fall  and  winter  to  run  to  the 
straw  stacks,  and  the  fleece  becomes  filled  with  chaff,  and  the  buyer 
docks  the  prices  as  a  consequence  of  the  bad  condition  of  the  wool. 

The  sheep  disposed  of  each  year  consist  mainly  of  three-year  old 
wethers,  although  occasionally  some  lambs  are  sold.  It  is  seldom  that 
more  than  one-third  of  the  flock  is  disposed  of  in  one  year,  or  a  number 
exceeding  the  annual  increase.  The  average  live  weight  of  sheep  is 
not  less  than  100  pounds,  and  frequently  more.  Sheepmen  say  that  if 
the  present  tendency  to  mutton  continues  it  will  not  be  long  until  the 
average  weight  of  fat  wethers  will  increase  to  an  average  of  from  140 
to  150  pounds. 

The  cost  of  handling  sheep  per  year,  all  expenses,  which  include  the 
care,  cost  of  hay,  grain,  and  salt,  and  interest  on  the  pasture  land,  is 
variously  estimated  from  75  cents  to  $1.50  per  head.  A  great  many 
farmers  seem  to  have  no  general  idea  of  the  exact  cost,  the  majority 
saying  that  $1  or  less  per  head  will  cover  all  expenses.  The  farmers 
are  generally  agreed  that  a  flock  of  50  or  less  in  connection  with  gen- 
eral farming  and  mixed  stock-raising  costs  them  little  or  nothing;  but 
when  larger  flocks  are  handled  on  exclusive  pastures,  the  total  cost 
usually  amounts  to  one-half  the  price  received  for  the  fleece.  Some 
accurate  idea  of  the  cost  can  be  given  from  an  estimate  furnished  the 


816      SHEEP  INDUSTRY  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES 

writer  by  D.  L.  How,  Shakopolis,  Eeiiville  County,  who  gives  the  annual 
cost  for  400  wethers  and  8  bucks,  as  follows : 

Interest  and  taxes  on  160  acres  of  land  fenced  with  four  galvanized  wires $350 

Interest  and  repairs  on  well  260  feet  deep,  windmill,  and  tank 50 

Oats,  straw,  and  salt 20 

Grain  and  ground  feed  fed  from  February  1  to  May  1 100 

Expense  and  shipping  after  shearing 20 

Cost  of  lumber  in  caring  for  sheep  at  25  cents  per  head 100 

Total  cost  for  this  flock 640 

Or  $1.60  per  head. 

The  returns  the  sheep  give  to  the  farm  are  of  course  not  considered 
in  Mr.  How's  estimate. 

Among  the  local  disadvantages  and  obstacles  encountered  by  sheep- 
raisers  in  Minnesota  are  wolves  in  the  timber  portions  of  the  State  and 
dogs  everywhere.  However,  the  ravages  are  perhaps  less  than  in  the 
other  agricultural  States.  There  is  very  little  trouble  from  wolves, 
thanks  to  the  judicious  wolf-bounty  law.  In  the  prairie  districts  of  the 
State  the  farmers  receive  about  $11,000  every  year  in  the  way  of  boun- 
ties for  exterminating  them.  The  greatest  loss  from  wolves  is  in  the 
timber  country.  The  sheepmen  who  live  in  the  prairie  counties  say  that 
a  first-class  dog  law  would  be  of  great  benefit  to  the  sheep  industry. 
As  it  is  now  every  sheep-owner  must  be  a  law  unto  himself — with  the 
aid  of  a  trusty  shotgun.  Owing  to  the  settlement  of  the  country,  it  is 
necessary  to  have  fences  that  will  restrain  the  flocks  inclosed  in  pas- 
tures which  are  owned  by  the  sheepmen.  The  fences  that  will  turn 
horses  and  cattle  will  not  restrain  sheep  unless  about  double  the  expense 
is  incurred.  Another  disadvantage  is  the  long  winter,  which  necessi- 
tates a  protracted  period  of  dry  feed,  such  as  grain  and  hay,  adding  to 
the  expense  of  maintaining  the  flocks.  However,  the  compensation  of 
the  increase  in  both  the  fleece  and  carcass  will  more  than  offset  the 
extra  period  and  cost  of  feeding. 

The  chief  natural  advantages  for  sheep  husbandry  in  Minnesota  as 
given  by  sheep-owners  themselves  are  substantially  as  follows :  Free- 
dom from  disease  of  all  kinds;  abundance  of  nutritious  grasses  and 
hay;  cheap  grain  feed  and  abundance  of  wheat  and  oat  straw,  which  is 
quite  valuable  for  rough  feed,  and  practically  costs  nothing;  the  near- 
ness of  Nebraska  and  Iowa  cornfields;  unusually  good  local  markets; 
the  abundance  of  good  water  and  shade  in  almost  every  county;  clover 
and  timothy  is  easily  grown;  the  winter  ordinarily  dry  and  cold;  the 
climate  healthful  and  invigorating,  which  makes  it  easy  to  produce 
robust  sheep;  root  crops  are  easily  produced  and  are  excellent  feed  for 
sheep,  to  be  used  in  connection  with  dry,  coarse  feed. 

Little  or  no  complaint  is  made  by  sheepmen  regarding  any  diseases. 
The  main  difficulties  encountered  are  the  common  ailments  caused  by 
neglect.  Some  seasons  ticks  are  quite  numerous,  making  it  necessary 
for  the  sheep-owner  to  incur  the  expense  of  dipping  the  flock.  Scab  is 


WEST   OF   THE   MISSISSIPPI   RIVER.  817 

occasionally  brought  in  by  Western  sheep,  although  in  recent  years  very 
little  trouble  is  being  encountered  from  that  parasite  except  by  those 
bringing  in  Western  sheep. 

The  loss  of  sheep  in  Minnesota  is  very  light  from  all  sources.  The 
chief  source  of  loss  is  dogs,  since  the  wolf- bounty  law  has  encouraged 
the  destruction  of  wolves.  Owing  to  the  provisions  made  by  most  of 
the  sheep-owners  for  winter  the  loss  from  exposure  is  trifling,  and  sel- 
dom exceeds  from  1  to  2  per  cent.  The  losses  from  dogs  are  variously 
reported  at  from  2  to  10  per  cent,  with  perhaps  an  average  of  5  per  cent 
for  the  State. 

The  usual  method  of  handling  the  flocks  in  summer  is  to  let  them  run 
in  pastures  during  the  day  and  stay  in  the  open  sheds  in  yards  at  night 
where  water  and  salt  are  accessible.  During  the  cold  weather  of  win- 
ter they  are  kept  mainly  in  the  yards  and  sheds  where  hay  and  straw 
are  accessible  at  all  times.  During  the  winter,  when  the  ground  is  not 
covered  with  snow,  the  sheep  during  the  middle  of  the  day  are  turned 
out  to  run  in  the  fields,  and  the  racks  are  then  filled  with  hay  and 
straw,  and  where  closed  sheds  are  used  they  are  opened  and  venti- 
lated. 

To  profitably  conduct  sheep  husbandry,  the  skill  of  the  sheep- owner 
must  be  exercised  during  the  winter  season.  His  sheds  and  yards  must 
be  adapted  to  the  purposes  for  which  they  are  used,  in  the  matter  of 
health,  economy,  and  convenience.  There  is  no  branch  of  animal  indus- 
try where  vigilance  will  bring  better  returns  than  in  the  management 
of  sheep.  It  must  be  remembered  that  sheep,  of  all  animals,  deserve 
civilized  methods  of  management. 

THE   SHEEP-FEEDING  INDUSTRY. 

At  the  Union  Stock  Yards  at  South  St.  Paul  24,000  sheep  were  fed 
during  the  winter  of  1891->92;  and  at  the  Twin  City  Yards,  nearMinnel 
apolis,  25,000.  The  results  are  highly  satisfactory.  The  experimenta- 
stage  of  feeding  sheep  has  demonstrated  that  it  is  a  profitable  enter- 
prise, especially  when  feed  is  not  high  priced,  or  when  aged  wethers 
can  be  purchased  at  reasonable  prices  on  the  range  in  Montana,  Utah, 
or  the  Dakotas.  Wheat  screenings  and  mill  stufl's,  which  usually  are 
abundant  and  reasonably  cheap  feed,  are  very  superior  for  sheep.  Sheep 
have  been  bought  at  the  Chicago  Stock  Yards  and  shipped  to  the  feed- 
ing establishments  at  St.  Paul,  and  then  returned  to  Chicago  for  sale, 
and  yielded  a  handsome  profit.  The  same  parties  are  reported  to  have 
purchased  30,000  sheep  in  Texas  to  be  brought  to  Minnesota  and  fat- 
tened during  the  present  winter  and  made  ready  for  the  spring  market. 
Other  feeders  are  now  contracting  sheep  in  Montana,  Utah,  and  Idaho 
for  the  same  purpose.  The  sheep  purchased  are  three  and  four  years 
old  wethers,  usually  grade  Merinos,  some  of  which  show  the  Down  blood. 

The  large  feeders  usually  ship  to  Chicago,  although  to  the  extent  of 
the  demand  the  home  market  trade  is  equally  as  satisfactory. 

This  sheep-feeding  business  is  a  new  feature  of  the  industry  in  Min- 
22990 52 


818 


SHEEP  INDUSTRY  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES 


nesota  that  is  of  great  importance,  because  it  insures  a  profitable  util- 
ization of  food  products  that  are  not  especially  demanded  in  the  market 
except  at  low  figures  which  would  not  realize  the  producer  or  seller 
but  little,  if  any,  margin  or  profit ;  besides,  the  more  stock  feeding  that 
is  done  in  the  State  the  larger  the  saving  of  coarse  feed  which  now  is 
largely  wasted.  If  it  is  possible  to  secure  wethers  there  will  be  fed 
during  the  coming  winter  in  Minnesota  at  least  200,000  sheep. 

Several  Minnesota  sheep-owners  have  requested  the  author  of  this 
report  to  present  the  best  plan  of  a  sheep  shed  for  100  sheep.  The 
matter  was  referred  to  the  editor  of  the  Farm,  Stock,  and  Home,  of 
Minneapolis,  who  has  a  department  devoted  to  "Farm  Plans  and  Ap- 
pliances" in  his  paper.  And  in  the  issue  of  May  1,  1892,  the  following 
figure  and  description  is  given  of  a  sheep  shed  suitable  for  accommo- 
dating a  flock  of  100  sheep : 

Fig.  1  shows  a  section  of  a  shed  which  will  require  but  little  outlay  to  build, 
where  long  posts  or  poles  can  be  obtained.  It  is  24  feet  wide,  and  for  100  sheep 
should  be  at  least  32  feet  long.  The  roof  is  one-third  pitch  and  requires  16-foot 
boards  for  covering.  The  plates  are  2  by  6,  set  edgewise,  and  let  into  the  top  of 
posts.  Instead  of  a  single  ridge-pole  two  pieces  of  2  by  6,  are  used,  one  let  in  on 


FIG.  1.— Shed  for  100  sheep. 

each  side  of  the  middle  posts.  Purlines  and  braces  are  also  2  by  6.  The  entire  bill 
of  lumber  is  as  follows :  Nineteen  pieces,  2  by  7,  16  feet  long ;  16  pieces,  2  by  6,  12 
feet  long ;  1,536  feet  common  boards,  16  feet  long ;  576  feet  common  boards,  12  feet 
long ;  96  pieces  batten,  16  feet  long ;  36  pieces  batten,  12  feet  long ;  5  posts,  20  feet 
long;  10  posts,  12  feet  long. 

Battens  are  better  than  wide  boards  to  cover  the  cracks  in  board  roofs,  for  the  rea- 
son that  they  allow  the  roof  to  dry  out  sooner  after  a  rain,  thus  preventing  decay. 

By  using  longer  posts  an  upper  story  for  the  storage  of  hay  could  be  had  under 
the  same  roof.  Provision  should  be  made  for  driving  the  manure  wagon  through 
the  shed.  Since  the  manure  will  need  to  be  cleaned  out  but  once  or  twice  a  year, 
the  door,  instead  of  being  hung  on  rollers  or  hinges,  should  be  bolted  to  the  posts. 
In  this  way  a  tighter  joint  can  be  made  than  with  rollers,  and  the  doors  will  always 
be  fastened  instead  of  slamming  in  the  wind. 

Sheep  sheds  are  often  made  narrow  and  with  a  single  shed  roof,  similar  to  one-half 
of  Fig.  1.  Such  a  shed  requires  nearly  as  much  lumber  to  build  as  Fig.  1,  while  but 
half  the  space  is  inclosed. 

EXPERIENCE,    VIEWS,   AND   TESTIMONY  OF  MINNESOTIANS. 

John  O.  Hall,  Alden,  Freeborn  County: 

I  think  a  small  flock  of  not  more  than  50  coarse-wool  sheep  will  pay  a  great  deal 
more  proportionately  than  a  large  flock.  Our  hay  is  mostly  from  wild  grass  and  rather 
too  coarse  for  sheep. 


WEST    OF   THE    MISSISSIPPI    RIVER.  819 

E.  S.  Holmes,  Brown  ton,  McLeod  County: 

I  have  kept  sheep  for  seventeen  years  in  this  State  and  it  has  always  paid  me  bet- 
ter than  any  other  branch  of  the  farm.  I  have  kept  the  Merino  for  wool,  but  have 
changed  my  plan  and  ain  crossing  them  with  the  Shropshire,  with  a  view  of  raising 
both  mutton  and  wool,  for  with  the  low  price  of  wool  and  good  price  of  mutton  I 
think  it  will  pay  better. 

T.  P.  Grant,  Luverue,  Kock  County: 

I  have  kept  sheep  for  eleven  years  in  this  country.  Was  among  the  first  to  bring 
sheep  to  this  county.  Have  about  500  acres  of  land  under  cultivation.  Invested 
about  $600  in  sheep  in  1881,  and  about  the  same  amount  in  brood  mares,  also  like 
amount  in  cows  and  hogs.  Have  made  more  out  of  sheep  in  the  eleven  years  than 
out  of  all  the  balance  of  my  stock.  Our  dog  law  needs  amending. 

William  Hysop,  Chester,  Olmsted  County: 

Have  kept  sheep  for  twenty  years  and  find  them  the  most  profitable  stock  on  the 
farm.  As  wool  keeps  declining  I  intend  to  raise  larger  sheep  and  depend  more  on 
mutton  than  wool.  While  the  long  winters  here  are  a  drawback,  it  is  largely  offset 
by  the  good  health  of  sheep. 

B.  M.  Owen,  Dodge  Center,  Dodge  County: 

My  impression  is  that  sheep-raising  here  is  rather  on  the  increase,  owing  mostly  to 
better  prices  for  mutton,  together  with  the  benefits  sheep  are  to  the  farm,  for  a  sheep 
never  stepped  on  a  piece  of  land  but  it  left  it  in  better  condition  than  before.  No 
weed  that  has  the  least  oil  in  it  escapes  the  sheep.  When  one  year  old  a  sheep  makes 
a  payment  on  his  cost.  A  mutton  ewe  at  eleven  months  old  may,  and  does,  produce  a 
lamb,  and  if  well  kept  will  raise  it.  A  Merino  ewe  may  produce  a  lamb  at  two  years, 
but  should  be  three  years  old  before  she  breeds. 

Alexander  Harking,  West  Newton,  Mcollet  County: 

For  over  thirty  years  I  have  kept  sheep  on  this  farm.  My  flock  has  ranged  from 
150  to  400,  and  1  have  always  found  them  the  most  profitable  part  of  the  farm.  Have 
known  of  no  special  disease  during  this  time,  and  loss  by  all  diseases  has  not  been 
one-fourth  of  1  percent.  Accidents,  dogs,  and  wolves  have  taken  a  few,  mostly  by 
dogs.  I  find  more  inquiring  after  sheep  this  season  than  ever  before.  Farmers  are 
turning  their  attention  in  this  direction.  Just  now  sheep  husbandry  is  greatly  on  the 
increase.  A  better  class  of  sheep  is  being  called  for  than  formerly,  which  looks  well 
for  the  future  of  the  industry  in  this  State. 

F.  W.  Carlton,  Warren,  Marshall  County: 

I  have  a  fine  place  for  sheep,  a  500-barrel  flowing  well,  and  plenty  of  pasture.  I 
expect  to  stock  again  with  a  better  class  of  sheep  as  soon  as  I  can  get  rid  of  more 
cattle.  But  out  on  this  flat  prairie,  where  almost  every  foot  of  land  can  be  cultivated, 
is  no  place  for  sheep.  Water  is  too  scarce,  especially  in  a  dry  season,  and  flowing 
wells  can  only  be  secured  in  a  few  places. 

Thomas  Powle,  Jackson,  Jackson  County: 

Have  had  twenty  years'  experience  with  sheep  in  Devonshire,  England,  and  twelve 
years  in  Minnesota.  Find  they  require  less  care  than  any  other  kind  of  stock  and 
are  easier  controlled,  and  are  more  profitable.  But  sheep  must  have  proper  care  and 
attendance  at  the  right  time.  Here  is  where  men  not  understanding  the  business 
fail.  I  commenced  here  with  a  few  native  sheep,  bought  the  best  Oxford  Down  rain 
lamb  (at  our  State  fair),  bred  and  inbred  with  him  as  long  as  I  could  increase  the 
fleece,  which  I  did  from  5  to  8  pounds  average,  and  carcass  from  100  to  140  pounds. 


820        SHEEP  INDUSTRY  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES 

I  then  bought  another  lamb,  equally  good,  and  bred  him  to  113  ewes,  and  expect  to 
still  increase  both  wool  and  carcass.  I  always  get  more  twins  and  triplets  than  sin- 
gle lambs. 

W.  M.  Corbit,  Eose  Creek, Mower  County: 

Have  kept  sheep  for  fifteen  years,  and  for  the  last  ten  years  have  kept  from  400  to 
700  on  my  farm.  Received  the  highest  price  this  winter  for  mutton.  Usually  sell 
by  the  carload  in  winter  all  surplus  sheep,  and  shear  from  400  to  500  every  spring. 
Generally  get  from  18  cents  to  20  cents  per  pound  for  unwashed  wool,  which  averages 
me  about  $1.40  per  head.  Received  21  cents  per  pound  net  for  last  year's  clip.  There 
will  be  an  increase  in  sheep  in  Minnesota,  but  we  can  not  compete  with  the  South 
and  West. 

David  Haggard,  Crookston,  Polk  County : 

A  few  farmers  who  have  tried  sheep-raising  and  have  used  any  of  the  imported 
breeds  are  more  than  convinced  that  this  branch  of  farming  will  be  a  great  success, 
as  one  farmer,  who  keeps  about  150  sheep,  claims  that  the  increase  in  weight  of  fleece 
will  average  1£  pounds  per  sheep  above  what  they  would  yield  when  brought  here 
from  Ohio.  As  regards  the  raising  of  roots,  1  believe  that  in  no  place  can  it  be  done 
easier  or  with  more  sureness  than  has  always  been  the  case  here,  although  some 
seasons  are  better  than  others  for  this,  depending  in  a  great  measure  upon  the  amount 
of  moisture  we  have ;  but  the  work  of  caring  for  them  when  growing  is  comparatively 
easy  indeed.  Potatoes,  carrots,  parsnips,  rutabagas,  beets,  and  all  the  garden  vege- 
tables are  very  easy  of  cultivation  and  yield  most  prolifically. 

J.  Fullerton  writes  the  Northwestern  Agriculturist,  from  northern 
Minnesota,  as  follows : 

Sinc^  1873  I  have  kept  sheep  in  this  Northwest,  and  never  had  a  shed  with  more  than 
three  sides  tight.  I  like  one  100  feet  long,  30  feet  wide,  with  a  feed  rack  3  feet 
wide  the  whole  length  of  it  in  the  center.  In  snowy  weather  we  feed  in  this  rack. 
After  driving  the  sheep  out  of  the  shed  the  hay  is  filled  in  and  tramped  from  end  to 
end  to  keep  them  from  driving  their  heads  into  it,  and  so  getting  seeds  into  the  neck. 
We  always  build  our  hay  on  top  of  the  sheds  for  convenience.  As  soon  as  the  rack 
is  filled  the  gate  is  opened  and  they  are  enjoying  their  meal  (after  the  sheep  ha^e 
been  carefully  shut  in,  no  dirt  or  seeds  must  fall  on  them).  We  have  never  fed  any- 
thing but  prairie  hay  and  unthreshed  oats,  and  these  are  spread  in  long  windrows 
about  10  feet  apart.  Oat  straw,  before  it  goes  through  the  thresher,  is  fine  feed.  For 
threshed  grain  and  bran,  wooden  troughs  could  bo  placed  inside  the  long  rack  in 
the  shed. 

James  McMillan  &  Co.,  Minneapolis: 

The  bright  side  of  the  sheep  business  is  the  steady  demand  and  good  prices  for  fat 
sheep  most  of  the  year.  Wethers  from  Montana  and  the  Territories,  averaging  from 
100  to  150 pounds  live  weight,  are  commanding  from  $5  to  $5.50  per  hundredweight; 
lambs  in  proportion.  This  is  more  than  double  the  average  price  of  fat  cattle.  We 
understand  the  total  number  of  sheep  in  this  county  is  increasing  very  rapidly. 
Double  the  number  of  all  varieties  should  be  kept,  as,  unlike  continuous  grain-rais- 
ing, they  keep  the  farms  from  running  out. 

D.  L.  How,  Shakopee,  Scott  County: 

I  commenced,  in  1880,  with  75  ewes  in  this  county  (timbered) ;  had  all  conveniences. 
First  year  lost  32  by  wolves,  next  year  18.  Removed  them  to  Reuville  County. 
Erected  barns  20  by  80.  Have  now  two  barns  20  by  80.  Intend  to  make  one  40  by 
40,  and  one  20  by  100.  No  floors ;  height,  8£;  shingle  roof,  one- third  pitch,  ventilated 
by  chimneys  and  sliding  ventilators  on  side  and  above  head.  We  use  timothy  until 


WEST   OF   THE   MISSISSIPPI   RIVER.  821 

December  15,  feeding  heavier  than  that  during  January  and  February,  and  from  March 
to  M;iy  15  as  heavy  feeding  as  in  November  and  December.  We  have  no  disease;  no 
trouble  in  any  manner.  Yearly  have  as  many  lambs  as  ever.  Sell  all  wethers  and 
ewes  of  two  years  old;  none  kept  longer.  Every  year,  about  September  1  and  May  1, 
shear.  If  warm,  market  wool  at  once.  My  sheep  have  gone  over  8  pounds  per  head, 
but  call  it  8  on  average.  Have  now  about  19  cents  per  pound  average.  We  have 
two  yards ;  flock  divided  can  enter  barn  from  each  yard.  My  sales  last  year  amounted 
to  $1,404  for  wool  and  sheep.  In  my  opinion  a  farmer  who  gives  careful  attention 
to  sheep,  doing  everything  in  time,  can,  upon  our  prairie  land,  depend  upon  getting 
twice  as  much  as  it  will  take  to  take  care  of  the  sheep.  My  meadows  are  in  160- 
ariv  lots,  and  the  greater  part  of  the  land  is  in  grain.  This  experience  of  mine  is 
one  of  the  common  kind ;  no  attempt  at  any  experimental  work. 

IOWA 

The  census  report  of  1890  shows  the  population  of  Iowa  to  be 
1,911,896,  a  gain  of  287,281  over  that  of  1880.  Its  area  is  55,u45  square 
miles,  or  35,228,800  acres.  Nearly  the  whole  State  consists  of  gently 
undulating  prairie,  and  it  is  destitute  of  mountains,  or  even  hills  of  any 
considerable  size,  except  adjoining  the  rivers  and  in  the  northeastern 
part,where  the  scenery  is  more  diversified.  The  country  is  well  watered 
and  extremely  beautiful.  The  climate  is  moderate,  and  malarial  and 
epidemic  diseases  very  rare. 

If  Iowa  does  not  stand  at  the  head  of  the  list  of  States  and  Territo- 
ries in  the  West  in  the  numbers  of  her  sheep,  she  leads  them  all  in 
average  value.  A  careful  canvass  shows  that  there  are  sheep  on  the 
a-M-ssor's  roll  from  every  county  in  the  State,  indicating  that  the  busi- 
ness is  pretty  generally  distributed.  Another  very  encouraging  fea- 
ture of  the  business  is  the  very  large  number  of  small  flock-owners 
throughout  the  State,  and  the  very  general  healthy  condition  of  their 
flocks.  Sheep  scab  and  foot-rot  are  very  rare.  Occasionally  they  are 
brought  in  by  outside  shipments.  This  healthy  condition  may  be  at- 
tributed in  "part  to  the  great  number  of  small  flocks  and  the  usually 
dry  rolling  land.  The  Merino  sheepmen  claim  that  Iowa's  success  in 
having  so  many  good  healthy  sheep  may  be  attributed  to  the  fact  that 
the  first  sheep  introduced  in  the  State  were  Merinos,  and  that  on  them 
were  used  the  coarse-wooled  and  medium- wooled  bucks  as  a  foundation 
for  a  majority  of  the  best  sheep  in  the  State.  These  claims  are  con- 
ceded by  impartial  judges.  Without  any  intention  of  favoring  any  par- 
ticular breed  of  sheep,  believing  that  all  of  the  improved  breeds  are 
good  and  have  their  special  places,  the  following  facts,  taken  from  good 
authority,  will  be  found  practically  correct  and  of  interest: 

Practice  shows  the  weight  of  the  average  fleece  from  the  Cotswold,  Lincoln,  and 
Leicester  sheep  to  he  12  to  13  pounas;  the  Shropshire,  Hampshire,  and  Oxford,  9 
pounds ;  the  Southdowns,  5  pounds,  and  the  Merino  11  pounds.  The  market  prices  of 
the  wool  from  these  sheep  are  as  follows :  The  Cotswold,  Lincoln,  and  Leicester  hring 
from  20  to  22  cents  per  pound ;  the  Shropshire,  Oxford,  and  Hampshire,  23  to  24  cents ; 
the  Southdown,  27  cents,  and  the  Merino  18  cents  per  pound.  From  this  the  value 
per  head  for  wool  may  be  estimated  as  follows:  The  long  wools  would  bring  $2.50 
per  fleece;  the  middle  wools,  $2.12;  the  Southdown,  $1.35,  and  the  Merino  $2. 


822  SHEEP    INDUSTRY    OF    THE    UNITED    STATES 

As  a  usual  thing  the  heaviest  losses  sustained  by  the  Iowa  flockmas- 
ter  are  from  the  ravages  of  dogs  and  wolves.  The  loss  from  disease  is 
small.  Grub  in  the  head  does  not  enter  very  largely  in  the  losses,  but 
one  of  the  most  annoying  things  to  the  shepherd  is  to  find  that  the  ewe 
will  not  own  or  care  for  her  lamb.  Occasionally  lambs  are  lost  at  from 
four  to  five  months  old  by  the  tapeworm.  Often  the  season  is  unfa- 
vorable about  lambing  time,  being  cold  and  rainy,  and  those  who  have 
not  proper  protection  lose  many  lambs.  It  is  safe  to  attribute  the  ma- 
jority of  losses  of  both  lambs  and  sheep  to  the  ignorance,  carelessness, 
indifference,  and  inexperience  of  many  in  the  business  and  the  employ- 
ing of  incompetent  help.  The  thoughtful  and  successful  flockmaster 
has  learned  how  to  avoid  these  losses. 

It  is  a  notable  fact  that  diversified  sheep  husbandry  is  an  unquali- 
fied success  throughout  the  State.  There  are  no  flockmasters  west  of 
the  Mississippi  Eiver  who  seem  to  appreciate  the  value  of  sheep  more 
or  give  them  better  attention,  both  as  to  proper  care  and  management, 
than  do  the  majority  of  sheepmen  of  this  State.  They  have  clearly 
demonstrated  that  all  of  the  recognized  breeds  of  sheep  do  well,  and  are 
a  profitable  class  of  stock  to  handle  either  in  a  small  way  by  the  gen- 
eral farmer  or  as  a  more  exclusive  business  by  the  breeders. 

Investigation  shows  that  Iowa  has  more  pure-bred  flocks  of  the  differ- 
ent breeds  of  sheep  than  any  other  of  the  Western  States.  This  meri- 
torious exhibit  is  highly  creditable  for  the  State,  and  bespeaks  a  glorious 
outlook  for  the  permanency  and  future  of  the  industry. 

Sioux  City  is  the  leading  live-stock  commercial  city  of  the  State.  The 
fifth  annual  report  of  the  Union  Stock  Yards  of  this  city  shows  that  the 
receipts  of  live  stock  in  1890  were:  Cattle,  167,010;  hogs,  723,914; 
sheep,  26,669;  horses  and  mules,  1,636.  In  1891:  Cattle,  150,912;  hogs, 
397,247;  sheep,  22,399;  horses  and  mules,  2,853.  The  packing-house 
interests  here  are  more  extensive  than  those  of  any  other  point  in  the 
State.  The  Sioux  City  Sheep  Company  has  recently  been  organized, 
and  they  handle  sheep  of  every  description,  buy  or  sell  for  feeding  or 
for  breeding  purposes.  H.  P.  Chesley,  the  general  manager  of  the  Stock 
Yards  Company,  says: 

The  slaughtering  of  sheep  for  shipment  is  a  comparatively  new  industry  with  our 
people,  as  it  was  commenced  in  the  latter  part  of  November  last  year,  since  which 
time  20,000  sheep  have  been  killed  and  shipped  to  various  eastern  points. 

GENERAL  FACTS  ABOUT  THE  INDUSTRY. 

A  careful  investigation  shows  that  on  June  1, 1892,  there  were  565,675 
head  of  sheep  in  the  State,  not  including  the  crop  of  spring  lambs,  which 
could  safely  be  estimated  at  250,000  head.  In  addition  to  the  above,  there 
are  a  large  number  of  western  range  sheep  fed  each  winter  in  Iowa. 
These  are  started  from  the  western  range  for  the  Chicago  market,  but 
stop  in  transit  to  feed  for  two  or  three  months.  These  range  sheep  have 
been  enumerated  in  the  State  or  Territory  from  which  they  came,  so 


WEST    OF    THE    MISSISSIPPI    RIVER.  823 

that  about  all  the  benefit  Iowa  gets  from  them  is  the  sale  of  what  grain 
and  feed  they  consume. 

From  the  best  obtainable  sources  it  is  ascertained  that  the  number 
of  western  range  sheep  fed  in  Iowa  during  the  winters  of  1891  and  1892 
numbered  125,000  head.  Iowa  stands  third  in  the  list  of  States  feed- 
ing range  sheep,  Nebraska  being  first  and  Kansas  second.  From  fig- 
ures compiled  by  the  United  States  Bureau  of  Statistics  we  find  that 
in  1860  Iowa  had  259,041  sheep  5  in  1870,  855,359;  in  1880,  455,359;  and 
in  1890,  475,816.  From  this  we  see  that  the  State  had  many  more  sheep 
in  1870  than  it  had  before  or  has  had  since  that  time.  The  probable 
reason  for  this  state  of  affairs  is  that  during  the  period  between  1865 
and  1875  many  large  flocks  were  ranged  in  portions  of  Iowa  not  occu- 
pied by  actual  settlers.  This  land  has  since  been  taken  up  and  is  now 
used  for  agricultural  purposes,  leaving  but  few  tracts  open  for  free 
range.  Large  flocks  have  disappeared,  the  business  has  settled  down 
to  a  permanent  basis,  and  the  sheep  are  now  largely  owned  by  farmers 
in  flocks  numbering  from  50  to  200  head.  The  great  majority  of  sheep 
in  the  State  to-day  are  either  pure  bred  or  good  grades.  The  breeds 
are  Merinos,  Shropshires,  Southdowns,  Cotswolds,  Oxfords,  Leicesters, 
and  Lincolns.  With  the  majority  of  flockmasters  the  production  of 
mutton  is  more  of  an  object  than  the  amount  or  quality  of  wool  pro- 
duced, hence  more  attention  is  given  to  the  size  and  early  maturing 
qualities  of  mutton  breeds.  Those  who  keep  pure-bred  flocks,  and 
there  are  many  in  Iowa,  sell  their  surplus  stock  for  breeding  purposes, 
getting  prices  ranging  from  $25  to  $50  per  head.  Many  choice  animals 
bring  much  higher  prices,  while  a  large  number  bring  less  than  $25. 
The  State  Auditor's  Keport  for  1890  gives  the  average  assessed  .valua- 
tion of  sheep  at  $1.18,  while  Statistician  Dodge,  of  the  United  States 
Department  of  Agriculture,  gives  the  average  value  at  $3.42,  by  far 
the  highest  valuation  of  sheep  in  any  of  the  States  and  Territories 
west  of  the  Mississippi  River.  If  we  take  an  actual  average  of  the 
selling  prices  of  the  sheep  of  the  entire  State,  including  pure-bred, 
grades,  muttons,  and  all,  it  would  represent  an  actual  average  value 
varying  from  $4  to  $10  per  head,  and  place  the  industry,  including  the 
lamb  and  wool  crops,  at  not  less  than  $5,000,000,  to  say  nothing  of  other 
property  pertaining  to  the  industry. 

The  increased  fertility  given  to  the  soil  where  sheep  are  kept  we  find 
well  illustrated  in  the  counties  of  Van  Buren  and  Mahaska,  which  are 
among  the  oldest  and  first  settled  counties  in  the  State,  and  through 
both  of  which  the  Des  Moines  Eiver  flows.  In  these  two  counties  most 
of  the  land  is  very  rolling.  Much  of  it  had  been  farmed  for  years,  and 
its  productiveness  greatly  injured.  A  great  change  for  the  better  was 
inaugurated  about  ten  years  ago,  when  less  tillage  was  done  and  the 
.land  used  principally  for  grazing  sheep  and  other  live  stock.  What  is 
the  result?  To-day  Yan  Buren  County  has  more  sheep  than  any  other 
county  in  the  State,  Mahaska  County  stands  next  in  numbers,  and  the 


824        SHEEP  INDUSTRY  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES 

land  in  both  counties  lias  nearly  doubled  in  value,  is  more  fertile  than 
ever,  and  is  covered  with  a  luxuriant  growth  of  blue  grass.  Intelligent 
farmers  will  tell  you  that  this  transformation  is  owing  to  the  large  num- 
ber of  sheep  now  kept. 

We  find  the  majority  of  the  sheep  of  Iowa  in  the  southeastern  part 
of  the  State  and  east  of  the  central.  As  stated  above,  Van  Buren 
County  heads  the  list  with  43,295  head.  Mahaska  comes  next  with 
very  nearly  25,000,  then  follows  Bremer  with  17,529,  while  Jefferson, 
Davis,  Henry,  and  Lee  have  each  about  15,000.  Then  come  Marion 
and  Wapello  with  12,000  each,  while  Johnson,  Decatur,  Fayette,  and 
Monroe  have  10,000  head  each.  In  the  assessor's  returns  sheep  in 
Sioux  County  are  valued  at  50  cents  per  head,  the  lowest  of  any  county 
in  the  State,  while  Davis  County  values  her  sheep  at  $2.33,  the  highest 
value  of  any  in  the  State. 

With  the  growing*  demand  for  mutton  in  the  United  States  and  the 
natural  advantages  possessed  by  Iowa  for  sheep  husbandry,  in  the  way 
of  rich  pastures  and  cheap  feed,  together  with  the  large  numbers  of 
well-bred  sheep,  the  outlook  for  the  industry  in  this  State  is  very 
encouraging  indeed.  The  farmers  are  beginning  to  better  appreciate 
the  importance  and  profit  of  keeping  small  flocks  of  good  sheep,  and 
each  year  they  are  increasing  their  numbers.  Every  year  more  of  the 
large  mutton  breeds  are  imported  from  England,  and  the  flocks  gener- 
ally throughout  the  State  are  being  bred  up  and  improved.  The  com- 
mon sheep  are  mostly  Merino  grades  crossed  by  Shropshire  or  South- 
down rams,  or  the  long-wooled  breeds. 

There  are  more  than  ten  times  as  many  hogs  in  Iowa  as  there  are 
sheep,  and  it  is  said  that  one  hog  will  consume  as  much  feed  in  a  year 
as  ten  sheep  will;  besides  he  is  more  liable  to  die  of  cholera  than  the 
sheep  of  other  diseases. 

The  number  of  sheep  in  Iowa  has  increased  18  per  cent  during  the 
last  two  years,  and  the  value  per  head  has  increased  22  per  cent  during 
the  same  period.  During  the  same  period  the  cattle  values  have 
declined  1  per  cent,  hogs  1J  per  cent,  and  horses  9  per  cent.  Iowa 
sheep  have  increased  in  value  more  rapidly  since  the  reviving  of  the 
sheep  industry  in  the  United  States  than  that  of  any  other  State  in  the 
Union.  In  value  per  head  this  State  outranks  those  of  Vermont  and 
Ohio,  the  former  the  cradle  of  the  Merino  breed  in  this  country. 

Sufficient  importance  is  not  given  by  most  farmers  to  the  age  or 
breeding  of  rams  to  be  used  on  the  flocks.     Some  use  a  ram  before  he  is  I 
quite  a  year  old,  a  few  a  common  scrub  sire,  yet  these  are  not  in  the 
majority,  nor  are  they  as  a  rule  successful  shepherds.    At  the  head  of  j 
a  majority  of  the  flocks  is  found  an  imported  or  American-bred  regis-  j 
tered  ram,  1  year  old  or  past.     The  usual  time  for  breeding  is  in  No- 1 
vember,  or  from  the  middle  of  October  to  the  middle  of  December,  and 
one  rani  is  permitted  to  serve  from  40  to  50  ewes;  yet,  if  he  does  not  I 
run  with  the  flock,  and  is  allowed  but  one  service,  one  ram  is  sufficient  j 


WEST    OF    THE    MISSISSIPPI    RIVER.  825 

for  75  or  100  ewes.  In  many  small  flocks  he  is  allowed  to  run  with  the 
flock  from  the  25th  of  October  until  the  next  spring.  As  there  is  a 
growing  demand  for  early  spring  lambs  for  mutton,  some  flockrnasters, 
who  have  good  warm  quarters  breed  for  early  lambs,  but  the  majority 
breed  to  have  the  lambs  come  when  the  grass  will  do  to  graze  and  the 
ewe  will  give  milk  enough  to  make  the  lamb  develop  rapidly.  When 
properly  managed  the  per  cent  of  ewes  that  fail  to  breed  is  very  low, 
the  average  for  the  State  not  being  more  than  3  per  cent. 

The  per  cent  of  lambs  raised,  owing  to  the  large  number  of  twins, 
will  not  vary  far  from  95  per  cent.  Many  report  100  per  cent  of  lambs 
raised,  while  others  go  as  high  as  125  per  cent.  While  the  majority  of 
farmers  keep  sheep  for  both  mutton  and  wool,  the  mutton  is  the  largest 
source  of  revenue,  lambs  second,  and  wool  third.  The  time  has  come 
when  Iowa  farmers  should  know  that  sheep  as  weed  exterminators,  or 
scavengers  and  distributors  of  fertilizers  for  renewing  the  soil  on  worn- 
out  lands,  will  pay  aside  from  the  other  three  sources  of  revenue. 

The  usual  time  for  shearing  is  from  May  20  to  June  10.  Many  shear 
as  early  as  April,  but  this  is  dangerous  if  the  weather  is  unfavorable, 
unless  warm  and  comfortable  quarters  are  provided.  The  majority  of 
farmers  do  their  own  shearing,  using  a  platform  or  bench  for  the  sheep 
to  rest  upon ;  others  stretch  a  canvass  over  a  layer  of  straw.  In  some 
parts  of  the  country  professional  shearers  go  around  and  shear  sheep 
at  from  6  to  7  cents  per  head.  The  fleeces  are  carefully  tied  up, 
sacked,  and  sold  either  to  a  local  wool  merchant  or  local  factory,  and 
in  a  few  instances  shipped  to  Chicago,  Philadelphia,  or  Boston.  The 
weight  of  the  fleeces  vary  from  6  to  17  pounds;  the  general  average  is 
from  7  to  8  pounds.  The  Iowa  wool  is  mostly  graded  medium,  or  fine 
medium.  A  small  portion  of  the  annual  clip  is  worked  up  by  factories 
in  Iowa  and  adjoining  States,  while  the  great  bulk  of  it  is  shipped  to 
Chicago  and  eastern  markets. 

Iowa  lays  no  great  claims  to  her  mutton  sheep  that  hitherto  have 
been  sold.  The  home  demand  is  good.  The  best  muttons  have  not 
been  on  the  markets  to  any  great  extent,  because  most  of  the  best  sheep 
are  retained  for  breeders,  and  only  the  common  wethers  are  sold  off 
each  year.  There  is  a  wide  range  in  the  weight  of  mutton  sheep. 
Common  animals  weigh  from  95  to  140  pounds.  But  few  large  muttons 
are  sold,  as  most  of  the  males  are  saved  for  stock  rams  and  the  females 
for  breeders. 

The  entire  cost  of  keep,  feed,  etc.,  for  a  sheep  a  year  varies  from  75 
cents  to  $1.25  for  the  common  kind,  and  $2  to  $4  for  full-bloods.  The 
cost  is  generally  measured  by  the  experience  of  the  flockmaster,  his 
conveniences  for  handling  sheep,  the  kind  of  care  given,  and  the  amount 
and  kind  of  grain  and  other  feed  provided,  and  the  value  of  the  land 
on  which  they  are  kept. 

While  the  methods  of  feeding  vary  with  different  flockmasters  in 
different  parts  of  the  State,  the  usual  custom  is  to  feed  during  winter 


826  SHEEP   INDUSTRY    OF   THE   UNITED    STATES 

a  little  grain,  corn  or  oats,  or  both  mixed  in  equal  parts,  once  and  some- 
times twice  a  day,  to  the  stock  sheep.  Corn  is  the  principal  food  used 
to  fatten  for  the  mutton  market,  but  to  the  breeding  ewe  very  little  or 
no  corn  is  fed.  Oats  and  bran  are  considered  the  best  grain  food  for 
her.  One  ear  of  corn  per  day  during  the  winter  season  is  usually  con- 
sidered sufficient  grain  for  stock  sheep.  For  roughness  corn  fodder  is 
largely  fed,  but  many  flockmasters  prefer  tame  hay,  timothy,  and  clover, 
and  most  of  them  have  plenty  of  it;  but  quite  a  number  in  the  State 
use  wild  hay,  principally  blue-stem,  and  are  very  well  satisfied  with  it, 
as  it  is  usually  cleaner  and  not  so  dusty  as  tame  hay,  and  has  less  chaff 
and  seed  to  get  into  the  wool.  A  good  portion  of  the  winter  the  sheep 
can  be  fed  on  the  pasture  or  herded  in  the  cornstalk  fields.  It  is  very 
evident  that  they  will  take  a  variety  of  food,  and  be  satisfied  with  almost 
any  kind  so  it  is  clean  and  not  moldy.  Since  they  are  so  easily  satisfied 
and  require  so  little  feed,  that  which  they  receive  should  be  good. 
Koots  as  food  for  sheep  do  not  seem  to  be  properly  appreciated  by  Ameri- 
can breeders,  although  no  other  country  can  produce  more  abundantly  or 
cheaply  beets,  rutabagas,  turnips,  and  cabbage  than  ours.  It  is  by  the 
liberal  use  of  roots  that  England  is  enabled  to  produce  such  grand  sheep 
that  American  breeders  and  importers  are  willing  to  pay  the  highest 
prices  for.  It  will  pay  Iowa  flockmasters  well  to  visit  their  great  State 
fair  and  see  the  trained  and  experienced  shepherds  feed  the  large  num- 
ber of  excellent  show  sheep  exhibited  there  each  year. 

For  the  summer  pasturing  of  sheep  a  great  portion  of  Iowa  is  unsur- 
passed by  any  State  in  the  Union.  There  are  dry  rolling  lands  that 
produce  an  abundance  of  blue  grass  and  white  clover  for  early  feed  in 
the  spring;  then  the  late  meadows  come  in  for  change,  followed  by  the 
fine  cornstalk  fields,  all  of  which  furnish  a  variety  of  feed  for  the  flocks 
for  at  least  ten  months  of  the  year.  While  Iowa  lays  no  claim  to  com- 
petition with  breeders  on  the  great  western  free  range  in  producing 
sheep  in  large  numbers  cheaply,  no  State  can  excel  her  in  producing 
the  most  valuable  mutton  and  wool  sheep.  She  has  more  farmers 
breeding  small  flocks  of  from  50  to  200  head  of  pure-bred  and  high- 
grade  sheep  of  the  different  breeds  than  any  other  of  the  western  farm- 
ing States,  so  thatNshe  does  not  boast  of  numbers,  but  of  the  value  and 
quality  of  her  sheep. 

Iowa  flockmasters  generally  have  yet  to  learn  the  advantages  of  being 
associated  for  the  help  of  each  other.  In  an  association  they  can  more 
readily  secure  favorable  legislation,  protect  their  common  interests,  and 
more  easily  and  profitably  dispose  of  their  products  by  finding  out  the 
best  houses  handling  wool  or  muttons.  In  this  way  they  can  cut  out 
the  dishonest  dealers,  give  more  trade  to  the  honest  ones,  and  thus 
secure  a  less  commission;  in  fact,  make  their  State  association  a  veri- 
table bureau  of  information. 

Iowa  already  has  what  is  known  as  the  State  Sheep-Breeders  and 
Wool-Growers'  Association,  with  a  good  working  membership  composed 


WEST    OF   THE    MISSISSIPPI   RIVER.  827 

of  some  of  the  most  intelligent,  progressive,  and  successful  sheepmen 
of  the  State.  At  its  annual  meeting  in  Waterloo  last  December,  the 
following  officers  were  elected  for  the  ensuing  year:  President,  C.  L. 
Gabrilson,  New  Hampton ;  secretary  and  treasurer,  Prof.  C.  F.  Curtiss, 
Ames ;  vice-presidents,  C.  E.  Hartley,  Monroe ;  Joseph  Edgerton,  Kas- 
sau,  and  Eobert  Thomas,  New  Sharon;  legislative  committee,  George 
W.  Franklin,  Atlantic  5  C.  E.  Hartley,  Monroe,  and  Eobert  Thomas, 
New  Sharon.  Besides  discussing  many  questions  of  interest  to  flock- 
masters  at  this  meeting  they  passed  the  following  resolutions : 

First.  That  we  demand  of  the  next  legislature  a  more  stringent  and  efficient  law 
relative  to  the  depredations  of  dogs,  with  a  view  to  lessening  their  number  and 
diminishing  said  depredations  and  enabling  the  owners  of  live  stock  suffering  losses 
from  dogs  to  be  more  fully  reimbursed. 

Second.  That  we  demand  a  liberal  State  bounty  for  wolf  scalps,  with  a  view  to  the 
speedy  extermination  of  wolves  in  Iowa,  and  that  we  appoint  a  committee  to  press 
these  our  demands  upon  the  legislature. 

Third.  That  we  ask  the  Iowa  Improved  Stock-Breeders'  Association  to  appoint  a 
committee  to  cooperate  with  us  in  urging  these  claims  upon  the  legislature. 

Fourth.  In  order  that  we  may  obtain  information  as  to  the  honesty,  efficiency,  and 
financial  soundness  of  the  wool  commission  houses,  we  request  the  members  of  this 
association  to  report  to  the  secretary  their  future  sales  of  wool,  the  commission  house 
consigned  to,  or  the  firm  sold  to,  the  grade  and  condition  of  the  wool  sold,  and  the 
price  or  prices  received,  and  whether  the  transactions  are  satisfactory,  that  the  sec- 
retary may  report  to  members  of  the  association. 

It  was  argued  in  support  of  the  last  resolution  that  wool-growers  did 
not  always  have  an  opportunity  to  sell  their  wool  at  home  just  when 
they  desired  to  do  so,  and  were  often  reluctant  about  sending  to  a  com- 
mission house  for  fear  of  unsatisfactory  results.  It  was  said  that  wool 
commission  men  were  no  worse  and  perhaps  no  better  than  commission 
men  in  other  lines.  Some  are  honest  and  efficient  and  some  the  reverse, 
and  the  object  is  to  find  out  the  good  houses,  patronize  them  and  let 
the  others  alone.  Some  commission  Bouses  are  not  sufficiently  careful 
to  make  the  best  possible  returns  for  a  few  hundred  or  a  few  thousand 
pounds  of  wool,  as  there  is  no  continuous  trade  to  be  courted.  The 
farmer  may  never  be  heard  from  again,  and  there  is  a  temptation  some- 
times to  take  a  small  slice  while  he  can.  The  action  contemplated  by 
the  resolution  would  not  only  give  the  wool- growers  information  as  to 
whom  they  may  trust,  but  would  put  them  on  something  of  the  same 
footing  as  large  shippers,  since  unfair  dealing  toward  one  member 
might  result  in  the  loss  of  shipments  from  all. 

A  bill  was  before  the  Iowa  legislature  last  winter  providing  for  the 
appointment  of  sheep  inspectors  by  the  county  supervisors,  in  any 
county  in  the  State  when  notified  in  writing  by  five  or  more  sheep- 
owners  of  such  county  that  sheep  diseased  with  scab  or  any  other  ma- 
lignant contagious  disease  exists  in  said  county.  This  county  sheep 
inspector  shall  look  after  these  diseases,  or  cause  the  owners  or  agents 
to  do  so. 

Owing  to  the  urgent  request  of  leading  sheep-owners,  Senator  Yale, 


828  SHEEP    INDUSTRY    OF    THE    UNITED    STATES 

of  Van  Buren  County,  introduced  a  bill  relating  to  bounties  on  wolves, 
etc.,  which  is  as  follows : 

SECTION  1.  Sections  1487  and  1488  of  the  code  are  hereby  repealed,  and  the  follow- 
ing enacted  in  lieu  thereof:  "A  bounty  shall  be  allowed  on  the  skin  of  a  wolf,  lynx, 
swift,  or  wildcat  as  follows:  Five  dollars  on  an  adult  wolf,  and  two  dollars  on  a 
cnb  wolf,  and  one  dollar  on  a  lynx,  swift,  or  wildcat,  to  be  paid  out  of  the  treasury 
of  the  county  in  which  the  animal  was  taken,  upon  a  certified  statement  of  the  facts, 
together  with  such  other  evidence  as  the  board  of  supervisors  may  demand  showing 
the  claimant  to  be  entitled  thereto.  Any  person  who  shall  demand  a  bounty  on  any 
of  the  above  mentioned  animals  killed  or  taken  in  another  State  or  county,  or  on  a 
domesticated  animal,  shall  be  guilty  of  a  misdemeanor,  and  upon  conviction  thereof 
shall  be  fined  not  more  than  one  hundred  nor  less  than  fifty  dollars  and  costs,  and 
be  imprisoned  in  the  county  jail  till  said  fine  and  costs  are  paid. 

11  SEC.  2.  The  person  claiming  the  bounty  shall  produce  such  statement,  together 
with  the  whole  skin  of  the  animal,  to  the  county  auditor  wherein  the  said  wrolf, 
lynx,  swift,  or  wildcat  had  been  taken  and  killed,  and  the  auditor  before  whom 
such  skins  are  produced  shall  destroy  or  deface  the  same,  so  as  to  prevent  their  use 
to  obtain  for  the  second  time  the  bounty  herein  provided." 

In  explanation  of  the  manifest  increase  of  wolves  in  the  State,  the 
Homestead,  of  Des  Moines,  says : 

There  are  a  lot  of  farmers  scattered  up  and  down  the  prairie  streams  who  are  en- 
gaged in  wolf  farming.  There  is  less  cash  outlay  and  more  clear  income  in  wolf 
farming  than  any  other  kind  of  farming  we  are  acquainted  with.  The  ranchman 
feeds  his  stock  on  the  Government  lands  free  of  charge,  the  wolf  farmer  allows  the 
wolf  free  range  among  his  neighbor's  sheep,  chickens,  and  pigs.  He  harvests  his 
crop  each  spring  in  the  shape  of  a  litter  of  cubs  whose  scalps  he  takes  with  the  great- 
est regularity  to  the  county  seat  and  draws  the  bounty.  If  the  a<l joining  county  pays 
more  bounty  than  the  one  he  is  in,  it  is  no  difficult  matter  to  take  them  across  a 
county  line  and  kill  them  so  as  to  make  them  citizens  of  that  county,  duly  taken  as 
provided  by  law.  Under  these  conditions  wolves  are  increasing  in  Iowa,  and,  we  do 
not  doubt,  in  other  prairie  States  where  similar  inducements  are  hold  out  to  wolf 
farming.  The  complaint  is  made  constantly  that  there  are  not  enough  sheep  in  the 
West.  One  of  the  main  reasons  is  because  there  is  no  efficient  method  of  extermi- 
nating one  of  the  greatest  enemies  of  the  sheep — the  wild  dog  or  wolf.  The  evil 
can  be  abated  only  by  State  action.  Farmers  pay  the  most  of  the  taxes  in  the  State 
of  Iowa,  and  all  the  Western  States  for  that  matter,  and  they  are  entitled  to  some 
protection  from  one  of  the  most  important  and  profitable  industries  in  the  West. 

Kelating  to  this  same  subject,  A.  J.  Blakely,  of  Grinnell,  Iowa,  a 
prominent  breeder  of  Merinos,  says : 

The  wolf,  not  merely  figuratively,  is  at  the  door  of  many  an  Iowa  farmer,  but  the 
real  wolves,  large  wolves,  prowl  over  the  Iowa  farms  in  increasing  numbers,  seeking] 
what  they  may  devour.     No  census  like  that  of  their  cousins,  the  dogs,  has  ever  been  j 
made.     Like  the  flea,  when  you  put  yonr  hand  on  them  they  are  not  there.     Mut 
their  name  is  legion.     Much  of  the  best  sheep  lands  of  the  State,  the  bluffy,  bushy 
portions  along  the  streams  and  adjacent  to  timber  belts,  can  not  be  pastured  with] 
sheep.     The  sprouts  from  the  cut  off  timber  and  the  hazel  brush  can  now  be  exter-  j 
minated  only  by  the  grubbing  ax  and  the  brush  hook,  and  at  large  expense.     If 
sheep  could  be  kept  on  these  lands  how  quickly  would  the  young  sprouts  vanish 
and  the  roots  decay,  and  their  places  betaken  by  the  rich  blue  grass,  preparatory,  a 
few  years  later,  to  easy  plowing  and  large  corn  crops.     Not  merely  would  the  owners 
of  these  rough,  bushy  lands  be  benefited,  but  their  reclamation  and  settlement 
would  bless  the  neighboring  schools  and  the  neighboring  towns,  and  in  fact  the 


WEST   OF   THE   MISSISSIPPI   RIVER.  829 

taxpayers  of  the  whole  State.  Sheep  can't  live  there  now  on  account  of  the  wolves. 
Pigs  can't  be  raised  there  on  account  of  the  wolves,  and  chickens  and  turkeys  must 
ovrry  night  roost  very  high,  as  though  Thanksgiving  day  were  to  follow.  Really 
it  is  a  stain,  a  foul  stigina,  on  the  civilization  and  the  enterprise  of  the  people  of 
Iowa  that  these  wolves  remain  and  are  frequently  seen  crossing  the  hest  cultivated 
farms,  and  even  near  the  best  towns  in  our  State. 

What  is  the  remedy,  do  you  ask?  Wipe  out  all  trifling  and  unequal  bounties  and 
induce  the  legislature  to  provide  a  State  bounty  of  $20  for  the  scalps  of  the  old 
wolves  and  $5  for  the  young  ones.  The  boys  will  then  arm  themselves  with  the  best 
rifles  of  long  range,  will  watch  and  hunt  for  the  game,  and  speedily  exterminate  the 
lupine  race. 

Regarding  the  best  methods  of  management  of  sheep  in  the  State,  C. 
L.  Gabrilson,  of  New  Hampton,  president  of  the  Iowa  Wool-growers' 
Association,  in  an  address,  covered  the  essential  points  substantially 
as  follows : 

The  care  of  sheep  is  similar,  since  all  breeds  have  the  same  characteristics  regard- 
ing likes  and  dislikes ;  quality  of  wool,  fecundity,  and  habit  of  growth  are  results 
of  the  breeder's  skill  in  selecting,  coupling,  and  feeding.  The  truth  is,  although  as 
sheepmen  we  are  enthusiastic  over  our  flocks,  our  neighbors,  while  admitting  the 
utility  of  an  animal  whose  hoof  is  golden,  are  exceedingly  slow  to  introduce  it  on 
their  farms;  and  while  the  dog  uusiance  is  sometimes  given  as  a  reason  for  not  en- 
tering this  industry,  "Fm  not  fixed  for  sheep,"  is  almost  the  stereotyped  answer 
when  this  matter  is  discussed.  Now,  we  can  sympathize  with  such,  for  we  were  in 
the  same  fix,  and  found  that,  like  Horace  Greeley's  plan  for  the  resumption  of  spe- 
cie payments,  ;<  The  way  to  resume  is  to  resume!"  So  in  getting  ready  to  keep 
sheep,  the  way  is  to  keep  sheep,  and  then  you  must  provide  the  means  for  their  care. 

Sheep  are  more  easily  fenced  against  than  hogs,  because  they  do  not  root;  but  a 
bunch  of  sheep  is  an  unhappy  flock  if  ill  fed.  Five  or  six  barbed  wires,  the  bottom 
two  4  inches  apart,  the  next  one  5  inches  above,  the  next  8  inches,  and  top  wire 
about  3  feet  from  the  ground,  will  keep  sheep  and  lambs  confined.  Then,  too,  the 
well-fed  animal  is  seldom  breachy,  except  from  habits  learned  under  other  conditions. 

Sheep  digest  their  food  more  thoroughly  than  most  farm  stock,  and  therefore  re- 
quire less  grain  or  hay  to  produce  satisfactory  results.  There  are  not  many  experi- 
ments on  record  of  sheep  feeding.  The  latest  which  has  been  given  out  comes  from 
Madison,  Wis.,  and  there  the  lambs  outgained  pigs  in  growth  and  economy  of  food, 
which  is  a  wonderful  fact,  when  we  take  into  account  the  well-known  appetite  and 
quick  digestion  of  a  growing  pig.  But  the  advantage  in  favor  of  sheep  above  other 
animals  is  its  continued  and  complete  digestive  power  through  life  as  compared  with 
swine  and  cattle  after  maturity. 

Sheep  suffer  from  wet  more  proportionately  than  cattle,  because  their  fleeces  hold 
the  surplus  rain  water  which  otherwise  runs  off  the  short  haired  cow  or  steer.  This 
\vat«-r  must  all  be  evaporated,  and  most  of  this  is  done  by  animal  heat  that  is  drawn 
from  the  body;  which,  in  turn,  must  be  replaced  from  stored  flesh  and  food  eaten. 
In  this  respect  the  fiue-wooled  sheep,  with  abundance  of  oil  in  their  fleeces,  have 
the  advantage  of  the  more  open-wooled  mutton  sheep,  but  shelter  against  rain  is 
readily  provided,  and  they  are  easily  trained  to  go  under  cover  when  rain  begins  to 
fall. 

It  is  the  early  lamb,  like  the  early  calf,  which  is  most  satisfactory  when  raised. 
Kwcs  about  to  lamb  must  have  warmer  quarters  than  store  sheep  require;  but  the 
lambs,  like  the  calf,  will  endure  cold  after  it  has  dried  off  and  gets  enough  to  eat. 
We  have  had  considerable  loss  of  lambs  during  the  past  two  years  when  ewes  have 
lambed  about  the  time  grass  is  starting  and  they  have  had  access  to  it.  Our  lambs 
born  when  on  dry  food  have  got  through  all  right,  but  a  discouraging  mortality  of 
the  innocents  took  place  among  those  born  when  the  ewes  would  spend  their  time 


830        SHEEP  INDUSTRY  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES 

nibbling  at  the  starting  grass.  Hereafter  we  shall  keep  the  flock  off  the  fields  until 
the  grass  has  a  fair  start — just  as  we  find  it  best  to  do  with  cattle.  A  sheep  is  a 
helpless  thing  when  once  attacked  by  disease,  and  a  new-born  lamb  is  still  more  so. 
The  water  question,  as  applied  to  sheep  in  winter,  is  a  puzzling  one.  Why  they 
should  prefer  to  eat  snow  in  winter  to  drinking  clean  cold  water  is  more  than  one 
follow  can  find  out.  Sheep  are  not  great  drinkers  under  any  circumstances,  and  are 
very  fastidious  about  drinking — a  sip  now  and  a  sip  then  seems  to  please  them  best. 
To  accommodate  them  in  this  habit  and  to  avoid  snow  eating  we  have  conducted 
water  to  the  sheep  barn,  so  that  a  running  stream  can  be  made  to  flow  through  it. 

The  editor  of  the  Iowa  Homestead,  in  discussing  the  subject  as  to 
who  should  keep  mutton  sheep,  says  that  it  is  not  the  farmer  who  has 
an  unlimited  amount  of  brush  pasture  and  who  regards  sheep  merely 
as  a  brush  browser  and  weed  trimmer,  able  to  live  eight  or  ten  thick,  on 
an  acre  of  land  worth  $10. 

Let  him  beware  of  the  mutton  sheep.  We  do  not  advise  him  to  keep  any  kind  of 
sheep,  but  if  he  does  let  him  avoid  the  Shropshire  or  Oxford,  and  give  the  Cotswold 
and  Hampshire  Down  a  very  wide  berth.  The  man  who  starts  out  to  grow  mutton 
must  understand  first  of  all  the  lesson  so  hard  for  men  to  learn,  that  something  never 
comes  for  nothing,  that  "  men  do  not  gather  grapes  from  thorns  nor  figs  from  thistles." 
If  large  size  is  to  be  obtained  there  must  be  first  a  breed  with  an  inheritance  of  size 
and  of  wool  that  belongs  to  large  mutton  sheep,  and  second,  feed  and  keep  corre- 
sponding to  that  size  of  type  and  of  wool.  If  a  farmer  will  not  buy  rams  of  mutton 
size  and  mutton  wool  it  is  folly  for  him  to  expect  mutton  lambs,  mutton  prices,  and 
mutton  profits.  There  must  be  mutton  keep,  corresponding  to  the  size  and  corre- 
sponding to  the  environment  which  first  produced  the  size.  There  is  no  magic  or 
legerdemain  in  sheep  breeding  or  in  any  other  kind  of  stock  breeding,  and  the  sooner 
farmers  understand  it  the  better.  The  man,  therefore,  who  should  keep  mutton 
sheep  is  not  the  mutton-headed  farmer,  but  the  man  with  a  clear  head,  who  thor- 
oughly understands  that  mutton  is  not  grown  on  scrub-brush  farms,  nor  from  sheep 
springing  from  scavenger  sheep,  but  on  the  richest  pastures  and  from  mutton  sheep. 
We  do  not  know  how  we  can  put  this  subject  any  plainer.  This  is  not  the  day  of  mira- 
cles. The  breeding  of  mutton  sheep  is  not  a  game  of  cards,  where  men  hope  to  get 
something  for  nothing,  nor  yet  a  sort  of  bucolic  bucking  the  tiger  on  Change,  but  a 
legitimate  business,  where  the  beast  is  grown  only  from  the  best  stock  and  by  the 
best  feed  and  care. 

PERSONAL  EXPERIENCE   AND   OBSERVATIONS. 

A  true  index  of  the  sheep  industry  of  Iowa  would  not  be  complete 
without  an  expression  from  the  men  actually  engaged  in  it,  who  know 
the  difficulties  they  have  to  encounter  and  what  is  necessary  to  add  to 
the  further  success  of  the  business  of  mutton  and  wool  production,  so 
that  both  national  and  State  legislatures  may  know  the  actual  needs 
and  how  to  apply  the  remedy  to  the  benefit  of  all  concerned.  These 
experiences  are  especially  valuable  to  the  inexperienced  flock  master, 
coming,  as  they  do,  from  successful  and  practical  men. 

W.  J.  Thompson,  Jamaica,  Guthrie  County: 

Have  found  sheep  raising  more  profitable  than  any  other  branch  of  farming.  I 
have  made  a  yearly  average  of  almost  100  per  cent  on  money  invested.  Two  years 
ago  there  was  hardly  a  sheep  in  this  county,  but  now  nearly  all  of  our  successful 
farmers  are  turning  to  them;  but  they  want  sheep  for  mutton  and  wool. 


WEST    OF    THE    MISSISSIPPI    RIVER.  831 

W.  A.  Day,  Blakesburg,  Wapello  County: 

For  the  past  eight  years  I  have  had  nothing  but  pure-bred  or  imported  sheep  of 
the  Shropshire  breed,  and  I  have  been  successful  in  making  more  money  out  of  them 
than  on  any  other  kind  of  stock  I  keep  on  the  farm.  The  sheep  industry  is  gaining 
ground  all  the  time,  and  good  ones  are  most  sought  after.  The  result  will  be — added 
wealth  and  prosperity  to  our  State. 

A.  B.  Phelps,  Competine,  Wapello  County: 

I  get  far  more  profit  out  of  my  sheep  than  I  do  out  of  cattle,  hogs,  or  horses,  and  I 
handle  all  kinds.  The  future  outlook  is  very  encouraging,  for  there  are  so  many 
small  flocks  starting,  all  of  a  good  quality.  Iowa  is  bound  to  keep  in  the  lead  in 
the  value  of  her  sheep. 

Henry E.  Brown,  Griunell,  Poweshiek  County: 

The  most  profitable  sheep  for  us  are  the  coarse-wool  mutton  breeds,  as  we  can  sell 
our  lambs  at  from  six  to  seven  months  old,  weighing  from  80  to  100  pounds.  The 
sheep  interests  are  improving  now,  and  mutton  always  commands  a  good  price. 

W.  O.  Fritchman,  Muscatine,  Muscatme  County: 

My  experience  with  sheep  is  that  they  pay  better  than  any  other  class  of  livestock, 
as  they  can  be  handled  with  less  labor  and  capital,  and  when  properly  cared  for  are 
less  liable  to  diseases  than  other  livestock,  and  as  farmers  are  beginning  to  find  this 
out  they' are  taking  better  care  of  their  sheep.  This  industry  AS  improving,  and  the 
outlook  is  very  encouraging. 

H.  G.  Lillard,  Weldon,  Decatur  County: 

I  first  bought  150  lambs  when  prices  were  low,  paying  $1.60  per  head.  The  next 
spring  the  wool  paid  for  them,  and  later  I  was  offered  $3  per  head  for  my  sheep. 
People  are  paying  more  attention  to  mutton  sheep  than  in  former  years.  Some  of 
the  local  disadvantages  to  the  business  are  high-priced  lauds  and  too  much  mud  in 
the  spring. 

Ben.  Richardson,  Spring  Valley,  Decatur  County : 

I  have  made  more  money  raising  sheep  than  at  any  other  business,  and  yet  I  do 
not  believe  nor  practice  housing  them,  except  when  it  is  storming.  Never  permit 
my  ewes  to  have  but  one  service,  that  date  is  registered,  the  ewe  marked,  lettered 
or  numbered,  and  separated  from  the  flock  for  forty-eight  hours.  The  local  disad- 
vantages to  the  industry  are  dogs,  wolves,  and  a  lack  of  Eastern  competition  in  wool 
buyers. 

J.  H.  McKibben,  Albion,  Marshall  County: 

For  the  past  eighteen  years  my  sheep  have  made  me  two  dollars  where  other 
stock  has  made  me  one.  Nor  is  that  all;  sheep  are  much  nicer  to  handle  than  other 
stock,  besides  they  enrich  the  land  as  no  other  stock  will.  The  industry  is  improv- 
ing all  the  time,  and  when  farmers  generally  find  out  that  the  sheep  is  the  animal 
that  wears  the  "golden  hoof,"  there  will  be  five  to  keep  them  where  now  there  is  one. 

Geo.  W.  Franklin,  Atlantic,  Cass  County : 

My  first  flock  of  sheep,  fifteen  years  ago,  were  scrubs,  shearing  five  pounds,  but  now 
I  have  pure-bred  Cotswolds  whose  fleeces  average  12.2  pounds.  With  Iowa's  many 
natural  advantages  to  the  flockinaster,  her  dry  climate,  dry  soil,  rolling  land,  abun- 
dance of  grass,  and  pure  water,  this  industry,  though  in  itS4  infancy,  if  properly 
encouraged,  will  demand  a  large  share  of  attention  now  paid  to  swine  and  cattle. 


832  SHEEP   INDUSTRY    OF    THE    UNITED    STATES 

Jas.  Edgerton,  Nassau,  Keokuk  County:      . 

My  first  ten-years'  experience  as  a  flockmaster  was  had  in  Ohio;  and  twenty-five 
years  ago,  when  I  began  in  Iowa,  we  had  plenty  of  free  range  and  I  kept  from  1,000 
to  1,500  head,  but  since  we  have  been  restricted  to  our  own  land  I  winter  from  five 
to  six  hundred,  all  that  I  can  well  accommodate  in  barns.  When  the  weather  is 
suitable  my  sheep  run  on  cornstalks  and  grass  land,  but  get  penned  or  stabled  at 
nights,  winter  or  summer. 

A.  J.  Jewell,  Oskaloosa,  Mahaska,  County: 

I  have  about  400  sheep  now,  and  have  been  handling  them  continually  for  thirty 
years.  My  sheep  run  out  all  winter,  yet  they  can  go  in  the  barn  or  shed  if  they 
choose.  I  feed  about  one  bushel  of  corn  per  day  to  100  sheep.  We  have  no  outside 
range  now,  hence  must  reduce  the  size  of  our  flocks.  The  interest  in  sheep  hus- 
bandry is  good  and  growing  better. 

F.  F.  Warner,  Bloomfield,  Davis  County: 

I  have  cared  for  sheep  for  the  past  thirty  years  and  am  well  satisfied  with  the  busi- 
ness. I  have  never  tried  to  keep  very  many,  but  have  been  careful  about  feeding  in 
winter,  also  selecting  the  bucks  I  breed  from.  Of  late  years  there  has  been  a  great 
improvement  in  the  way  of  keeping  sheep,  both  in  feeding  and  breeding.  If  prices 
for  mutton  hold  out  the  business  will  continue  to  improve. 

Channing  Welch,  Ayrshire,  Palo  Alto  County: 

Had  sheep  in  northwestern  Iowa  for  eleven  years,  and  find  them  very  healthy  and 
profitable  in  small  flocks.  They  pay  about  $3  per  head  per  year  in  increase  and 
wool,  requiring  but  little  care  and  labor  in  comparison  with  their  returns.  The  de- 
mand for  breeding  ewes  is  large,  and  more  farmers  are  becoming  interested  in  them. 
Our  falls  and  winters  are  dry,  and  contagious  diseases  are  almost  unknown.  Wo 
feed  liberally  with  prairie  hay,  which  is  thrown  on  the  .ground;  so  also  is  the  grain 
feed  in  many  instances. 

E.  Osburn,  Van  Buren,  Jackson  County: 

I  am  not  in  the  sheep  business  very  extensively,  but  keep  from  150  to  170  Shrop- 
shires,  full-bloods  and  grades.  Every  year  I  feed  a  carload  of  lambs,  which  I  ship 
to  Chicago  about  March,  and  receive  from  $6.50  to  $7.30  per  hundred.  While  the 
present  prospects  are  encouraging,  sheepmen  in  this  State  would  be  pleased  to  have 
some  legislation  done  in  their  interests  in  the  way  of  offering  a  liberal  bounty  for 
the  destruction  of  both  dogs  and  wolves. 

W.  C.  Nichols  and  Son,  Ceresco,  Howard  County: 

We  have  handled  sheep  more  or  less  for  the  past  twenty  years,  the  common  sheep 
first,  then  began  crossing  with  Shropshire  bucks  thirteen  years  ago.  We  liked  this 
cross  so  well  that  we  invested  in  five  registered  ewes  of  this  breed.  After  this  we 
began  importing  from  England,  until  now  we  have  about  500  head,  all  registered. 
Last  season  we  sold  to  breeders,  farmers,  and  ranchmen  two  hundred  head  at  from 
$25  to  $200  a  piece.  Our  sales  have  extended  from  Vermont  to  California.  The 
average  weight  of  fleeces  from  our  flock  is  13f  pounds. 

S.  A.  Converse,  Ceresco,  Howard  County : 

For  twelve  years  I  have  had  from  200  to  400  head  of  sheep ;  have  had  no  epidemic 
or  contagious  diseases ;  my  sheep  run  on  the  same  pasture  all  the  time,  which  is 
flat,  low,  prairie  land.  As  nearly  everybody  is  investing  in  sheep  there  will  be  a 
great  increase  in  numbers  for  the  next  five  years,  when  the  country  will  be  overrun, 
everybody  sick  of  sheep,  and  the  business  flat.  The  greatest  drawback  to  ti?e  in- 
dustry is  dogs,  though  I  have  lost  none  by  them,  for  I  yard  close  every  night  and 
kill  all  the  dogs  that  come  around. 


WEST   OF   THE   MISSISSIPPI   RIVER.  833 

Samuel  Russell,  West  Grove,  Davis  County : 

To  make  the  sheep  business  profitable  one  must  pay  strict  attention  to  the  flock 
every  day ;  exercise  care  in  selecting  rams  for  breeding  purposes ;  keep  sheep  out  of 
mud,  dirt,  chaff,  and  hayseed ;  have  a  nice,  clean  place  in  which  to  shear  the  sheep 
and  store  the  wool ;  tie  up  fleeces  nicely  and  carefully,  throwing  out  all  filthy  tags, 
etc.,  so  as  to  have  the  wool  look  nicely  and  clean.  Have  shade  trees  in  summer 
pasture,  change  pastures  frequently,  have  water  so  sheep  can  get  it  when  they  wish ; 
also  keep  salt,  copperas,  and  sulphur  mixed  in  troughs  for  them  to  run  to,  and  you 
will  make  good  money  with  sheep. 

James  E.  Picken,  Ottumwa,  Wapello  County : 

I,  with  my  father,  have  been  interested  in  sheep  in  this  county  since  1850.  At 
one  time  we  had  plenty  of  out-range  and  ran  large  flocks,  but  now  the  farms  are  all 
inclosed  and  I  only  keep  from  600  to  800.  I  am  now  crossing  Merino  ewes  with 
Shropshire  bucks,  as  the  price  of  wool  is  low  and  the  demand  for  mutton  growing. 

Lewis  Bigelow,  Atlantic,  Cass  County: 

At  the  present  time  sheep  husbandry  here  is  in  its  infancy,  there  being  only  about 
4,000  sheep  in  the  county.  In  1890  my  sheep  doubled  their  value  in  lambs  and  wool. 
Last  year  they  increased  in  value  about  80  per  cent,  and  the  prospect  for  this  year 
is  very  flattering.  The  wool  gives  us  an  early  and  extra  source  of  revenue  over 
that  of  any  other  kind  of  live  stock,  while  our  climate  and  soil  cannot  be  surpassed 
for  this  business. 

T.  J.  Rosengrant,  Garden  Grove,  Decatur  County: 

I  never  breed  from  anything  but  pure-bred  rams,  and  never  allow  any  one  to  pick 
over  my  flock.  That  I  do  myself,  and  I  never  let  myself  get  overstocked.  Our  soil 
is  such  that  it  produces  the  finest  quality  of  blue  grass  and  white  clover,  all  of  which 
is  superior  sheep  feed,  and  as  the  land  is  not  flat,  the  sheep  keep  in  a  good,  healthy 
condition.  Dogs  are  the  greatest  drawback  to  the  business,  while  the  wolves  get 
worse  every  year.  The  outlook  is  very  encouraging,  though  the  present  high  prices 
keep  a  great  many  from  investigating.  The  average  size  of  eighteen  flocks  nearest 
to  me  is  143  head. 

J.  A.  Hamilton,  Kirkville,  Wapello  County:  . 

I  have  been  as  successful  as  I  expected  to  be  in  the  sheep  business.  On  our  roll- 
ing land  we  have  the  best  of  grasses  for  summer  use,  and  then  feed  is  plenty  and 
cheap  for  winter  use.  The  business  is  growing,  as  the  price  of  mutton  is  good.  We 
are  crossing  on  our  Merinos  with  coarse-wooled  and  mutton  rams,  thus  increasing 
their  size.  The  loss  of  sheep  by  dogs  is  greater  than  that  by  all  other  causes  com- 
bined. 

Henry  Bell,  Atlantic,  Cass  County: 

There  is  no  kind  of  live  stock  that  pays  as  well  on  the  investment,  when  good  care 
is  given,  as  sheep.  Our  greatest  difficulty  to  contend  against  is  wire  fences,  dogs, 
and  wolves.  Against  these  we  have  no  protection.  A  small  flock  of  good  sheep  is 
a  great  advantage  to  any  farm. 

E.  B.  Atchison,  Albia,  Monroe  County: 

My  father  had  sheep  before  me,  so  I  was  interested  in  sheep  quite  early  in  life. 
Now  I  am  near  middle  age  and  am  always  delighted  in  having  the  best  sheep.  Until 
a  few  years  ago  I  believed  the  best  were  always  found  in  the  Vermont  Merinos,  but 
times  have  changed  and  progression  is  going  on,  so  am  I,  and  now  I  have  the  Dickin- 
son Delaine  Merino,  whose  wool  sells  3  cents  higher  than  any  other  kind.  I  care 
for  rnv  sheep's  health  as  I  do  for  my  own;  don't  let  them  suffer  for  feed,  and  don't 

"  22990 53 


834        SHEEP  INDUSTRY  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES 

pamper  them.  Give  my  rams  plenty  of  exercise,  but  never  let  them  loose  with  the 
ewes  at  breeding  time.  The  sheep  business  is  only  beginning  to  develop  in  Iowa. 
Here  we  have  the  best  of  climate  for  sheep,  the  rolling  land  affording  the  finest  blue 
grass  pastures,  and  soil  that  will  produce  abundance  of  grain,  grass,  and  vegetables. 

George  T.  Underbill,  Knoxville,  Marion  County : 

Have  been  in  the  business  twelve  years,  and  believe  that  I  have  the  oldest  estab- 
lished flock  of  imported  and  registered  Shropshires  in  the  State.  The  verdict  of 
three-fourths  of  the  farmers  you  meet  is  that  sheep  pay  better  than  any  other  kind 
of  live  stock.  There  is  a  bright  future  in  store  for  the  shepherd.  The  demand  for 
mutton  is  daily  increasing,  and  even  while  the  price  of  wool  is  down  it  pays  all  ex- 
penses for  wintering  and  summering  the  sheep,  while  mutton,  which  is  the  biggest 
item,  is  clear  profit.  We  have  no  obstacles  here  worth  mentioning,  but  many  natural 
advantages  for  the  business,  such  as  rolling,  self-draining  lands— no  marsh  lands,  so 
detrimental  to  the  sheep  industry.  In  winter  we  feed  plenty  of  hay,  some  corn  and 
oats,  and  house  during  stormy  weather  only ;  in  summer  let  our  sheep  run  on  pasture, 
and  in  the  fall,  after  hay  is  cut,  they  have  our  meadows. 

W.  K.  Kouze,  Tracy,  Marion  County : 

My  experience  with  sheep  for  the  past  ten  years  has  been  that  for  my  outlay  and 
care  it  has  returned  to  me  each  year  all  the  money  that  was  first  invested  in  it,  and 
still  I  have  more  than  my  original  investment,  or,  in  other  words,  it  has  made  me  100 
per  cent.  In  winter,  at  nights,  I  house  my  sheep  in  a  well-ventilated  barn,  and  give 
them  a  full  feed  of  hay,  and  in  the  day  they  run  in  stalk-fields  and  pasture,  with  one 
good  grain  ration.  In  summer  they  run  on  pasture  with  plenty  of  good  water;  are 
corralled  in  dry  lots  by  night;  I  use  plenty  of  bells.  About  one-fifth  of  the  farmers 
in  this  county  are  extensively  engaged  in  sheep-raising,  and  they  are  prospering, 
building  good  sheep  barns  and  raising  winter  lambs  to  ship  to  early  market.  We 
experience  our  greatest  difficulty  from  dogs  and  wolves.  Some  scab  is  being  intro- 
duced from  sheep  shipped  from  the  western  ranges. 

David  Jay,  Blakesburg,  Wapello  County : 

I  have  handled  sheep  for  twenty  years,  but  have  not  kept  as  large  flocks  as  some 
farmers.  The  sheep  industry  is  improving  and  the  outlook  is  favorable;  and  why 
should  it  not  be,  since  sheep 'are  better  cared  for  than  formerly?  We  find  better 
profits  in  fewer  sheep.  We  are  improving  the  breeds  and  looking  after  the  mutton 
qualities  as  well  as  the  wool.  Tell  our  brother  shepherds  to  get  the  best  sires  of 
whatever  class  or  breed  they  prefer,  then  if  they  have  a  love  for  sheep  they  are  fixed 
for  the  business  and  will  stick  to  it ;  giving  it  the  same  care  and  attention  that  they 
would  to  succeed  in  any  other  undertaking,  we  will  guarantee  that  " Mary's  little 
lamb"  will  pay  the  mortgage  on  the  farm. 

Capt.  W.  H.  Jordan,  Des  Moines,  Polk  County: 

From  1851  to  1861  I  handled  Merinos  in  Washington  County,  Mich.  Then  in  1889  I 
began  importing  Shropshires  and  Oxfords  in  Iowa.  These  I  arn  fully  convinced 
are  the  sheep  to  make  the  mutton  cross.  Iowa,  with  her  blue-grass  pastures  the 
year  round,  with  dry,  rolling  land  and  no  long  rainy  seasons,  can  produce  as  success- 
fully the  great  English  mutton  and  wool-bearing  sheep  as  Great  Britain.  There  are 
in  Iowa  to-day  no  domestic  animals  thought  of  and  talked  so  much  about  as  sheep. 
There  are  no  other  domestic  animals  so  much  needed  in  our  economic  outfit  to  round 
out  and  complete  the  triumphant  ascendency  and  possibilities  of  Iowa's  live-stock 
industry  as  the  pure-bred,  wool-bearing  mutton  sheep;  and  yet  no  other  division  of 
our  stock  industry,  great  or  small,  is  so  crippled  and  held  back  from  golden  oppor- 
tunities easily  within  reach  as  sheep-raising  within  this  State.  Indians,  wolves,  and 
dogs  were  first  on  the  ground,  and  have  stood  face  to  face  the  natural  enemies  to 
civilization  and  sheep-raising.  The  Indians  long  since  disappeared,  but  the  dogs 
and  wolves  remain. 


WEST   OF   THK  MISSISSIPPI   RIVER.  835 

L.  M.  Hartley,  Salem  County: 

Have  been  interested  in  sheep  twenty  years — the  first  ten  in  Merinos  and  the  last 
decade  in  Shropshires.  The  last  named  are  my  favorites.  For  the  last  eight  years 
I  have  abandoned  sheds  altogether,  and  I  am  meeting  with  better  success  than  when 
I  used  them.  No  snowstorm  affects  them;  neither  does  the  falling  rain.  Nature 
provides  them  with  a  protection  that  wards  off  the  inclemency  of  the  weather.  The 
only  time  sheds  are  needed  is  in  early  lambing  time,  when  great  care  and  the  utmost 
vigilance  is  necessary  until  the  lamb  is  twenty- four  hours  old,  when  all  danger  is 
over.  Always  feed  well;  never  let  a  sheep  get  hungry.  In  winter  give  plenty  of 
good  fodder  and  one  ear  of  corn  per  day  for  each  sheep.  In  feeding  the  common 
flock  I  have  discarded  altogether  the  hay  rack,  nor  do  I  allow  the  sheep  to  run  to 
hay  or  straw  stacks,  as  it  is  detrimental  to  both  the  sheep  and  the  fleece.  The  blue- 
grass  sod  is  preferable  on  which  to  feed  hay  or  corn  in  the  ear. 

NEBRASKA. 

The  sheep  industry  of  Nebraska  has  been  regarded  heretofore  as  the 
least  important  branch  of  the  animal  industry  of  that  State,  but  at  the 
present  time  it  is  attracting  considerable  attention  from  farmers  and 
stockmen.  With  reference  to  sheep  husbandry  it  stands  as  a  typical 
State  of  the  agricultural  country  of  the  transmissouri  region,  hence  the 
writer  has  gone  into  details  in  his  investigation  with  reference  to  the 
present  condition  of  the  industry  and  its  future  possibilities. 

It  is  quite  evident  that  sheep  husbandry  has  now  assumed  a  perma- 
nent character,  and  consequently  is  regarded  with  more  favor  by  the 
farmers  of  the  State.  The  result  will  be  beneficial  to  the  animal  in- 
dustry, by  giving  greater  diversity  to  live-stock  husbandry,  and  thus 
assure  more  substantial  prosperity  to  the  stockmen  of  the  State.  The 
stockmen  of  Nebraska  are  fortunate  in  having  a  live  stock  market  within 
the  borders  of  the  State  at  Omaha,  besides  having  competing  lines  of 
railroads  within  easy  reach  of  the  Kansas  City,  St.  Louis,  and  Chicago 
markets.  Another  favorable  condition  for  sheep  husbandry,  especially 
from  a  mutton  standpoint,  is  that  no  present  sheep-owner  will  probably 
ever  experience  an  overproduction  of  mutton  or  receive  a  slow  prices 
for  live  sheep  as  now  prevail  for  cattle.  In  a  letter  from  W.  N".  Bab- 
cock,  general  manager  of  the  Union  Stock  Yards  Company,  of  Omaha, 
under  date  of  May  10,  1892,  he  says:  uln  regard  to  our  sheep  market, 
I  might  say  that  our  receipts  of  good  marketable  sheep  are  always  short 
of  the  demand,  and  a  much  larger  number  would  be  slaughtered  by  our 
packing  industries  if  they  could  be  purchased  on  the  market." 

The  receipts  of  sheep  at  the  Union  Stock  Yards  have  steadily  in- 
creased from  year  to  year  since  the  establishment  of  the  yards  eight 
years  ago.  During  the  first  year,  1884,  only  4,188  head  of  sheep  were 
received,  while  in  the  year  1891  there  were  received  170,849  head.  The 
total  receipts  for  eight  years  is  783,973  head.  The  largest  receipts  in 
one  day  were  on  September  24,  1891,  when  8,732  head  were  received. 
The  total  number  of  she&p  slaughtered  for  city  use  and  South  Omaha 
packing  during  1891  was  80,960  head. 


836        SHEEP  INDUSTRY  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES 

The  South  Omaha  market  is  a  Nebraska  institution  of  which  the 
State  may  well  feel  proud,  as  it  gives  the  stock-raisers  a  home  market 
and  has  developed  into  one  of  the  leading  Western  markets  since  its 
establishment  eight  years  ago.  The  following  from  Drovers'  Journal 
of  August  25,  1891 ,  is  a  just  tribute  to  this  newly  opened  market  for 
the  live  stock  of  the  West : 

From  what  was  little  more  than  a  railroad  feed  yard  on  the  main  line  of  the  Union 
Pacific  Railroad  in  1885,  has  sprung,  in  the  short  space  of  six  years,  this  vast  busi- 
ness with  its  four  immense  packing  plants,  which  have  a  combined  capacity  of  trans- 
forming daily  2,000  cattle,  9,000  hogs,  and  1,000  sheep  into  a  meat  product^  which  the 
twelve  great  trunk  lines  now  centering  here  convey  to  all  parts  of  the  country — north, 
south,  east,  and  west.  And  these  same  twelve  railroads,  which  run  through  the 
greatest  corn  and  grazing  lands  of  the  world,  afford  unexcelled  facilities  for  the 
marketing  of  live  stock  at  this  point  as  well  as  for  the  distribution  of  cattle  known 
as  stockers  and  feeders  to  any  part  of  the  four  great  corn  States  west  of  the  Miss- 
issippi, Nebraska,  Iowa,  Missouri,  and  Kansas. 

In  a  discussion  of  the  sheep  Industry  before  the  Nebraska  Improved 
Stock  Breeders'  Association,  Col.  Savage,  of  the  State  Agricultural 
College,  in  the  course  of  his  remarks,  stated  the  following  facts: 

I  will  say  that  I  am  acquainted  with  pretty  nearly  every  stock-producer  in  the 
State  of  Nebraska,  both  of  cattle,  hogs,  and  sheep,  and  I  can  say  without  fear  of 
contradiction  that  within  the  past  five  years  those  who  have  handled  sheep  have 
made  money,  and  good  money ;  and  I  can  cite  many  instances  of  my  own  personal 
knowledge  where  they  have  made  in  that  time  a  clear  profit  of  $10, 000  to  $50, 000,  and 
I  don't  know  of  one  cattle-feeder  that  has  made  one-half  of  the  smallest  amount  I 
have  mentioned,  while  I  can  mention  you  the  names  of  more  men,  good  men,  honest, 
hard  working  men,  that  have  been  in  the  cattle  business  that  have  actually  failed, 
absolutely  lost  not  only  their  profits,  but  all  the  money  they  had  when  they  went 
into  the  business,  than  there  are  men  in  this  room;  and  I  will  venture  further,  that 
there  is  not  a  gentleman  that  will  mention  the  name  of  one  man  that  has  handled 
sheep,  and  handled  them  reasonably  well,  within  the  same  length  of  time  that  has 
not  made  money  on  them.  The  time  was  in  olden  times  when  circumstances  were 
different  from  what  they  are  now,  when  the  law  of  supply  and  demand  had  some- 
thing to  do  with  our  meat  product — when  things  were  different  *  *  *  and  they 
did  this  or  did  that  that  would  cause  a  very  great  fluctuation  in  the  value  of  sheep. 
But  it  is  a  fact  that  the  man  who  has  gone  into  sheep  and  staid  with  them  year  in 
and  year  out,  up  and  down,  that  man  has  been  more  successful,  made  more  money, 
and  made  it  more  easily  than  the  cattlemen  have.  I  have  had  some  little  experience 
with  sheep  years  ago,  and  with  cattle  all  the  time,  and  1  contend  that  it  requires 
more  patience,  more  practice,  more  experience,  more  ability,  more  brain  power  to  take 
care  of  a  flock  of  sheep  than  it  does  to  take  care  of  a  herd  of  cattle.  It  is  more  of  a 
study,  and  when  the  flock  of  sheep  gets  that  attention  there  is  110  class  or  kind  of 
stock  on  the  face  of  the  globe  that  will  pay  greater  returns  year  in  and  year  out. 

In  the  following  pages  is  given  a  brief  review  of  the  sheep  industry 
as  it  exists  at  the  present  time,  together  with  the  essential  facts  per- 
taining to  Nebraska  sheep  husbandry.  The  leading  feature  of  the  in- 
dustry in  this  State  is  sheep-feeding,  which  has  been  investigated  by 
H.  E.  Heath,  editor  of  the  Nebraska  Farmer,  and  his  report  is  given 
herewith. 


WEST    OF    THE   MISSISSIPPI    RIVER.  837 

NUMBER  OF  SHEEP  AND  VALUE  OF  THE  INDUSTRY. 

The  number  of  sheep  in  Nebraska  on  January  1, 1892,  was  much 
larger  than  generally  supposed,  owing  to  the  fact  that  they  are  fed 
during  the  winter,  and  do  not  therefore  enter  into  the  estimates  of  the 
officials  who  usually  take  their  figures  from  the  assessment  rolls  of  the 
State,  which  is  misleading  both  as  to  numbers  and  value.  For  example, 
the  number,  value,  and  average  of  sheep  as  returned  by  the  several 
counties  of  the  State  of  Nebraska,  as  assessed  for  tax  levy  of  1891,  is 
182,393,  valued  at  $120,214,  an  average  of  66  cents.  The  highest  value 
is  for  253  sheep  assessed  in  Douglas  County  at  an  average  of  $2.38,  while 
the  lowest  average  is  given  in  Dawson  County  for  574  at  an  average  of 
23  cents.  The  Government  figures  and  values  for  January  1,  1892,  are 
more  nearly  accurate,  and  are  as  follows :  269,804  sheep,  value  $690,- 
887,  or  an  average  of  $2.56,  nearly  50  per  cent  greater  in  number,  and 
about  400  per  cent  greater  in  value,  a  remarkable  difference  between 
two  official  reports.  Careful  investigation  shows  that  the  Government's 
figures  are  approximately  correct,  although  conservative.  The  State's 
figures,  as  compiled,  are  purely  for  taxation  purposes,  but  absurdly 
are  used  as  making  an  exhibit  of  the  State's  resources,  a  manifest  in- 
justice to  the  sheep  industry,  while  on  the  other  hand  the  Govern- 
ment's statistics  are  compiled  for  the  purpose  of  making  an  exhibit  of 
the  industry  on  its  merits,  hence  are  more  accurate  although  frequently 
dependent  for  information  on  local  correspondents  who  are  not  always 
sufficiently  competent,  or  are,  perhaps,  inexperienced  regarding  stock 
statistics,  or  are  apt  to  rely  too  much  on  the  figures  of  the  local  assessor. 

In  this  report,  however,  the  author  has  endeavored  to  be  as  exact 
and  accurate  as  possible  in  order  that  the  sheep  industry  of  Nebraska 
should  have  a  reliable  review  of  the  condition  and  resources  of  the  in- 
dustry, hence  no  trouble  has  been  spared  to  verify  facts  and  figures 
for  the  purpose  of  a  proper  exhibit  of  one  of  the  industries  of  the  State. 
The  result  of  the  investigation  gives  the  number  of  sheep  on  hand  in 
Nebraska  in  January,  1892,  exclusive  of  those  brought  in  from  other 
States  for  feeders,  321,948.  To  this  number  should  be  added  291,700 
feeders,  which  would  make  the  total  number  in  the  State  615,648  at 
the  above  date.  The  value  of  the  same  in  round  numbers  was  not  less 
than  $2,000,000.  The  net  price  realized  for  the  wool  clip  of  1891  was 
$266,120,  and  for  the  muttons  disposed  of,  mainly  in  the  early  part  of 
1892,  not  less  than  $1,500,000,  or  in  round  numbers  the  product  of  the 
sheep  industry  of  Nebraska  for  the  past  season  was  over  one  and  three- 
quarter  million  dollars,  a  creditable  exhibit  for  the  infant  live-stock 
industry  of  the  State.  In  other  words  the  sheep  industry  of  the  State 
represents  a  total  cash  value  of  not  less  than  $5,000,000.  This  includes 
the  industry  in  all  its  various  branches,  the  sheep  and  all  property 
pertaining  to  and  necessary  for  conducting  successful  sheep  husbandry. 
In  an  exhibit  of  the  resources  of  the  State  there  will  be  found  no  other 
industry  which  yields  so  large  returns  for  the  capital  represented  as 
does  sheep  husbandry  in  Nebraska. 


838        SHEEP  INDUSTRY  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES 

GENERAL  FACTS  ABOUT  THE  INDUSTRY. 

About  ten  years  ago  the  most  numerous  classes  of  sheep  throughout 
^Nebraska  were  the  Merinos  and  their  grades,  a  large  number  of  which 
were  of  Mexican  foundation.  But  these  sheep  have  gradually  grown 
less  in  number  each  year  in  consequence  of  the  decline  of  the  sheep  in- 
dustry, which  began  in  this  State  about  1883  5  but  apparently  the  de- 
cline ended  when  the  sheep-feeding  industry  began.  Since  that  time 
the  industry  has  been  on  the  upgrade,  and  is  rapidly  assuming  a  per- 
manent basis.  The  day  for  the  immense  flocks  on  the  range  has  gone 
by,  and  the  flocks  are  now  much  smaller  in  size.  A  great  portion  of 
the  range  formerly  occupied  by  these  large  holdings  is  now  cut  up  into 
small  farms.  The  difference  from  the  old  regime  is  more  sheep-owners 
and  smaller  flocks. 

In  many  counties,  according  to  the  State  auditor's  report,  no  sheep 
are  reported,  or,  at  least,  they  could  not  be  found  by  the  assessor.  The 
counties  which  report  no  sheep,  or  less  than  one  hundred,  for  the  year 
1891,  are  as  follows:  Blaine,  Brown,  Chase,  Dakota,  Frontier,  Furnas, 
Gosper,  Grant,  Harlau,  Hayes,  Hooker,  Howard,  Logan,  McPherson, 
Phelps,  Eed  Willow,  Thomas,  and  Thurston. 

The  sheep  that  are  raised  in  the  central  and  western  counties  are 
Merinos,  their  grades  and  crosses;  while  the  small  farm  flocks  of  the 
eastern  counties  consist  mainly  of  the  mutton  breeds  or  cross-bred 
Merinos  as  well  as  pure-bred  Shropshires,  Leicester s,  Southdown  s,  and 
a  few  Merinos. 

Eegarding  the  size  of  flocks  there  is  a  great  range  as  to  numbers. 
The  extremes  may  be  placed  at  from  10  to  about  2,000.  These  flocks, 
of  course,  refer  to  sheep  that  have  been  raised  in  the  State.  The  aver- 
age flock  among  the  farmers  runs  from  a  few  head  to  a  hundred  or 
more,  while  the  flocks  of  the  exclusive  sheep  men  do  not  run  less  than 
about  500,  and  from  that  upwards.  The  very  large  holdings  are  owned 
by  the  feeders  who  make  a  business  of  handling  sheep  by  the  thousand 
but  do  not  breed  them — simply  finish  them  for  the  market.  They  con- 
tract for  western  sheep,  bring  them  in  late  in  the  fall  and  feed  them  from 
two  to  four  months,  then  ship  to  market.  Their  object  is  mutton  alone, 
as  they  usually  sell  before  shearing  time.  A  few  shipments,  however, 
have  been  retained  until  after  shearing  in  order  to  secure  the  additional 
profit  from  the  wool  clip,  which  more  than  compensates  the  anticipated 
loss  of  late  mutton  shipments. 

The  general  character  of  the  soil  of  the  grazing  lands  of  Nebraska 
includes  almost  every  kind  from  the  rich  black  loam  to  the  clay  and 
sandy  soil.  In  the  thickly  settled  farming  districts  the  soil  is  exceed- 
ingly rich,  and  tame  grasses  are  produced  in  abundance  when  the  wild 
variety  disappears.  The  lands  preferred  for  pasturing  large  flocks  are 
to  be  found  in  the  central  and  western  portions  of  the  State  where  the 
land  is  rolling  or  broken,  and  where  pasturage  is  practically  unlimited 
and  cheap.  Outside  of  some  tame-grass  pastures  in  southeastern 


WEST    OF   THE    MISSISSIPPI   RIVER.  839 

braska  the  sheep  subsist  mainly  on  the  native  prairie  grasses,  blue  stem 
and  buffalo  grass  affording  the  bulk  of  pasturage.  There  are  numer- 
ous other  kinds  of  grasses,  but  not  so  general  as  the  two  mentioned. 
The  buffalo  grass  is  about  the  only  kind  that  affords  winter  pasturage 
to  any  extent,  and  is  now  confined  to  western  counties  of  the  State. 
The  other  sorts  are  worthless  after  heavy  frosts.  Hay  is  produced  in 
large  quantities  in  almost  any  portion  of  the  State  and  is  sufficiently 
nutritious  to  maintain  stock  during  the  winter.  Grain  feed  is  generally 
abundant  every  season  at  reasonable  prices,  so  that  the  flock  masters 
have  no  fear  as  to  their  food  supply. 

The  water  supply  is  also  abundant  and  excellent  in  nearly  all  the 
streams  of  the  State.  Aside  from  these  rivers,  creeks,  and  streams, 
water  is  supplied  from  wells  drawn  by  wind  power.  The  supply  ap- 
parently is  inexhaustible  in  these  wells.  The  writer  has  never  heard 
of  any  well  of  any  consequence  ever  having  gone  dry. 

Timber  throughout  the  State  is  very  scarce  except  along  a  few  of  the 
streams.  The  only  timber  is  what  has  been  produced  artificially  on  the 
timber  claims,  or  in  the  groves  set  out  by  the  early  settlers,  so  that  it 
is  not  to  be  depended  on  for  shelter.  The  usual  shelter  consists  of 
cheaply  constructed  sheds,  although  in  the  broken  and  hilly  portions 
of  the  State  the  canyons  and  ravines  afford  considerable  protection. 
The  only  shelter  required  for  sheep  is  during  the  winter,  and  that  is 
seldom  used  in  the  daytime  except  during  deep  snows  or  severe  winter 
storms.  The  experienced  shepherd  always  provides  the  requisite 
amount  of  shelter  for  such  periods. 

The  annual  losses  from  all  sources  have  been  reduced  to  the  minimum 
and  are  generally  uniform  each  year,  for  the  reason  that  sheep-owners 
have  become  familiar  with  the  industry  and  the  best  methods  to  be 
pursued;  hence  it  is  comparatively  easy  to  forecast  the  annual  loss. 

During  the  early  period  of  sheep  husbandry  in  Nebraska,  when  the 
country  was  new  and  flock-masters  inexperienced,  the  losses  some  years 
were  very  heavy,  especially  from  exposure.  But  now,  owing  to  a  bet- 
ter knowledge  of  the  country,  its  climate,  and  the  most  practical  meth- 
ods of  conducting  the  business,  the  losses  are  greatly  reduced.  Espe- 
cially is  this  true  from  losses  caused  by  severe  weather.  In  fact,  a  large 
number  of  sheepmen  report  no  loss,  or  at  most,  a  few  head  on  account 
of  exposure.  It  is  a  rare  occurrence  to  have  a  loss  of  5  per  cent  any 
year.  The  average  losses  reported  to  me  from  exposure  ranged  from  1 
to  2  per  cent,  except  in  a  few  exceptional  cases.  The  greatest  loss  re- 
ported for  1890  and  1891  occurred  in  Sherman  and  Stanton  counties. 
In  summarizing  the  various  reports  on  the  subject  of  loss  from  expos- 
ure, the  average  for  Nebraska  would  not  exceed  2  per  cent. 

The  animal  loss  from  depredations  of  wild  animals  and  dogs,  unlike 
the  loss  from  exposure,  appears  to  be  steadily  increasing  rather  than 
declining,  and  therefor  is  unquestionably  the  most  serious  loss  encoun- 
tered by  the  shepherds  of  the  State.  In  some  of  the  eastern  counties 


840  SHEEP   INDUSTRY   OF   THE    UNITED    STATES 

as  many  as  10  per  cent  are  lost  each  year  from  the  ravages  of  worthless 
curs  and  dogs.  In  fact,  they  do  much  more  damage  than  the  coyotes 
or  wolves.  In  the  northern  and  western  counties  the  devastation  of 
the  flock  is  due  almost  wholly  to  wild  animals,  such  as  wolves  or  coyotes. 
The  annual  loss  throughout  the  State  by  the  ravages  of  dogs  or  wild 
animals  exceeds  by  far  the  loss  from  all  other  sources,  and  not  a  single 
county  where  sheep  husbandry  is  conducted  is  exempt  from  the  ravages 
of  one  or  the  other,  notwithstanding  the  vigilance  of  flockmasters  to 
prevent  it.  From  these  sources  alone  sheep-owners  report  losses  rang- 
ing from  1  to  10  per  cent,  or  an  average  of  not  less  than  5  per  cent.  So, 
therefore,  the  total  average  annual  loss  of  sheep  from  all  sources  what- 
soever does  not  exceed  7  per  cent. 

Of  the  sheep  brought  into  Nebraska  from  other  States  and  Terri- 
tories the  bulk  came  from  the  South  and  West,  and  are  mainly  wethers 
which  go  to  the  feeders,  although  the  number  of  stock  sheep  brought  in 
is  constantly  increasing.  The  general  belief  among  sheepmen  is  that 
both  the  fleece  and  the  constitution  of  the  animal  improve;  yet,  where 
such  is  the  case  it  is  owing  to  the  sheep  receiving  better  attention  and 
the  providing  of  a  more  abundant  supply  of  feed.  One  thing  is  cer- 
tain, that  sheep  brought  in  from  any  part  of  the  United  States  are  none 
the  worse  for  having  been  brought  into  Nebraska.  The  fleece  of  im- 
proved Eastern  sheep  when  brought  into  central  or  western  Nebraska 
becomes  dryer  and  lighter,  and  there  is  less  yolk  or  oil  in  it.  But  the 
constitution,  after  the  necessary  period  of  acclimatization,  appears  to  im- 
prove, and  the  sheep  becomes  more  vigorous  and  robust.  The  State  is 
so  well  adapted  to  sheep  that  no  matter  what  breed  or  class  of  sheep  is 
brought  here,  they  all  do  well  and  no  bad  results  occur  because  of  the 
change.  Sheep-owners  have  no  hesitation  in  handling  any  class  of 
sheep  when  they  have  a  suitable  location  and  equipments. 

The  sheep- breeders  of  the  State  generally  prefer  pure-bred  rams, 
which  are  used  mainly  in  the  order  named:  Merinos,  Shropshires, 
Cotswolds,  Southdowns,  and  French  Merinos,  the  first  two  named  being 
generally  used.  In  the  larger  flocks  in  the  western  part  of  the  State 
quite  a  number  of  grade  and  cross-bred  rams  are  used,  and  many  of 
the  larger  owners  keep  both  the  fine-wool  and  medium-wool  rams, 
breeding  the  latter  with  the  flock,  except  where  the  rams  are  kept  up 
and  properly  fed  and  cared  for,  then  from  75  to  100  are  given  each 
buck.  The  age  of  the  rams  used  is  two  years  and  upward.  Many  sheep- 
owners  now  realize  that  double  the  service  is  secured  and  much  more 
satisfactory  results  are  obtained,  as  well  as  a  greater  per  cent  of  lambs 
where  hand  breeding  is  employed.  It  is  an  advantage  always  to  have 
them  kept  up  and  fed  during  the  breeding  season,  but  at  the  present 
time  this  plan  is  not  generally  followed.  The  per  cent  of  lambs  raised 
necessarily  varies  according  to  the  size  of  the  flocks  and  the  methods 
of  breeding  practiced.  In  the  farmer  flocks  nearly  every  ewe  breeds 
and  raises  a  lamb,  while  in  the  larger  flocks  probably  5  per  cent  of  the 


WEST   OF   THE   MISSISSIPPI   RIVER.  841 

ewes  fail  to  breed.  With  the  mutton  breeds  or  small  farm  flocks  a 
much  larger  per  cent  of  lambs  is  secured.  Last  year  (1891)  was  a 
great  year  for  twins  and  triplets.  One  flockmaster  raised  110  lambs 
from  100  ewes;  another  76  lambs  from  65  ewes;  a  Richardson  county 
sheep-owner  raised  120  per  cent  of  lambs,  while  a  York  county  sheep- 
owner  secured  136  per  cent  of  lambs.  Taking  one  year  with  another, 
with  farmers  who  have  small  flocks  or  where  mutton  breeds  prevail, 
from  95  to  100  per  cent  of  lambs  are  raised.  In  the  western  and  north- 
ern part  of  the  State,  where  the  large  flocks  are  held,  from  75  to  95  per 
cent  of  the  lambs  dropped  are  raised,  or  an  average  of  about  85  per 
cent. 

In  view  of  the  methods  of  permitting  the  rams  to  run  with  the  ewes 
during  the  breeding  season  without  special  care,  it  is  somewhat  sur- 
prising that  so  large  a  per  cent  of  lambs  is  raised.  Owing  to  indif- 
ference or  lack  of  vigilance  during  the  lambing  season,  a  large  number 
are  lost  that  might  have  been  saved  had  they  received  more  careful 
attention  and  been  provided  with  sufficient  help  at  that  critical  period  in 
sheep  husbandry.  When  the  ewes  are  kept  in  good  condition  and  not 
subject  to  undue  exposure  in  winter,  and  receive  the  proper  attention 
at  the  time  of  breeding  as  well  as  at  the  lambing  season,  there  could  be 
saved  from  5  to  10  per  cent  more  lambs  in  the  larger  flocks  than  are 
now  saved  under  existing  circumstances. 

As  a  rule  most  of  the  Nebraska  sheep-raisers  provide  food  and 
shelter  for  three  months.  In  view  of  the  number  of  months  in  which 
the  pasturage  is  practically  worthless,  it  is  necessary  to  provide  hay. 
It  always  pays  to  have  a  supply  of  grain,  and  it  is  gratifying  to  note 
that  most  of  the  sheepmen  provide  both  hay  and  grain.  A  number  of 
the  sheep-owners  have  good  barns,  but  the  majority  simply  provide  open 
sheds  from  5  to  10  feet  in  height,  tightly  closed  on  three  sides  and  usu- 
ally open  to  the  south.  The  walls  of  the  sheds  are  either  of  frame  or  of 
sod,  and  the  roof  consists  of  either  lumber  or  poles  covered  with  straw 
or  hay.  In  fact  almost  anything  in  the  way  of  shelter  that  will  serve  as 
a  wind  break  and  protection  from  the  snow  is  used.  These  sheds  are 
intended  for  use  only  when  the  weather  is  stormy  or  for  shelter  during 
the  cold  nights.  In  the  closed  sheds  or  barns  it  is  very  important  that 
good  ventilation  be  provided,  and  that  the  floor  be  kept  as  clean  as 
possible. 

The  majority  of  Nebraska  sheep-raisers  are  landowners,  and  the 
value  of  the  land  ranges  from  $5  to  $30  per  acre,  according  to  location. 
Very  little  land  except  school  lands  is  leased  by  the  sheep-raisers. 
The  unoccupied  land  in  the  border  counties  is  usually  free  grazing,  or 
can  be  leased  for  the  taxes  or  10  cents  per  acre. 

A  compilation  of  numerous  reports  received  from  some  of  the  prin- 
cipal sheep-raisers  of  the  State  shows  that  the  main  object  of  only  three 
is  the  production  of  wool,  while  ten  state  that  mutton  is  the  exclusive 
object.  In  all  the  other  reports  received  it  is  stated  tliat  both  wool 


842        SHEEP  INDUSTRY  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES 

and  mutton  are  equally  the  main  object  sought  in  sheep  husbandry, 
and  with  that  end  in  view  the  middle- wool  rams  are  bred  to  the  fine- 
wool  ewes,  and  the  fine- wool  rams  to  the  medium  or  coarse-wool  ewes. 

]n  the  main  the  sheep-raising  industry  is  confined  to  the  general 
farmer.  In  central  and  western  Nebraska  there  are  a  number  of  stock- 
men who  are  exclusively  sheep-raisers,  but  such  are  the  exception 
instead  of  the  rule.  Their  flocks  seldom  number  less  than  1,000  or 
more  than  5,000;  Merino  sheep  comprise  the  bulk  of  every  flock,  and 
yet  a  few  of  the  flockinasters  are  using  medium-wool  rams.  With 
these  the  production  of  wool  is,  of  course,  the  chief  object,  but  mutton 
is  always  an  essential  consideration. 

The  shearing  season  begins  in  May  and  continues  until  July.  The 
bulk  of  the  wool  clip  is  made  from  May  15  to  June  15,  immediately 
after  lambing.  The  only  sheep  that  are  shorn  early  in  the  spring  are 
those  that  are  fed  for  market,  and  while  heretofore  but  few  of  the 
feeders  were  shorn  before  shipment,  it  is  only  during  the  present  sea- 
son that  experiments  of  any  consequence  were  tried.  As  they  were  so 
satisfactory,  it  is  safe  to  assume  that  hereafter  a  very  considerable 
number  of  sheep  will  be  shorn  before  shipment,  especially  by  those  who 
are  favorably  situated  to  do  so.  The  additional  profits  from  this  course 
fully  warrant  this  new  departure.  It  has  been  ascertained  that  the 
fleece  from  a  full-fed  sheep  is  much  greater  than  from  sheep  that  have 
simply  been  wintered  in  the  ordinary  way,  and  the  wool  is  better  in 
quality,  having  a  stronger  fiber  and  a  longer  staple.  The  only  serious 
objection  urged  against  this  method  is  too  early  shearing  and  the  dan- 
ger from  exposure,  or  the  liability  of  a  decline  in  price  because  of  late 
marketing.  Yet  it  will  have  a  tendency  to  prevent  overmarketing,  as 
will  eventually  become  the  case  when  the  sheep-feeding  industry 
becomes  more  general  throughout  the  West. 

The  shearing  of  the  sheep  is  done  in  barns  or  sheds,  and  the  wool 
sacked  at  once.  The  farmer  flocks  are  usually  shorn  by  the  owner 
himself  or  by  his  hired  help,  and  in  the  larger  sheep  districts,  in  the 
western  part  of  the  State,  the  shearing  is  done  by  bands  of  men  who  go 
from  place  to  place,  and  who  receive  from  5  to  9  cents  per  head.  They 
also  tie  up  the  fleece.  The  wool  is  usually  disposed  of  at  once  either  to 
the  local  buyers  or  to  factories,  when  it  is  possible  to  dispose  of  it  in 
that  way,  otherwise  it  is  consigned  either  to  St.  Louis,  Chicago,  or  to 
the  Eastern  markets,  although  the  bulk  of  the  consignment  goes  either 
to  St.  Louis  or  Chicago,  these  two  places  being  the  favorite  wool  mar- 
kets. Some  few  shepherds  in  the  western  part  of  the  State  who  have 
car  shipments  bale  their  wool  instead  of  sacking  it.  However,  this  is 
done  only  when  a  lower  freight  rate  is  made  for  wool  done  up  in  this 
manner.  Some  farmers  who  have  only  a  few  sheep  sell  their  wool  to 
the  local  merchants  the  same  as  other  produce.  More  wool  is  now 
handled  at  Omaha  and  Sioux  City,  but  not  in  sufficient  quantities  to 
make  a  general  market. 


WEST    OF   THE    MISSISSIPPI    RIVER.  843 

The  wool  product  of  Nebraska  includes  nearly  every  sort  of  wool 
from  tine  to  coarse,  although  the  bulk  is  fine  and  medium,  and  the  av- 
erage net  price  realized  by  the  growers  of  the  State  is  from  13  to  18 
cents,  and  the  gross  price -received  is  from  3  to  4  cents  more  per  pound. 
Heavy  fine  wool  brings  less,  and  fine  medium  wool  more,  however,  than 
the  general  average  given. 

The  average  weight  of  fleece  is  much  greater  than  is  supposed.  The 
lowest  average  of  5  pounds  was  reported  in  the  western  border  counties 
where  light  medium  wool  is  mainly  produced,  while  in  good  agricultural 
counties,  where  the  bulk  was  fine  and  medium  wool,  the  average  weight 
of  fleece  was  put  at  9,  12,  and  15  pounds.  One  flock  of  3,500  fat  weth- 
ers from  Pierce  County,  which  was  sheared  before  shipment,  made  an 
average  of  15  pounds.  The  average  Nebraska  fleece  may  safely  be 
placed  at  7J  pounds. 

The  flockmasters  of  Nebraska  generally  aim  to  dispose  of  a  certain 
number  of  sheep  each  year,  ranging  in  amount  from  one-fifth  to  one- 
half  of  the  flock,  either  as  stockers  or  muttons,  but  usually  the  latter, 
and  then  only  as  many  as  will  represent  the  annual  increase.  The 
aim  is  to  keep  a  number  equal  to  the  original  flocks.  Stockers  are 
ordinarily  sold  in  the  fall  at  about  $2.50  per  head.  The  wethers  are 
sold  to  feeders,  if  not  fed  by  the  owner,  and  are  usually  sold  at  the 
market  price,  which  has  ranged  from  4  to  6  cents  per  pound.  When  but 
a  few  muttons  are  sold  they  go  to  the  local  butcher,  at  the  highest  mar- 
ket price.  The  larger  offerings  in  car  lots  are  shipped  to  Omaha,  Chi- 
cago, and  occasionally  to  Kansas  City,  after  January  1.  Where  car  lots 
of  stockers  are  sent  to  Omaha  for  sale  they  are  very  apt  to  be  sent  in 
any  time  after  shearing,  or  when  the  grazing  season  is  nearly  over. 

The  average  weight  of  mature  wethers  depends  upon  whether  they 
are  Merino  grades  or  of  the  regular  mutton  breeds.  The  fine- wool  sheep 
range  in  weight  from  90  to  125  pounds,  or  an  average  of  100  pounds. 
The  mutton  breeds,  of  course,  weigh  more.  Spring  lambs  when  sold 
weigh  from  40  to  80  pounds  gross. 

In  handling  sheep,  the  average  cost  per  sheep  per  year — all  expenses 
included — depends  on  whether  the  flockinaster  is  in  the  business  exclu- 
sively or  whether  it  is  a  part  of  mixed  husbandry  of  the  general  farmer. 
The  size  of  the  flock  also  enters  into  the  consideration.  The  cost  of  main- 
taining and  handling  sheep  among  the  farmer  flocks  in  the  agricultural 
districts, where  shelter  and  feed  are  provided,  is  variously  estimated  at 
from  $1  to  $1.25  per  head,  while  further  west,  in  the  range  country, 
where  little  feed  other  than  prairie  hay  is  used,  the  cost  is  estimated 
at  from  50  to  60  cents,  so  that  a  conservative  estimate  of  the  average 
cost  under  the  two  prevailing  methods  can  be  placed  at  $1  and  50 
cents,  respectively.  It  is  safe  to  assume  that  the  fleece  alone  will  more 
than  defray  all  expenses  of  handling  the  sheep,  no  matter  what  breed 
or  grade  is  considered,  or  in  what  part  of  the  State  the  sheep  are  raised. 
The  farmers  do  not  seem  to  give  the  sheep  any  credit  for  the  enriching 


844        SHEEP  INDUSTRY  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES 

of  the  land,  or  the  subsistence  of  the  animal  on  weeds  and  surplus  for- 
age that  would  otherwise  go  to  waste  were  it  not  consumed  by  the 
sheep.  When  sheep  are  grained  or  full  fed  the  average  cost  is  nearly 
doubled,  likewise  the  profits. 

An  item  of  expense  is  the  wages  paid  farm  hands  or  herders,  which 
runs  from  $18  to  $25  per  month,  board  included.  The  wages  of  day 
laborers  during  the  lambing  and  shearing  season  is  about  $1,  or  if 
sheared  by  the  head  the  usual  price  is  6  to  7  cents  per  sheep. 

Among  the  local  advantages  for  the  sheep  industry  enumerated  by 
the  sheepmen  is  the  abundance  of  cheap  feed  and  grazing  lands,  and  an 
everlasting  supply  of  good  water  in  the  streams  or  never-failing  wells. 
The  land  is  dry  and  rolling,  the  climate  favorable,  and  the  winters  usu- 
ally dry  and  free  from  snow.  In  the  northwest  part  of  Nebraska  the 
land  is  very  rolling,  affording  natural  protection  for  the  sheep  from  cold 
winds  and  rain.  Much  of  the  land  consists  of  sandy  soil  which  is  well 
grassed  over.  In  the  southeastern  part  of  the  State  the  soil  is  a  black 
loam  which  produces  grain,  grass,  and  root  crops  in  great  abundance, 
and  makes  it  a  great  and  unsurpassed  location  for  feeding  Western 
sheep,  or  maturing  mutton  sheep.  The  native  grasses  are  everywhere 
abundant,  and  in  the  western  part  of  the  State,  in  addition  to  good  hay 
lands,  there  are  the  buffalo  and  grama  grasses,  which  afford  excellent 
pasturage  during  the  winter  months.  The  atmosphere  is  dry  and  in- 
vigorating. In  many  portions  of  the  State  the  dry  climate  enables  the 
land  to  be  utilized  and  benefited  that  would  otherwise  remain  vacant 
and  unoccupied. 

The  chief  drawbacks  and  disadvantages  encountered  by  those  en- 
gaged in  the  sheep  industry  in  Nebraska  are  the  ignorance  and  preju- 
dice of  many  farmers  and  stockmen  against  the  business,  and  who, 
therefore,  are  not  disposed  either  to  encourage  or  experiment  with 
sheep  husbandry.  In  the  thickly  settled  portions  of  the  State  sheepmen 
do  not  secure  sufficient  cheap  range  for  large  flocks,  and  the  unfenced 
farms  make  herding  difficult.  This,  with  the  prevalence  of  numerous 
worthless  dogs,  which  ravage  the  flocks  and  are  the  natural  and  per- 
sistent enemy  of  sheep,  are  a  constant  menace  to  the  sheep  industry. 

Another  difficulty  encountered  in  the  rich  farming  districts  is  the 
prevalence  of  cockle  and  sand  burs,  which  get  into  the  fleece  where 
sheep  are  allowed  to  run  in  the  fields  after  the  crops  are  garnered.  In 
central  Nebraska,  where  the  prairie  grass  of  the  blue- stem  variety 
affords  the  bulk  of  pasturage,  the  grazing  season  is  too  short,  as  the 
grass  starts  late  in  the  spring  and  the  heavy  frosts  in  the  fall  reduce 
the  time  of  pasturage  and  require  too  long  a  feeding  period. 

There  are  no  prevailing  diseases  of  any  importance  5  the  sheep  are 
reported  uniformly  healthy.  The  exceptional  ailments  mentioned  are 
grub  in  the  head,  goiter,  and  some  lung  affection.  Scab  is  occasionally 
brought  in  from  the  west,  and  last  season  some  small  flocks  were 
troubled  with  ticks,  but  after  a  thorough  dipping  these  few  cases  were 
soon  eradicated. 


WEST   OF   THE   MISSISSIPPI   RIVER.  845 

The  industry  iii  Nebraska,  which  has  been  declining  since  1883,  is  now 
on  the  upgrade  again,  but  on  a  somewhat  different  and,  I  believe,  a  per- 
manent basis.  Many  farmers  who  have  been  raising  cattle,  horses,  and 
swine  in  connection  with  crop-raising  are  disposed  to  curtail  the  num- 
ber and  handle  a  few  sheep.  The  only  serious  drawback  to  a  constant 
and  more  rapid  development  of  this  phase  of  the  industry  is  the  fear 
of  ravages  from  dogs,  wolves,  and  coyotes.  The  greatest  development 
will  be  in  the  western  counties,  where  the  country  is  well  adapted  to 
sheep-raising  much  more  than  to  grain-farming  or  the  handling  of  other 
classes  of  stock. 

The  best  method  for  profitably  conducting  sheep  husbandry  is  to 
secure  either  good  choice  western  ewes,  or  equally  as  good  a  class  of 
middle-wool  sheep,  and  they  should  be  allowed  to  run  in  such  sized 
bands  as  the  owner  is  properly  equipped  to  handle.  Mutton  should  be 
the  main  object  of  the  general  farmer,  and  both  mutton  and  wool  the 
main  object  of  the  exclusive  sheep-raiser.  The  best  ram  for  use  is  a 
closely- wooled  buck,  either  a  large  size,  smooth-bodied  Merino  with  a 
dense  fleece  of  long  staple,  or  the  closely- wooled  Downs,  like  the  Hamp- 
shire Downs  and  Shropshires.  The  long-wool  bucks,  such  as  Cots- 
wolds,  Lincoln,  and  Leicesters,  where  spring  lambs  are  the  main  object 
of  breeding,  will  undoubtedly  give  satisfaction,  provided  the  grower 
has  the  necessary  conveniences  for  the  business  and  only  raises  a  lim- 
ited number,  but  for  the  exclusive  raiser  the  Western  sheep  make  a 
very  satisfactory  foundation  and  may  be  run  in  large  flocks,  and  im- 
proved by  good  care  and  breeding.  Sell  surplus  wethers,  culls,  and 
aged  ewes  to  the  Eastern  feeders.  Never  stint  on  feed  that  will  keep 
the  animal  growing  and  in  good  condition. 

Give  sheep  the  same  care  and  attention  that  is  given  dogs  and  they 
will  lift  the  mortgage,  improve  and  enrich  the  farm,  provide  the  family 
with  luxuries  never  before  enjoyed,  and  permit  the  owner  to  acquire  a 
competence. 

Nebraska  is  capable  of  feeding  and  raising  a  million  sheep  annually, 
and  whenever  she  reaches  that  point  prosperity  will  prevail  among  the 
patrons  of  live-stock  husbandry  to  a  greater  extent  than  ever  before. 

THE   SHEEP-FEEDING  INDUSTRY. 

Nebraska  was  the  twenty -fourth  State  admitted  into  the  Union,  as- 
suming the  responsibility  of  statehood  in  1867.  The  population  in 
1891  was  1,058,910.  The  average  length  of  the  State  is  400  miles  and 
its  width  is  200  miles,  with  an  area  of  76,185  square  miles,  or  nearly 
50,000,000  acres  of  land,  every  acre  of  which  is  suitable  for  agricultural 
purposes  or  grazing. 

Nebraska  has  ninety-two  counties,  and  lays  claim  to  more  good  ag- 
ricultural land  to  the  square  mile  than  any  other  State  in  the  Union, 
and  from  facts  and  figures  carefully  compiled  it  will  be  seen  that  it  is 
near  the  head  of  the  list  of  the  agricultural  and  live-stock  producing 


846        SHEEP  INDUSTRY  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES 

States.  Her  wonderful  agricultural  resources,  her  natural  grazing  ad- 
vantages, and  her  location  in  the  interior  of  the  United  States  far  from 
the  seaports,  all  admirably  adapt  her  as  one  of  the  greatest  live-stock 
feeding  centers  of  this  continent. 

The  following  official  figures  show  the  increase  in  the  sheep  industry 
during  the  past  thirty  years:  In  1860  there  were  in  the  State  2,355 
sheep;  in  1870,  22,725;  in  1880,  199,453;  in  1890,  239,400. 

It  must  be  remembered  that  thousands  of  sheep  are  fed  in  the  State 
that  are  not  enumerated  in  the  above*  These  sheep  are  driven  or 
shipped  into  the  State  from  the  West  about  October  or  November,  fed 
and  made  ready  for  market  in  from  three  to  four  months,  then  shipped 
out,  so  the  assessor  does  not  get  them  listed  for  taxing  ;  hence  no  offi- 
cial record  is  made  of  them. 

The  greatest  number  of  sheep  fed  in  Nebraska  in  any  one  year  was 
during  the  winter  of  1889  and  1890,  when  the  number  reached  625,000 
head.  This  was  following  the  year  of  a  big  corn  crop.  The  next  winter, 
1890  and  1891,  there  were  550,000  head  fed,  and  this  was  following  the 
year  when  the  corn  crop  was  light  and  hay  reached  $18  per  ton.  On 
the  whole,  it  was  a  disastrous  year  for  feeding,  and  considerable  money 
was  lost  in  the  business.  The  result  was  that  a  less  number  were  fed 
the  past  winter,  which  was  by  far  a  more  profitable  year  for  the  busi- 
ness. Dodge  County  was  the  banner  sheep-feeding  county  a  year  ago, 
when  not  far  from  200,000  sheep  were  fed.  Last  winter  the  number 
fed  in  this  county  did  not  exceed  35,000  head.  The  past  winter  the 
heaviest  feeding  was  carried  on  a  little  farther  west  in  Hall,  Merrick, 
Buffalo,  and  Kearney  counties,  along  the  Platte,  Loup,  and  Wood 
rivers ;  also  in  Jefferson  and  Gage  counties.  The  favorite  location  with 
sheepmen  is  where  there  is  an  abundance  of  hay,  and  where  corn,  oats, 
and  mill  stuffs  can  be  had  cheaply,  and  then  it  is  very  desirable  to  get 
where  the  rainfall  is  light,  so  as  to  have  as  little  mud  as  possible.  It 
hardly  seems  possible  that  so  many  sheep  can  be  fattened  in  from 
seventy-five  to  one  hundred  days,  when  so  few  of  them  are  housed  or 
protected  from  stormy  weather,  yet  it  is  safe  to  say  that  nine-tenths  of 
the  sheep  fed  in  this  State  have  no  shelter  whatever,  more  than  what 
is  given  by  the  board  fences  around  the  feed  lots  or  hayracks.  Often 
where  board  sheds  are  provided  the  most  of  the  sheep  will  stand  out 
in  the  snow  or  rain  until  their  fleeces  are  quite  wet,  then  go  dripping 
under  the  sheds  until  it  is  muddier  and  worse  there  than  it  is  outside. 
Sheep  to  do  well  need  dry,  comfortable  quarters,  with  as  little  commo- 
tion about  them  as  possible;  clean,  dry  troughs  to  feed  from;  clean 
water  and  racks  for  hay  into  which  they  can  not  get  their  feet.  It  is 
next  to  impossible  to  fatten  a  poor  sheep  in  cold  weather. 

It  is  estimated  that  it  will  take  from  1 J  to  2  bushels  of  corn  per  day  to 
feed  100  head  of  sheep,  but  it  will  not  average  a  bushel  and  a  half  a  day 
per  hundred  head  for  a  hundred  days,  the  average  time  of  feeding,  yet 
grant  that  it  takes  2  bushels,  and  we  find  that  all  the  sheep  raised  and 


WEST    OF    THE    MISSISSIPPI    RIVER. 


847 


led  in  Nebraska  will  not  consume  22  per  cent  of  all  the  corn  raised  in 
the  State,  or  more  than  $100,000  worth,  and  perhaps  the  same  number 
of  dollars7  worth  of  hay,  oats,  mill- stuff,  and  linseed  oil  cake.  What  do 
they  give  back  in  re  turn  "for  this  $200,000!  The  average  number  of 
pounds  put  on  a  sheep  during  the  feeding  season  is  15,  but  if  we  call 
it  12  pounds,  or  66  cents  per  head,  our  500,000  head  of  sheep  pay  back 
in  return  for  the  feed  given  them,  $330,000.  It  is  a  poor  sheep  and  a 
poor  feeder  that  can  not  easily  net  $1  per  head  for  the  sheep  he  feeds, 
to  say  nothing  about  the  increased  growth  of  wool  and  the  valuable 
manure  returned  to  the  soil  to  fertilize  it. 

No  other  kind  of  live  stock  can  give  so  good  returns  in  so  short  a 
time  on  the  money  invested  in  them  as  sheep.  In  no  other  State  than 
Nebraska  are  the  risks  of  loss  by  disease,  dogs,  wolves,  and  other 
sources  so  light. 

There  are  some  people  who  think  the  business  of  feeding  sheep  will 
be  overdone,  but  in  this  they  are  mistaken,  because  the  American  peo- 
ple are  just  beginning  to  appreciate  and  know  the  value  of  mutton  as 
human  food,  and  statistics  show  that  the  consumption  of  mutton  is 
increasing  faster  than  our  population.  One  gets  a  pretty  correct  idea 
of  the  magnitude  of  the  number  of  fat  sheep  handled  annually  by 
studying  the  following  table  or  receipts  and  shipments  of  sheep  at  four 
of  the  leading  commercial  distributing  points  in  the  West: 

Receipts  and  shipments  of  sheep  at  Western  markets. 


Tear. 

Chicago. 

St.  Louis. 

Kansas  City.                      Omaha. 

Receipts. 

Shipments. 

Receipts. 

Shipments. 

Receipts. 

Shipments. 

Receipts. 

Shipments. 

1875. 
1880. 
1885. 
1890. 
1891. 

418.948 
335,  810 
1,  003.  598 
2,342,000 
2,  153,  537 

243,604 
156.  510 
260.277 
906,500 

125,679 
205,  969 
362.  858 
430,  320 

37,784 
93,522 
233,391 
231,900 

25,327 
50,611 
221.  801 
398,600 

17,  742 
36,285 
115,756 

201,450 

18,985 
160,890 

8.408 
114,320? 

The  difference  between  the  number  of  sheep  received  at  Omaha  in 
1890,  and  the  number  shipped  out  shows  that  the  number  slaughtered 
was  63,838.  The  majority  of  these  were  consumed  in  that  city.  The 
records  show  that  Swift  &  Co.,  of  South  Omaha,  who  do  the  largest 
sheep-killing  business  at  that  market,  slaughtered,  in  1890,  34,933 
head,  and  that  during  1891  they  killed  56,646  sheep.  Allowing  that 
they  kill  over  one-half  of  the  sheep  at  that  market,  it  is  sale  to  conclude 
that  in  1891  there  was  at  least  100,000  head  of  sheep  slaughtered  at 
South  Omaha,  which  is  about  one-fifth  of  the  entire  number  fed  in  the 
State  that  year.  Thus  it  would  seem  that  four-fifths  of  the  sheep  fat- 
tened in  Nebraska  are  consumed  outside  of  the  State,  and  there  is  no 
question  but  that  the  best  ones  are  shipped  out.  It  is  not  the  proper 
way  to  educate  our  people  to  eat  more  mutton  by  giving  them  the  poor- 
est on  the  market.  Notwithstanding  this,  there  is  a  growing  demand 
for  good  mutton  in  all  the  larger  cities  and  towns  of  the  State,  and  the 


848        SHEEP  INDUSTRY  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES 

packers  at  South  Omaha  are  unable  to  supply  this  demand.  This 
would  not  indicate  that  the  sheep-feeding  business  of  Nebraska  is 
likely  to  be  overdone. 

Nebraska,  with  her  great  abundance  of  cheap  feed  will  always  be  the 
favorite  feeding  center  for  the  western  range  sheep.  This  industry  is 
yet  in  its  infancy,  and  it  is  safe  to  predict  that  there  will  be  not  less 
than  three-quarters  of  a  million  of  sheep  fed  in  this  State  in  the  win- 
ter of  1892  and  1893,  especially  if  crops  are  good  the  present  year,  and 
the  indications  are  most  favorable,  as  there  has  been  a  greater  amount 
of  rainfall  this  spring  than  any  former  season,  so  the  soil  is  in  splendid 
shape  to  produce  an  enormous  yield. 

A  close  and  careful  study  of  the  sheep  industry  of  the  State  reveals 
the  fact  that  not  10  per  cent  of  the  sheep  annually  fed  and  shipped  out 
are  raised  here,  but  are  brought  in  from  the  western  range  and  fed 
from  three  to  four  months  before  shipping  to  eastern  markets.  Why 
should  not  the  farmers  of  Nebraska  help  to  furnish  a  greater  portion  of 
this  supply  I  It  is  true  that  we  can  not  compete  with  those  large  breed- 
ers on  the  range.  If  half  the  farmers  of  this  State  would  keep  and 
properly  care  for  a  flock  of  at  least  100  head  there  would  be  better 
farms,  larger  crops,  and  fewer  mortgages.  The  farmer  who  intelligently 
handles  his  flocks  can  count  on  four  sources  of  revenue  from  them — 
mutton,  wool,  lambs,  and  last,  but  not  least,  an  increased  fertility  of 
his  land.  Any  one  of  the  items  named  should  be  sufficient  induce- 
ment, but  when  all  four  are  combined  there  is  no  one  kind  of  live  stock 
that  will  give  so  sure  and  quick  returns  on  the  money  invested.  Some 
people  find  it  profitable  to  handle  them  for  mutton  alone ;  then  if  the 
price  for  mutton  does  not  suit  the  farmer,  he  can  hold  his  sheep  and 
get  good  pay  out  of  the  wool.  Wben  the  ewes  are  properly  handled 
they  will  raise  90  per  cent  of  their  lambs,  while  many  of  them  will  do 
even  better  than  that.  If  the  farmer  is  not  fixed  to  graze  a  large 
number  of  sheep,  he  must  keep  the  larger  and  better  bred  sort  so  as  to 
get  the  most  out  of  the  business.  The  demand  is  for  a  larger  mutton 
sheep  than  is  produced  on  the  range.  A  wether  weighing  100  pounds 
does  not  meet  the  requirements,  so  the  breeder  should  strive  to  pro- 
duce an  animal  that  will  weigh  from  150  to  200  pounds.  There  are  men 
in  this  State  who  have  put  lambs,  from  eight  to  nine  months  old,  on 
the  market  weighing  from  85  to  95  pounds  that  readily  brought  7  cents 
a  pound.  These  lambs  were  sired  by  pure  bred  Shropshire  bucks. 

Some  of  the  most  extensive  feeders  in  the  western  part  of  the  State, 
who  have  access  to  sufficient  range,  keep  over  some  of  their  culled 
wethers,  ewes,  and  lambs,  not  fitted  for  market  by  the  middle  of  May, 
and  graze  them  another  season  and  prepare  them  for  an  early  Christ- 
mas market.  The  majority  of  our  feeders  begin  feeding  a  little  the  last 
of  November  or  in  December,  and  get  on  full  feed  by  the  last  of  De- 
cember or  early  January,  and  begin  shipping  to  market  later  in  Janu- 
ary, and  keep  it  up  as  the  market  suits  and  their  sheep  are  fitted  for  it. 


WEST    OF    THE    MISSISSIPPI    RIVER.  849 

Commencing  in  April  and  up  to  June  the  feeder  makes  his  purchases 
on  the  western  range  for  his  next  year's  feeding,  and  when  his  pur- 
chases are  completed  he  starts  his  flocks  eastward,  grazing  on  the 
prairie  grass,  at  the  rate  of  five  to  twenty  miles  per  day  until  the 
frontier  settlements  are  reached  in  western  Nebraska,  eastern  Colorado 
or  Wyoming,  timing  themselves  in  reaching  this  section  to  September, 
October,  or  November.  Except  in  a  few  cases,  where  there  are  western 
feeding  stations  that  can  be  reached  by  driving  the  sheep  through, 
they  are  shipped  direct  to  their  feed  yards. 

The  outlook  for  this  business  to  grow  until  three-quarters  of  a  mil- 
lion or  a  million  of  sheep  are  annually  fed  in  Nebraska  is  very  good. 
Some  think  that  the  advanced  price  of  range  sheep,  owing  partly  to  a 
growing  demand  for  sheep  on  the  Pacific,  will  cause  a  less  number  to 
be  fed  here,  but  Nebraska  will  always  be  the  best  feeding  grounds  for 
range  sheep  on  account  of  her  central  location  between  the  range  and 
the  great  mutton  markets,  her  great  abundance  of  cheap  grain  and 
hay,  which  is  necessary  to  put  the  finishing  touch  on  the  range  sheep 
to  fit  them  for  market.  Then  her  climate  is  all  that  could  be  desired 
by  the  feeder,  yet  it  is  quite  evident  that  to  obtain  the  very  best  results 
from  the  business  more  care  must  be  given  to  shelter  and  proper  pro- 
tection of  the  sheep  while  feeding.  It  will  not  be  necessary  to  build 
extensive  and  costly  barns,  but  such  sheds  in  and  around  the  feed 
yards  that  will  protect  from  rain  and  snow  storms  will  be  found  profit- 
able. 

THE    EXPERIENCE,    OBSERVATION,    AND    TESTIMONY    OF    NEBRASKA    SHEEP-OWNERS. 

Herewith  are  presented  the  experience,  observation,  and  testimony 
ot  a  number  of  representative  Nebraska  sheep-owners,  who  give  in 
their  own  way  unsolicited  expressions  regarding  sheep  husbandry  in 
the  State.  They  are  competent  to  speak  advisedly,  because  they  have 
had  actual  experience  and  have  wrestled  with  the  sheep  industry 
problem  and  demonstrated  what  can  be  done  in  various  portions  of  the 
State. 

J.  A.  G.  Strickland,  Eagle,  Cass  County : 

There  have  been  no  real  experiments  made  more  than  to  keep  a  few  .sheep  to  sup- 
ply the  local  mutton  demand.  I  shall  try  root  feeding,  such  as  beets  and  turnips, 
believing  it  will  be  a  profitable  feed  for  both  wool  and  mutton. 

D.  &  J.  Munchio,  Hooper,  Dodge  County: 

We  have  been  ranging  sheep  for  a  number  of  years  in  Wyoming,  and  unles^we 
can  buy  corn  at  15  cents  per  bushel  to  feed  we  prefer  to  sell  our  muttons  oii'the 
range  at  $3.  We  rent  our  feed  yards,  and  buy  our  corn  at  about  25  cents  per  bushel. 

George  Kichardson,  Benedict,  York  County: 

I  am  engaged  in  breeding  pure-bred  Leicesters,  and  the  average  per  cent  of  lambs 
raised  by  my  ewes  is  136;  the  average  weight  of  fleeces  for  ten  years  is  11  pounds. 
Nebraska  is  a  good  sheep  State  throughout,  but  ouly  a  few  of  our  farmers  have 
found  it  out. 

22990 54 


850        SHEEP  INDUSTRY  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES 

Jaines  W.  Bouk,  Greenwood,  Cass  County: 

Few  people  here  have  ever  handled  sheep,  but  confine  themselves  to  growing 
corn,  wheat,  oats,  hogs,  and  cattle.  I  think  Cotswold  or  other  long-wool  good- 
sized  sheep  will  prove  very  profitable  in  .this  part  of  the  State,  as  they  combine  a 
larger  carcass  and  a  long  staple  of  wool.  I  have  tried  them  and  ani  well  pleased 
with  the  results. 

W.  H.  Nelson,  Lee  Park,  Ouster  County: 

I  have  had  eight  years'  experience  in  this  State,  and  find  the  most  serious  disad- 
vantage in  the  lack  of  tame  grass  pastures.  The  wild  grass  fails  early  in  the  fall, 
and  does  not  start  early  in  the  spring,  which  necessitates  the  sowing  of  rye  to  ex- 
tend the  grazing  season,  or  early  feeding. 

A.  F.  Swartz,  Max,  Dandy  County: 

I  have  been  in  the  business  five  years,  and  never  lost  a  sheep  by  disease.  We 
raise  sheep  very  cheaply  here.  I  hire  a  boy  to  herd  at  five  dollars  per  month.  I 
plant  a  few  acres  of  cane  to  feed  during  stormy  Aveather;  the  rest  of  the  time  they 
subsist  on  buifalo  grass. 

J.  B.  Coti'man,  Adams,  Gage  County: 

Five  years  ago  we  had  over  60,000  sheep  in  this  county.  To-day  very  few  are 
raised  here.  The  high  price  of  land  and  scarcity  of  range  solves  the  question.  As  a 
feeding  county  Gage  stands  second  to  none  in  the  State. 

C.  H.  Ballinger,  Lexington,  Dawson  County: 

This  State  can  not  be  surpassed  for  sheep-raising,  in  connection  with  other  stock, 
and,  with  grain  and  tame  hay  fed  them,  sheep  will  become  the  most  profitable  stock 
on  the  farm.  Mangels,  turnips,  and  other  roots  make  good  feed,  and  are  easily 
grown  here.  Lucerne  and  alfalfa  are  best  adapted  to  this  country;  more  than  the 
other  tame  grasses.  The  greatest  drawback  to  the  business  is  the  ravages  of  the 
wolf  or  coyote. 

P.  L.  Atkins,  Dix,  Kimball  County: 

On  account  of  our  healthful  climate,  abundant  range,  and  the  small  amount  of 
capital  necessary  to  start  with,  sheep-raising;  has  in  the  past  and  will  in  the  future, 
prove  to  be  one  of  the  most  profitable  industries  a  person  can  engage  in. 

H.  C.  Jones,  Russell,  Frontier  County: 

This  county  is  admirably  adapted  to  sheep-raising,  a  large  variety  of  grass,  no 
lowland,  and  dry  winters.  It  is  best  to  keep  no  more  than  1,000  sheep  in  a  flock ; 
give  them  a  warm,  dry  shelter,  feed  grain  and  keep  a  good  herder,  and  the  loss  need 
not  be  more  than  one  per  cent. 

E.  C.  Hill,  Stella,  Bichardson  County: 

I  get  more  money  out  of  the  feed  consumed  by  sheep  than  I  do  from  hogs  or  cat- 
tle. From  140  head  I  sold  wool  and  mutton  to  the  amount  of  $500  and  have  140 
head  left,  counting  in  lambs.  From  55  ewes  I  raised  76  lambs.  If  one  of  my  sheep 
dies  his  pelt  pays  for  his  keep. 

H.  C.  MeCord,  Taylor,  Loup  County : 

My  experience,  though  limited  to  handling  from  500  to  1,000  head,  is  that  sheep 
husbandry  is  one  of  the  most  profitable  of  the  live-stock  industries,  when  conducted 
with  good  sense.  It  gives  quicker  and  better  returns  on  the  amount  of  capital  in- 
vested in  it  than  in  any  other  business.  To  bring  the  best  results  it  requires  better 
shelter  than  is  usually  given  in  the  winter,  but  we  would  never  have  foot-rot  and 
very  little  scab,  as  it  is  so  dry. 


WEST    OF    THE    MISSISSIPPI    RIVER.  851 

W.  E.  Artman,  West  Point,  Gumming  County: 

The  sheep-breeding  business  is  on  the  decline  because  we  have  so  little  range  left, 
but  there  are  about  25,000  Western  sheep  fattened  here  each  year.  It  takes  about  a 
bushel  and  a  half  to  two  bushels  of  shelled  corn  daily  per  100  head  until  grass  comes. 
Our  winters  are  too  long  and  severe  to  try  to  winter  sheep  without  grain  or  proper 
shelter. 

Ben.  F.  Grant,  Pilger,  Stan  ton  County: 

My  experience  in  sheep  husbandry  extends  over  a  period  of  eleven  years,  during 
which  time  I  have  been  successful  in  making  it  pay  me.  I  feed  well  in  the  winter 
and  have  good  range  in  the  summer.  I  keep  the  old  sheep  out  of  my  flock  by  getting 
them  fat  and  on  the  market  before  they  get  too  old.  Hay  is  plentiful  and  I  feed  it 
liberally.  I  expect  to  handle  sheep  here  yet  a  number  of  years. 

P.  Jansen,  Jansen,  Jefferson  County: 

Have  for  a  number  of  years  been  considerably  interested  in  sheep-feeding.  The 
winter  of  1890  and  1891  I  fed  37,000  sheep,  and  the  past  winter  21,000  head.  Some 
years  ago,  when  we  had  range  for  sheep,  I  raised  a  good  many,  but  now  I  feed  for 
mutton  altogether.  Every  farmer  ought  to  keep  a  small  flock  of  sheep.  They  are 
the  best  kind  of  "  mortgage  lifters." 

Odbert  &  Winett,  Lincoln,  Lancaster  County: 

___  We  have  been  in  the  sheep  business  in  this  State  for  the  past  twelve  years,  feeding 
most  of  the  time  and  handling  on  an  average  5,000  sheep.  We  buy  most  of  our  sheep 
on  the  range  in  Oregon  or  Utah,  and  drive  and  graze,  reaching  western  Nebraska  in 
October  or  November,  when  we  ship  direct  to  the  feeding  yards  in  this  county  and 
begin  marketing  in  January.  We  find  the  business  improving  all  the  time,  as  the 
demand  for  mutton  grows. 

F.  E.  Swartz,  Max,  Dundy  County : 

For  twelve  years  I  have  been  engaged  in  the  sheep  business,  having  handled  from 
800  to  1,200  head,  and  have  raised  cattle,  horses,  and  hogs  at  the  same  time,  and  find 
that  sheep  have  made  more  money  for  me  than  any  of  the  other  stock  in  the  long 
run,  and  I  will  stay  with  them  for  awhile  yet.  I  desire  to  increase  the  weight  of 
my  sheep.  The  only  disease  I  have  had  in  iny  flocks  is  one  case  of  scab,  brought  in 
from  Colorado  or  New  Mexico. 

W.  S.  Griffith,  Turner,  Holt  County: 

I  began  sheep-raising  in  this  county  six  years  ago  with  200  head.  Since  then  have 
bought  more,  and  have  shipped  a  few  every  year.  Last  year  I  wintered  700,  raised 
300  lambs,  and  fed  and  shipped  300  head,  which  netted  me  $1,150.  The  wool  brought 
$730.  We  raise  most  of  the  corn  we  feed,  and  estimate  that  the  feed  and  cost  per 
head  is  about  $1.25  per  year.  Much  of  our  land  has  gone  in  the  hands  of  loan  com- 
panies and  Eastern  speculators,  hence  we  have  an  abundance  of  range. 

Eaton  &  Gifford,  Wood  Kiver,  Hall  County: 

Our  experience  in  sheep  husbandry  dates  back  to  1873,  commencing  in  Russell 
County,  Kans.,  and  we  have  fed  from  2,000  to  10,000  every  year  since  except  two — 
1884  and  1891.  We  buy  our  sheep  in  Oregon,  Utah,  Wyoming,  New  Mexico,  and 
Colorado.  Have  always  fed  mature  wethers  until  this  year,  when  we  fed  a  few 
lambs  and  yearlings.  The  greatest  difficulty  we  have  to  contend  with  is  rain  and 
mud,  which  seems  to  be  getting  worse  each  year.  We  think  the  industry  is  grow- 
ing, and  that  next  year  there  will  be  more  sheep  fed  than  there  has  been  the  past 
season. 


852        SHEEP  INDUSTRY  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES 

S.  F.  Howard,  Long  Pine,  Brown  County: 

This  county  is  particularly  adapted  for  sheep,  as  they  keep  healthy.  Last  year 
I  saved  every  lamb  that  was  dropped  except  those  taken  by  the  wolves.  My  eight- 
months  lambs  brought  me  $2. 50  IK  t.  There  is  a  good  opening  for  small  flockmas- 
ters  here,  as  land  is  cheap  and  we  can  get  the  finest  kind  of  grazing  lands  to  use 
free,  or  can  purchase  the  u  at  $5  per  acre.  The  only  drawback  to  the  business  is  the 
wolves,  but  when  sheep-raising  becomes  more  general  they  will  cause  less  trouble. 
Good  stock  ewes  will  command  from  $3  to  $6,  according  to  breed. 

F.  F.  Goodrich,  Lee  Park,  Ouster  County: 

There  are  not  many  sheep  kept  here  now,  but  the  outlook  is  improving,  and  those 
who  sold  off  their  sheep  three  years  ago  are  going  into  the  business  again.  For 
winter  feed  I  estimate  1  bushel  of  corn  per  head  and  plenty  of  good  hay;  salt 
regularly,  plenty  of  fresh  water,  and  a  chance  to  exercise,  which  they  will  do  if 
given  an  opportunity.  To  prevent  ticks  I  mix  a  little  sulphur  with  the  salt.  In 
this  way  I  make  sheep-raising  pay. 

Charles  H.  Brown,  Ogallala,  Keith  County : 

No  county  in  the  State  is  better  adapted  to  sheep  raising  than  ours.  The  two 
Platte  rivers  furnish  an  abundance  of  excellent  water,  and  the  bluff  lands  can  not 
be  surpassed  for  grazing  purposes.  Land  can  be  bought  for  $3  an  acre  or  leased 
for  the  taxes.  There  are  about  200,000  Western  sheep  brought  in  here  each  year 
from  Oregon,  Utah,  Idaho  and  Wyoming,  and  in  the  fall  shipped  to  eastern  points 
to  feed.  The  annual  loss  from  wild  animals  and  exposure  will  not  exceed  3  per 
cent.  Many  of  our  people  are  poor  homesteaders,  and  are  glad  to  take  sheep  on  the 
shares,  so  there  is  a  good  chance  for  the  profitable  investment  of  capital  here  in  the 
sheep  business. 

Thomas  Woods,  Harvard,  Clay  County  : 

Eight  years  ago  I  bought  a  couple  of  lambs  for  pets,  and  liking  them  so  well  I 
bought  a  flock  of  fifty  sheep  and  added  to  my  flock  as  I  could.  I  have  had  as  many 
as  700,  but  not  having  summer  range  I  found  it  necessary  to  reduce  the  size  of  my 
flock  on  account  of  a  thickly  settled  neighborhood.  My  sheep  have  always  done 
well,  never  having  had  any  disease  among  them,  and  while  interested  in  other 
domestic  animals  I  find  that  sheep  are  more  profitable  by  at  least  100  per  cent. 
My  lambs,  by  an  imported  Hampshire  Down  ram,  are  great  big,  vigorous  fellows. 
Close  wool  sheep  are  the  best  kind  for  this  country. 

William  H.  Seymore,  Unatlilla,  Otoe  County: 

My  experience  is  that  if  farmers  in  the  older  counties  would  keep  small  flocks  of 
50  to  100  ewes  they  would  pay  100  per  cent  or  more  every  year,  if  good,  sound 
judgment  be  used  in  caring  for  them.  I  invested  $30  in  sheep  two  years  ago,  and 
have  sold  and  eaten  $94  worth,  and  have  sheep,  lambs,  and  wool  now  Avorth  $100. 
If  the  farmers  of  Nebraska  and  Kansas  knew  more  of  the  value  of  sheep  they  would 
keep  a  great  many  more.  Mutton  will  be  in  greater  demand  when  its  value  as  a 
food  product  becomes  better  known.  Broiled  mutton  would  not  hurt  a  Christian 
if  properly  cooked.  If  New  England  farmers  had  five  million  sheep  instead  of  two 
million  dogs  their  land  would  be  worth  double  what  it  is  to-day. 

Eobert  Taylor,  Abbott,  Hall  County : 

Have  had  but  two  years'  experience  in  feeding  in  this  State.  My  object  was  to 
find  an  outlet  for  culls  and  surplus  stock  off  the  range.  I  have  20,000  stock  sheep 
on  range  in  Wyoming  and  western  Nebraska,  of  which  12,000  are  out  on  shares. 
We  have  a  certain  surplus  each  year,  consisting  of  wethers,  cull  ewes,  and  lambs, 
and  these  I  concluded  to  feed  myself,  and  so  get  all  there  was  iii  it.  Last  year,  with 
high  prices  of  feed  stuffs  and  low  markets  in  spring,  there  was  nothing  made  at  it, 


WEST    OF    THE    MISSISSIPPI   RIVER.  853 

1mt  this  season  they  are  making  good  money.  I  bred  1,800  broken  mouthed  ewes  to 
Shropshire  rams  and  raised  1,400  lambs.  These  lambs  came  in  June,  were  put  in 
i'rrd  yards  November  20,  1891,  and  on  full  feed  January  1,  1892.  These  were  nearly 
all  shipped  by  last  of  March  and  Aveighed  from  84  to  95  pounds,  and  brought  the  top 
of  the  market  right  along  fit  7  cents,  except  one  load  on  an  off  market  at  $6.75. 
These  ewes  I  fed  averaged  112  pounds,  and  wethers  140.  While  it  would  pay  to 
shear  wethers  shipped  late,  we  do  not,  as  we  are  not  fixed  for  it. 

John  Holinan,  Humboldt,  Richardson  County: 

I  keep  the  Cotswold  and  Southdowns,  and  raise  about  200  lambs  each  year;  keep 
them  until  they  are  yearlin  -s,  taking  their  fleeces  off  about  the  1st  of  June.  The 
Cotswokls  shear  from  12  to  13  pounds  and  the  Southdowns  from  9  to  10  pounds  of 
unwashed  wool,  which  sells  from  19  to  22  cents  per  pound.  If  the  market  suits  I 
ship  to  Chicago  about  two  weeks  after  shearing;  if  not  I  keep  and  feed  the  follow- 
in  4 -winter,  selecting  the  best  ewes  to  replenish  my  breeding  flock.  I  sell  a  good 
many  to  farmers.  I  sell  by  the  pound,  as  men  in  this  county  are  accustomed  to  buy 
sheep  worth  about  $2.50  to  $3  after  weaning  time,  that  in  no  other  way  can  they 
be  convinced  that  ewes  are  worth  from  $6.50  to  $8  per  head.  For  farmers  the  large 
mutton  breeds  and  medium  wools  are  the  most  profitable.  The  middle  wools  sell 
for  a  higher  price;  they  stand  the  changes  of  climate  better.  With  breeding  ewes 
I  feed  very  little  grain,  with  plenty  of  good  roughness,  and  turn  out  in  the  pasture 
whenever  the  weather  admits,  to  insure  plenty  of  exercise.  The  sheep  I  shipped  in 
Marrh,  1892,  including  some  lambs  less  than  a  year  old,  averaged  143  pounds,  and 
brought  $6.75  per  100  pounds,  an  average  of  $9.65  per  head. 

MISSOURI. 

The  State  of  Missouri  possesses  a  peculiarly  advantageous  geograph- 
ical and  climatic  position  for  both  stock  raising  and  farming.  The 
State  is  not  subject  to  extremes  of  heat  or  cold,  and  the  growing  sea- 
son for  vegetation  is  quite  extended.  Almost  every  agricultural  crop 
grown  in  this  country  is  produced  in  Missouri,  which  assures  an  abund- 
ance as  well  as  a  great  variety  of  stock  feed  during  the  four  or  five 
months  of  the  year  when  the  native  tame  grass  pastures  fail. 

Missouri  now  ranks  fifth  in  population  in  the  United  States,  having 
a  population  in  1890  of  2,619,184,  an  increase  of  a  little  over  half  a 
million  during  the  last  decade.  By  reason  of  the  large  urban  popula- 
tion in  the  State,  and  its  great  and  diversified  agricultural  resources, 
the  farmer  has  local  and  natural  advantages  second  to  no  other.  With 
Kansas  City  on  her  western  border  and  St.  Louis  on  her  eastern,  both 
within  the  confines  of  the  State  and  both  being  leading  grain  and  live- 
stock markets,  the  farmer  and  stock-raiser  have  the  benefits  derived 
from  a  large  home  demand. 

The  extent  of  the  State  in  length,  north  and  south,  is  275  miles;  aver- 
age breadth,  about  245  miles ;  area,  69,415  square  miles,  or  44,425,600 
acres,  almost  equal  to  that  of  the  combined  six  New  England  States. 
It  is  divided  into  114  counties.  That  part  of  the  State  which  lies  north 
of  the  Missouri  lliver  consists  of  rolling  or  level  prairies,  with  deep  river 
valleys  and  much  swamp  land  along  the  river  banks.  The  southern 
division,  which  is  much  the  larger  of  the  two,  is  more  broken  and  rug- 
ged, with  a  number  of  hills  ranging  from  500  to  1,000  feet  in  height,  and 


854        SHEEP  INDUSTRY  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES 

mountain  ranges — the  Iron  and  Ozark  mountains — in  the  extreme  south. 
The  uplands  cover  more  than  half  this  section.  West  of  the  Ozark 
region  the  prairies  are  undulating,  and  the  valleys  of  the  rivers  both 
wide  and  deep.  The  principal  rivers  are  the  Mississippi,  which  washes 
the  entire  eastern  boundary  of  nearly  500  miles,  and  the  Missouri, 
which  enters  the  State  at  Kansas  City  and  flows  east  and  southeast 
until  it  unites  with  the  Mississippi  a  few  miles  above  St.  Louis.  Both 
rivers  have  numerous  tributaries  within  the  State. 

The  range  of  temperature  is  great,  and  the  climate  is  subjected  to 
frequent  changes.  The  summers  are  hot,  and  the  winters  short,  but 
not  severe.  The  annual  mean  temperature  of  the  State  is  55°  5  that  of 
spring,  56° ;  summer,  76°;  autumn,  55° ;  and  winter,  39°.  Southerly 
winds  predominate,  and  the  annual  rainfall  is  about  32  inches,  the 
greatest  precipitation  being  in  May. 

The  State  contains  much  rich  land,  well  adapted  to  the  growth  of  the 
cereals.  The  bottom  land  of  the  southeastern  counties  and  the  up- 
lands of  the  north  and  northwest  are  remarkable  for  their  fertility, 
yielding  from  40  to  80  bushels  of  corn  per  acre,  and  in  exceptional 
years  even  exceeding  these  figures.  The  extensive  prairies  of  the  north 
and  west  afford  excellent  pasturage,  but  have  comparatively  little 
timber.  The  southeast  is  heavily  timbered. 

As  showing  something  of  the  bountiful  resources  of  the  State,  I  quote 
from  the  report  of  Willard  C.  Hall,  labor  commissioner,  a  summary  of 
the  surplus  commodities  marketed  during  the  year  1890,  as  follows: 
685,585  head  of  cattle,  1,965,614  hogs,  70,664  horses  and  mules.  Sixty- 
four  counties  marketed  224,246  head  of  sheep,  valued  at  $3.75  per 
head.  Of  farm  products:  wheat,  8,407,000  bushels;  corn,  6,898,620 
bushels;  oats,  5,375,400  bushels;  and  121,182  tons  of  hay. 

J.  B.  Bothwell,  Breckenridge,  Mo.,  one  of  the  very  best  and  most  ex- 
tensive breeders  of  Merino  sheep,  says: 

I  have  made  sheep-raising  a  specialty  for  twenty-eight  years.  I  think  there  will 
be  double  the  number  of  sheep  in  Missouri  ten  years  hence.  People  are  slowly  find- 
ing out  that  they  pay  better  th:m  any  other  branch  of  fanning,  and  build  up  the 
farm  in  a  way  nothing  else  does;  but  to  handle  sheep  successfully  is  a  trade  that 
must  be  learned.  We  have  sold  more  sheep  this  year  than  any  year  before.  There 
has  been  an  unusual  demand  for  breeding  ewes  at  liberal  prices,  ranging  from  $4  to 
$6.  Good  sheep  well  handled  have  always  paid  in  Missouri  and  always  will,  but 
they  require  more  attention  and  more  skill  in  handling  than  the  average  man  is  will- 
ing to  apply  to  them.  It  is  too  small  a  business  for  most  farmers  to  study  up.  In 
fact,  there  is  more  to  it — more  to  learn  about  it — than  most  men  are  aware  of.  But 
as  the  country  gets  older  we  will  do  as  the  people  of  Europe  have  done — grow  more 
sheep  and  fewer  cattle  and  pigs.  No  doubt,  if  there  were  iive  head  of  good  sheep  in 
Missouri  where  there  is  but  one  now,  it  would  add  millions  to  her  wealth  in  a  few 
years. 

The  sheep-raisers  of  Missouri  are  especially  favored  over  other  west- 
ern States  in  one  respect,  and  always  will  be,  no  matter  how  many  sheep 
are  produced :  no  grower  need  ship  a  pound  of  mutton  or  wool  out  of 
the  State  to  find  a  market,  for  two  of  the  leading  live-stock  markets  of 


WEST    OF    THE    MISSISSIPPI    RIVER.  855 

the  country — Kansas  City  and  St.  Louis — are  both  within  the  borders 
of  the  State.  St.  Louis  is  now  conceded  to  be  the  leading  Western  wool 
market.  The  records  of  sheep  receipts  and  shipments  for  1891  for  the 
two  cities  are  as  follows :  -Kansas  City  received  386,760  head  and  shipped 
178,271 ;  St.  Louis  received  402,989  head  and  shipped  277,886.  The  only 
time  during  the  past  ten  years  when  the  receipts  and  shipments  were 
greater  at  Kansas  City  than  in  1891  was  in  1890.  The  receipts  were 
greater  at  St.  Louis  in  1877  and  1878,  and  shipments  larger  only  in  1888. 

Another  important  advantage  Missouri  possesses  in  addition  to  home 
markets  are  the  numerous -facilities  of  both  railroad  and  river  trans- 
portation for  handling  the  product.  A  glance  at  any  map  will  show 
the  transportation  facilities  possessed  by  those  engaged  in  farming  or 
stock-raising. 

Regarding  sheep-breeding,  the  following,  prepared  by  L.  E.  Shattuck, 
of  Stanberry,  Mo.,  one  of  the  most  successful  breeders  of  pure-bred 
sheep,  is  especially  valuable  for  those  engaged  in  Western  sheep  hus- 
bandry. He  says: 

As-with  other  domestic  animals,  so  with  'the  sheep — the  male  constitutes  at  least 
one-half  of  the  flock  in  value  of  reproduction;  hence  the  importance  of  the  flockmaster 
knowing  that  he  has  for  a  sire  that  which  comes  nearest  his  idea  of  what  he  wishes 
to  raise;  and  here,  as  with  the  other  domestic  animals,  to  obtain  these  unaided  by 
pedigree  is  quite  impossible.  The  principle  of  breeding  is  quite  as  applicable  to  the 
one  breed  as  to  the  other.  The  sheep  that  is  the  most  profitable  should  be  the  one 
chosen.  There  may  be  selected  from  any  flock  of  the  breeds  about  one-third,  the 
number  of  which,  if  an  account  is  kept,  will  show  standing  to  their  credit  more 
dollars  in  proportion  to  their  cost  and  feed  than  the  other  two-thirds,  because  they 
produce  in  fleece  and  offspring  that  which  is  more  valuable  and  at  better  prices. 
Judicious  milting,  accompanied  with  care,  has  increased  the  size  one-third  in 
the  last  thirty  years ;  and  at  the  same  time  the  weight  of  the  fleece  is  greater  in 
proportion.  Never  should  two  animals  having  the  same  fault  or  wanting  the  same 
quality  be  mated.  For  a  good  size  I  prefer  a  mate  with  all  the  appearance  of  the 
male  kind,  not  fine  or  feminine  in  the  head  or  otherwise,  and  especially  in  the 
bone  I  like  him  heavy  and  firm,  with  strong  neck  and  upheaded,  the  more  vigorous 
and  active  the  better,  and  he  should  always  be  in  good  strong  flesh.  The  ewes, 
too,  ought  to  be  kept  in  good  strong  condition.  A  ewe  thin  in  flesh  can  not  pro- 
duce a  heavy  fleece  or  rear  a  heavy  lamb.  The  sheep,  unlike  other  stock,  is  kept 
for  two  purposes:  Its  flesh,  by  many  thought  to  be  among  the  most  delicious,  and 
by  nearly  all  conceded  to  be  the  most  healthful  meat  food;  and  its  fleece,  of  which 
is  composed  the  most  comfortable  and  economical  clothing  of  civilized  man.  The 
most  successful  breeder  of  the  practical  sheep  is  the  one  who  rears  the  animals  from 
which  can  annually  be  taken  the  largest  fleece  and  most  valuable  lambs;  and  the 
breeder  who  can  furnish  the  requirements  of  the  times  is  the  one  who  turns  his 
thoughts  into  cash. 

In  this  connection  I  desire  to  quote  from  an  address  on  "Sheep 
Husbandry  in  Missouri,"  by  Prof.  J.  W.  Sanborn,  late  secretary  of  the 
State  board  of  agriculture,  and  professor  of  agriculture  in  the  State 
Agricultural  College  of  Missouri.  The  address  was  before  the 
National  Wool-Growers' Association  held  at  St.  Louis  in  1866: 

Too  little  attention  has  been  paid  to  mutton.  Strictly  wool  sheep,  when  bred  for 
wool,  unattended  by  outside  sales  of  breeding  stock  or  pure  wool  husbandry,  has  its 


856  SHEEP    INDUSTRY    OF    THE    UNITED    STATES 

natural  home  over  cheap  lands  and  in  sparse  settlements.  Around  centers  of  indus- 
try spring  up,  by  a  natural  law,  the  mutton  on  the  mutton- wool  sheep.  The  change 
of  market  facilities,  aided  by  transportation  rates  and  the  decline  in  wool  values, 
has  ushered  in  new  demands  in  sheep  husbandry  that  we  must  meet.  Good  mutton 
is  worth  twice  as  much  as  the  wool  it  brings,  and  it  is  not  to  be  sacrificed  to  the  lesser 
product.  The  mutton-wool  sheep  is  much  more  prolific  than  the  wool  sheep,  and 
sends  its  young  to  market  the  first  season,  and  upon  the  cheapest  food  grass.  We 
have  grown  but  5.18  pounds  of  wool  per  sheep  as  an  accompaniment  of  indifferent 
mutton.  We  shall  increase  this  amount  50  per  cent  along  with  a  more  rapid  inarch 
of  mutton  improvement.  Nature  developed  the  sheep  on  high,  dry  lands  or  moun- 
tains, in  a  dry  atmosphere,  on  sweet,  varied,  nutritious  grasses,  and  gave  to  it  little 
rebound  of  character.  Art  has  developed  sheep  in  their  higher  forms  over  drained 
soil  or  on  dry  upland  hills ;  has  surrounded  them  with  shelter,  nourished  them  with 
varied  and  appropriate  diet,  and  watched  over  their  yielding  natures  with  care. 
Good  sheep  are  the  products  of  the  highest  agriculture  and  thrive  only  Avith  it,  pin- 
ing under  neglect  as  no  other  domestic  animals  do.  We  have  exposed  the  sheep  in 
our  State  to  the  burning  sun  of  our  prairie  sections,  while  by  the  strongest  instinct 
they  are  impelled  to  seek  the  protecting  company  of  trees.  We  have  thrust  them 
over  our  wet  plains,  to  find  that  their  inbred  traits  will  not  bend  to  these  unnatural 
conditions.  Aside  from  the  direct  mischiefs  of  wet  soil,  the  character  of  the  grasses 
grown  upon  them  has  not  been  of  the  nature  required  by  sheep.  Nature  has  given 
us  conditions  favorable  to  the  permanent  success  of  sheep  husbandry  in  this  State. 
The  dry  hills  and  pure  water  of  south  Missouri  and  the  rolling  limestone  and  blue- 
grass  sections  of  central  and  north  Missouri  are  favorable.  It  is  upon  limestone  soil 
that  sheep  have  secured  their  highest  development.  Our  climate  is  not  warm  enough 
to  raise  the  question  of  the  deleterious  influence  of  heat  on  the  amount  and  quality 
of  the  shear.  The  largest  clip  per  flock  that  it  has  been  my  pleasure  to  note  was 
taken  by  a  well-known  Missouri  sheep-breeder,  namely,  an  average  of  16f  pounds  for 
160  ewes,  while  the  quality  of  our  best  wools  is  hard  to  beat.  While  the  summers 
do  not  depress,  the  rigors  of  winter  are  not  so  great  as  farther  north,  making  our 
latitude  favorable. 

While  nature  has  highly  favored  us  in  most  of  the  great  essentials  for  successful 
sheep  husbandry,  she  has  left  to  art  the  work  of  making  the  wet  places  dry,  without 
which  we  may  not  hope  for  the  highest  success.  The  other  requirements  of  art  in 
Missouri  are  shelter,  a  well-balanced  diet,  and  skill  in  handling  of  a  high  order.  The 
value  of  sheep  in  clearing  a  pasture  of  weeds  and  bushes,  their  clinging  to  the  sum- 
mit of  hills,  from  whence  their  evenly  scattered  excrements  nourish  the  hillsides  as 
that  of  no  other  animal  do,  their  double  income  are  oft-told  tales,  always  important 
and  too  often  unappreciated. 

Sheep  husbandry  Avill  thrive  here  when  we  shake  off  our  drifting  and  shiftless  way 
of  handling  this  interest  and  establish  a  well-organized  system  of  management 
based  upon  a  knowledge  of  the  nature  and  demands  of  sheep,  and  it  will  not  thrive 
until  then.  Onr  best  sheep  are  only  artificial  products,  and  will  thrive  only  on  the 
conditions  that  made  them  such. 

The  philosophy  of  feeding,  as  applied  to  domestic  animals  as  a  whole,  may  be 
summed  up  as  follows,  viz :  A  certain  ratio  of  albuminoids  (the  muscle-making  parts 
of  food)  to  the  carbohydrates  and  fats  (heat,  force,  and  fat-producing  materials  of 
food)  in  foods  is  most  efficient  per  unit  of  food  given.  This  ratio  of  albuminoids  to 
carbohydrates  should  vary  with  the  age  and  purpose  for  which  an  animal  is  fed.  To 
feed  too  little  of  one  or  too  much  of  the  other  results  in  waste.  As  foods  are  complex, 
varying  widely  in  their  ratio  of  the  above  nutriment,  and  the  wants  of  animals  are 
very  varied,  feeding  affords  a  fine  field  for  the  use  of  intelligence  on  the  part  of  a 
farmer.  Science  teaches  that  which  good  observers  confirm,  to  wit,  that  sheep 
require  finer  and  more  easily  digestible  foods  than  cattle.  Those  of  us  who  are  try- 
ing to  run  counter  to  these  facts  of  nature  ought  not  to  feel  disappointed  if  we  reap 


WEST    OF    THE    MISSISSIPPI    RIVER.  857 

im-u«rrr  results.  \\t_-t  grounds  grow  courser,  more  indigestible,  and  less  aromatic  and 
palatable  grasses  than  dry  lands  do.  Upon  such  lands  sheep  feed  only  under  neces- 
sity. Nor  do  they  take  kindly  to  the  coarse  hays  for  a  winter  feed.  The  stems  of 
timothy  and  rank  clover  are  not  favored  by  them.  Sheep  are  more  responsive  to 
green  food  than  cattle  are.  I  would  advise  the  use  of  roots  in  limited  qualities  for 
breeding  ewes  before  yeaning,  because  they  are  valuable  for  all  animals  before  drop- 
ping their  young,  relaxing  the  rigidity  of  the  muscular  system  and  antagonizing  the 
costive  condition  that  is  peculiar  to  breeding  ewes.  By  such  feeding  the  death  rate 
of  lambs  and  fever  and  debility  of  the  ewe  will  be  reduced  to  the  minimum.  Our 
dry  hay  and  straw,  accompanied  by  foul  water  for  drink,- with  the  carbonaceous  or 
heating,  concentrated  food,  corn  meal,  give  a  tremendous  death  rate  of  both  ewes 
and  lambs  with  us  in  Missouri. 

The  factor  of  shelter  is  an  important  one,  and  belongs  to  the  economy  of  feeding. 
Boards  are  cheaper  heat-savers  than  hay  is  a  heat-producer.  Shingles  are  more 
economical  than  sheets  of  water,  and  a  dry  bed  far  better  than  a  couch  of  mud. 

By  nature  the  sheep  is  unfitted  for  dampness,  and  the  artificial  open-wool  breeds 
particularly  are  responsive  to  cold  rains,  which  saturate  the  wool,  afterwards  to 
undergo  slow  evaporation,  thus  undermining  the  health  of  the  animal  and  bringing 
on  catarrh  and  other  troubles. 

GENERAL  FACTS  ABOUT  THE  INDUSTRY. 

The  sheep  industry  of  Missouri  is  only  one  of  the  many  and  varied 
resources  of  the  State,  and  the  fact  that  the  industry  is  of  as  much 
importance  as  it  is  to-day  is  owing  to  the  stability  of  the  men  engaged 
in  the  business.  Especially  is  this  so  in  view  of  the  adverse  circum- 
stances and  environments  which  have  beset  the  industry  during  its 
entire  history.  It  is  a  fact,  and  not  mere  flattery,  to  state  that  the 
sheep-owners  are  the  best  and  most  successful  farmers  in  the  State. 
They  are  citizens  who  would  be  a  credit  to  any  State,  and  certainly 
deserve  the  prosperity  they  now  enjoy.  They  deserve  as  a  class  much 
more  credit  than  the  sheep-owners  in  most  of  the  farming  States  of  the 
AVest,  for  having  sustained  the  industry  against  adverse  circumstances 
which  almost  demoralized  it  in  the  other  States.  During  the  dark 
hours  of  sheep  industry  they  did  not,  as  a  class,  abandon  the  friendless 
slice}):  and  now  that  the  business  is  on  the  up-grade  the  men  who  have 
been  faithful  to  this  much-abused  domestic  animal  are  in  a  much  better 
position  than  those  who  deserted  it. 

\Vhile  there  are  not  quite  as  many  sheep  in  the  aggregate  in  Missouri 
as  in  some  former  years,  yet  there  are  nearly  as  many  flocks.  These 
flocks,  though  smaller  in  size,  are  of  better  quality.  The  sheep  is  a 
much  more  profitable  animal  to-day  than  it  ever  was  before.  The  busi- 
ness is  confined  almost  exclusively  to  the  general  farmers  of  the  State. 
There  are  very  few  stockmen  who  make  a  specialty  or  exclusive  busi- 
ness of  sheep-raising.  It  is  rather  an  essential  part  of  mixed  hus- 
bandry. While  there  are  sheep  in  nearly  every  county  in  Missouri,  the 
aggregate  for  any  one  county  is  not  large.  Kot  one  farmer  in  ten  has 
a  flock  of  sheep.  These  farm  flocks  range  in  size  from  10  to  as  high  as 
500  head,  with  a  general  average  of  from  50  to  100.  The  flocks  owned 
by  breeders  of  thoroughbreds  are  generally  much  larger,  ranging  from 


858  SHEEP    INDUSTRY    OF    THE    UNITED    STATES 

about  500  to  one  or  more  thousands.  The  size  of  the  flock  depends 
largely  on  the  amount  of  land  owned,  as  the  only  sure  thing  in  the  way 
of  pasture  is  to  own  land.  Therefore  the  Missouri  sheep-owner  is  a 
landowner. 

The  basis  of  most  of  the  flocks  of  Missouri  are  Merinos  or  the  na- 
tive sheep,  although  there  are  now  owned  in  the  State  pure-bred  flocks 
of  all  the  leading  breeds.  The  greater  portion  of  the  sheep  of  the  State, 
however,  consist  of  crosses  or  grades.  While  the  number  of  flocks 
show  but  little  increase  within  the  last  few  years,  the  number  of  sheep 
in  the  State,  according  to  the  tax  rolls,  have  increased  from  737,878  in 
1890  to  831,104  in  1891,  notwithstanding  the  large  mutton  sales  mean- 
time. What  is  more  encouraging  is  the  manifest  improvement  in  the 
quality  of  sheep  as  well  as  in  the  care  of  the  flocks.  Formerly  many 
of  the  farmers  carried  on  the  business  in  a  sort  of  haphazard  way,  with- 
out any  definite  ideas  beyond  the  production  of  wool.  But  the  business 
is  now  being  reduced  to  a  system,  grades  are  rapidly  breeding  up,  and 
oth^r  pure  breeds  are  becoming  more  numerous.  The  most  notable 
change  made  by  the  breeders  of  Merinos  during  recent  years  has  been 
to  the  mutton  standard,  and  the  improvement  of  the  fleece  as  to  length 
and  fineness  of  staple.  The  modern  Merino  is  a  much  more  robust 
animal,  larger  and  smoother  bodied,  and  fully  25  per  cent  heavier  than 
formerly. 

One  reason  why  the  industry  has  declined  in  some  sections  of  the 
State  is  because  dogs  are  too  numerous,  and  another  is  that  land  is  too 
valuable  to  risk  with  any  precarious  business.  These,  together  with 
the  low  prices  of  wool  and  the  expense  of  wire  fencing  for  pasture,  are 
the  discouraging  drawbacks  which  serve  to  explain  the  decline  in  some 
localities  and  the  more  rapid  development  in  others.  But,  notwith- 
standing the  adverse  conditions  noted,  sheep-raising  as  compared  with 
other  branchesof  live-stock  husbandry  leads  them  ail,  especially  where 
sheep  are  well  handled.  The  almost  unanimous  declaration  of  the 
flockmasters  throughout  the  State  is  that  sheep  when  guarded  against 
destruction  by  dogs,  and  otherwise  properly  handled,  are  more  profit- 
able, taking  one  year  with  another,  than  any  other  class  of  stock. 

There  are  very  few  sheep  imported  except  breeding  animals  for  im- 
proving the  stock,  or  Western  sheep  to  be  finished  for  the  market.  Such 
sheep  show  neither  serious  impairment  in  anyway,  nor  special  improve- 
ment in  consequence  of  the  change  of  location. 

The  common  mistake  made  by  farmers  in  the  past  was  breeding  for 
wool  and  grease,  leaving  the  carcass  to  decrease  in  size  and  the  consti- 
tution of  the  animal  to  become  impaired.  The  tendency  at  present  with 
many  farmers  is  to  make  a  similar  mistake  in  the  opposite  direction— in 
breeding  too  much  for  size  and  disregarding  wool  qualities,  instead  of 
giving  equal  attention  to  both  wool  and  mutton. 

In  the  selection  of  breeding  animals  the  Merinos  are  not  used  nearly 
so  exclusively,  and  not  at  all  unless  they  are  of  large  size,  well  wooled, 


WEST    OF    THE    MISSISSIPPI    RIVER.  859 

and  of  robust  constitution.  The  mutton  breeds  arc  very  much  more 
popular,  and  there  is  great  demand  for  the  Cotswold,  Shropshire,  and 
Southdown  bucks.  The  age  of  service  rams  ranges  from  one  to  seven 
years,  although  the  preference  of  experienced  sheep-owners  is  for  bucks 
from  two  to  five  years  old." 

There  seems  to  be  quite  a  diversity  of  opinion  among  sheep-owners  as 
to  the  proper  time  of  breeding,  number  of  ewes  given  each  ram,  and 
the  length  of  time  he  should  remain  with  the  flock.  The  month  pre- 
ferred is  October  or  November,  although  some  breed  as  late  as  Decem- 
ber and  others  as  early  as  August  and  September.  The  early  breeding, 
however,  is  confined  mainly  to  those  who  make  a  specialty  of  raising 
lambs  to  come  early.  The  number  of  ewes  given  to  each  ram  depends 
somewhat  on  the  breed,  the  condition  of  the  animal,  and  the  care  given 
him  during  the  breeding  season.  The  best  breeders  recommend  the 
hand-breeding  system,  the  same  as  with  horses,  in  order  to  secure  better 
results  and  double  the  service.  The  length  of  the  breeding  season  de- 
pends somewhat  on  the  size  of  the  flock  and  method  used,  ranging  from 
fifteen  to  sixty  days.  The  number  of  ewes  that  fail  to  breed  is  generally 
quite  small,  except  in  cases  of  bad  condition  of  the  animal  or  careless 
management.  The  per  cent  of  lambs  raised  is  now  larger  than  formerly, 
owing  to  better  care  and  more  suitable  conveniences,  although  where 
the  flockmasters  are  indifferent  the  per  cent  ranges  from  50  to  00. 
More  experienced  and  careful  sheepmen  generally  average  00  per  cent 
or  better. 

The  usual  time  for  shearing  sheep  in  Missouri  is  during  the  month 
of  May,  although  a  great  many  flocks,  especially  the  pure-bred,  are 
shorn  during  April.  There  has  been  no  special  improvement  in  the 
mode  of  shearing  sheep.  The  old  plan  is  still  in  vogue.  The  smaller 
flocks  are  shorn  by  the  owners,  while  for  the  larger  flocks  experienced 
shearers  are  engaged  at  about  5  cents  per  fleece.  Each  fleece  is  tied 
up  singly,  and  either  stored  away  in  a  dry  place  or  sacked  ready  for 
shipment.  The  majority  of  the  sheep-owners  sell  the  wool  unwashed 
as  it  comes  from  the  back  of  the  animal.  Some  few  who  have  a  very 
small  flock  tub -wash  the  wool  before  selling  it.  Where  it  is  possible 
for  the  sheep-owner  to  sell  his  wool  at  home  it  is  always  done,  provided 
the  price  offered  is  at  all  satisfactory.  The  bulk  of  the  Missouri  clip, 
however,  goes  to  the  St.  Louis  market,  and  is  generally  sold  to  travel- 
ing representatives  of  St.  Louis  wool  dealers  or  commission  men.  Quite 
a  number  of  clips  which  are  uniform  every  year  are  sold  to  woolen-mills 
in  Missouri  and  Illinois.  The  average  weight  of  fleeces,  which  ranges 
all  the  way  from  4  to  15  pounds,  are  of  the  various  grades  and  breeds 
of  sheep.  Perhaps  a  general  average  is  from  6J  to  8  pounds.  The  gen- 
eral grade  of  wool  produced  ranks  in  the  order  of  medium,  fine,  and 
coarse.  The  class  of  wool  produced  generally  is  much  sought  after  in 
the  markets,  especially  when  prepared  in  merchantable  shape  and  free 
from  vegetable  matter  and  burs.  A  very  small  portion  of  the  clip  of 


860        SHEEP  INDUSTRY  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES 

tlie  State  goes  to  the  Eastern  markets  unless  resliipped  from  St.  Louis. 
The  growers  generally  prefer  to  take  their  chances  in  the  home  market 
unless  satisfactory  prices  are  offered  by  buyers  direct  from  Chicago  or 
Eastern  markets.  The  range  of  prices  received  by  the  growers  for  the 
various  grades  of  the  last  clip  was  from  15  to  27  cents.  The  marketing 
of  the  wool  by  the  grower  is  always  a  perplexing  and  unsatisfactory 
business.  There  seems  to  be  no  uniform  sorting  and  grading  of  wool 
by  the  men  who  usually  handle  it,  and  the  cost  to  the  grower  from  the 
time  it  leaves  his  hands  until  he  receives  returns  varies  greatly,  and 
is  so  much  higher  than  other  agricultural  products  that  it  causes  gen- 
eral dissatisfaction.  This  arises  no  doubt  from  the  lack  of  uniformity 
and  generally  indifferent  manner  of  preparing  the  wool  for  market. 
Too  many  sheep-owners  permit  their  sheep  to  run  in  the  fields  and  get 
the  fleece  filled  with  burs.  Another  disadvantage  is  the  scarcity  of 
Western  woolen  manufacturers,  which  generally  leaves  the  volume  of 
business  of  handling  AYOO!  to  dealers  and  speculators,  making  the  wool- 
growers  feel  that  they  are  largely  the  prey  of  the  middlemen,  who 
stand  between  the  grower  and  the  manufacturer. 

Since  the  mutton  product  has  become  profitable  to  sheep-raisers  a 
considerable  portion  of  the  flock  is  annually  disposed  of  in  sales  of 
wethers  and  lambs.  The  average  for  the  entire  State  represents  about 
one- third  of  the  flock.  Heretofore  a  good  many  breeding  ewes  could 
be  picked  up  among  the  farmers  and  breeders  at  reasonable  prices  to 
be  shipped  to  other  States  west,  but  at  present  the  local  demand  from 
farmers  who  desire  to  engage  in  sheep-raising  readily  takes  what  is 
offered  in  this  way.  In  former  years  the  average  gross  weight  of  sheep 
sold  for  mutton  seldom  exceeded  100  pounds,  but  various  reports  re- 
ceived from  different  parts  of  the  State  show  the  average  for  the  past 
year  to  have  been  123  pounds. 

Elockmasters  and  farmers  differ  greatly  in  their  estimates  as  to  the 
cost  per  sheep  per  year.  The  extreme  prices  reported  are  from  25  cents 
to  $2.  In  fact,  very  few  seem  to  have  any  definite  idea  as  to  the  cost. 
Quite  a  number  of  farmers  who  have  25  sheep  or  less  say  that  it  does 
not  cost  anything,  or  at  most  25  cents  per  head;  while  the  owners  of 
flocks  of  100  or  over,  where  the  lambs  do  not  come  until  after  April  15, 
say  that  the  total  cost  is  from  50  cents  to  $1  per  head,  which  is  proba- 
bly a  conservative  estimate  for  the  entire  State. 

In  considering  the  local  disadvantages  and  obstacles  encountered  in 
sheep  husbandry  in  Missouri,  the  one  thing  that  overshadows  all  oth- 
ers, and  is,  in  fact,  the  greatest  enemy  to  this  industry,  is  the  constant 
ravages  and  annual  devastation  of  the  flocks  by  dogs.  Perhaps  in  no 
other  State  west  of  the  Mississippi  Kiver,  excepting  Arkansas,  is  there 
such  a  universal  complaint  in  this  particular.  Of  course  there  are 
other  local  disadvantages,  such  as  permitting  the  ram  to  run  with  the 
flock  the  entire  year,  and,  as  a  consequence,  causing  many  lambs  to 
come  too  early,  entailing  unusual  losses.  Then,  too,  there  is  a  cousid- 


WEST    OF    THE    MISSISSIPPI    RIVER.  861 

erable  loss  in  many  portions  of  the  State,  especially  in  the  wooded  dis- 
tricts, from  wolves  and  foxes.  In  some  portions  of  the  State  the  ex- 
treme wet  weather  causes  much  discomfort  if  not  loss  to  flocks.  Wire 
fences  add  an  additional  expense  and  should  also  be  set  down  as  one  of 
the  hindrances. 

Among  the  natural  advantages  of  the  industry  to  be  considered  is  the 
central  geographical  location  of  the  State.  It  is  one  of  the  most  pro- 
ductive agricultural  regions  of  the  country.  The  population  of  the 
State  is  large  and  the  local  demand  for  mutton  products  is  good.  Its 
proximity  to  the  principal  live-stock  and  wool  markets  of  the  country 
is  of  great  advantage  to  the  industry.  The  greater  portion  of  the  sur- 
face of  the  State  is  gently  rolling,  well-drained  land,  with  plenty  of 
timber,  shade  and  natural  protection  from  w^ind  and  storms.  The  water 
supply  is  excellent,  because  it  comes  largely  from  wells  in  the  sections 
of  the  country  where  sheep  are  now  being  raised.  Not  many  sheep  are 
kept  jlong  the  principal  rivers,  as  such  localities  are  not  considered 
suitable  for  sheep,  nor  is  the  water  from  the  larger  rivers  very  good  for 
such  stock.  Almost  every  variety  of  tame  grasses  and  the  different 
cereals  are  easily  produced  in  every  portion  of  the  State.  Outside  of 
cold  and  wet  winters  and  early  springs,  the  climate  is  very  good  and 
well  adapted  to  sheep-raising. 

Generally  speaking,  there  are  no  serious  complaints  as  to  the  health 
of  sheep,  at  least  not  to  such  an  extent  as  to  be  considered  a  drawback. 
The  only  ailments  reported  are  grub  in  the  head,  and  trouble  with 
scours  or  worms  with  the  lambs.  Occasionally  a  case  of  scab  is  heard 
of  in  the  fall  of  the  year. 

Of  late  years  very  little  loss  is  reported  from  destruction  of  sheep  by 
wild  animals,  except  in  the  extreme  southern  portion  of  the  State, 
where  the  country  is  thinly  settled.  The  loss  from  exposure  is  generally 
light,  except  where  they  are  poorly  cared  for  or  practically  neglected 
altogether.  The  only  general  source  of  loss  throughout  the  State  is 
ravages  of  dogs.  That  the  annual  loss  of  sheep  is  not  much  greater 
throughout  the  State  is  something  wonderful,  because  so  many  men 
have  been  exceedingly  careless  in  their  management  of  sheep.  But 
since  they  have  come  to  be  regarded  as  more  valuable  they  are  receiv- 
ing much  better  treatment  and  care.  Suitable  shelter  and  better  ac- 
commodations are  now  provided,  and  if  the  growers  could  only  make  a 
united  effort  to  secure  the  necessary  State  legislation  which  is  due  the 
industry,  the  future  outlook  would  be  greatly  improved.  Probably  the 
best  method  for  conducting  the  industry  in  Missouri  is  for  the  farmers 
to  keep  smaller  flocks  in  connection  with  other  stock  and  general  farm- 
ing, and  avoid  handling  more  than  one  breed,  keeping  as  nearly  as 
possible  to  the  pure-bred.  The  matter  of  cross  breeding  is  something 
to  be  deplored,  especially  in  farmers'  hands.  As  a  rule,  it  is  best  to 
breed  so  that  the  lambs  will  come  by  the  time  the  pastures  are  ready 
for  use.  In  other  words,  if  the  farmers  of  Missouri  would  handle  sheep 


862 


SHEEP    INDUSTRY    OF    THE    UNITED    STATES 


in  the  same  way  as  tliey  do  horses,  cattle,  and  hogs,  giving  them  the 
careful  attention  they  deserve,  they  would  undoubtedly  succeed  in  the 
sheep  business,  and  soon  realize  that  it  is  one  of  the  most  profitable 
branches  of  general  farming. 

NUMBER,    VALUE,    AND   DISTRIBUTION   OF    SHEEP. 

At  the  present  time  the  number  of  sheep  owned  in  Missouri  exceeds 
1,000,000  head,  valued  at  $3,250,000.  The  wool  clip  for  1892  will  be 
over  7,000,000  pounds,  valued  at  $1,500,000.  The  mutton  sales  will 
aggregate  $1,000,000  more,  and  the  lamb  crop  for  1802  will  represent  a 
total  value  of  $1,000,000,  so  that  the  total  value  for  1892  of  sheep  and 
their  products  will  be  about  $7,000,000.  If  the  value  of  other  property 
belonging  or  pertaining  to  the  industry,  such  as  barns,  sheds,  yards, 
and  permanent  conveniences,  as  well  as  pasture  lands,  etc.,  be  added,  the 
total  value  represented  by  the  sheep  industry  of  Missouri  is  not  less 
than  $20,000,000. 

A  table  compiled  from  a  late  report  of  the  Missouri  State  Board  of 
Agriculture  shows  the  number  of  sheep  in  each  county  in  the  State, 
excepting  Scotland  and  Ozark,  for  the  years  1890  and  1891.  The 
counties  are  classified  by  districts.  The  total  increase  over  1890  is  also 
shown.  The  table  is  compiled  from  the  report  of  Levi  Chubbuck,  sec- 
retary of  the  Missouri  State  Board  of  Agriculture,  and  is  as  follows : 

NORTHWESTERN  COUNTIES. 


1890. 

1891. 

Increase. 

Decrease. 

Andrew  

9  274 

2  555 

281 

1  921 

1  670 

Buchanan 

1  928 

2  460 

532 

Caldwell  

17  485 

21  382 

3  897 

Carroll      . 

2  751 

3  168 

417 

Clay  

5  111 

6  115 

1  004 

Clinton 

5  793 

6  109 

316 

Daviess  

12  045 

16  248 

4  203 

De  Kalb 

3  104 

3  5(i8 

464 

Gentry  

8  265 

9  32%) 

1  057 

Grundy 

13  980 

13  945 

Harrison  

12  194 

9  998 

2  196 

Holt 

4°8 

631 

203 

Jackson  :  

8  158 

7  7(57 

391 

Lafayette 

3  8'i7 

Livingston  

13,  499 

14,  171 

672 

Mercer  

7  179 

6  116 

1  063 

Nodaway  

3  '317 

3  048 

Platte 

2  275 

Ray  

6  788 

8  764 

•I      Q7« 

1 

Worth  

3  874 

4  977 

j   103 





Total  

136  206 

150  362 

18  361 

A    onr 

Net  increase  

14  156 

,. 

NORTHEASTERN  COUNTIES. 


Adair  

5,404 
14,  570 
6,499 
5,020 
11,593 
8,385 
7,971 
9,704 
9,169 
18,  576 
7,630 

5,314 

21,  640 
7,327 
6,069 
13,  909 
8,694 
9,201 
11,  278 
11,  637 
26,  856 
7,666 

90 

Audrain  

7,070 
828 
1,049 
2,316 
309 
1,230 
1,574 
2,468 
8,280 
36 



Lewis  

Lincoln  

Linn  



Marion  

Monroe  



W.EST    OF    THE    MISSISSIPPI    KIVER, 
SOUTHEASTERN  COUNTIES— Continued. 


863 


-. 

1890. 

1891. 

Increase. 

Decrease. 

Pike                        ..  .            

13,  167 
10,745 
7,433 
23,  890 

13,  269 
5,014 
9.123 
5,353 

13,  670 
12,  610 
7,570 
28,658 

12,  160 
6,222 
9,529 
5,497 

503 
1,865 
137 
4,768 

Kails                                                       .                              

Schuyler 

Scotland,  no  returns. 
Shelby 

1,109 

St  Charles 

1,208 
406 
144 

Total 

192,515  j    225,507 

34,191 
32,  992 

1,199 

SOUTHEASTERN  COUNTIES. 


7  894 

9  883 

1,989 

Butler                                                                                          

1  001 

1,019 

18 

8  869 

9  862 

933 

Carter 

553 

598 

45 

8,935 

9,252 

317 

Dent 

10  202 

11,  212 

1,010 

Dunklin                                                       -       ••        

691 

874 

183 

7  407 

8  313 

936 

5,234 

5,379 

145 

Howell                                  -  -              

5.849 

7,063 

1,214 

2,193 

2,100 

93 

K    Q"« 

5,  8/6 

6,530 

654 

3  425 

4,444 

1,019 

229 

487 

258 

512 

576 

64 

3,445 

2,715 

730 

Perry 

7  519 

8  09»5 

577 

334 

355 

21 

4  783 

5  118 

335 

fiipley 

3,089 

3,  247 

158 

St  Francois                                   

2,317 

3,624 

1,307 

2  689 

3,065 

376 

2,167 

2,590 

423 

Scott 

650 

328 

322 

1,789 

1,672 

177 

Stoddard 

2  469 

2,501 

32 

Texas 

11,  193 

13,  693 

2,500 

3,857 

4,789 

932 

3,983 

4,493 

510 

j 

Total 

119,  154 

133,  908 

16,  016 

1,262 

14,754 

SOUTHWESTERN  COUNTIES. 


6,593 

6,417 

176 

3,595 

3,682 

87 

Bates 

3  367 

3,917 

550 

CaSS                                                                                                                                                                 

3,433 

3,825 

392 

Cedar                                                       

4,147 

4,387 

240 

. 

Christian                                                                              

3,355 

3,954 

599 

Dade 

4,410 

4,279 

131 

Dou  "'las                                                                         

4,963 

6,982 

2,019 

5,187 

5,653 

466 

2.  936 

2,560 

376 

5,023 

2,840 

2,183 

5,184 

6,605 

1,421 

3,660 

3,551 

109 

5,272 

5,861 

589 

2  945 

2,587 

358 

Polk                                                                                        

9,503 

10,  863 

1,360 

St  Clair 

4,544 

4,962 

418 

Stone 

2,549 

2,920 

371 

Tanev              

1,844 

2,589 

745 



2,334 

2,548 

214 

Webster 

9,420 

11,  531 

2,111 

Wright                                                                                  

9,327 

11,  363 

2,036 

Total                                                                

103,  591 

113,876 

13,  618 

3,333 

10  285 

864  SHEEP    INDUSTRY    OF    THE    UNITED    STATES 

CENTRAL  COUNTIES. 


1890. 

1891. 

Increase. 

Decrease. 

Benton                                                                                                              6  857 

7  662 

805 

Boone                                                                    -  -         9,  855 

13  Oil 

3  156 

Callaway                                                                                           20  344 

21  518 

1  174 

Camel  en                                                                     -  -   -           5,  341 

6  730 

1  389 

Chiriton                                                  •                                                         6  990 

8  134 

1  144 

Cole                                                                                                -                   3  562 

7  904 

4  342 

Cooper                                                                       .                                15  814 

I9-  443 

3  371 

Dallas                                                                              --                           7  631 

9*067 

1  436 

Hickory               5,  849 

6,708 

859 

Howard                                                                            .                              11  271 

1]  946 

675 

Lacledo                   5,812 

7,  309 

1  497 

Maries                                                                                                              8  106 

10  175 

1  979 

Miller                               9,617 

10  746 

1   r>9 

Moniteau                                                                                                         6  603 

7  348 

745 

Morgan        -                        .                   8,  830 

10  052 

1  222 

Osa^e                                                                                                                7  770 

8  965 

1  195 

Pettis                           ...                                  10  368 

12'  267 

1  899 

Phelps  8,  389 

9,223 

834 

Pu'laski                                                                                                        5  ?08 

5  952 

744 

Randolph  15,  291 

12  220 

3  071 

Saline                                                                                                      C  814 

8  071 

1  257 

Total                                                                                          '     186  412 

207  451 

27  481 

6  442 

Net  increase  

21  j  039 

I 

SUMMARY. 


District. 

1890. 

1891. 

Increase. 

Decrease. 

Northeast  

192,515 

225,  507 

34,  191 

1,199 

Northwest  

136  206 

150  362 

14  156 

Southeast 

119  154 

133  908 

14  754 

Southwest  

103  591 

113,  876 

13  618 

3  333 

Central 

186  412 

207  451 

21  039 

State 


737,878  I  831,104    93,226  


Sheep  increased  93,226  head  between  the  last  two  assessments,  and 
35,782  head  during  the  previous  year.  Up  to  that  time  there  had  been, 
since  1882,  a  decrease  in  the  number  of  sheep  in  the  State.  The  assess- 
ment of  1882  showed  1,798,625  head  in  the  State,  and  that  of  1889 
702,090,  a  falling  off  of  1,096,529  head. 

Hon.  Levi  Chubbuck,  secretary  State  board  of  agriculture,  has  re- 
cently compiled  a  tabulated  report  showing  the  prices  received  by  the 
producer  during  the  three  years  from  June  1,  1889,  to  September,  1891. 
The  following  counties  are  taken  as  representative  ones  in  each  section 
of  the  State,  showing  the  average  prices  received  for  each  year  for 
sales  of  mutton  and  wool: 


Representative  counties. 

Sheep  for  slaughter 
per  100  pounds. 

Lambs  for  slaughter 
per  100  pounds. 

Wool,  medium,  per 
pound. 

1889. 

1890. 

1891. 

1889. 

1890. 

1891. 

$4.08 

1889. 

1890. 

1891. 

Adair  

$3.  36 
2.75 

$3.  70 
2.  82 

$3.  44 
3.36 

$4.25 

$4.54 

$0.23 
.17 

$0.24 
.19 
.23 
.20 
.33J 

$0.24 
.18 
.24 
.18 
.83| 

Nodaway  

Cape  Girardeau  

Barton  

1 

.20 
.35 

Lacledo  

3  07 

3.19 
2.93 

3.80 
3.  72 

4.17 
4.00 

4.10 
4.75 

4.92 
5.25 

Boone  

2.69 

Average  for  State 

2.97 

3.21 

3.60 

4.13 

4.46 

4.75 

.21 

.24 

.23 

WEST    OF    THE    MISSISSIPPI   RIVER.  865 

The  foregoing  tables,  compiled  from  official  State  reports,  are  very 
valuable  as  showing  the  increase  or  decrease  of  the  sheep  industry  of 
the  State. 

For  the  last  thirty-two-  years  the  actual  number-  of  sheep  in  the 
State  has  not  been  less  than  a  million  head,  and  at  no  time  much  in 
excess  of  a  million  and  a  half.  The  periods  when  the  number  of  sheep 
reached  the  maximum  number  was  during  the  years  from  18C9  to  1874, 
and  1880  to  1884.  At  present  sheep  are  of  a  better  class  and  the  total 
value  is  greater  than  ever  before  in  the  history  of  the  industry  in  the 
State. 

THE    ST.    LOUIS    WOOL   MARKET. 

The  St.  Louis  wool  market  is  now  considered  one  of  the  best  in  this 
country  for  domestic  wool.  It  has  grown  in  favor  with  the  growers  from 
year  to  year,  and  to-day  ranks  second  as  a  market  for  domestic  wools. 

The  St.  Louis  Market  Reporter  says  that  the  number  of  dealers,  bro- 
kers, and  agents  located  there  is  now  larger  than  ever  before,  many  of 
them  in  order  to  be  in  the  acknowledged  leading  primary  market  hav- 
ing established  their  headquarters  in  that  city  in  the  past  year.  This, 
of  course,  will  stimulate  the  competition  for  the  offerings  of  wool,  and, 
in  turn,  secure  to  the  seller  a  higher  price  than  he  could  obtain  by  dis- 
posing of  his  clip  in  any  other  way  or  at  any  other  place.  This  market 
has  several  advantages,  the  greatest  being  the  energy  displayed  by  the 
commission  merchants  and  dealers  who  handle  the  staple  to  increase 
the  volume  of  trade  and  to  insure  the  best  possible  results  to  shippers. 
Consignments  are  always  salable  on  day  of  arrival,  and  returns  as  a 
rule  are  made  then  and  there,  while  the  charges  are  reduced  to  a  mini- 
mum. Besides,  large  stocks  are  carried  the  year  round,  which  attract 
manufacturers  and  investors  from  all  sections.  They  can  compete  suc- 
cessfully with  seaboard  markets,  for  the  reason  that  goods  shipped  to 
Eastern  manufacturers  go  direct  to  their  mills,  at  Boston  or  New  York 
rates,  instead  of  going  to  these  points  and  then  incurring  the  expense 
of  reshipinent. 

The  Western  manufacturing  trade  is  also  a  large  factor.  Probably  one- 
fourth  of  the  receipts  here  is  used  for  home  consumption.  Besides,  the 
Western  manufacturer  is  reputed  to  be  a  more  liberal  buyer  than  his 
brother  of  the  East.  St.  Louis  is  now  (with  but  a  single  exception)  the 
largest  market  for  domestic  wools  in  the  United  States,  and  is  steadily 
and  surely  growing  as  the  distributing  point  for  Western  wool.  The 
amount  handled  here  in  a  season  is  very  large.  Utah,  Montana,  Wyo- 
ming, Colorado,  Xew  Mexico,  etc.,  have  been  heavy  shippers  to  this 
point  of  late,  and  while  this  is  the  principal  market  for  the  growth  of 
the  Western  and  Southern  States,  it  also  receives  many  clips  from  the 
north. 

22990 QQ 


866 


SHEEP    INDUSTRY    OF    THE    UNITED    STATES 


The  last  annual  report  of  the  St.  Louis  Merchants7  Exchange  gives 
the  following  regarding  the  business  for  1891: 

Receipts  of  wool  for  the  year  were  the  largest  on  record,  and  the  shipments  exceeded 
by  only  two  years,  1*85  and  1890.  As  the  numbers  of  sheep  decrease  nearly  one 
million  head  in  the  country  at  large,  the  receipts  were  very  gratifying  to  the  trade? 
and  prove  the  growing  importance  of  this  as  a  central  distributing  market.  The 
wool  industry  of  the  country  was  disappointing,  owing  to  excessive  importations  of 
Australian  wool,  but  our  market  never  at  any  time  of  the  year  exhibited  as  manifest 
signs  of  depression  as  did  the  markets  in  the  consumptive  districts.  Prejudices 
which  have  existed  in  the  Territories  against  this  market  are  rapidly  dissipating,  and 
this  is  growing  as  a  distributing  market  for  western  wools.  The  stocks  on  hand  at 
the  first  of  this  year  (1892)  were  7,130,000  pounds,  and  since  then  quite  a  number  of 
notably  heavy  transactions  have  been  consummated.  Those  engaged  in  the  wool 
trade  seem  confident  that  all  the  stocks  on  hand  and  stocks  to  come  during  the  sea- 
son will  be  absorbed. 

Eeccipts  and  shipments  for  thirteen  years. 


Year. 

Wool. 

Hides. 

Receipts. 

Shipments. 

Eeceipts. 

Shipments. 

1811 

Pounds. 
21.  075.  £54 
20,  5-,  0  503 

Pounds. 
21.  464.  552 
23.  226,  444 
18.239  236 
21.  463.  998 
17.  392.  858 
17.  825.  630 
25.1-15.815 
17.  665.  858 
20.  903,  974 
14,  8n  5,  897 
9,  817,  534 
10.  492,  524 
19,  619,  258 

Pounds. 
34.  744,  949 
28  245,  828 
29,  732,  042 
31,  814,  049 
26,  175.  972 
19,978.698 
20,  864.  833 
16.  305,  415 
17.453.244 
22,  135.  538 
20,  079,  814 
18,  436,  253 
20,  042,  734 

Pounds. 
39,  487,  722 
38,  838,  760 
36,  445.  038 
40,  296.  581 
31,  476,  338 
23,  407,  160 
25,  386,  095 
21,  797,  724 
20,  806,  930 
26.  744,  094 
28.  088.  636 
24,  114,  529 
26,  719,  928 

1890                             

1889 

21.  018  920 
19.  626,  629 
17,347.  186 
]8  563  614 

1888       

1887 

1886 

1885 

21,  193,  031 
12.  391.  806 
18,  868.  729 
16,  019.  836 
11,  198.  272 
12,  387.  089 
20,  786,  742 

1884  
1883  

1882  

1881 

1880  
1879 

Receipts  of  peltries  and  furs. 


Tear. 
1891 

Bundles. 
125  526 

Year. 

188-) 

Dundl"s. 
17  474 

1890 

78  8:i8 

1884 

15  459 

1889  

43,316 

1883 

15  591 

1888 

45  332 

1882 

18  089 

1887  

22.  045 

18-S1 

16  115 

1886... 

..  18,889 

1880  ... 

...12.037 

Year.  Jlundles. 

1879 10,  683 

1878 10,439 

18'.  7 12.368 

1876 14,508 

1875 16,587 


DISASTROUS  DOG  DEPREDATIONS. 

A  report  of  the  Missouri  sheep  industry  would  be  incomplete  with- 
out a  discussion  of  the  greatest  hindrance  to  sheep  husbandry  ever 
known  in  the  State,  viz,  the  disastrous  depredations  of  dogs.  This 
worthless  animal  has  been  a  constant  menace  to  the  business,  and  has 
done  more  toward  retarding  the  growth  of  the  industry  and  decimat- 
ing the  flocks  than  all  other  sources  combined.  A  Wisconsin  flock- 
master  has  well  said  that  the  sheep  industry  in  thickly  settled  States 
is  profitable  in  proportion  to  the  quantity  and  quality  of  the  dogs  kept 
in  the  community.  And  the  intelligence  of  a  community  is  rated  ac- 
cording to  the  conspicuous  absence  of  dogs. 


WEST    OF    THE    MISSISSIPPI   RIVER.  867 


lu  a  recent  editorial  Gorman's  Rural  World  says: 


Missouri  has  owned  more  sheep  than  it  does  to-day,  but  never  was  in  a  better  con- 
dition to  take  hold  and  build  "it  up  to  greater  proportions  than  ever.  Nothing  in 
the  world  is  preventing  our  farmers  from  going  into  the  business  on  a  large  scale 
but  the  night-prowling,  wolfish  dogs,  and  most  certainly  they  should  be  denied  the 
privilege  of  limiting  and  retaiding  the  development  of  so  great  and  important  an 
industry.  This  evil  out  of  the  way,  the  farmers  would  at  once  stock  up  with  flocks 
proportioned  to  the  size  of  their  farms  and  their  means,  and  make  Missouri  a  mut- 
ton and  wool  producing  State  second  to  none  in  the  country.  The  uncertainty  of 
wool  values  in  the  past  is  now  remedied  by  the  certainty  of  a  first-rate  market  for 
mutton  and  lambs,  both  of  which  are  to-day  paying  better  than  beef  and  have  a 
more  certain  and  better  settled  market.  With  a  fair-sized  flock  of  graded  sheep 
one  has  something  he  can  realize  on  any  month  in  the  year,  besides  his  \vool  returns 
early  in  the  spring  before  he  begins  farm  work  proper. 

An  experienced  writer  in  the  American  Agriculturist  says: 

The  one  great  drawback,  however,  and  it  exists  in  all  thickly  settled  countries, 
is  the  ravages  of  worthless  curs.  Two  or  three  dogs  in  a  single  night  will  destroy 
good  sheep  and  lambs  enough  to  offset  the  greatest  prospective  profit  for  an  entire 
season.  If  there  is  any  one  evil  that  requires  more  stringent  legislation  than 
another  it  is  the  dog  nuisance.  There  is  hardly  any  family  so  poor  as  not  to  be  rich 
enough  to  own  a  dog,  and  the  pleasure  and  comfort  of  that  useless  cur  they  will 
protect  by  every  means  possible,  always  ready  to  deny  the  possibility  of  any  injury 
by  their  dog.  One  of  the  best  means  for  protecting  the  flock  against  the  attacks  of 
dogs  is  by  using  a  liberal  number  of  bells.  If  the  flock  numbers  forty  or  fifty,  at 
least  a  quarter  of  them  should  have  each  a  small  bell,  and  as  noisy  a  one  as  pos- 
sible, attached  to  her  neck.  If  the  flock  is  small  a  greater  proportion  should  pos- 
sess bells.  The  reason  why  bells  are  a  good  protection  is  because  sheep-killing  dogs 
are  naturally  sneaks.  They  are  afraid  of  detection,  and  the  noise  created  by  a  flock 
of  sheep  wearing  bells  will  cause  them  to  desist.  I  have  never  known  a  flock  of 
sheep  wearing  bells  to  be  injured  by  dogs.  We  need  more  stringent  laws  for  the 
protection  of  sheep. 

Iii  all  of  the  agricultural  States  the  sheep-owners  are  clamoring  for  an 
effective  law  that  will  lessen  the  depredations  of  dogs  and  furnish  suit- 
able indemnity  to  those  whose  stock  shall  be  injured  by  them.  These 
worthless  curs  range  from  farm  to  farm  and  are  frequently  the  agents 
for  the  dissemination  of  contagious  diseases  among  sheep  and  other 
stock.  Dr.  Cooper  Curtice,  in  his  "Animal  Parasites  of  Sheep,"  says: 

The  relation  of  the  dog  to  sheep  husbandry  is  too  important  to  be  overlooked. 
Were  it  not  that  the  definition  of  parasites  excludes  such  animals  as  can  be  consid- 
ered beasts  of  prey,  the  dog  would  be  placed  at  the  head  of  the  list  of  parasites,  as 
being  the  most  destructive.  Though  this  be  unmistakably  apparent  to  a  large  ma- 
jority of  sheep-owners  there  are  many  who  believe  that  the  dog  is  man's  most  faith- 
ful friend  and  that  he  is  of  great  use  even  on  a  sheep  farm.  It  is  unfortunate  for 
the  dog  that  the  mass  of  testimony  on  this  subject  is  against  him.  It  is  not  from 
the  standpoint  of  the  dog  as  a  beast  of  prey,  however,  that  this  work  is  written,  but 
it  is  from  the  more  technical  standpoint  of  the  dog  as  a  carrier  of  parasites  danger- 
ous to  sheep  and  man. 

The  Ohio  Farmer  says  the  total  damage  to  sheep  by  dogs  in  that 
State  last  year  was  $152,034,  notwithstanding  the  precautions  taken 
by  the  flockmasters  to  prevent  loss. 


868  SHEEP    INDUSTRY    OF    THE    UNITED    STATES 

The  author  of  this  report  gives  the  following  extracts  from  letters 
received  from  Missouri  sheep-owners  regarding  dogs : 
E.  B.  Ekey: 

I  have  raised  sheep  all  my  life,  and  like  the  business,  except  when  dogs  get  at 
them  and  kill  from  15  to  20  sheep  in  a  single  night.  If  we  had  a  good  dog  law  there 
would  be  10  sheep  where  now  there  is  1. 

P.  S.  Alexander: 

Dogs  are  the  great  drawback  to  the  industry. 

Dillon  Bros. : 

The  future  of  the  sheep  industry  is  dark  and  getting  darker  on  account  of  the  rapid 
increase  of  dogs,  and  a  man  dare  not  shoot  one  for  fear  of  a  lawsuit.  Eight  flocks 
have  recently  been  raided  by  dogs  in  this  vicinity.  Some  are  trying  the  strychnine 
cure,  and  some  hundred  or  more  dogs  have  died  in  the  last  two  weeks. 

James  L.  Dawson : 

Sheep-raising  is  on  the  decline,  owing  to  the  ravages  of  dogs. 

The  foregoing  expressions  are  samples  of  scores  of  others  similar  to 
them.  The  public  sentiment,  based  upon  common  interests,  demands 
the  death  of  every  sheep- killing  dog,  and  the  passage  of  a  law  which 
will  insure  future  immunity  from  their  depredations.  It  is  next  to  an 
impossibility  to  keep  dogs  and  sheep  successfully  in  the  same  location. 
Which  must  yield  ? 

At  a  low  calculation  I  estimate  that  the  annual  losses  of  sheep  in 
Missouri  each  year  amounts  to  $200,000  from  such  depredations,  to  say 
nothing  of  losses  in  other  ways.  The  loss  is  not  only  burdensome  to 
to  the  owner,  but  the  State  is  deprived  of  that  amount  of  taxable 
wealth. 

EXPERIENCE   AND   VIEWS   OF   MISSOURI   SHEEP-OWNERS. 

No  one  fe  better  qualified  to  discuss  the  merits  of  sheep  husbandly 
from  a  Missouri  standpoint  than  those  who  have  had  years  of  experience, 
hence  I  have  collated  from  a  very  large  and  recent  correspondence  with 
the  sheep-raisers  testimony  regarding  the  industry  that  can  not  fail  to 
give  the  reader  a  clear  and  comprehensive  view  of  the  condition  and 
possibilities  of  the  business  in  this  State  from  the  standpoint  of  prac- 
tical and  experienced  sheepmen.  Nearly  every  portion  of  the  State 
and  almost  every  phase  of  the  industry  is  touched  upon  by  the  follow- 
ing correspondence: 

John  Morris,  Chillicothe,  Livingston  County: 

I  commenced  the  sheep  industry  in  1866  with  a  small  flock,  and  have  found  them 
the  most  profitable  of  any  kind  of  stock.  I  now  keep  from  1,000  to  1,200  head.  This 
is  a  good  State  for  the  business,  and  with  a  careful  man  the  future  is  bright.  How- 
ever, I  find  that  there  is  only  about  one  man  in  twenty  that  is  capable  of  taking  caro 
of  sheep. 

Judge  E.  P.  Ayres,  Louisiana,  Pike  County: 

Have  been  actively  engaged  in  sheep  husbandry  for  the  past  six  years.  Began 
with  common  native  ewes  and  used  a  pure-bred  Southdown  buck  for  five  years.  The 
past  year  I  bred  a  thoroughbred  Oxford  Down  ram  with  these  Southdown  grades. 


WEST    OF    THE   MISSISSIPPI   RIVER.  869 

Larnbs  are  now  coming,  showing  wonderful  results.  There  is  no  species  of  live-stock 
industry  so  profitable,  according  to  my  experience,  as  that  of  sheep,  the  future  of 
which  in  Missouri  I  regard  as  promising. 

Jolin  S.  Crow,  Paris,  -Monroe  County: 

Have  been  raising  sheep  ever  since  I  began  farming,  nearly  forty  years  ago,  and 
regard  a  small  flock  more  profitable  than  any  other  stock.  My  sheep  yield  me  from 
$5  to  $6  per  head  yearly. 

P.  S.  Alexander,  Lone  Jack,  Jackson  County : 

Sheep  have  paid  me  as  well  as,  if  not  better,  than  any  other  stock.  I  only  keep 
from  80  to  100  head,  as  they  do  better  in  small  flocks.  As  fertilizers,  they  have  no 
equal. 

O.  C.  Roby,  Mexico,  Audrain  County : 

Was  raised  on  a  sheep  farm  in  Ohio,  and  have  been  in  the  business  all  my  life— 
forty-five  years.  Handled  sheep  in  Kansas  and  Missouri.  I  now  have  1,500  head. 
If  we  only  had  a  good  dog-  law  Missouri  would  soon  be  the  great  sheep  State  of  the 
country. 

C.  H.  Canthorn,  Laddonia,  Audrain  County : 

Have  handled  a  few  sheep  all  my  life,  and  they  have  always  paid  better  than  any 
other  investment.  I  keep  Cotswolds,  and  last  season  200  ewes  dropped  330  lambs 
and  raised  295.  I  never  sell  a  young  ewe  unless  it  is  one  I  do  not  like.  I  cull  every 
year,  and  sell  whether  I  can  get  my  price  or  not.  A  ram  should  not  run  with  the 
flock  during  the  breeding  season,  but  should  be  well  cared  for.  With  such  treatment 
he  can  serve  150  ewes  as  well  as  50  while  running  with  the  flock. 

W.  H.  Gist,  Bridgeton,  St.  Louis  County: 

Have  followed  the  business  for  thirty-five  years,  and  think  it  one  of  the  most 
profitable  and  delightful  departments  of  the  farm.  The  products  of  the  flock  meet 
two  needs  of  the  human  family.  There  is  a  growing  demand  for  mutton,  and  woolen 
fabrics  are  indispensable.  I  believe  that  Missouri  can  not  be  surpassed  in  her  adap- 
tation to  sheep-growing. 

Win.  Johnson,  Ben  ton  City,  Audrain  County: 

Have  handled  sheep  for  thirty  years — twenty  years  in  Ohio  and  ten  years  in  Mis- 
souri. Have  used  mostly  full-blood  Merinos,  and  they  ha  ve  been  the  principal  source 
of  revenue  in  my  farming.  If  people  could  be  educated  in  sheep  husbandry  the  in- 
dustry would  have  a  flattering  future. 

J.  D.  Parks,  Holden,  Johnson  County: 

Have  followed  the  business  for  five  years  in  Missouri,  and  have  made  about  50  per 
cent  on  the  investment.  Also  five  years  in  Kansas,  where  I  started  in  1876  with  1,000 
ewes,  worth  about  $2,500.  Sold  out  in  1881,  after  paying  all  expenses,  for  $14,000. 
Think  sheep  husbandry,  properly  handled,  in  Missouri  will  soon  pay  50  per  cent  profit. 

William  Eiley,  New  Madrid,  New  Madrid  County : 

I  think  if  our  legislature  would  enact  laws  that  would  annihilate  the  overplus  of 
worthless  curs,  it  would  greatly  help  the  sheep  industry  in  this  State. 

H.  Clay  Jackson,  Ulmon  Ridge,  Miller  County: 

I  have  experienced  some  reverses  from  dogs  and  low  prices  of  mutton  during  the 
twenty-five  years  I  have  been  in  the  business,  but  have  stuck  close  to  sheep  and  made 
more  money  from  them  than  from  mules,  cattle,  or  hogs. 


870  SHEEP    INDUSTRY    OF    THE    UNITED    STATES 

H.  B.  Scott,  Sedalia,  Pettis  County: 

My  experience  in  sheep  husbandry  for  the  past  few  years  has  been  very  satisfactory 
and  profitable,  although  I  have  only  kept  a  small  flock  of  thoroughbred  Shropshires 
for  breeders.  If  prices  are  not  disturbed  by  legislation  the  industry  in  this  State 
will  become  more  popular. 

J.  J.  Brigal,  Harden,  Callaway  County: 

Have  had  eight  years'  experience  in  sheep  husbandry.  The  future  is  quite  flatter- 
ing in  view  of  the  fact  that  we  expect  never  again  to  see  our  sheep  go  as  low  in  price 
as  heretofore,  and  we  shall  endeavor  by  care  and  attention  to  make  this  the  foremost 
business  of  our  great  State.  Our  farms  are  renewed,  and  much  of  the  old  land  would 
become  worthless  without  the  sheep's  foot,  which  is  gold  to  the  soil. 

J.  B.  Murehany,  Dardenne,  St.  Charles  County: 

Sheep-raising  is  a  success  from  beginning  to  end.  A  few  head  on  the  farm  will 
always  pay  100  per  cent.  I  have  just  shipped  a  lot  of  yearling  lambs  that  weighed 
120  pounds  in  St.  Louis,  and  brought  $6  per  head.  The  lambs  never  saw  any  grain 
except  what  they  got  iu  the  stubble  field.  They  were  wintered  on  clover  hay.  A 
neighbor  of  mine  raised  64  lambs  from  45  Shropshire  ewes,  the  best  record  I  ever 
knew. 

Thomas  McNallie,  Sarcoxie,  Jasper  County: 

Have  had  sixteen  years'  experience  in  this  county.  I  started  with  less  than  20 
head,  taking  them  on  shares,  and  at  end  of  the  year  bought  the  flock,  and  as  there 
was  unlimited  range  near  I  kept  buying  until  in  three  years  I  had  400  head.  My 
first  mistake  was  in  selling  a  car  of  the  fattest  each  year  after  shearing,  and  breeding 
the  ewes  without  weeding  out  the  aged  and  inferior.  Another  mistake  was  in  breed- 
ing my  ewes  to  a  Leicester  ram  instead  of  using  a  Merino  or  Down  ram. 

W.  B.  Cox,  Oto,  Stone  County: 

I  have  been  familiar  with  sheep -raising  for  forty  years,  and  since  1870  have  kept 
from  100  to  300  sheep  here,  but  four  years  ago  reduced  my  flock  to  60  head.  I  now 
keep  a  better  grade  of  sheep,  and  pasture  them  most  of  the  time.  Sheep,  like  other 
stock,  require  plenty  of  feed  and  good  care,  in  order  to  be  profitable.  This  county 
is  well  adapted  to  the  business. 

William  Cully,  Cherry  Box,  Shelby  County: 

I  find  the  best  results  from  breeding  from  aged  bucks,  as  the  lambs  are  stronger 
and  make  larger  sheep.  Bucks  should  never  be  in  a  flock  more  than  two  seasons. 
In  this  county  sheep-raising  is  on  the  increase,  and  more  attention  is  being  paid  to 
raising  improved  breeds. 

H.  M.  Vaile,  Independence,  Jackson  County: 

My  experience  with  sheep  has  been  pleasant,  except  for  dogs.  Some  years  ago  I 
imported  some  superior  Lincoln  sheep  and  used  them  on  grade  Merinos.  The  cross 
has  made  a  superior  mutton  and  at  the  same  time  a  wool  sheep,  bearing  the  highest 
price  fleece.  In  body  they  are  sound,  low  and  strong,  the  wool  long,  even,  glossy, 
and  fine;  both  body  and  legs  well  wooled.  I  regard  this  cross  superior  to  all  others. 

KANSAS. 

Kansas  has  now  a  population  of  1,500,000  and  an  area  of  80,891 
square  miles,  or  51,770,240  acres,  with  hardly  a  single  acre  that  can  not 
be  utilized  either  for  grazing  or  farming.  There  is  no  land,  except  that 


WEST   OF   THE    MISSISSIPPI   RIVER.  871 

under  cultivation,  that  is  not  well  covered  with  a  great  variety  of  nu- 
tritious native  or  tame  grasses. 

The  State  has  an  extent  of  400  miles  from  east  to  west  by  200  in 
breadth.  Its  average  altitude  above  the  sea  level  is  not  far  from  2,375 
feet.  The  highest  portion  is  in  the  extreme  northwest,  and  is  about 
4,000  feet.  The  rivers  drain  the  country  in  a  southerly  and  easterly 
direction.  The  surface  for  the  most  part  is  a  gently  rolling  prairie, 
with  few  steep  hills  or  bluffs,  and  the  ravines  are  not  often  precipitous 
or  deep.  The  soil  of  both  valley  and  high  prairie  is  about  the  same — 
fine,  black,  rich  loam,  so  common  in  the  Western  States.  On  the  high 
prairies  it  is  from  one  to  three  feet  deep,  while  in  the  bottoms  it  is  often 
twenty  feet.  The  soil  of  the  upland  prairies  is  generally  a  deep  rich 
clay  loam.  In  the  bottom  lands  near  the  streams  the  soil  is  black  sandy 
loam ;  the  second  bottom — that  is,  the  land  between  the  uplands  and  the 
valleys — is  composed  of  a  rich  and  deep  black  loam,  with  very  little 
sand.  All  of  these  lauds  are  free  from  stones,  easily  cultivated,  and 
very  productive.  The  State  is  well  drained ;  there  are  very  few  stag- 
nant ponds,  and  not  a  swamp  of  50  acres  within  its  borders.  The  soil 
and  climate,  the  native  and  tame  grasses,  all  seem  to  combine  in  adapt- 
ing Kansas  for  the  highest  development  of  the  sheep  industry. 

As  the  country  has  become  settled  and  cultivated  the  short  buffalo 
grass  which  originally  covered  the  prairies  has  given  place  to  the  tall 
blue-stem  and  other  bladed  grasses,  and  in  many  places  various  tame 
grasses  and  forage  plants,  valuable  particularly  for  hay,  such  as  timothy, 
blue  grass,  clover,  and  alfalfa.  Not  only  do  the  valleys,  but  the  aver- 
age uplands  also,- produce  heavy  crops  of  corn  and  vegetables.  The  up- 
lands are  specially  adapted  to  the  production  of  wheat,  oats,  and  other 
small  grains,  and  to  the  culture  of  fruit. 

Kansas  is  well  supplied  with  rivers  and  creeks.  On  the  eastern  bor- 
der the  Missouri  presents  a  water  front  of  nearly  150  miles.  The  Kansas 
is  formed  by  the  junction  of  the  Republican  and  the  Smoky  Hill  rivers, 
and  from  the  point  of  confluence  it  flows  east  about  150  miles  to  the 
Missouri.  Lateral  valleys  on  the  north  are  formed  by  the  Saline,  Solo- 
mon, and  Blue  rivers,  and  other  streams.  The  Osage  River  rises  in  the 
eastern  part  of  the  State,  and  after  a  southeast  course  of  about  150  miles 
enters  Missouri.  The  Arkansas  has  its  source  in  the  Rocky  Mountains 
in  Colorado.  It  flows  through  nearly  three-fourths  of  the  length  of 
Kansas  easterly  and  southeasterly,  and  with  its  tributaries  waters  two- 
thirds  of  the  western  and  southern  part  of  the  State.  Its  lateral 
valleys  on  the  north  are  traversed  by  the  Walnut,  Little  Arkansas, 
Pawnee  Fork,  and  other  streams,  and  on  the  south  by  the  Ninnescah, 
Chicaskia,  and  other  fine  streams.  The  Keosho,  rising  in  the  central 
part  of  the  State,  flows  southeast  about  200  miles,  receiving  in  its  course 
the  Cottonwood  and  other  streams.  The  Verdigris  runs  nearly  paral- 
lel with  the  Neosho,  receiving  Fall  River  on  the  west.  In  the  south- 
west are  the  Cimmaron  and  Medicine,  which  flow  for  a  considerable 


872        SHEEP  INDUSTRY  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES 

distance  in  the  State,  and  a  network  of  southern  tributaries  of  the  Ar- 
kansas. These  rivers  are  not  navigable,  yet  with  their  tributaries  they 
make  Kansas  one  of  the  best  watered  of  the  Western  States.  In  most 
localities,  including  the  extreme  western  part  of  the  State,  good  water 
is  obtained  within  a  reasonable  distance  of  the  surface  by  digging  or 
boring.  In  some  places,  particularly  in  the  western  counties,  artesian 
wells  furnish  valuable  supplies  of  water. 

Timber  is  abundant  along  the  streams  in  the  eastern  portion  of  the 
State.  It  is  less  plentiful  in  the  central  portion.  The  varieties  of 
timber  embrace  oak,  elm,  black  walnut,  cotton  wood,  box-elder,  honey 
locust,  willow,  hickory,  sycamore,  white  ash,  hackberry,  and  mulberry. 
The  Osage  orange  makes  a  rapid  and  vigorous  growth.  It  is  not  killed 
by  the  winters,  and  is  extensively  used  for  hedges.  Stone,  being- 
plenty  and  cheap,  is  used  in  dwellings,  barns,  outhouses,  and  fences. 

Except  in  certain  cases,  where  the  surroundings  and  equipments  are 
especially  favorable,  large  flocks  of  sheep  will  never  again  be  numerous 
in  this  State.  The  demand  for  ewes  by  farmers  is  better  to-day  than 
ever  before,  and  is  an  indication  of  the  tendency  of  the  industry  in  the 
future.  Sheep-raising  will  prove  especially  advantageous  to  western 
Kansas,  where  grain-raising  has  been,  as  a  rule,  a  hazardous  business, 
and  where  many  farmers  have  only  limited  means.  On  this  subject 
the  Kansas  Farmer  says : 

Western  Kansas  is  naturally  adapted  for  live-stock  raising,  owing  to  its  abundant 
native  pastures,  pure  air  and  water,  and  invigorating  and  healthful  climate,  and 
there  is  no  class  of  live  stock  that  requires  so  little  capital  as  sheep,  so  that  this 
branch  of  the  animal  industry  is  within  the  reach  of  most  of  the  present  residents, 
and  consequently  an  available  business  that  will  give  larger  returns  for  the  amount 
of  money  invested  than  any  other  class  of  live  stock.  There  is  no  other  portion  of 
the  country  west  of  the  Mississippi  that  is  better  adapted  in  every  way  for  success- 
ful sheep  husbandry  than  western  Kansas.  This  is  an  acknowledged  fact,  as 
vouched  for  by  men  who  have  had  years  of  experience  in  this  section  as  well  as 
other  portions  of  the  country;  besides,  the  writer  has  visited  nearly  every  sheep- 
raising  region  of  the  West,  and  is  more  than  ever  convinced  of  the  truthfulness  of 
the  foregoing  statement. 

NUMBERS   AND   VALUES. 

Official  reports  of  the  number  of  sheep  and  other  live  stock  for  1891 
include  only  such  stock  as  was  assessed  for  taxation  purposes,  hence 
the  figures  are  incomplete,  as  the  number  assessed  is  always  short  of 
the  actual  number,  and  does  not  include  last  year's  lambs. 

The  report  of  the  state  board  of  agriculture  for  the  year  ended 
December  31, 1801,  gives  the  following  distribution:  The  counties  hav- 
ing 10,000  head  of  sheep  and  over  are  Butler,  Woodson,  and  Sedgwick; 
those  having  8,000  and  under  10,000  are  Cowley,  Mitchell,  and  Osborne ; 
those  having  6,000  and  under  8,000  are  Hodgeman,  Ottawa,  Reno, 
Russell,  and  Wallace;  those  having  4,000  and  under  6,000  are  Coffey, 
Greenwood,  Lyon,  Marion,  Scott,  Sheridan,  and  Trego;  those  having 


WEST    OF    THE    MISSISSIPPI    RIVER.  873 

2,000  and  under  4,000  are  Dickinson,  Doniphan,  Ellsworth,  Finney, 
Gove.  (iraham.  Harvey,  Johnson,  Kinginan,  Meade,  Phillips,  Sunnier, 
and  Washington;  those  having  under  2,000  are  Allen,  Anderson,  Atchi- 
sou,  Barber,  Barton,  Bourbon,  Brown,  Chase,  Chautauqua,  Cherokee, 
Cheyenne,  Clark,  Clay,  Cloud,  Coinanche,  Crawford,  Decatur,  Douglas, 
Elk,  Ellis,  Ford,  Franklin,  Geary,  Grant,  Gray,  Greeley,  Hamilton, 
Harper,  Haskell,  Jackson,  Jefferson,  Jewell,  Kearney,  Kiowa,  Labette, 
Lane,  Leavenworth,  Lincoln,  Linn,  Logan,  Marshall,  McPherson, 
Miami,  Montgomery,  Morris,  ^femaha,  Neosho,  Ness,  Norton,  Osage, 
Pawnee,  Pottawatomie,  Pratt,  Eawlins,  Eepublic,  Eice,  Eiley,  Eooks, 
Eush,  Saline,  Seward,  Shawnee,  Sherman,  Smith,  Stafford,  Stevens, 
Thomas,  Wabaunsee,  Wichita,  Wilson,  and  Wyandotte.  The  total 
number  given  is  260,558.  The  United  States  Government  statistics 
for  the  same  year  give  the  number  at  469,433. 

To  ascertain  the  actual  number  of  sheep  I  selected  several  counties 
where  the  numbex  of  flocks  and  those  in  each  flock  were  known,  and 
ascertained  that  it  was  necessary  to  add  almost  exactly  75  per  cent  of 
sheep  assessed  for  taxation  to  get  at  the  number  of  sheep  on  hand 
April  15,  1892,  which  would  give  455,778  head  left  after  shipping 
feeders.  The  lamb  crop  for  1892  will  exceed  200,000,  which  will  make 
the  number  of  sheep  and  lambs  at  the  present  writing  (June,  1892) 
655,778  in  the  hands  of  the  farmers  and  sheep-owners. 

The  wool  clip  for  1892  will  amount  to  at  least  3,000,000  pounds.  The 
lamb  and  wool  clip  for  this  year  will  represent  a  10  per  cent  income  on 
£8,000,000,  which  may  be  considered  a  conservative  estimate  of  the 
value  of  the  sheep  industry  of  Kansas  at  this  time. 

GENERAL  FACTS  ABOUT  SHEEP  HUSBANDRY. 

Sheep  husbandry  is  limited  in  extent  in  Kansas,  in  comparison  with 
other  branches  of  animal  industry.  While  not  more  than  one  farmer 
in  fifty  is  engaged  in  the  business,  it  is  a  significant  fact  that  there  are 
more  sheep-owners  in  the  State  now  than  there  were  when  the  number 
of  sheep  (during  1881 -'84)  was  double  that  of  the  present  time.  There 
are  more  flocks,  but  they  are  very  much  reduced  in  size.  The  average 
value  was  never  greater  than  to-day,  and  never  before  in  the  history  of 
sheep  husbandry  in  Kansas  were  there  so  many  small  flocks.  There 
seems  to  be  a  gradual  movement  all  over  the  State  to  engage  in  sheep- 
raising  in  a  limited  way.  There  are  not  exceeding  2  out  of  the  106 
counties  of  the  State  where  sheep  are  not  now  owned. 

The  class  of  sheep  in  central  and  western  Kansas  are  mainly  grade 
Merinos,  while  in  the  more  densely  populated  counties  of  eastern  Kan- 
sas they  are  mostly  mutton  sheep.  Merinos  crossed  with  Cotswolds, 
Shropshires,  Southdowns,  or  grades  of  the  medium  and  long-wooled 
breeds,  are  numerous.  While  fully  70  per  cent  of  the  flocks  of  sheep 
a  iv  Merinos,  not  over  50  per  cent  of  the  breeders  use  Merino  bucks, 
and  the  other  half  use  rams  of  the  more  strictly  mutton  breeds.  The 


874        SHEEP  INDUSTRY  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES 

larger  flocks  iii  the  eastern  half  of  the  State  are  to  be  found  in  the 
counties  of  Butler,  Elk,  and  Woodson. 

The  numbers  of  sheep  owned  by  the  large  flockmasters  range  in  size 
from  500  to  5,000,  the  average  holding  being  about  1,000  head.  Four 
hundred  is  considered  a  large  flock  for  the  farmer,  and  the  bulk  of  these 
small  farm  flocks  number  from  25  to  50  head.  Since  1889  the  numbers 
have  slowly  but  steadily  increased,  notwithstanding  the  large  mutton 
sales,  which  have  been  fully  equal  to  the  increase  of  the  flocks;  so  that 
the  increase  represents  breeding  sheep  brought  in  from  other  States 
by  those  starting  in  the  business.  The  present  condition  of  the  in- 
dustry is  in  a  very  flourishing  condition,  and  those  flockmasters  who 
are  well  equipped  for  the  business  express  themselves  as  well  satisfied. 
With  scarcely  an  exception  they  say  that,  in  comparison  with  other 
branches  of  live-stock  husbandry,  it  surpasses  them  all.  So  far  as 
profits  on  the  investment  and  labor  are  represented,  $100  invested  in 
sheep  will  pay  muchni'ire  profit  than  $200  invested  in  horses  or  cat- 
tle. All  agree  that  the  remunerative  prices  received  for  mutton  render 
sheep  much  more  profitable  now  than  any  other  class  of  stock.  The 
price  of  wool  is  low,  and  of  itself  would  hardly  pay  for  handling  sheep. 

Since  1883  there  has  been  quite  a  decline  in  numbers  in  several  of  the 
principal  sheep  counties,  owing  to  the  low  price  of  wool  and  the  settle- 
ment of  the  range  country,  making  it  necessary  for  the  flockmaster  to 
own  the  land  and  use  fenced  pastures.  As  a  result  a  number  of  the 
older  sheepmen  have  either  abandoned  the  business  or  reduced  the  size 
of  flocks  in  conformity  to  their  environments.  However,  one  re- 
sult of  this  reduction  in  numbers  has  been  to  cause  the  owner  to  handle 
a  better  class  of  sheep  and  take  better  care  of  them  than  he  did  under 
the  old  regime  of  unlimited  free  range. 

At  present  the  outlook  is  brighter  than  for  years,  and  a  general  revi- 
val of  the  business  is  anticipated,  but  on  a  much  different  basis  than 
when  sheep-raising  was  largely  confined  to  the  sparsely  settled  regions 
of  western  Kansas,  and  the  sheep  consisted  of  the  small,  wrinkly,  and 
greasy  Merinos  which  were  grazed  free  on  Government  land.  The  con- 
ditions are  now  different;  the  Government  land  is  all  gone  and  now 
owned  by  individuals,  and  it  is  necessary  to  lease  or  own  the  land  and 
have  inclosed  pastures;  besides,  the  class  of  sheep  that  can  now  be  han- 
dled profitably  must  have  both  wool  and  mutton  qualities.  Those  who 
have  continued  in  the  business  have  found  it  necessary  to  conform  to 
these  changed  conditions,  and  breed  more  with  reference  to  mutton 
qualities. 

Sheep  of  the  mutton  breeds  are  being  brought  in  from  Eastern  States 
in  limited  numbers,  and  no  bad  results  seem  to  be  caused  by  the  change 
of  location  or  climate.  After  they  become  acclimated  an  improvement 
in  constitution  is  the  usual  result,  but  the  wool  loses  some  of  its  soft- 
ness and  becomes  dingier  or  harsher.  Sheep  brought  in  from  the  West 
and  South  usually  show  an  all  around  improvement,  both  as  to  increased 
fleece  and  size  of  carcass.  They  are  uniformly  healthy. 


WEST   OF   T1TK    MISSISSIPPI   RIVER.  875 

As  a  rule,  pure-bred  rams  are  used  of  the  following  breeds,  ranking 
in  the  order  named :  French  and  American  Merinos,  Shropshires,  Cots- 
wolds,  Southdowns,  Liucolns,  Oxfords,  and  Hampshires.  The  ram  is 
not  used  much  until  two  years  old.  After  that  time  he  is  given  from 
40  to  100  ewes,  and  is  usually  bred  to  a  limited  number  each  night  after 
the  ewes  are  yarded.  The  ordinary  breeding  season  is  during  October, 
November,  or  December.  The  aim  is  to  breed  so  that  the  lamb  will 
come  soon  after  the  sheep  are  out  on  grass.  November,  however,  is  the 
usual  and  most  desirable  month  for  breeding.  The  ram  remains  with 
ewes  from  twenty  to  sixty  days,  if  turned  in  at  all  during  the  breeding 
season.  The  method  of  hand-breeding  is  much  more  generally  prac- 
ticed than  formerly. 

Sheep  owners  from  the  various  counties  report  that  from  5  to  10  per 
cent  of  the  ewes  fail  to  breed,  and  that  the  average  of  lambs  raised  is 
from  75  to  95  per  cent.  The  more  experienced  sheep-raisers  who  under- 
stand sheep  husbandry  seldom  have  a  ewe  in  good  condition  fail  to 
breed,  and  succeed  in  raising  nearly  every  lamb.  There  is  no  good 
reason  in  Kansas  for  not  raising  a  larger  per  cent  of  the  lambs  dropped 
than  is  generally  reported.  It  is  simply  criminal  carelessness  on  the 
part  of  flockmasters,  or  because  of  the  depredations  of  worthless  dogs 
or  prowling  wolves. 

Only  a  few  years  ago  wool  was  the  sole  object  of  the  sheep -raiser  in 
this  State,  but  now,  when  questioned  regarding  the  main  objects 
sought,  the  invariable  answer  is,  both  wool  and  mutton.  However,  the 
tendency  to  mutton  only  is  apparent  in  many  flocks  at  the  expense  of 
fleece,  when  by  judicious  selection  and  mating,  first-class  muttons  may 
be  secured  without  any  sacrifice  of  wool.  A  profitable  fleece  of  delaine, 
combing,  and  medium  wool  can  easily  be  secured,  and  at  the  same  time 
a  good  mutton  carcass  weighing  from  120  to  175  pounds. 

The  time  for  shearing  sheep  is  during  May  or  June,  usually  the  latter 
part  of  May.  Pure-bred  flocks  are  generally  shorn  in  April.  Shearing 
is  usually  done  in  a  shed  or  barn,  near  the  yard  or  corral,  on  a  platform 
or  board  floor  prepared  for  the  purpose.  Each  fleece  is  generally  tied 
up  separately.  If  the  flocks  are  of  any  considerable  size  three  or  four 
shearers  are  employed,  but  when  they  only  number  a  few  head  the  far- 
mer does  his  own  work.  At  present  the  flocks  are  so  remote  and  scat- 
tered in  a  few  counties  that  the  owner  is  compelled  to  consign  his  wool 
to  commission  houses.  Fully  80  per  cent  of  the  clip  is  thus  consigned 
to  houses  in  St.  Louis  and  Chicago,  and  occasionally  to  Boston  or  Phila- 
delphia, but  most  of  the  growers  express  a  preference  for  the  St.  Louis 
market.  Every  sheepman  would  prefer  to  sell  at  home  were  such  a 
thing  possible.  But  the  growers  are  too  much  scattered  at  present  for 
that;  yet,  if  they  would  form  an  association  and  bunch  their  wool,  simi- 
lar to  the  plan  of  the  Hopkins  County  Association  in  Texas,  they  would 
find  it  a  good  thing.  Several  sheep-owners  in  the  State  have  talked  of 
forming  such  cooperative  associations,  but  nothing  as  yet  has  been 


876        SHEEP  INDUSTRY  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES 

done.  If  the  growers  of  several  counties  would  unite  and  bunch  their 
wool  at  some  one  central  point  they  would  in  time  develop  quite  a  local 
market  and  realize  much  better  prices. 

The  Kansas  fleeces  are  heavy,  and  the  average  shrinkage  in  scouring 
is  about  65  per  cent.  The  usual  weight  for  fine  wool  is  from  6  to  12 
pounds,  and  in  some  flocks  even  more.  The  medimn  wool  usually  runs 
from  about  5  to  8  pounds  per  fleece.  The  average  for  the  State  for  fine 
is  7 J,  and  for  medium  about  6  J.  The  class  of  wool  produced  in  the  State 
consists  mainly  of  the  fine  and  medium  grades.  There  are  now  some 
combing  and  delaine  wools  grown.  This  grade  of  wool  is  increasing 
every  year,  as  also  the  medium  grades,  which  will  eventually  comprise 
the  bulk  of  the  clip  of  the  State.  The  prices  realized  by  the  growers 
last  season  for  the  various  grades  were  from  12  to  22  cents.  The  cost 
of  marketing  is  about  2  cents  per  pound  when  sent  to  western  markets. 

One  of  the  chief  drawbacks  to  the  sheep  industry  is  the  difficulty  en- 
countered iii  marketing  wool.  Some  growers  are  careless  in  preparing 
it  for  market,  and  many  individual  clips  are  in  bad  condition  and  heavy 
witli  dirt.  The  result  is  that  Kansas  grades  in  the  wool  market  quota- 
tions are  usually  lower  than  similar  grades  from  other  States.  Many 
growers  think  that  there  exists  a  combination  between  the  manufactur- 
ers and  the  wool-dealers  and  commission  merchants  which  keeps  wool 
below  its  actual  value  and  practically  prevents  competition.  In  most 
parts  of  Kansas  the  amount  of  wool  is  too  small  to  attract  buyers  from 
a  distance,  so  that  the  sheep-owners  must  either  sell  to  the  local  buyer, 
who  knows  very  little  of  the  merits  of  wool  or  the  different  grades,  or 
consign  his  wool  to  commission  merchants,  taking  the  risks  of  getting 
adequate  or  satisfactory  returns.  Formerly  the  bulk  of  the  consign- 
ments from  Kansas  went  to  Eastern  markets,  but  as  it  usually  required 
from  two  to  ten  months  before  final  returns  were  received,  the  consign- 
ments now  mainly  go  to  St.  Louis  and  Chicago. 

High  freight  rates  are  a  serious  difficulty.  For  instance,  the  rate  on 
a  car  of  AVOO!  from  Butler  County  to  St.  Louis  is  about  $180,  while  the 
rate  for  a  car  of  live  stock  is  only  $30.  The  rate  for  wool  is  about  four 
times  as  high  as  the  rate  for  Avheat.  A  brief  summary  of  the  chief 
difficulties  and  objections  encountered  in  the  disposition  of  the  wool 
crop  as  enumerated  by  the  sheep-owners  are  as  follows:  Exorbitant 
freight  rates ;  want  of  home  buyers  5  unjust  rating  of  Kansas  grades  in 
market;  unreliable  commission  merchants;  too  many  middlemen  be- 
tween wool  producer  and  manufacturer  at  the  expense  of  the  growers. 

Sheep-owners  annually  dispose  of  a  certain  proportion  of  their  flocks 
either  as  muttons  or  stockers,  and  the  average  sales  constitute  from  20 
to  30  per  cent  of  the  flock,  usually  about  one-half  of  the  yearly  increase. 
The  ewes  are  generally  sold  to  farmers  who  wish  to  start  in  the  busi- 
ness, and  the  prices  paid  after  shearing  is  from  $2.25  to  $4  per  head. 
The  bulk  of  the  sales  are  mature  wethers  and  sometimes  the  ram  lambs. 
When  the  flocks  are  small  they  are  readily  taken  by  the  local  butchers 


WKST    OF    THE  ^MISSISSIPPI    RIVER.  877 

at  from  3  to  •">  cents  per  pound.  The  car  lots  go  mainly  to  Kansas  City 
markets,  and  occasionally  to  Chicago  or  St.  Louis.  They  are  sold 
either  off  the  grass  during  summer,  or,  if  grain  is  fed,  during  the  winter. 
There  is  always  good  demand  at  fair  prices  for  fat  sheep,  and  there  is 
no  class  of  stock  from  which  the  farmer  realizes  better  prices  and  more 
money,  for  the  feed  consumed.  The  average  gross  weight  of  fat  sheep 
ranges  from  90  to  115  pounds  for  Merinos,  and  for  the  grades  and 
crosses  of  other  breeds  from  100  to  150  pounds. 

The  cost  of  keeping  per  sheep  a  year  is  variously  estimated  at  from  50 
cents  to  $1.50.  In  western  counties,  where  land  is  cheaper  and  fences  not 
much  used,  the  annual  cost  per  sheep  is  placed  at  50  cents  to  75  cents, 
while  in  central  and  eastern  Kansas  the  cost  is  put  from  81  to  §1.50, 
depending,  01  course,  on  amount  and  kind  of  feed.  The  majority  state 
that  81  will  cover  all  cost,  including  grain  feed.  Some  farmers  who 
keep  a  few  head  say  that  there  is  none  to  their  credit  than  the  cost  of 
keep.  Besides  the  cost  of  pasturage,  it  is  estimated  that  2  bushels 
of  corn  and  hay  will  cover  all  feed  expenses.  Those  who  raise  mutton 
sheep  say  that  the  fleece  will  pay  all  the  expenses  of  a  year. 

The  local  disadvantages  encountered  in  sheep  husbandry  in  the  dif- 
ferent sections  of  Kansas,  as  enumerated  by  the  owners,  are  as  follows: 
Inability  to  sell  wool  at  home  for  cash;  lack  of  competent  persons  to 
care  for  large  flocks ;  too  great  expense  to  guard  small  flocks  from 
wolves  and  dogs;  general  hostility  of  too  many  farmers  against  sheep; 
poor  winter  pastures  in  western  Kansas  after  heavy  fall  rains,  and  too 
short  a  season  of  green  grass;  scarcity  of  cheap  range  for  large  flocks; 
lack  of  tame-grass  pastures  generally;  necessity  for  keeping  in  repair 
the  neighbors'  line  fences  to  protect  against  cockle-burs;  the  cold  rains 
which  frequently  come  after  shearing;  the  hot  sun  of  July  and  August 
on  the  prairie  pastures  and  lack  of  shade;  light  soil  and  high  winds; 
lack  of  a  wolf-bounty  law  and  the  increase  of  wolves;  the  high  price  of 
lumber  and  wire  for  fencing,  and  dogs. 

It  should  be  remembered  that  this  aggregation  of  disadvantages  is 
by  no  means  general;  in  fact,  skillful  management  on  the  part  of  the 
flockmaster  and  cooperation  and  organization  of  sheep-owners  would 
easily  overcome  most  of  them.  Give  sheep  good  care,  plenty  of  feed 
and  suitable  shelter,  and  they  can  be  raised  successfully  and  profitably 
in  every  county  in  Kansas. 

Among  the  advantages  for  sheep-raising  in  Kansas  are  the  high  and 
gentle  rolling  lands,  which  are  sufficiently  fertile  to  produce  vegetation 
in  the  greatest  abundance.  There  is  hardly  a  foot  of  land  in  the  State 
that  can  not  be  utilized  in  sheep  husbandry.  A  great  variety  of 
cheap  feed  is  easily  produced  in  every  section  of  the  State.  Stock 
water  is  plentiful  and  pure.  The  climate  is  dry  and  healthful  and 
especially  adapted  to  raising  sheep.  Disease  is  practically  unknown; 
the  native  grasses  are  abundant  and  nutritious,  and  tame  grasses 
readily  replace  the  wild  in  the  farming  districts  of  the  State.  No  other 


878        SHEEP  INDUSTRY  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES 

State  produces  a  greater  variety  of  forage  plants,  and  it  surpasses 
most  Western  States  in  the  production  of  sorghum,  alfalfa,  rye,  and 
millet.  Grazing  is  afforded  most  of  the  year,  and  the  feeding  season 
does  not  usually  exceed  from  two  to  three  months.  Lands  are  cheap 
and  productive,  and  no  other  agricultural  State  can  produce  so  much 
feed  at  so  little  cost.  The  fleece  grown  by  experienced  sheepmen  has 
a  fine,  strong  fiber,  and  good  length  of  staple.  Indeed,  nature  seems 
to  provide  all  the  necessary  elements  for  profitable  sheep  husbandry. 

There  is  no  class  of  stock  raised  in  Kansas  that  meets  with  as  little 
loss  from  disease  as  sheep.  By  reason  of  neglect  or  indifferent  manage- 
ment there  are  occasional  cases  of  snuffles,  tapeworm,  grub  in  the  head; 
ticks  and  scab  are  sometimes  prevalent,  but  nothing  of  a  serious  nature 
has  been  reported.  The  chief  loss  is  from  dogs  and  wolves.  There 
has  been  very  little  loss  during  recent  years  from  exposure.  The  losses 
from  dogs  and  wolves  range  all  the  way  from  1  to  10  per  cent.  The 
losses  from  all  these  sources,  including  incompetent  management, 
seldom  exceeds  5  per  cent  per  annum  for  the  whole  State. 

Secretary  Mohler,  of  the  State  board  of  agriculture,  places  the  loss 
of  sheep  in  Kansas  for  1891,  from  all  causes,  at  5,475. 

According  to  high  authority  most  of  the  losses  of  sheep,  either  by 
depredations  or  disease,  are  traceable  to  dogs.  Eecently  Prof.  L.  0. 
Wooster,  of  the  Eureka  (Kans.)  Academy,  in  a  lecture  on  "  Some  of  our 
Friends  and  Foes  of  the  Animal  World,"  in  speaking  of  dogs,  said: 
"Prof.  Terrell,  of  Yale,  says  that  many  of  these  parasites  are  derived 
from  dogs  through  their  omnivorous  habits;  also,  that  it  is  perfectly 
safe  to  say  that  twenty- five  sheep  die  from  parasites  derived  from  dogs 
to  one  killed  by  the  teeth  of  dogs,  and  that  fifty  persons  die  from  the 
same  parasites  to  one  from  hydrophobia."  He  declares  further  that  the 
loss  of  human  life  each  year  more  than  counterbalances  all  the  good 
all  the  dogs  in  the  civilzed  world  could  possibly  do. 

If  it  is  worth  while  to  have  sheep  at  all  they  should  be  good  ones, 
because  it  costs  no  more  to  feed  and  take  care  of  good  sheep  than  of 
inferior  ones.  To  make  them  profitable  good  management,  shelter,  and 
care  are  imperative.  An  ample  supply  of  water  and  feed  should  always 
be  given  them.  During  six  months  of  the  year  the  wild  and  tame 
pastures  will  answer,  then  the  stubble  and  stalk  fields  should  be  utilized, 
and  during  fall  and  winter  the  fields  of  wheat  and  rye.  Good  hay,  corn 
fodder,  and  about  a  bushel  of  grain  daily  to  100  sheep  during  winter 
are  sufficient.  It  is  necessary  to  avoid  confining  them  too  closely.  They 
require  exercise  daily,  and  appreciate  a  variety  of  feeds,  such  as  are 
accessible  wherever  wheat  is  grown. 

Another  important  matter  is  suitable  yards  and  sheds,  which  should 
be  inaccessible  to  dogs  or  wolves.  Sheep  must  be  yarded  every  night, 
winter  or  summer.  The  yard  should  contain  water  and  have  suitable 
racks  for  grain  or  roughness  in  winter,  although  it  is  considered  best 
to  feed  straw  and  hay  on  the  ground,  or  perhaps  in  racks  so  constructed 


WEST    OF    THE    MISSISSIPPI    UIVER.  879 

that  seed  or  chaff  will  not  get  into  the  fleece.  If  they  are  properly 
bred,  fed,  and  sheltered  they  become  veritable  mortgage-lifters,  improve 
the  fertility  of  the  soil,  appearance  of  the  farm,  and  provide  comforts 
for  the  household.  Sheep  are  needed  to  diversify  live-stock  husbandry 
and  prevent  overproduction  of  other  classes  of  domestic  animals.  To 
make  a  success  of  sheep-raising  civilized  methods  of  management  are 
necessary,  and  this,  of  course,  requires  skill,  intelligence,  and  energy, 
and  the  farmer  who  is  not  thus  endowed  will  not  make  a  success  of 
the  business  or  prosper  in  any  branch  of  agriculture.  The  farmer 
who  makes  a  success  of  sheep-raising  will  prosper  where  anyone  else 
can. 

SHEEP  FEEDING. 

Since  1889  there  has  developed  a  new  and  profitable  feature  of  the 
sheep  industry,  which  is  rapidly  becoming  quite  a  business  in  Kansas 
and  Nebraska,  as  well  as  assuming  considerable  importance  in  other 
Western  corn-producing  States.  I  refer  to  the  business  of  feeding, 
which  has  been  discussed  more  in  detail  in  the  Nebraska  report,  because 
that  State  so  far  has  led  in  the  numbers  of  sheep  fed,  although  during 
the  winter  of  1891-'92  almost  as  many  sheep  were  fed  in  Kansas. 

The  large  packers,  like  Swift  &  Co.,  and  others,  who  have  an  exten- 
sive mutton  trade,  have  found  it  rather  difficult  to  secure  enough  sheep 
on  the  Kansas  City  and  Chicago  markets  to  meet  their  requirements, 
so  therefore,  during  recent  years  have  had  to  send  out  buyers  to  visit 
the  sheep-owners  of  the  West  and  contract  for  all  the  mature  and  fat 
wethers  they  could  obtain,  and  such  as  were  not  fat  enough  off  grass 
for  slaughter  were  sent  to  feeding  stations,  mainly  in  Nebraska  and 
Kansas  to  be  grain-fed  during  the  winter.  This  move  on  the  part  of  the 
great  packers  induced  stock-feeders  to  do  likewise,  so  that  during  the 
summer  the  feeders  send  out  buyers  to  contract  wethers  to  be  delivered 
in  the  fall,  when  they  are  fed  from  sixty  to  ninety  days  and  then  for- 
warded to  the  markets. 

With  the  exception  of  the  year  1890-'91,  when  feed  was  high,  these 
feeders  have  made  handsome  profits,  and  as  a  consequence  the  business 
has  grown  in  volume  and  importance  because  no  other  class  of  stock 
fed  realized  as  good  profits  as  sheep,  and  the  amount  of  capital  required 
is  not  so  great  as  that  for  other  stock.  Kansas  is  admirably  adapted 
for  winter  stock-feeding  because  of  the  comparatively  mild  and  dry 
winters  and  by  reason  of  her  large  production  of  cheap  grain  and 
forage. 

The  principal  sheep-feeding  stations  in  Kansas  last  season  were 
located  at  Solomon  City,  Hope,  Eldorado,  Hutchinson,  Ogden,  Wamego, 
Russell,  Abilene,  and  Lebanon.  Small  lots  were  fed  at  various  points 
in  central  and  western  Kansas. 

The  total  receipts  of  sheep  at  the  Kansas  City  stock  yards  for  1891 
were  386,760  head.  Of  this  number  206,662  came  from  Kansas  and  the 


880  SHEEP   INDUSTRY    OF    THE    UNITED    STATES 

remainder  from  the  following-named  States:  Texas,  72,712;  Missouri, 
50,227;  Colorado,  33,752;  ^ew  Mexico,  9,126;  Nebraska,  8,490;  Ari- 
zona, 5,511;  Indian  Territory?  2,481;  Utah  and  Wyoming,  799.  Of  the 
sheep  received  at  Kansas  City  over  200,000  were  taken  by  the  local 
packers. 

The  Kansas  City  market  received  during  the  first  five  months  of  this 
year  147,167  sheep  from  Kansas,  which  represents  sheep  fed  by  the 
growers  and  feeders. 

If  Kansas  produces  a  good  corn  crop  the  present  season  there  will  be 
Dot  less  than  a  quarter  of  a  million  sheep  brought  in  from  the  south 
and  west  to  be  fed  during  the  coming  winter. 

The  feeding  the  past  season  in  Kansas  was  not  confined  to  aged 
wethers,  but  a  number  of  yearlings  Avere  fed,  and  fully  20  per  cent 
of  the  number  fed  consisted  of  ewes.  The  success  made  by  the  feeders 
last  season  will  no  doubt  induce  many  new  men  to  engage  in  the  busi- 
ness, when  the  results  of  1890-791  may  be  duplicated  in  losing  the 
feeders  money,  especially  if  prices  advance  on  the  range  and  grains 
should  be  scarce  and  high  priced. 

TESTIMONY   OF    SHEEPMEN. 

Herewith  are  presented  brief  statements  from  representative  sheep- 
owners  of  the  different  sections  of  Kansas  relative  to  their  personal 
experience  regarding  the  industry  in  many  of  its  phases.  A  careful 
perusal  of  what  these  men  say  will  give  the  reader  an  insight  of  .the 
business  from  the  standpoint  of  the  grower,  which  is  an  important  con- 
sideration in  a  comprehensive  review  of  the  industry: 

George  R.  Mann,  Olivet,  Osage  County: 

I  have  been  keeping  sheep  in  this  county  for  over  twenty  years,  and  I  find  it  more 
profitable  than  any  other  branch  of  farming.  Kansas  is  destined  to  become  one  of 
the  leading  mutton  and  wool  producing  States,  as  she  has  all  the  necessary  qualifi- 
cations in  the  way  of  climate  and  feed. 

W.  J.  Snodgrass,  Gordon,  Butler  County: 

When  I  tirst  came  to  Kansas,  in  1870,  I  bought  Texas  cattle  and  soon  failed.  Had 
I  put  the  same  money  in  sheep  at  that  time  I  might,  with  the  same  success  that  I 
have  had  since,  been  a  millionaire.  It  does  seem  to  me  that  any  good,  careful  rust- 
ler could  make  a  stake  in  the  sheep  industry — but,  every  man  to  his  trade. 

Y.  B.  McClure,  Logan,  Phillips  County : 

I  have  handled  sheep  twelve  years  in  Kansas,  six  years  as  a  herder  and  the  same 
time  as  owner,  and  I  like  the  business.  I  think  there  should  be  more  sheep  kept,  as 
there  are  grass  and  feed  enough  wasted  nearly  every  year  to  pay  half  the  mortgages 
on  farms  if  converted  into  wool  and  mutton. 

E.  T.  From,  Louisville,  Pottawatomie  County: 

Have  had  twenty-five  years'  experience  with  fine-wool  sheep,  and  in  all  that  time 
they  have  paid  expenses,  except  the  year  after  the  tariff  reduction  of  1883,  when  feed 
was  very  high  and  wool  very  low.  Then  they  ran  me  behind  about  $1  per  head. 
This  part  of  Kansas  is  well  suited  to  keeping  small  flocks  of  mutton  sheep,  but  would 


WEST    OF    THE    MISSISSIPPI    RIVER.  881 

hardly  pay  to  fence  to  raise  sheep  for  wool  alone.  Our  fanners  as  a  class  are  not 
willing  to  devote  care  enough  to  succeed  with  sheep  at  present  prices.  There  is  no 
excellence  without  labor  in  sheep  husbandry. 

E.  C.  Warren,  Eudora,  Douglas  County: 

Sheep  pay  in  proportion  to  the  care  given  them,  and  no  other  class  of  stock  re- 
sponds so  quickly  to  care  and  good  management.  The  slieep  business  is  growing 
fast  in  a  small  way,  and  in  a  few  years  will  reach  large  proportions,  provided  there 
is  no  unfriendly  legislation.  This  was  a  great  cattle  country  until  the  "Big  Four" 
overshadowed  the  business,  since  which  time  cattle-raising  has  declined  and  sheep 
are  taking  their  place. 

Samuel  Jewett,  Lawrence,  Douglas  County : 

When  wool  was  worth  25  to  30  cents,  sheep-raisers  were  prosperous.  The  future 
of  the  sheep  industry  depends  upon  Congress.  I  desire  to  suggest  one  thing  which 
is  just  and  right  for^  the  whole  United  States,  and  that  is  a  national  wolf-bounty 
law — one  price  everywhere  for  scalps  in  each  county  where  killed.  This  would  be  a 
clean  sweep  of  the  wolves  and  save  the  sheep  from  constant  ravages,  besides  saving 
thousands  of  dollars  to  stockmen  and  raisers  generally. 

J.  S.  Durkee,  Abilene,  Dickinson  County: 

I  began  the  sheep  business  in  Kansas  in  1881  by  purchasing  three  ewes,  which  I 
fed  all  the  corn  they  would  eat.  They  were  extremely  fat,  and  so  were  their  lambs 
when  they  came  in  April,  so  much  so  that  they  were  nearly  helpless.  This  was  for 
the  want  of  exercise  by  the  ewes  before  lambing.  Sheep  require  about  2  miles 
travel  daily,  summer  and  winter,  when  the  weather  will  permit,  as  such  exercise 
makes  strong  lambs.  Three  hundred  head  of  sheep  are  as  many  as  should  be  fed  in 
one  bunch  in  winter. 

Brady  &  Wickham,  Girard,  Crawford  County: 

When  we  came  to  Kansas  in  1876,  we  brought  with  us  1,600  sheep  from  Michigan. 
We  have  kept  sheep  ever  since  and  know  from  our  own  experience  that  sheep  will  net 
a  greater  profit  from  the  amount  of  capital  invested  than  any  other  branch  of  the 
live-stock  industry.  Judging  from  the  numerous  inquiries  of  late  for  sheep,  a  gen- 
eral interest  is  being  awakened. 

C.  E.  Westbrook,  Peabody,  Marion  County: 

For  thirty-seven  years  I  have  owned  sheep ;  nineteen  years  of  that  time  in  Kan- 
sas. I  have  had  experience  with  most  of  the  different  breeds  and  find  the  Merinos  the 
best  of  all  for  this  State.  WThile  my  flock  averages  about  1,000  head  a  year,  I  am 
keeping  fewer  each  year,  for  the  wolves  and  dogs  get  worse  all  the  time.  If  sheep 
could  be  turned  into  the  pastures  and  left  there,  most  farmers  would  want  some. 

H.  L.  Nye,  Belle  Plaine,  Simmer  County: 

Have  handled  from  1,000  to  8,000  sheep  for  twelve  years.  The  day  for  large  flocks 
is  past.  If  farmers  would  keep  from  50  to  100  sheep,  lamb  them  in  March  and  April, 
shear  them  in  April,  club  together  and  hire  a  man  for  each  500  head  to  range  them 
through  May  and  June,  then  take  them  back  on  the  farms  to  clean  up  their  wheat 
stubble  fields,  weedy  corn  fields,  volunteer  oat  fields,  and  winter  stalk  fields,  then 
feed  liV orally  with  grain,  always  keeping  them  fat,  they  will  be  successful. 

W.  W.  Cook,  Eussell,  Russell  County: 

I  find  that  careful  and  intelligent  labor  bestowed  on  sheep  gives  good  returns,  bet- 
ter than  can  be  had  from  any  other  kind  of  stock.     The  type  of  sheep  is  changing 
from  the  fine  wrinkly  kind  to  large  smooth  sheep,  suitable  for  both  mutton  and  wool. 
22990 — -56 


882        SHEEP  INDUSTRY  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES 

That  large  flocks,  ranged,  will  be  divided  into  smaller  flocks  and  inclosed  in  pastures. 
Every  farmer  could  keep  a  few  sheep  profitably  and  to  advantage. 

E.  L.  Gilbert,  Chester,  Jefferson  County : 

Sixteen  years  ago  I  began  with  7  very  scrawny  looking  sheep  and  bred  to  a 
thoroughbred  Cotswold  buck,  and  obtained  some  good  grades.  Then  I  purchased  6 
imported  Canada  Cotswolds  and  in  less  than  two  years  all  died  but  the  buck,  who 
did  me  good  service;  but  the  importation  gave  my  flock  the  scab,  which  took  me 
two  years  to  eradicate.  Six  years  ago  I  gave  up  using  Cotswold  bucks,  and  have 
used  Shropshires  ever  since,  and  am  firmly  convinced  that  it  is  the  sheep  for  early 
maturity. 

William  H.  Peters,  Boston  Mills,  Cherokee  County: 

I  have  found  sheep  very  profitable,  not  only  for  mutton  and  wool,  but  to  improve 
the  farm  and  kill  out  weeds.  I  wintered  180  head  the  past  winter  on  roughness,  and 
they  ran  out  in  the  pasture,  and  I  only  lost  2;  all  the  others  are  in  good  condition. 
Ordinarily  sheep  can  be  run  the  year  round  on  pastures  here.  There  is  a  good  de- 
mand for  breeding  ewes  among  farmers. 

John  Cresy,  Aliceville,  Coffey  County: 

While  I  have  made  a  success  of  the  sheep  business  I  have  reduced  the  size  of  my 
flock  from  1,200  to  about  125  head,  not  because  I  was  not  satisfied  with  them,  but 
because  we  have  so  much  other  stock.  My  boys  would  rather  handle  cattle,  because 
of  the  close  attention  the  sheep  require  during  lambing  season.  The  future  for  sheep 
in  this  State  is  good,  but  small  flocks  will  pay  better  than  large  ones. 

Eli  Sherman,  Webster,  Eooks  County: 

I  began  handling  sheep  in  Kansas  in  1875,  and  made  a  success  of  it  until  1883,  since 
which  time  my  expenses  have  been  about  the  same  as  my  receipts.  I  have  made  the 
sheep  business  a  specialty,  and  staid  by  it  while  most  of  my  neighbors  broke  up  and 
went  out  of  the  business.  If  our  farmers  would  grow  grain,  keep  a  few  cattle  and 
hogs,  and  handle  sheep  for  mutton,  I  think  they  would  win. 

Frank  E.  Lusk,  Eago,  Kingman  County : 

Have  been  in  the  sheep  business  ten  years,  and  during  part  of  the  time  have  had 
a  good  many  cattle  and  hogs,  yet  I  find  sheep  much  the  best  paying  stock,  and  believe 
that  noWj  since  the  successful  raising  of  alfalfa,  sheep  fed  on  it  will  be  still  more 
profitable.  Want  of  fencing  material  is  the  main  reason  why  so  few  sheep  are  kept 
by  small  farmers. 

William  H.  Fitzhugh,  Wellington,  Sumner  County: 

I  bought  17  head  of  sheep  in  the  fall  of  1880  for  $100,  and  as  they  were  free  from 
scab  when  I  bought  them  I  have  never  dipped  them,  and  only  bought  an  occasional 
ram.  I  have  never  had  disease  on  niy  place.  My  receipts  from  wool  and  mutton 
have  averaged  over  $200  a  year.  I  have  now  a  flock  of  106.  In  1888 1  sold  over  $500 
worth  of  mutton,  and  in  1889  about  the  same,  which  would  make  my  returns  in  eleven 
years  at  least  $3,500.  My  ewes  nearly  always  have  dropped  two  lambs,  so  I  have 
always  raised  more  lambs  than  I  had  ewes;  but  as  the  lambs  are  dropped  in  winter 
I  usually  lose  25  per  cent. 

J.  E.  Brown,  Kingman,  Kingman  County: 

I  started  in  1882  with  300  Mexican  ewes  on  shares,  and  gave  half  the  wool  and  half 
the  increase  for  the  privilege.  The  first  year  I  lost  150  lambs,  because  they  came 
about  March  20.  I  now  have  them  dropped  late  in  May  with  good  results.  For 
the  last  three  years  my  wool  has  sold  for  about  $800  per  year,  and  I  sell  about  $500 
worth  of  mutton  a  year. 


WEST   OF   THE   MISSISSIPPI   RIVER.  883 

Klwood  Rush,  Brie,  Neosho  County: 

Wo  have  succeeded  well,  though  our  experience  has  not  been  as  extensive  as  some. 
W«>  lni<l  that  sheep  need  careful  attention  and  at  the  proper  time.  The  time  is  com- 
ing when  there  will  he  a  small  flock  of  sheep  on  half  the  farms  of  the  country,  then 
there  will  be  fewer  mortgages.  My  flock  of  40  head  run  in  the  same  pasture  with 
my  horses  and  cows,  eat  weeds  and  stuff  that  the  horses  or  cows  will  not  touch,  and 
they  give  me  a  crop  of  wool  and  a  crop  of  lambs.  I  have  some  to  sell  each  year, 
which  is  a  triple  profit. 

M.  S.  Chapel,  Asherville,  Mitchell  County : 

My  opinion  is  that  when  each  farmer  shall  keep  a  small  flock  of  sheep  of  some  breed 
that  combines  both  mutton  and  wool,  just  the  number  he  can  easily  keep  on  his  own 
land,  sheep-raising  will  be  much  more  profitable,  and  on  the  whole  more  sjieep  in  the 
country  than  we  have  to-day. 

A.  J.  Barter,  St.  John,  Stafford  County: 

While  I  have  had  a  few  reverses  in  sheep  husbandry,  on  the  whole  it  has  been  a 
profitable  business  with  me.  It  is  at  the  present  time  and  has  been  in  the  past  the 
best  stock  a  farmer  can  keep.  Judging  from  the  many  inquiries  of  late  for  stock 
sheep  the  future  outlook  is  good.  My  greatest  difficulty  has  been  with  the  coyotes, 
but  I  have  succeeded  in  ridding  myself  of  them  with  good  greyhounds. 

J.  F.  Bayless,  Yates  Center,  Woodson  County: 

I  am  now  57  years  old  and  have  been  tending  sheep  ever  since  I  was  old  enough 
to  do  anything,  and  I  am  satisfied  that  Kansas  is  a  good  sheep  State,  in  fact  better 
for  them  than  for  any  other  kind  of  live  stock. 

George  B.  Bell,  Neeley,  Leavenworth  County: 

I  have  been  among  sheep  all  my  life  and  will  stick  to  them  so  long  as  I  can,  be- 
cause I  think  that  the  future  will  find  sheep  in  the  front  rank  in  this  country. 
Many  of  the  farmers  seem  anxious  to  try  a  few,  and  they  will  find  mutton  a  nice 
meat  to  eat,  wool  the  best  material  for  clothing,  sheep  good  to  clean  up  the  farm  and 
improve  the  pastures  and.  ever  ready  to  respond  when  a  little  cash  is  wanted. 

W.  J.  Colvin,  Larned,  Pawnee  County: 

I  have  bred  and  handled  sheep  for  fifty  years  in  the  States  of  Michigan,  Oregon, 
California,  Colorado,  New  Mexico,  and  Kansas,  and  have  kept  from  200  to  8,000  at  a 
time.  Eventually  sheep  will  come  to  the  front  again  in  Kansas  as  well  as  in  other 
Western  and  Southern  States,  and  will  be  one  of  the  most  profitable  branches  of  hus- 
bandry. But  pools  and  combines  must  be  done  away  with  first.  Sheep  will  pay  to- 
day more  than  any  other  stock  if  well  fed  and  protected,  and  kept  in  herds  in  ac- 
cordance with  the  range  and  feed. 

E.  D.  King,  Burlington,  Coffey  County: 

With  my  experience  of  twelve  years  in  the  sheep  business  in  Kansas  I  am  satisfied 
that  there  is  room  in  this  State  for  five  millions  of  sheep  and  not  interfere  with  farming 
or  other  stock-raising,  for  there  is  coarse  feed  in  the  shape  of  hay,  straw,  and  corn 
fodder  annually  allowed  to  go  to  waste  to  more  than  keep  that  number  of  sheep.  As 
our  farmers  learn  that  their  land  needs  fertilizing,  that  they  can  easily  fence  sheep 
with  wire,  and  that  the  coyote  and  dog  nuisance  will  be  abated,  they  will  acquire 
confidence  in  the  business,  keep  sheep,  and  help  furnish  all  the  wool  our  country 
requires,  and  of  quality  fit  to  make  robes  for  a  princess. 

J.  W.  Brownlee,  Horton,  Brown  County: 

I  invested  $140  in  59  head  of  sheep  five  years  ago.    They  were  common  Merinog, 


884        SHEEP  INDUSTRY  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES. 

and  I  bred  them  to  Cotswold  bucks,  which  improved  their  produce  in  quality  of  wool 
and  size  of  carcass.  My  original  flock  averaged  me  about  8-pouiid  fleeces,  while  their 
produce  will  yield  a  12-pound  clip,  long  white  staple,  worth  2  or  3  cents  more  than 
the  greasy  Merino.  I  find  that  sheep  three-fourths  Cotswold  and  one-fourth  Merino 
increase  the  weight  of  carcass  at  the  expense  of  the  wool,  so  I  am  now  breeding  my 
coarsest  ewes  back  to  Merino  bucks.  I  have  on  hand  144  sheep,  100  of  which  have 
130  lambs,  with  20  more  ewes  yet  to  lamb.  I  value  my  entire  flock  at  $1,200.  This 
season's  crop  of  lambs  will  bring  me  $800  by  the  end  of  the  year.  I  have  sold  $1,000 
worth  of  sheep,  mostly  to  Horton  butchers,  including  50  head  of  yearling  ewes,  at 
$5.50  per  head.  I  believe  no  State  in  the  Union  is  better  for  sheep  than  Kansas. 

J.  H.  Sands,  El  Dorado,  Butler  County: 

For  the  past  ten  years  I  have  handled  from  1,000  to  10,000  sheep,  mostly  good 
strong  Merinos.  Have  used  some  Southdown  rams,  crossing  the  half-blood  ewes 
back  with  Merino  rams,  and  have  always  raised  80  per  cent  or  more  of  lambs 
dropped.  Have  had  no  trouble  with  disease,  except  scab,  which  I  have  always 
cured  with  one  dipping  of  lime  and  sulphur.  Sheep-keeping  will  decline  in  Kansas 
unless  more  small  flocks  are  kept  for  market  lambs — for  which  business  this  State  is 
preeminently  well  adapted  as  well  as  making  muttons — owing  to  the  low  price  of 
wool  in  connection  with  other  causes.  Subject  only  to  competition  within  the 
United  States,  I  believe  from  5,000,000  to  10,000,000  of  sheep  could  be  kept  in  the 
State,  to  the  great  enrichment  of  its  soil  and  citizens.  They  can  utilize  the  wild 
grass,  dry  winter  feed,  and  dry  springs  better  than  any  other  class  of  stock 


CHAPTEE    IY. 

THE     SHEEP    INDUSTRY    IN    ARKANSAS,    TEXAS,    NEW    MEXICO,     AND 

ARIZONA. 

ARKANSAS. 

In  studying  the  natural  resources  of  Arkansas  in  its  relation  to  the 
animal  industry  it  is  surprising  that  every  branch  of  live  stock  is  not 
larger,  better  improved,  and  made  to  rank  higher  in  importance  in 
comparison  with  other  and  varied  industries,  considering  the  popula- 
tion, cheap  lands,  and  the  adaptability  of  the  country  for  the  raising  of 
domestic  animals.  It  can  only  be  explained  by  the  character  of  the  pop- 
ulation, lack  of  capital,  the  many  other  pursuits  for  which  the  State  is 
adapted,  and  its  large  area  of  timber  lands.  Many  avenues  of  industry 
are  suggested  in  a  State  that  can  produce  every  variety  of  garden  and 
field  crops  indigenous  to  the  temperate  zone. 

According  to  the  census  of  1890  the  population  of  Arkansas  is  1,127,- 
744,  of  which  number  816,227  are  white  and  311,227  are  colored.  It  is 
probably  from  the  fact  that  a  large  proportion  of  the  population  have 
only  moderate  means  that  the  various  agricultural  industries  have  de- 
veloped slowly  and  been  conducted  in  an  unprogressive  manner.  Labor 
is  plenty  and  cheap  and  the  cost  of  living  small,  hence  the  people  have 
been  content  with  limited  results,  and  development  of  any  particular 
industry  has  been  slow. 

Arkansas  wool  is  in  rather  bad  repute  with  those  who  handle  the 
wool  product  of  the  State,  owing  to  the  cockle-burs  and  the  way  the 
fleeces  are  usually  packed  loose  in  the  sacks  and  not  tied  up  as  they 
should  be,  the  reason  being  that  the  clip  is  generally  marketed  in 
small  quantities.  However,  when  the  wool  is  tub- washed  and  clear  of 
cockle-burs  it  is  readily  sought  by  the  wool  dealers  and  by  Western 
manufacturers.  The  clip  of  the  State  as  sold  in  the  market  generally 
brings  a  higher  price  than  almost  any  other  Western  wool;  yet,  at  the 
same  time,  the  growers  of  this  wool  probably  realize  smaller  amounts 
than  the  growers  elsewhere  for  similar  wools,  because  the  grower  gen- 
erally sells  it  to  the  local  merchant  from  whom  he  has  been  buying 
supplies  for  months,  and  is  almost  compelled  to  take  whatever  the  mer- 
chant may  see  fit  to  give  him. 

The  sheep  industry  of  Arkansas,  although  quite  general,  is  invaria- 
bly conducted  on  a  small  scale.  Sheep  are  raised  in  every  county  in 
the  State,  seventy-five  in  all.  This  is  quite  notable  in  view  of  the 
total  number.  The  numbers  of  sheep  in  the  different  counties  range 

885 


886 


SHEEP    INDUSTRY    OF    THE    UNITED    STATES 


from  a  few  hundred  as  the  minimum  to  about  14,000  as  the  maximum 
number  for  any  one  county.  The  counties  of  the  State  having  a  num- 
ber in  excess  of  10,000  and  less  than  15,000  are  Benton,  Carroll,  Madi- 
son, and  Washington;  counties  having  5,000  and  less  than  8,000  are 
Boone,  Columbia,  Faulkner,  Franklin,  Fulton,  Independence,  Izard, 
Logan,  Pope,  Eandolph,  Sharp,  and  Union ;  counties  having  3,000  and 
less  than  5,000  are  Baxter,  Bradley,  Clark,  Cleveland,  Dallas,  Grant, 
Ilempstead,  Howard,  Johnson,  Marion,  Nevada,  Newton,  Ouachita, 
Pike,  Polk,  Searcy,  Sebastian,  Sevier,  Van  Buren,  White,  and  Yell; 
the  other  counties  of  the  State  have  less  than  3,000.  The  present  num- 
ber of  sheep  in  the  State  will  not  exceed  275,000  head,  with  a  current 
value  of  $550,000,  which  makes  a  very  small  average.  The  progress  of 
the  sheep  industry  for  the  past  twenty  years  may  be  seen  by  the  fol- 
lowing table,  which  shows  the  number  reported  to  the  auditor  of 
State  for  taxation  purposes  from  1870  to  1890,  inclusive.  The  greatest 
numbers  reported  were  for  the  years  1876  to  1881 : 


Year. 

Number. 

Year. 

Number. 

Year. 

Number. 

1870  

107,  157 

1877  

295  403 

1884 

211  046 

1871  

217  38-1 

1878 

322  795 

1885 

204  5^4 

1872  

248,  087 

1879  

327  357 

1886 

211  005 

1873 

224  611 

1880 

317  565 

1  1887 

'-M  1  249 

1874  

223,  578 

1881 

276  587 

j  1888 

25<)  <U4 

1875 

253  5'>1 

1882 

248  087 

1889 

258  464 

1870  

263  987 

1883 

224  611 

1890 

23°  435 

i 

About  1874  renewed  interest  in  sheep-raising  was  manifested,  which 
resulted  in  the  enactment  of  a  dog  law,  entitled  "An  act  to  protect  and 
encourage  sheep-raising  in  the  State."  This  law  took  effect  January  1, 
187G.  This  enactment  provided  that  the  right  to  own  dogs  of  any  kind 
within  the  State  of  Arkansas  shall  be  deemed  a  privilege,  and  the  same 
equal  to  $1  per  capita  for  each  dog  kept  by  any  citizen,  or  by  any  member 
of  his  family,  or  any  ward  for  whom  he  was  the  guardian.  Every  person 
in  the  State  who  was  subject  by  law  to  pay  taxes  was  included  in  the 
provision  of  this  act.  The  assessor  took  the  list  when  making  his 
rounds,  and  $1  for  every  dog  was  added  to  the  personal  property  of  the 
person  when  taxed.  While  this  law  was  a  very  good  one,  and  would 
have  added  immense  value  to  the  taxable  property  of  the  State,  it  was 
in  force  only  during  the  year  1870.  No  law  ever  passed  in  the  State 
caused  so  much  of  a  sensation  as  did  this,  and  at  the  session  of  the 
next  legislature,  in  the  winter  of  1877,  one  of  the  first  bills  introduced 
was  for  the  repeal  of  this  dog  law.  Nearly  every  member  of  the  legis- 
lature had  prepared  a  bill  for  its  repeal,  so  great  was  the  pressure  from 
the  dog-owners  of  the  State.  Had  this  act  continued  in  force  until  the 
present  time  the  condition  of  the  sheep  industry  would  be  materially 
changed  and  of  very  much  greater  consequence,  and  the  Government 
statistician  would  not  have  been  compelled  to  place  the  average  value 


WEST   OF   THE   MISSISSIPPI   RIVER.  887 

of  the  sheep  of  Arkansas  at  $1.47,  the  lowest  average  value  of  any  State 
in  the  Union,  as  shown  in  his  report  of  the  numbers  and  values  of 
farm  animals  for  January,,  1891.  During  the  year  that  the  dog  law 
was  in  force  the  revenues  received  from  the  whole  State  were  $84,906. 
Seven  counties  in  the  State  paid  no  dog  tax  whatever,  and  it  is  a  noto- 
rious fact  that  the  majority  of  the  dogs  of  the  State  were  not  listed  for 
taxation,  and  doubtless  were  not  worth  the  dollar  to  the  owner. 

Yet,  notwithstanding  these  adverse  circumstances  which  have 
beset  the  industry  for  the  last  thirty  years,  it  is  safe  to  assume  that 
unless  the  industry  meets  with  some  serious  drawback  not  now  an- 
ticipated the  number  of  sheep  will  increase.  From  the  best  infor- 
mation obtainable,  there  seems  to  be  a  breaking  up  of  old  methods, 
and  newcomers  from  other  States  are  now  taking  advantage  of  the 
cheap  lands  of  the  State,  and  are  paying  more  attention  to  stock- 
raising  than  to  cotton-growiog.  A  State  having  so  much  cheap  land 
and  so  prolific  in  its  production  of  all  kinds  of  feed  can  not  long  be 
overlooked  by  settlers,  in  view  of  the  fact  that  the  stock  ranges  far- 
ther west  are  fairly  well  occupied.  There  seems  to  be  no  good  reason 
why  the  general  farmer  on  the  alluvial  farms  should  not  keep  a  lim- 
ited number  of  medium-wool  sheep  in  connection  with  other  live  stock. 
They  would  add  to  the  profits  of  his  work  and  at  the  same  time  im- 
prove his  land.  On  the  uplands  and  in  the  hilly  and  mountainous  re- 
gions of  the  State  stock-raising  as  an  exclusive  pursuit  would  pay 
well  and  could  be  conducted  on  a  much  larger  scale.  These  stockmen 
would  enjoy  the  advantage  of  mild  and  short  winters,  and  during  the 
winter  season,  when  necessary  to  feed  grain,  would  be  able  to  secure 
it  at  very  little  cost,  in  case  they  did  not  produce  it  themselves.  They 
would  also  have  a  great  variety  of  grains,  grasses,  and  forage  plants, 
corn,  wheat,  oats,  barley,  cotton,  and  flax  being  grown  quite  success- 
fully. There  are  thirteen  cotton-seed  mills  in  the  State,  and  in  feeding 
value  the  cotton-seed  meal  is  unsurpassed  by  any  other  stock  food, 
considering  its  nutritive  value  and  cost.  Even  the  cotton-seed  hulls 
are  considered  equal  to  prairie  hay,  and  can  be  purchased  at  $2  per 
ton,  and  the  meal  at  $16  per  ton.  In  many  portions  of  the  State  stock 
can  be  run  in  the  open  commons  for  nine  months  free  of  cost  to  the 
owner. 

Experiments  have  demonstrated  that  both  the  soil  and  climate  of 
Arkansas  are  well  adapted  to  the  growth  of  grasses.  The  rainfall  is 
sufficient  for  them  to  attain  a  high  state  of  development;  the  native 
grass  grows  everywhere  in  abundance,  and  the  tame  varieties  are  so 
easily  grown,  that  the  progressive  stockmen  could  well  afford  to  avail 
themselves  of  them.  Timothy,  blue  grass,  redtop,  orchard  grass,  Ber- 
muda, red  and  Japan  clover,  and  alfalfa  all  do  well;  and,  in  addition, 
siich  crops  as  millet,  sorghum,  and  cowpea  can  be  grown  on  the  land 
after  many  of  the  regular  farm  crops  are  harvested. 


888        SHEEP  INDUSTRY  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES 

GENERAL  FACTS  ABOUT   THE   INDUSTRY. 

There  is  at  present  about  the  same  number  of  sheep  in  the  State 
that  there  was  about  twenty  years  ago,  and  very  much  the  same 
class.  Taking  into  consideration  the  whole  State  there  has  not  been 
any  improvement  of  importance,  either  in  the  breeds  of  sheep  or  in 
the  methods  of  conducting  the  business.  As  a  matter  of  fact,  the 
animal  industry  has  not  been  the  leading  occupation  of  the  agricul- 
tural classes,  although  sheep-raising  has  been  about  as  prominent  a 
branch  of  it  as  any.  Yet  it  is  a  significant  fact  that  the  lack  of  prog- 
ress in  sheep  husbandry  is  not  because  the  country  is  unsuited  for  the 
successful  prosecution  of  the  industry.  This  is  clearly  shown  by  the 
fact  that  the  same  number  of  sheep  have  been  maintained  annually  for 
so  many  years  without  increase  or  decrease.  It  seems  that  the  ship- 
ments and  home  consumption,  together  with  the  losses  from  various 
sources,  have  been  equal  to  the  annual  increase  of  the  flocks  in  the 
State. 

The  facts  presented  in  the  preceding  pages  regarding  the  climate, 
topography,  and  physical  surface  of  the  State,  together  with  the  in- 
formation given  concern  ing  its  natural  resources,  all  go  to  show^  clearly 
that  sheep  husbandry  can  be  made  a  success  in  a  majority  of  the  coun- 
ties of  the  State, 

In  many  respects  Arkansas  is  particularly  well  and  favorably  suited 
for  successful  sheep  husbandry.  It  is  also  evident  that  a  very  large 
number  of  representative  formers  and  stockmen  have  recently  become 
convinced  of  the  adaptability  and  profitableness  of  sheep  husbandry 
as  compared  with  other  branches  of  animal  industry  and  agricultural 
pursuits.  And  like  the  general  farmers  of  other  States,  they  have 
learned  through  adversity  and  bitter  experience  that  following  a  lead- 
ing and  almost  exclusive  agricultural  pursuit  is  unprofitable.  It  is  a 
generally  accepted  fact  that  no  State  can  ever  become  wealthy  or  pros- 
perous by  persistently  adhering  to  a  single  crop;  and  the  cotton  mania 
in  Arkansas  has  been  what  the  wheat  mania  was  for  the  Dakotas. 
However,  the  cotton  craze  is  not  the  only  or  the  chief  drawback  and 
obstacle  to  the  success  of  the  sheep  industry ;  but  equal  to  it  in  im- 
portance is  the  dog  nuisance.  The  multiplicity  of  the  omnipresent  and 
worthless  curs  has  become  a  byword  with  all  who  are  conversant  with 
sheep-raising  in  Arkansas,  and  if  the  word  "sheep"  is  mentioned  to  any- 
one in  connection  with  Arkansas,  he  invariably  throws  up  his  hands 
and  exclaims,  "Dogs,  dogs,  dogs!"  Many,  even,  when  asked  what 
diseases  are  most  common  among  sheep,  answer,  "Dogs — a  fatal  malady 
affecting  the  industry."  If  you  ask  them  why  the  sheep  industry 
is  declining,  the  answer  is,  "Dogs;"  or  if  you  ask  them  what  are  the 
chief  disadvantages  and  obstacles  to  be  encountered  in  sheep-raising 
in  the  State,  the  answer  still  is,  "Dogs."  Therefore,  to  sum  up  briefly 
the  reasons  why  the  sheep  industry  of  Arkansas  has  not  made  greater 


WEST    OF    THE    MISSISSIPPI    RIVER.  889 

progress,  or  is  not  one  of  tlie  leading  industries  of  the  State,  it  can  be 
ascribed  mainly  to  the  dog  pest  demoralizing  the  business  and  the 
mania  for  cotton  culture. 

It  is  remarkable,  notwithstanding  the  preceding  facts,  that  there  are 
as  many,  if  not  more,  sheep-owners  in  Arkansas  than  in  any  other 
State  bordering  on  the  Mississippi  River.  They  probably  own  a 
smaller  average  number  of  sheep  than  the  sheepmen  of  any  other  State 
in  the  Union.  It  is  also  significant  to  note  that  there  are  fewer  sheep- 
owners  who  make  it  an  exclusive  business  than  in  any  other  State 
where  the  sheep  industry  is  of  any  importance  whatever.  It  may  be 
said  that  sheep-raising  in  Arkansas  under  exist  ing  conditions  is  purely 
a  side  issue  and  receives,  therefore,  only  partial  attention.  And  while 
there  are  nearly  as  many  sheep  as  any  other  class  of  live  stock,  hogs 
and  cattle  excepted,  yet  the  " curs"  and  "razor  backs"  are  too  numer- 
ous for  the  sheep,  and  there  is  too  little  live  stock  of  any  class.  When 
the  general  farmer  of  the  State  awakens  to  the  true  condition  of  affairs 
and  becomes  more  familiar  with  the  natural  resources  of  the  State,  the 
live-stock  situation  will  materially  change;  more  prosperous  times  will 
come,  and  the  wealth  of  the  State  will  increase  because  of  the  profit- 
ableness of  raising  improved  stock. 

It  is  an  unfortunate  condition  for  the  sheep  industry  that  sheep  have 
had  so  little  attention  from  past  or  present  owners.  Sheep-raising 
having  been  made  a  side  issue,  it  has  been  placed  at  a  decided  disad- 
vantage, and  there  is  little  hope  for  the  future  unless  this  system  is 
changed.  Whenever  sheep  husbandry  receives  proper  attention,  ac- 
cording to  its  merits  as  an  agricultural  pursuit,  it  will  become  one  of 
the  leading  interests  of  the  State. 

The  class  of  sheep  most  numerous  in  Arkansas  is  usually  designated 
as  common  or  native  sheep.  There  are  very  few  pure-bred  sheep,  the 
Merino,  Southdown,  Shropshire,  and  Cotswold  breeds  being  represented 
chiefly  by  their  grades.  There  seems  to  be  in  some  localities  quite  an 
intermingling  of  the  blood  of  several  breeds  in  the  same  animal.  Some 
sheep-owners  graphically  describe  the  sheep  of  the  State  as  consisting 
of  mainly  the  old  "  scrub"  stock,  and  the  "full-blooded  mongrel"  caused 
by  haphazard  methods  of  breeding  and  handling. 

The  flocks  owned  in  the  State  are  uniformly  small,  and  range  in 
number  from  10  to  50  as  an  average.  According  to  reports  received 
from  all  the  counties,  there  are  only  three  of  them  that  reported  flocks 
to  exceed  50  head,  and  only  one  county  reported  flocks  as  large  as  150. 
The  flocks  are  too  small  to  require  the  services  of  a  herder,  and  as  a 
consequence  they  have  but  little  attention,  being  allowed  to  run  on  the 
commons  or  uncultivated  and  unoccupied  lands  which  may  be  near  the 
farm  of  the  owner  and  furnish  the  pasturage  for  the  greater  part  of  the 
year.  After  crops  are  gathered  the  sheep  are  allowed  to  run  in  the 
fields,  and  during  the  winter  months  are  fed  somewhat.  There  seems 
to  be  110  lack  of  feed,  because  the  native  and  cultivated  grasses  are 


890        SHEEP  INDUSTRY  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES 

nearly  everywhere  abundant,  besides  other  herbage  and  browsing,  such 
as  is  common  to  the  forest  and  timber  lands  of  the  State.  The  culti- 
vated grasses,  which  afford  considerable  pastures,  consist  of  blue  grass, 
timothy,  Bermuda  grass,  red  and  Japan  clover.  The  supply  of  water 
is  everywhere  abundant  and  is  furnished  by  the  natural  fountains, 
creeks,  rivers,  and  ponds.  The  standing  water,  however,  is  not  good 
during  the  months  of  July  and  An  gust  5  otherwise  the  water  supply  is 
quite  suitable  for  stock. 

The  animal  loss  of  sheep  from  wild  animals,  dogs,  and  exposure  is 
quite  large,  considering  the  small  size  of  the  flocks.  It  conies  from  the 
fact  that  the  sheep  are  allowed  to  shift  for  themselves  and  do  not  re- 
ceive the  care  and  attention  necessary  for  proper  protection ;  and  with 
this  in  view  it  is  a  matter  of  some  surprise  that  the  average  loss  is  not 
greater.  The  loss  from  exposure  is  remarkably  light,  very  few  sheep- 
owners  reporting  any  loss  from  this  source ;  the  heaviest  occurring 
among  the  flocks  of  sheep  which  are  held  in  the  lowlands  j  outside  of 
these  localities  2  or  3  per  cent  is  the  average  annual  loss.  The  heav- 
iest loss,  which  is  reported  everywhere,  is  that  resulting  from  the  rav- 
ages of  dogs.  The  reports  of  such  losses  vary  from  5  to  25  per  cent; 
the  annual  loss  from  dogs  being  not  much  less  than  10  per  cent  of  all 
the  flocks  of  the  State.  The  loss  of  sheep  from  wild  animals  is  not 
widespread,*  the  losses  in  counties  where  depredations  occur  average 
from  2  to  5  per  cent.  A  careful,  conservative  estimate  shows  that  10 
per  cent  of  the  flocks  of  the  State  could  be  saved  to  the  owners  with 
adequate  protection  from  the  ravages  of  dogs  and  wild  animals.  That 
sheep-raising  has  continued  to  the  extent  it  has,  in  view  of  this  annual 
loss  and  other  adverse  circumstances,  is  certainly  strong  evidence  of 
the  adaptability  of  the  State  to  the  sheep  industry. 

Very  few  sheep  have  been  brought  into  this  State  for  many  years. 
The  few  introduced  by  the  more  prosperous  flockmasters  for  the  pur- 
pose of  improving  their  sheep  have  been  Merinos  and  Shropshires. 

It  appears  from  the  best  information  obtainable  that  sheep  which 
have  been  brought  to  the  State  from  other  States,  north,  east,  or  west, 
acclimate  very  readily  and  show  an  improvement  in  the  wool  fiber, 
length  of  staple,  and  increase  in  weight  of  fleece  5  and  in  some  cases  the 
constitution  of  the  animal  was  strengthened,  especially  those  brought 
from  the  east. 

Very  little  attention  is  paid  to  the  breeding  ewes.  A  single  buck  is 
all  that  is  used  in  the  average  flock,  and  he  remains  with  it  the  year 
round,  and  generally  continues  in  service  until  death  releases  him.  In 
most  flocks  the  buck  is  of  the  common  or  native  sheep,  and  in  excep- 
tional cases  he  may  be  a  Merino,  Southdown,  Shropshire,  or  Gotswold. 
However,  most  of  the  ewes  breed  during  August  and  September,  and 
sometimes  as  late  as  November;  and  the  lambing  season  generally 
covers  a  period  of  from  one  to  three  months.  The  number  of  lambs 
raised  is  variously  reported  from  50  to  90  per  cent,  with  an  average  of, 


WEST    OF    THE    MISSISSIPPI   RIVER.  891 

perhaps,  about  80  per  cent.  It  is  very  seldom  that  any  of  the  ewes  fail 
to  breed,  and  were  it  not  for  the  dogs  and  hogs  the  average  of  lambs 
raised  would  be  close  to  100  per  cent.  Most  of  the  owners  provide 
shelter  for  severe  weather;  it  usually  consists  of  along,  low,  well-roofed 
shed,  open  to  the  south  or  east  and  closed  on  three  sides. 

The  object  of  sheep-raising  is  not  confined  to  either  wool  or  mutton, 
but  includes  both,  and  with  reference  to  home  consumption.  There 
seems  to  be  but  little  attention  paid  to  breeding  for  any  special  purpose. 
The  sheep  are  usually  shorn  but  once  a  year,  during  April  or  May, 
although  in  some  localities  the  fleece  is  clipped  twice  a  year,  during  the 
months  of  April  and  October.  The  shearing  of  sheep  is  considered  a 
part  of  the  regular  farm  work,  and  is  done  either  by  the  owner  or  his 
hired  man.  The  wool,  if  not  too  burry,  is  tub-washed  and  then  sold  to 
the  local  merchant  or  factory.  The  merchant,  when  he  has  secured 
enough  to  fill  one  or  more  sacks,  sells  it  to  some  woolen  mill  or  the  cot- 
ton buyers  who  visit  him,  although  a  great  many  consign  it  to  St.  Louis 
wool  commission  merchants.  It  is  seldom  that  the  sheep-owner  ships 
his  own  wool.  The  bulk  of  the  wool  produced  is  of  a  medium  grade 
and  the  tub-washed  brings  from  30  to  35  cents  a  pound ;  for  the  un- 
washed, the  owner  receives  from  18  to  22  cents,  except  for  the  heavy, 
burry,  wool,  which  is  sold  for  whatever  it  will  bring,  and  the  amount  is 
very  small.  The  fleece  of  the  common  sheep  runs  from  2J  to  4  pounds, 
and  the  improved  or  better  grade  sheep  considerably  more,  depend- 
ing on  the  amount  of  improvement.  The  mature  wethers  and  ewes 
which  are  disposed  of  as  muttons  are  sold  to  local  butchers,  who  pay 
from  $2  to  $3.50  per  head,  or  the  market  price  per  pound.  About  20 
to  30  per  cent  of  the  flock  is  disposed  of  in  this  way  annually.  The 
mature  sheep  range  in  weight  from  60  to  100  pounds,  with  an  average 
of  not  much  above  75  pounds. 

The  average  wages  paid  for  farm  labor  is  about  $15  per  month  and 
board,  or  §25  without  board,  and  by  the  day  75  cents;  and  the  cost  per 
sheep  a  year,  including  all  expenses,  varies  greatly,  owing  to  the  care 
and  attention  given.  The  estimates  reported  by  sheep -owners  range  all 
the  way  from  10  cents  to  $1,  but  the  average  for  the  State  is  not  much 
in  excess  of  25  cents  per  head  a  year. 

The  local  advantages  for  sheep  husbandry  consist  mainly  of  the  large 
amount  of  cheap  feed,  long  grazing  season,  mild  climate,  even  tempera- 
ture, good  water,  abundance  of  feed  during  the  summer  season,  good 
local  home  demand  for  mutton,  nearness  to  St.  Louis  market,  and  cheap 
labor;  also  the  little  expense  required  for  wintering  the  sheep. 

The  local  disadvantages  encountered  by  the  sheep-raisers  of  the  State 
are  cockle  burs  and  the  want  of  legislative  protection  against  the  ravages 
of  dogs.  In  some  portions  of  the  State  there  is  too  much  wet  weather 
during  the  winter  for  the  comfort  of  the  sheep.  While  labor  is  quite 
cheap,  the  men  as  a  rule  are  unreliable  and  inexperienced  in  the  man- 
agement of  sheep.  Disease  is  practically  unknown  among  them,  and 


892        SHEEP  INDUSTRY  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES 

they  mostly  enjoy  good  health  until  they  die  of  old  age  or  are  disposed 
of  as  mutton  to  the  local  butchers,  or  made  food  of  by  the  dogs  and  wild 
animals.  The  latter  are  becoming  extinct,  but  the  dogs  are  on  the  in- 
crease. There  is  some  occasional  complaint,  especially  in  the  lowlands, 
from  foot-rot,  grub  in  the  head,  or  tubercle  of  the  intestines ;  however, 
where  sheep  receive  proper  attention  such  affections  are  rare. 

The  sheep  industry  is  neither  declining  nor  advancing;  it  is  in  about 
the  same  condition  that  it  was  at  the  close  of  the  war.  It  is  the  belief 
of  the  best  informed  sheep-raisers  that  the  industry  has  a  bright  future, 
as  the  natural  advantages  and  conditions  are  exceptionally  favorable. 
But  before  it  advances  materially  methods  now  in  vogue  must  be  greatly 
improved  and  sheep-raising  made  something  more  than  a  side  issue. 
Whenever  flockmasters  have  a  sufficient  number  to  require  a  herder 
sheep-raising  is  quite  profitable. 

The  most  successful  methods  for  profitably  conducting  the  business 
is  to  use  nothing  but  pure-bred  rams,  such  as  the  Merino  or  Shropshire, 
and,  where  it  is  practical,  to  inclose  a  large  tract  of  the  hilly  land,  which 
is  quite  cheap,  and  to  seed  a  portion  of  the  cultivated  land  to  tame 
grasses  or  forage  crops,  especially  Bermuda  grass.  This  Bermuda  grass 
furnishes  an  unusual  amount  of  green  pasturage  from  April  1  to  Decem- 
ber 15.  There  is  110  question  as  to  the  profitableness  of  raising  sheep, 
provided  they  have  attention,  and  no  other  pursuit  will  pay  so  well  for 
the  money  invested  or  the  attention  given.  During  winter  provide 
feed,  such  as  sorghum  or  the  cowpea,  which  is  easily  produced  here  in 
large  quantities.  It  may  be  planted  after  oats  and  wheat  have  been 
harvested  and  a  bountiful  crop  secured.  Cotton  seed,  which  is  abundant 
and  very  cheap,  makes  an  excellent  winter  feed.  Two  or  three  cuttings 
of  red  clover  can  be  secured,  yielding  from  2  to  5  tons  per  acre; 
millet  also  yields  a  large  tonnage  per  acre.  Another  plant  which 
furnishes  more  green  or  dried  forage  than  anything  else  produced  is  the 
teosinte  (Uclousena  luxuriens).  The  seed,  however,  will  not  mature. 
Cotton  seed  can  be  bought  for  about  $8  per  ton.  All  kinds  of  grain 
and  grasses  and  root  crops  can  be  produced  so  abundantly  and  cheaply 
that  it  seems  a  great  extravagance  to  have  this  large  amount  of  excel- 
lent stock  feed  go  to  waste,  as  much  of  it  does  every  year.  Consequently, 
sheep-raising  should  be  encouraged  and  so  managed  as  to  utilize  these 
products.  And  if  the  sheep-owners  can  not  secure  legislative  enact- 
ments to  protect  them  from  the  ravages  of  the  dogs,  they  should  try 
the  merits  of  strychnine  and  shotguns,  and  in  no  wise  stint  the  use  of 
them.  Briefly,  the  best  methods  are,  to  increase  the  number  and  im- 
prove the  quality  of  the  stock  and  give  them  proper  care  and  attention, 
and  prepare  the  wool  for  the  market  in  good  merchantable  shape.  If 
this  were  generally  done  by  the  sheepmen  of  the  State,  it  would  not  be 
long  until  Arkansas  would  become  especially  noted  for  rhe  superiority 
of  both  its  wool  and  mutton  products,  as  well  as  famous  for  the  profit- 
ableness of  the  industry. 


WEST    OF    THE    MISSISSIPPI   RIVER.  893 

PERSONAL  EXPERIENCE   AND   OBSERVATION. 

Experience  is  the  best  criterion  for  demonstrating  the  adaptability 
of  any  particular  country  for  any  branch  of  industry.  The  writer  has 
taken  pains  to  collect  information  showing  what  has  been  the  experience 
of  sheep-owners,  as  well  as  their  observations  and  opinions  regarding 
the  business. 

The  following  paragraphs  represent  the  different  sections  of  Arkan- 
sas and  will  furnish  practical  pointers  regarding  the  industry  which 
are  graphic  illustrations  of  certain  features  of  the  business,  such  as 
are  difficult  to  show  briefly  in  any  other  manner.  They  contain  much 
information  in  little  space,  and  will  bear  careful  perusal  by  those  who 
desire  pertinent  information  regarding  the  sheep  industry  of  Arkansas. 

John  K.  Gibson,  Powhatan,  Lawrence  County: 

The  sheep  industry  in  Arkansas  has  had  a  backset  for  some  years  past,  but  within 
a  few  years  the  people  have  taken  an  interest  in  the  industry — prompted  by  the  high 
price  of  the  mutton,  as  well  as  by  reason  of  the  profits  in  the  wool  grown.  The 
sheep  as  a  scavenger  for  brambly  and  ugly  thickets  is  beginning  to  be  prized.  Sheep 
will  eat  and  destroy  grass  and  shrubs  that  no  other  grazing  animal  will.  I  think 
our  climate  and  country  are  well  adapted  to  sheep-raising,  and  it  would  prove  a  great 
success  if  handled  scientifically. 

Frank  Fealy,  Charleston,  Franklin  County : 

In  1875  I  purchased  in  the  northern  part  of  this  State  455  sheep,  and  turned  them 
out  on  good  prairie  range.  The  next  year  I  sold  76  of  them  for  mutton  at  $2  per 
head ;  and  in  1879  I  sold  210  mature  sheep  and  80  lambs  for  $700,  and  then  quit  the 
business  because  dogs  were  too  numerous  for  the  sheep  business.  During  the  four 
years  I  owned  sheep  I  enriched  my  orchard  with  the  carcasses  of  65  worthless  sheep- 
killing  curs. 

M.  A.  Harper,  Gurdon,  Clark  County: 

Most  farmers  have  a  few  sheep  and  let  them  run  out  in  old  fields,  and  pay  but 
little  attention  to  them,  letting  them  shift  for  themselves,  and  only  feeding  three  or 
four  months  of  the  year.  Some  of  the  farmers  shelter  their  sheep,  while  others  do 
not.  Sheep  would  do  well  in  this  State,  especially  in  the  hilly  and  mountain  por- 
tion, but  will  not  do  so  well  in  the  bottoms  or  lowlands,  except  where  the  land  has 
been  generally  cultivated  or  in  tame  pasture. 

J,  L.  Bowen,  Stark,  Yell  County: 

My  experience  with  sheep  is  that  I  lost  the  best  opportunity  I  ever  had  when  I 
sold  out  for  the  purpose  of  raising  cotton,  and  as  soon  as  I  can  make  another  start  I 
will  try  it  again.  The  cross  of  the  common  native  sheep  with  full-blood  Merino  is 
the  best,  as  you  double  the  increase  of  the  weight  of  wool  and  carcass.  In  Faulk- 
ner County,  where  I  formerly  lived,  there  are  larger  flocks  than  in  Yell  County, 
although  we  have  the  advantage  of  free  range  and  cheap  lauds.  Mutton  and  wool 
can  be  purchased  cheaper  here  than  in  any  place  I  have  ever  lived. 

E.  D.  Kickey,  Carlisle,  Lonoke  County: 

I  have  lived  here  seventeen  years,  and  previously  in  Ohio  and  Michigan.  The 
sheep  industry  here  practically  amounts  to  nothing.  I  am  about  the  only  sheep- 
owner  that  has  kept  good  the  original  number  I  started  with.  Eight  years  ago  I 
brought  200  young  Cotswold  ewes  here  from  Elyria,  Ohio,  and  used  the  best  Merino 


894        SHEEP  INDUSTRY  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES 

bucks  I  could  find.  The  first  year  I  raised  175  lambs,  but  at  the  next  shearing  I 
only  had  215  fleeces;  the  second  year  I  raised  100  lambs.  The  largest  number  I  ever 
sheared  was  222  sheep.  We  are  cursed  with  numerous  dogs ;  besides,  we  have  the 
big  black  and  gray  wolves,  which  secrete  themselves  in  the  swamps  and  bottoms. 
There  is  very  little  encouragement  for  sheep  husbandry  in  this  section,  for  the  reason 
stated,  together  with  our  rainy  winters;  however,  if  the  country  was  in  a  better 
state  of  cultivation,  had  better  drainage  and  suitable  shelter,  sheep  would  do  fairly 
well. 

O.  L.  Dodd,  Mountain  Home,  Baxter  County: 

I  commenced  with  8  Merino  ewes.  Stock  within  ten  years  increased  to  200  head 
of  sheep,  after  selling  each  year  all  the  mutton,  wethers,  and  wool.  I  consider  the 
sheep  industry  the  most  profitable  investment  that  a  man  can  invest  money  in  this 
county  of  Baxter. 

S.  M.  Dyer,  Dyer,  Crawford  County: 

There  have  not  been  many  sheep  raised  here  since  the  war.  The  people  turned 
their  attention  to  cotton,  though  sheep  do  well  hero,  with  very  small  cost.  They 
make  their  own  living  in  the  woods,  except  in  winter,  when  they  are  fed  on  cotton 
seed.  About  twenty  years  ago  there  were  2,000  sheep  brought  here  from  Ohio  and 
herded  in  a  swamp,  and  all  died  in  the  spring  from  some  disease. 

J.  S.  Stotts,  Jonesboro,  Craighead  County: 

There  are  very  few  sheep  in  this  portion  of  the  State,  and  those  few  are  common 
scrub  stock.  No  one  makes  it  a  business.  What  few  sheep  there  are  run  out  and  no 
attention  is  given  to  them-  in  regard  to  breeding.  What  wool  we  have  brings  the 
biggest  market  price.  Sheep  do  well  here,  and  if  anyone  would  give  it  the  proper 
attention  the  industry  would  pay. 

W.  A.  Yarnell,  Searcy,  White  County : 

I  know  of  no  better  opening  for  the  profitable  investment  of  money  by  farmers  of 
small  means,  say  from  $1,000  to  $5,000,  than  in  the  stock  business  in  the  hilly  or 
mountain  region  of  Arkansas  for  sheep,  and  in  the  valleys  and  rich  bottom  lands  for 
hogs,  cattle,  and  horses. 

J.  T.  Hannaford,  Morrillton,  Con  way  County: 

Bermuda  grass  will  grow  well  on  almost  any  land  here,  and  is  the  best  permanent 
pasture  for  summer.  And  for  winter  feed  cotton  seed  crushed  with  ear  corn  makes 
good  feed,  and  I  believe  sheep  can  be  pastured  and  fed  more  economically  here  than 
any  other  stock.  On  a  mountain  place  I  kept  about  200  head  of  Merino  and  Shrop- 
shire sheep. 

John  B.  Watson,  Jersey,  Bradley  County: 

The  sheep  industry  is  one  that  has  had  but  little  attention  shown  it  in  this  county 
until  lately.  Our  people  are  beginning  to  see  the  profit  in  wool-growing,  and  there 
were  some  few  thoroughbred  sheep  brought  in  during  the  past  two  years.  Sheep 
have  but  little  attention  paid  them,  but  when  they  do,  the  profit  is  good.  They  are 
allowed  to  graze  on  the  commons,  and  often  are  not  penned  for  weeks  during  the 
spring  and  summer  except  for  shearing,  and  even  with  this  careless  way  they  pay  a 
nice  profit.  Cotton  is  king  here,  to  the  detriment  of  all  other  industries.  But  the 
time  is  near  at  hand  when  sheep  will  be  made  profitable  here.  I  have  some  lambs 
that  would  sell  for  $2.50  now;  so  have  some  of  my  neighbors. 

W.  D.  Clements,  Kover,  Yell  County: 

This  is  a  mountainous  county,  the  larger  percent  wild  lands  infested  with  wolves; 


WEST    OF   THE    MISSISSIPPI   RIVER.  895 

nobody  engaged  in  sheep-raising  except  for  home  use;  no  flock  over  50,  and  very  few 
that  large;  the  average  not  above  10.  They  do  well  here;  rarely  ever  diseased;  live 
on  the  wild  grasses,  with  very  little  feed  in  the  winter.  No  improved  sheep;  all 
scrubs.  Some  Cotswolds  brought  in  did  well  until  killed  by  wolves.  No  mutton 
raised  for  market,  but  once  or  twice  a  year  some  one  comes  in  and  picks  out  the  best 
muttons  and  drives  to  Hot  Springs.  All  the  wool  grown  finds  a  market  here  at  home. 
I  think  with  the  natural  advantages,  together  with  the  mildness  of  the  climate,  it 
could  be  made  profitable. 

A.  B.  Hudson,  Hazen,  Prairie  County: 

My  flock  has  varied  from  10  to  75  in  number  in  twenty  years  past.  A  few  sheep 
cared  for  here  do  tolerably  well,  but  to  run  at  large  on  the  slushes  in  spring  they 
contract  colds,  have  a  cough  and  running  at  the  nose,  and  in  summer  a  fly  deposits 
a  grub  sometimes  which  works  up  into  the  head  and,  I  suppose,  kills  them.  I  have 
seen  them  die  suddenly  when  fat,  and  found  these  worms  or  maggots  in  the  nose. 
I  now  keep  but  few,  none  but  young  ones ;  have  a  dry  pasture ;  they  drink  but  little 
water  if  dews  are  heavy ;  shelter  from  the  cold  rains  in  spring ;  watch  young  lambs 
closely  for  one  or  two  days.  I  kill  one  when  needed  at  home,  and  sell  the  balance 
at  Hazen  readily  at  7  and  8  cents.  Two  years  ago  a  St.  Louis  drummer  took  my 
wool  at  home  at  40  cents  cash.  I  bred  last  year  from  a  graded  buck.  I  expect  to 
get  a  good  one  soon;  will  have  to  send  off.  Others  have  tried  larger  flocks  here 
without  success. 

A.  P.  Robinson,  Con  way,  Faulkner  County: 

I  began  with  a  flock  of  about  40  Cotswold  ewes  and  3  rams  of  same  breed.  I  kept 
them  within  my  fences  and  sheltered  them  in  bad  weather  and  at  night.  Hogs  and 
dogs  so  depredated  on  me  that  I  saved  only  5  lambs  next  spring.  I  have  found  it 
impossible  to  guard  them,  and  I  have  now  about  20  ewes  and  10  lambs  only.  Every 
negro  in  this  vicinity  owns  about  four  half-starved  dogs ;  the  more  of  them  you 
shoot  or  poison  the  more  numerous  they  are.  The  second  spring  I  did  not  save  a  lamb. 
The  rams,  as  well  as  some  ewes,  died  of  intestinal  tubercle.  A  neighbor  of  mine 
has  had  the  same  experience  and  has  sold  the  few  sheep  that  the  dogs  left  him.  An- 
other neighbor,  with  more  faith  than  I  have,  lost  15  out  of  a  flock  of  80  in  one  night. 
I  believe  that  if  sheep-raising  was  pursued  here  as  a  business  it  would  be  a  very 
profitable  industry,  but  now  it  is  merely  incidental  to  raising  cotton.  This  is  the 
main  product,  and  is  rapidly  ruining  the  country  in  this  vicinity.  I  know  no  farms 
here  whose  cotton  did  not  cost  them  2  cents  per  pound  more  than  they  received  for 
it.  It  is  true  that  they  were  under  mortgage  to  merchants  and  had  to  pay  enormous 
prices  for  their  supplies,  but  even  at  cash  prices  they  could  save  nothing. 

TEXAS. 

Sheep  husbandry  in  Texas,  like  all  other  industries  of  importance  in 
that  great  State,  is  on  a  characteristically  immense  scale.  It  is  neces- 
sary to  form  some  idea  of  the  area  and  extent  of  the  State  before  one 
can  appreciate  fully  what  it  means  to  be  engaged  in  a  pastoral  occupa- 
tion in  this  portion  of  the  great  plains.  The  area  of  Texas  is  265,780 
square  miles,  or  170,099,200  acres.  Its  boundary  lines  measure  over 
4,000  miles.  The  Gulf  of  Mexico  touches  500  miles  of  its  southern 
border.  Texas  lies  mainly  between  24°  and  35°  north  latitude,  and 
between  17°  and  30°  longitude  west  from  Washington,  D.  O.j  ranging 
in  altitude  from  sea  level  to  5,000  feet  above.  The  country  rises  grad- 
ually from  the  Gulf  toward  the  northwest  until  it  reaches  an  elevation  of 


896  SHEEP   INDUSTRY    OF    THE    UNITED    STATES 

from  3,000  to  5,000  feet  in  the  Pan  Handle  and  Staked  Plain,  and  that 
part  of  the  State  about  El  Paso.  The  rivers  have  their  rise  here  and 
flow  southeast  to  the  Gulf  of  Mexico. 

The  eastern  portion  of  the  State  is  known  as  the  timber  belt,  the 
central  portion  as  the  grain  belt,  and  the  west,  with  its  diversified 
topography,  is  the  great  grazing  section.  The  wool-producing  region 
is  mainly  in  the  west  half  of  the  State,  south  of  the  Texas  Pacific  Kail- 
road,  although  sheep -raising  is  carried  on  in  a  number  of  counties  lo- 
cated in  the  grain  belt. 

The  climate  of  Texas  is  particularly  favorable  for  sheep  husbandry. 
Sheep  feed  out  the  whole  year,  and  shelter  is  the  exception  rather  than 
the  rule.  The  cost  of  keeping  in  winter  is  not  much  in  excess  of  that 
during  the  summer  months.  The  temperature  is  even ;  sudden  changes 
rarely  occur.  The  nights  in  summer  are  uniformly  cool.  In  the  cen- 
tral and  southwestern  portions  of  the  State  it  is  rarely  that  the  ther- 
mometer records  a  fall  below  20°.  The  Signal  Service  reports  show 
that  for  a  series  of  years  the  average  number  of  days  in  winter  at  San 
Antonio  when  the  mercury  goes  below  the  freezing  point  is  14.  The 
average  number  of  clear  and  fair  days  during  the  year  at  the  same 
place  is  287.  The  statistics  of  climate  at  this  point  are  fairly  expressive 
of  most  of  the  wool-producing  area  of  Texas,  except  in  the  higher  alti- 
tudes. 

There  are  two  hundred  organized  and  forty-five  unorganized  coun- 
ties in  Texas.  Sheep  are  raised  in  one  hundred  and  eighty-three  organ- 
ized counties  of  the  State,  and  last  year  the  unorganized  counties 
reported  500,000  sheep  for  taxation  purposes.  The  counties  of  Brazoria 
and  Wood  report  the  lowest  number.  The  counties  which  reported 
less  than  1,500  each  last  year  were  Archer,  Austin,  Bastrop,  Brazoria, 
Caldwell,  Calhoun,  Camp,  Collin,  Colorado,  Fort  Bend,  Galveston, 
Gregg,  Guadalupe,  Hardin,  Henderson,  Jackson,  Liberty,  Marion, 
Montague,  Montgomery,  Ochiltree,  Orange,  Rock  wall,  San  Jacinto,  San 
Patricio,  Somervell,  Trinity,  Tyler,  Upshur,  and  Wood.  The  counties 
which  lead  in  the  production  of  sheep  are  in  the  order  named  as  fol- 
lows: Webb,  Encinal,  Duval,  Starr,  Valverde,  Maverick,  McCulloch, 
Kinney,  and  Uvalde.  Each  of  these  counties  reported  in  excess  of  one 
hundred  thousand  head  to  the  comptroller  of  the  State  for  taxation  in 
1889.  The  counties  which  reported  in  excess  of  fifty  thousand  head  were 
Bosque,  Kimble,  Sutton,  Zapata,  Nueces,  La  Salle,  Bandera,  Edwards, 
Hamilton,  Coryell,  Menard,  Tom  Green,  San  Saba,  Coleman,  Crockett, 
Kerr,  Mitchell,  Williamson,  Concho,  Burnet,  Runnels,  and  Lampasas. 

There  are  three  things  that  the  flockrnasters  of  Texas  as  well  as  the 
other  range  States  and  Territories  need,  and  they  are  stringent  laws, 
rigidly  enforced,  to  eradicate  the  scab  and  to  exterminate  wild  ani- 
mals that  are  destroying  the  flocks.  In  addition  to  these  necessary 
State  laws  reasonable  protection  against  competing  foreign  wools 
should  be  afforded  by  the  General  Government.  Let  these  things  be 
assured  and  the  sheep  industry  would  receive  an  impetus  that  in  a  few 


WEST   OF   THE   MISSISSIPPI   RIVER.  897 

years  would  more  than  treble  the  present  production  and  encourage  a 
decided  and  rapid  improvement  of  the  stock. 

There  is  no  single  branch  of  agriculture  that  is  so  poorly  under- 
stood by  the  people  at  large  as  sheep-raising,  nor  do  they  consider  to 
what  large  proportions  it  is  capable  of  being  developed.  All  that  has 
been  learned  in  this  direction  in  the  past  has  been  taught  by  dear  ex- 
perience; many  a  worthy  worker  has  had  to  abandon  it,  after  the  loss 
of  capital  invested,  simply  from  the  want  of  proper  information.  The 
habits  of  sheep,  the  character  of  soil,  of  grass,  and  of  weeds,  and  the 
best  way  to  feed,  are  important  features  that  call  for  very  careful  study 
and  require  many  years  of  constant  attention  on  the  part  of  the  success- 
ful grower  to  understand.  To  illustrate :  In  Texas,  in  different  sections, 
as  well  as  in  other  States,  there  is  a  natural  growth  of  weeds  that 
cause  disease,  often  fatal  when  eaten  by  sheep.  The  early  beginners 
were  ignorant  of  this  and  suffered  accordingly,  but  after  years  of  inves- 
tigation the  discovery  was  made.  Again,  the  opinion  was  prevalent 
that  in  a  warm  climate,  like  that  of  Texas,  there  was  no  necessity  to  pro- 
vide shelter  for  sheep  in  winter;  and  this  also  caused  the  pioneer  who 
settled  on  the  bleak  and  unprotected  prairies  very  great  losses.  And  yet, 
notwithstanding  these  various  drawbacks,  the  sheep  industry  has  made 
creditable  progress.  In  the  short  period  of  twenty-four  years  it  has 
developed  the  capacity  of  a  sheep  to  produce  wool,  from  an  average 
of  2.68  pounds  per  head  to  an  average  of  G.08  pounds,  increasing  the 
wool  product  fivefold  and  over,  although  the  number  of  sheep  has  not 
much  more  than  doubled.  It  is  difficult  to  imagine  what  might  have 
been  the  present  condition  had  it  not  been  for  the  losses  by  flockmas- 
ters  while  learning  their  business. 

The  greater  part  of  the  wool  produced  in  Texas  from  1870  to  1880 
was  of  a  nondescript  character,  but  that  condition  does  not  now  exist. 
When  the  tariff  of  1867  gave  an  impetus  to  sheep-raising  there  was  a 
demand  for  breeding  ewes  that  forced  prices  up  abnormally  and  led 
many  growers  to  purchase  the  common  Mexican  sheep  to  begin  with. 
From  these  they  raised  flocks  which  gradually  improved  from  coarse- 
wooled  sheep,  shearing  about  1  pound  each,  to  fine-wooled  sheep  pro- 
ducing 5  to  6  pounds  each.  This  was  done  by  the  use  of  improved  sires 
raised  in  the  older  States,  and  now  nearly  all  the  base  Mexican  blood 
has  been  improved. 

It  is  the  opinion  of  sheepmen  generally  that,  in  the  absence  of  State 
protection  against  scab,  the  United  States  Bureau  of  Animal  Industry 
could  very  properly  take  hold  of  the  matter  and  stamp  the  disease  out 
as  thoroughly  as  it  has  pleuro-pueumonia  and  other  infectious  diseases, 
and  thus  save  thousands  of  dollars  annually  to  the  Western  flockinasters. 

SHEEP   AND   WOOL  VALUE   AND  NUMBER. 

After  a  careful  investigation,  with  facts  from  every  reliable  source 
of  information  and  by  conference  with  sheepmen,  the  figures  herewith 
presented  show  as  conservative  an  estimate  as  can  be  secured  except 
22990 57 


898  SHEEP    INDUSTRY    OF    THE    UNITED    STATES 

by  actual  count  for  the  close  of  the  year  1890.  The  number  of  sheep,  all 
ages,  is  5,135,585,  with  an  average  value  per  head  of  $2.50.  The  pro- 
duction of  wool  for  1800,  in  round  numbers,  amounts  to  30,000,000 
pounds,  or  5.85  pounds  average  per  animal. 

The  wool  clip  of  Texas  met  with  ready  sale  and  brought  the  highest 
current  prices  realized  in  the  West  during  1890.  The  spring  clip  is 
the  first  wool  on  the  market  and  is  always  in  good  demand,  while  the 
fall  clip  comes  in  for  a  late  market,  after  the  bulk  of  northern  wools 
has  been  sold.  Most  of  the  Texas  wool  is  carried  by  the  following 
railroad  lines:  San  Antonio  and  Aransas  Pass  Railroad,  from  June  1 
to  November  30,  1890,  received  for  shipment  5,778,328  pounds;  the 
Southern  Pacific  lines  for  the  same  period  received  5,428,297  pounds ; 
and  the  Gulf,  Colorado  and  Santa  Ee  Railroad  received  for  shipment 
9,010,677  pounds  during  the  first  nine  months  of  1890.  The  number 
of  sheep  on  hand  in  Texas  at  the  close  of  1890  represents  only  a  slight 
increase  over  last  year;  the  unusually  large  sale  of  mutton  sheep  and 
stockers  was  about  equal  to  the  increase  of  the  lamb  crop.  Over 
100,000  Texas  sheep  were  received  at  the  Kansas  City  stockyards  dur- 
ing the  year.  Every  sheepman  took  advantage  of  the  demand  and 
disposed  of  most  of  the  undesirable  animals. 

The  following  pages  give  a  detailed  description  of  the  industry  by 
districts;  also  a  chapter  on  Angora  goats  and  one  on  the  depredations 
of  wild  animals. 


NORTHEASTERN   TEXAS. 


Northeast  Texas  is  not  generally  known  as  a  sheep  country,  be- 
cause it  has  not  now  the  large  flocks  which  are  characteristic  of  the 
State.  It  is,  however,  somewhat  conspicuous,  because  of  the  high 
prices  realized  for  wool  produced  there.  The  flocks  are  small,  ranging 
from  100  to  500  sheep.  The  flockinasters  as  a  rule  are  not  engaged  ex- 
clusively in  the  business  of  sheep-raising,  but  are  usually  what  may 
be  termed  general  farmers.  The  flocks  in  this  section  are  the  descend- 
ants of  sheep  originally  brought  from  Missouri  and  Arkansas,  consist- 
ing of  natives  or  grade  Merinos  of  fair  size.  As  a  rule  they  are 
inferior,  and  sheepmen  who  continue  in  the  business  in  this  part  of  the 
State  must  raise  better  stock  and  improve  their  flocks  more  rapidly 
than  they  have  in  the  past.  There  is  a  tendency  now  to  handle  the 
mutton  breeds  more  and  to  direct  the  breeding  to  both  mutton  and 
wool,  not  limiting  attention  to  wool  as  much  as  has  been  done  in  the 
past.  As  the  country  is  not  adapted  to  large  holdings,  the  disposition 
to  handle  more  profitable  sheep  is  certainly  an  encouraging  step  in  the 
right  direction. 

This  part  of  Texas,  lying  adjacent  to  the  timber  belt,  has  been  set- 
tled a  long  time,  yet  comparatively  a  small  area  is  under  cultivation, 
although  a  large  portion  is  under  fence.  Timber  is  abundant,  afford- 
ing grateful  shade  at  certain  seasons  of  the  year,  with  here  and  there 


WEST   OF   THE   MISSISSIPPI   RIVER.  899 

an  open  stretch  of  prairie.  The  soil  is  uniformly  of  a  sandy  loam. 
The  pastures  consist  of  native  prairie  grasses,  with  occasional  fields  of 
tame  varieties.  The  native  grasses  grow  in  abundance,  both  on  the 
open  prairie  and  in  the  timber.  The  open  prairie  is  smaller  in  area 
than  the  timber  pastures,  especially  in  Hopkins  County,  which  is  the 
representative  sheep  raising  county  of  northeast  Texas.  The  timber 
consists  principally  of  oak,  ash,  elm,  and  hackberry.  The  water  sup- 
ply for  stock  is  mainly  from  creeks  or  pools  during  the  grazing  season. 
Excepting  in  very  dry  summer,  surface  water  is  abundant  and  acces- 
sible for  watering  stock,  and  wells  are  used  very  little  for  this  purpose. 

Improved  sheep  brought  in  from  other  States  seem  to  acclimate  quite 
readily  and  give  satisfactory  results  for  breeding  purposes.  The  im- 
proved sheep  that  are  now  brought  in  consist  generally  of  pure-bred 
Shropshire,  Cotswold,  Southdown,  or  Merino  rams.  These,  with  the 
best  selected  grade  rams  of  their  own  raising,  constitute  the  stock  rams 
used  by  most  of  the  sheepmen  in  this  section.  There  are  too  few  pure- 
bred rams  in  use. 

The  common  method  of  allowing  the  flocks  to  run  at  will  without  a 
shepherd  attendant  accounts  for  too  large  a  loss  of  sheep  from  dogs 
and  exposure.  The  loss  from  dogs  alone  ranges  from  5  to  20  per  cent,  as 
shown  by  a  number  of  reports  received  from  there,  while  the  loss  from 
wolves  is  small  in  comparison.  The  loss  from  exposure  ranges  from  5 
to  10  per  cent,  and  usually  occurs  during  the  lambing  season  or  an  oc- 
casional storm.  Experienced  sheepmen  have,  however,  provided  shel- 
ter for  winter,  which  consists  of  sheds  closed  on  the  north  and  open  to 
the  south,  with  boards  or  brush  and  straw  to  cover  them.  These  afford 
ample  protection  from  cold  rains  and  severe  winter  weather. 

Owing  to  the  small  size  of  the  flocks,  the  rams,  wethers,  and  ewes  are 
permitted  to  run  together  the  entire  season,  while  in  large  flocks  farther 
west,  in  the  open  range  country,  the  ram  is  not  permitted  to  remain 
with  the  flock  much  over  thirty  days,  and  the  ewe  and  wether  flocks 
are  usually  run  separately.  Here  each  ram  is  given  from  forty  to  fifty 
ewes,  and  runs  with  them  and  the  rest  of  the  flock  all  the  time.  Only 
about  5  per  cent  of  the  ewes  fail  to  breed  and  drop  lambs,  although  in 
some  cases  as  many  as  10  per  cent  fail  to  breed.  Sixty  per  cent  is  the 
minimum  number  of  lambs  raised,  while  the  average  is  about  80  per 
cent,  as  summarized  from  reports  received  from  representative  sheep- 
men. The  grazing  lands  here  are  owned  by  sheepmen.  There  is 
no  free  range  excepting  some  unfenced  land  owned  by  nonresidents, 
which  is  used  in  common  by  the  stockmen  during  the  grazing  season. 

The  custom  has  been  to  shear  most  of  the  flocks  twice  each  year — in 
the  spring  months,  April  and  May,  and  in  the  autumn  months,  Sep- 
tember and  October.  Owing  to  the  expense  of  shearing  twice,  the 
number  shorn  in  the  fall  is  growing  less  from  year  to  year.  The  aver- 
age annual  clip  is  about  5  to  G  pounds  per  animal.  The  bulk  of  the 
wool  is  a  bright  medium  or  a  medium  fine.  The  net  price  realized  by 


900        SHEEP  INDUSTRY  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES 

the  grower  for  the  last  four  years  has  been  about  24  cents  a  pound. 
The  distributing  point  for  the  wool  of  this  section  is  Sulphur  Springs, 
the  county  seat  of  Hopkins  County,  where  a  well- organized  association 
of  sheepmen  is  maintained.  The  association  is  made  up  of  wool- growers 
of  Hopkins  and  adjoining  counties,  who  cooperate  in  selling  their  wool. 
Each  member  prepares  his  wool  at  the  time  of  shearing  in  good  mar- 
ketable shape  and  then  takes  it  to  the  temporary  storeroom  at  Sulphur 
Springs,  where  it  is  sorted  and  graded.  When  the  entire  clip  of  the 
association  is  in,  word  is  sent  to  the  wool-buyers,  who  bid  on  the  vari- 
ous lots,  and  the  entire  clip  goes  to  the  highest  bidder.  The  choicest 
grades  at  the  1890  spring  sales  brought  31J  cents,  the  highest  price 
paid  for  wool  in  Texas  last  year.  It  went  to  a  St.  Louis  firm  (S.  Bien- 
cn stock  &  Co.),  who  have  been  the  highest  bidders  for  this  clip  for  sev- 
eral years.  The  members  of  this  association  claim  that  they  produce 
the  best  wool  in  Texas.  This  is  perhaps  true  as  to  the  particular  grade 
of  wool,  because  it  is  not  produced  elsewhere  in  the  State  in  sufficient 
quantities  to  attract  the  attention  of  buyers.  The  secret  of  the  high 
prices  realized  is  the  care  in  properly  preparing  the  wool  for  market, 
the  small  shrinkage  of  their  class  of  wool  as  compared  with  the  bulk 
of  Texas  wools,  and  their  method  of  selling  the  same  in  bulk  to  the 
highest  bidder,  thus  getting  the  full  benefit  of  competition  and  the  top 
of  the  market. 

The  flocks  of  this  portion  of  Texas  are  decreased  annually  from  20 
to  25  per  cent  by  the  sale  of  wethers  and  stock  sheep,  the  stockers 
going  to  the  more  extensive  sheep  districts  of  the  State,  and  occasional 
sales  to  Northern  flockmasters  who  desire  to  replenish  their  stock.  The 
owners  realize  from  $2.25  to  $2.50  per  head  for  their  stock  sheep.  The 
mutton  sheep  or  fat  wethers  go  mainly  to  Kansas  City  or  Chicago  to 
the  packers.  St.  Louis  is  receiving  more  than  heretofore,  and  the  in- 
dications are  that  markets  will  receive  increased  shipments  hereafter 
if  the  sales  continue  as  satisfactory  as  those  of  1890.  The  average 
weight  of  the  wethers  sold  ranges  from  85  to  100  pounds. 

The  annual  cost  of  raising  sheep  in  northeast  Texas,  including  all 
expenses,  is  30  cents  per  head ;  losses  from  any  source  not  considered 
in  the  calculation.  Yet,  notwithstanding  the  profit  generally  realized 
in  sheep-raising  in  this  part  of  the  State,  it  is  a  fact  that  the  industry 
is  gradually  declining,  for  the  reason  that  the  prairie  land  is  being 
overpastured  and  fenced,  and  tame  grasses  are  not  cultivated  to  an  ex- 
tent which  will  replace  the  native  grasses  and  afford  sufficient  pastur- 
age; so  that  sheepmen  are  reluctantly  reducing  their  flocks  rather  than 
to  hire  additional  pasture  from  their  neighbors  and  run  the  risk  of  rav- 
ages from  dogs,  which  are  entirely  too  numerous  in  this  section  and 
add  a  hazardous  feature  to  the  business.  These  curs  are  the  most 
serious  drawback  encountered  in  this  section.  With  the  exception  of 
this  difficulty  no  class  of  live  stock  gives  better  returns  for  the  money 
invested  than  d&sheep.  So  the  decline  in  sheep  raising  here  is  charge- 


WEST   OP   THE   MISSISSIPPI   RIVER.  901 

able  to  dogs  and  a  want  of  harmony  between  the  flockmaster  and  his 
neighbors  on  the  dog  question. 

The  natural  advantages  of  this  section  of  the  country  are  particularly 
favorable  in  nearly  every  respect  for  raising  sheep.  Good  grazing  con- 
tinues most  of  the  year.  Stock  of  all  kinds  are  uniformly  healthy,  and 
disease  among  sheep  is  practically  unknown.  Cases  of  scab  among 
sheep  are  becoming  very  rare. 

CENTRAL  TEXAS. 

Bosque  County  is  the  principal  county  of  central  Texas,  and  a  rep- 
resentative one  for  this  portion  of  the  State.  The  sheep  here  are 
mainly  high-grade  Merinos,  which  generally  shear  heavy  fleeces  of 
larger  average  weight  than  those  in  any  other  section  of  Texas.  The 
flocks  generally  number  from  1,000  to  2,000  sheep. 

The  general  character  of  the  soil  is  known  as  "black  waxy  f  especially 
is  this  true  of  the  level  lands  and  valleys  along  the  streams.  The  table- 
lands are  in  many  places  covered  with  brush  and  nutritious  native 
grasses.  At  least  one -half  on  the  central  part  of  Texas  is  well  adapted 
to  agricultural  purposes,  and  it  produces  good  crops  of  cotton  and  grain. 
Forest  trees,  live  oak  particularly,  are  numerous  on  the  black  soil,  and 
abundance  of  brush  grows  on  the  upland,  aifording  shade  in  sum- 
mer and  more  or  less  protection  from  the  occasional  severe  weather 
during  the  winter.  In  addition  to  the  natural  shade,  there  is  an  abun- 
dance of  running  water  conveniently  supplied  by  the  streams  and 
springs.  During  times  of  drought,  or  when  the  stock  is  not  convenient 
to  the  streams  and  are  grazing  on  the  upland  prairies  in  summer,  water 
is  supplied  in  abundance  from  deep  wells. 

The  loss  of  sheep  from  exposure  or  from  wild  animals  is  generally  not 
large,  yet  at  times  it  amounts  to  10  to  25  per  cent  of  the  flocks.  With 
the  prudent  or  experienced  sheepman  there  is  little  excuse  for  losses 
from  exposure,  but  the  ravages  of  dogs,  wolves,  and  other  wild  animals 
is  a  vexed  source  of  loss  that  is  difficult  to  avoid,  unless  the  sheepmen 
are  numerous  enough  in  a  locality  to  mutually  protect  their  interests  by 
local  regulations.  Even  then  it  does  not  guarantee  sure  and  ample  pro- 
tection, although  it  reduces  the  amount  of  loss. 

Sheep  brought  in  from  the  North  during  the  first  year  do  not  thrive 
as  well,  and  are  not  in  as  good  flesh,  as  the  home  raised  until  they  be- 
come acclimated.  The  wool  becomes  lighter  in  density  and  in  color. 
The  ewes  that  are  brought  in  commonly  lose  a  larger  per  cent  of  lambs 
during  the  period  of  acclimation.  Sheep  are  so  easily  acclimated  that 
if  they  only  had  special  care  the  first  season  there  would  be  no  delete- 
rious effects  from  the  change  of  climate.  But  they  are  at  once  put  in 
the  flocks  with  the  home-raised  sheep  and  subject  to  the  same  treat- 
ment, which  in  most  cases  is  a  complete  change,  and  they  lose  in  con- 
dition ;  however,  no  loss  of  any  consequence  occurs  from  this  cause  under 
ordinary  treatment.  In  case  of  pure-bred  rams  the  treatment  is  differ- 


902        SHEEP  INDUSTRY  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES 

ent.    They  have  better  care,  but  many  owners  breed  them  too  heavily 
the  first  year.     It  is  a  common  thing  to  give  such  rams  100  ewes,  so  as  ] 
to  get  even  the  first  year.    The  ranis  in  use  in  central  Texas  are  princi-  ; 
pally  Merinos,  either  high  grade  or  pure-bred,  2  years  old  and  upward. 
From  two  to  three  bucks  are  given  to  every  100  ewes  during  the  month 
of  October,  remaining  with  the  flocks  from  four  to  six  weeks.     In  good 
flocks  properly  handled  about  90  per  cent  of  the  lambs  dropped  are 
raised,  and  about  10  per  cent  of  the  ewes  fail  to  breed.     Sometimes  the 
loss  of  lambs  is  greater,  but  it  is  needless  with  proper  vigilance  and 
management. 

Sheep  run  out  most  of  the  year  without  other  shelter  than  such  as 
nature  provides,  yet  there  are  days  during  three  or  four  months  of  fall 
and  winter  when  shelter  is  absolutely  necessary,  and  most  of  the  pru- 
dent and  experienced  sheepmen  have  such  shelter.  It  generally  con- 
sists of  a  shed  open  to  the  south,  well  covered  with  boards,  and  usually 
located  on  the  south  side  of  timber  or  slope.  Some  of  the  flockmasters 
have  provided  span-roofed  sheds,  barn  shaped,  which  are  well  ventilated, 
and  can  be  closed  up,  so  that  perfect  protection  is  insured  against  the 
most  severe  storms  which  may  occur  in  winter.  These  sheds  are  also 
utilized  during  the  lambing  season  and  at  shearing  time. 

Wool  is  the  main  object  in  sheep-raising  here,  although  since  mutton 
has  come  into  more  general  demand  and  brings  remunerative  prices 
much  more  attention  is  directed  to  the  mutton-producing  features  of  the 
industry,  and  the  mutton  qualities  are  considered  in  the  selection  of 
the  breeding  stock.  Mutton  will  not  become  as  much  an  object  as  wool 
with  sheep-raising  so  long  as  theproduct  must  be  sold  in  distant  markets. 
The  long  haul  and  high  freight  rates  discourage  any  such  tendency. 
Owing  to  the  demand  for  mutton,  more  sheep  were  sold  from  Texas 
flocks  during  1889  and  1890  than  ever  before.  These  sales  consisted  of 
aged  ewes  and  wethers  equal  in  numbers  to  the  increase  by  the  lamb 
crop.  There  is  at  present  a  decided  tendency,  however,  to  breed  for 
mutton  qualities  as  much  as  possible  without  sacrificing  anything  in  the 
number  of  pounds  of  wool.  The  breeding  stock  is  selected  and  bred  to 
secure  as  large  size  and  smooth  bodies  as  possible.  The  small-sized 
and  very  wrinkly  Merino  rams  are  not  so  much  in  demand  as  formerly. 

The  sheep  in  central  Texas  will  shear  from  6  to  9  pounds,  or  an 
average  of  about  7  pounds.  The  wool  is  generally  sold  as  "light  fine" 
or  "fine  medium,"  and  some  lots  as  " heavy  fine."  The  wool  is  mostly 
sold  at  the  ranch,  and  this  season  it  netted  the  grower  from  18  to  22 
cents  a  pound.  It  is  bought  by  local  merchants  or  representatives 
from  St.  Louis  houses.  A  considerable  number  of  the  sheepmen  con- 
sign their  wool  to  commission  merchants  in  St.  Louis,  Philadelphia,  and 
Boston.  The  best  market  for  mutton  in  less  than  car  lots  is  that  of 
the  local  butchers.  For  car  lots  Chicago,  Kansas  City,  and  St.  Louis 
are  the  chief  markets.  About  one  fourth  of  the  flocks  are  now  regu- 
larly disposed  of  either  for  mutton  or  as  stockers.  The  gross  weight  of 


WEST    OF   THE   MISSISSIPPI   RIVER.  903 

sheep  sold  for  muttou  ranges  all  the  way  from  60  to  90  pounds,  an  ani- 
mal seldom  exceeding  100  pounds.  The  shipper,  after  deducting 
freight,  yardage,  feed,  and  wages  of  man  in  charge,  realized  all  the 
way  from  about  $3.30  to  about  $4.20  per  100  pounds.  The  stock  sheep 
are  generally  bought  by  speculators,  who  pay  the  raiser  this  year  from 
$2  to  $3  per  head. 

Most  of  the  flockmasters  in  central  Texas  own  land  on  which  their 
sheep  graze;  others  lease  State  or  railroad  lands,  paying  from  6  to  10 
cents  per  acre  annual  rental.  Herdsmen  receive  wages  of  $20  to  $25 
per  month,  and  many  of  them  board  themselves.  Sheepmen  of  this 
section  estimate  that  the  average  annual  cost,  including  all  expenses 
of  handling  a  sheep,  varies  from  40  cents  to  $1,  making  the  average 
cost  range  about  60  to  80  cents  per  head. 

The  natural  advantages  of  central  Texas  for  sheep-raising  may  be 
summarized  briefly:  The  abundance  of  native  and  nutritious  grasses 
of  many  varieties,  which  afford  pasturage  nearly  every  month  of  the 
y«-ar;  good  water  and  plenty  of  it  in  the  numerous  creeks  and  ever- 
flowing  springs,  and  whon  running  water  is  not  convenient  a  plentiful 
supply  can  be  had  from  wells  at  moderate  cost;  short  and  mild  winters; 
healthful  climate,  feed,  cheap  land,  and  low  rent.  The  greatest  disad- 
vantages are  long  distances  from  markets  for  wool  and  mutton,  depre- 
dations of  wild  animals,  and  too  few  improved  sheep.  Sheep  are  uni- 
formly healthy.  There  are  some  cases  of  grub  in  the  head,  and  tape- 
worm and  sniffles  are  sometimes  prevalent  after  exposure  to  cold  rains. 
Scab  is  becoming  less  frequent  every  year.  The  sheepmen  now  under- 
stand generally  how  to  prevent  its  outbreak  by  necessary  precautions. 
"  Animal  Parasites  of  Sheep,'7  which  was  prepared  by  the  Bureau  of 
Animal  Industry,  has  been  of  untold  value  to  the  sheep  industry  of  the 
Western  plains,  and  it  has  been  the  means  of  saving  many  of  our  flock- 
masters  considerable  money.  It  should  be  in  the  hands  of  every  sheep- 
man on  the  range. 

The  industry  is  declining  in  some  of  the  counties  of  central  Texas 
and  the  sheep  are  for  sale.  There  are  several  reasons  assigned  for  this 
change.  The  price  of  laud  is  advancing  and  an  increased  area  is  being 
used  for  farming  purposes,  consequently  the  pasturage  is  reduced  and 
the  feeding  season  necessarily  lengthened,  and  frequently  feed  is 
scarce  and  high  priced;  therefore,  common  sheep  are  apt  to  become 
unprofitable  property.  In  many  counties  where  improved  sheep  are 
owned,  the  industry  is  looking  up  and  the  outlook  at  present  is 
better  than  it  has  been  for  years.  The  range  land  at  present  is 
worth  from  $1.50  to  $5  per  acre  and  increasing  in  value  each  year. 
Many  poor  men  have  accumulated  a  fair  competence  in  the  sheep  busi- 
ness, and  some  of  them  are  changing  from  sheep  to  horses,  cattle,  or 
mules,  in  the  belief  that  with  the  same  labor  they  can  make  more 
money  with  less  personal  application  and  attention;  while,  on  the  other 
hand,  men  have  engaged  in  the  sheep  business  with  ample  capital  and 


904        SHEEP  INDUSTRY  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES 

have  finally  made  a  failure  because  they  let  the  sheep  take  care  of 
themselves  and  did  not  provide  the  necessary  shelter  or  feed. 

Sheepmen  have  demonstrated  that  the  best  methods  for  profitably 
conducting  their  business  in  this  portion  of  the  State  is  to  start  with  a 
flock  of  the  best  sheep  obtainable.  The  ranch  should  supply  abundant 
pasturage  for  the  year  and  have  the  necessary  shelter  for  all  purposes, 
either  natural,  sheds,  or  barns.  It  is  universally  the  case  that  when  a 
severe  and  unexpected  storm  occurs  the  amount  of  loss  resulting  from 
such  exposure  would  provide  permanent  shelter.  As  a  matter  of 
economy,  therefore,  it  is  wise  to  have  such  provisions  on  every  ranch. 
It  is  imperative  that  the  breeding  and  handling  of  the  stock  should  be 
done  judiciously.  The  sheep  should  be  fed  without  stint  whenever  the 
grazing  is  not  sufficient.  The  animal  should  be  kept  in  good  condition 
and  growing  thriftily  all  the  time  from  lambhood  to  maturity.  A  well- 
fed  sheep  will  produce  more  and  better  wool  and  a  larger  mutton  carcass 
than  a  sheep  that  is  half  starved  or  otherwise  neglected.  The  sheep, 
of  all  live  stock,  gives  more  profit  than  any  other  animal  for  sufficient 
feed  and  pure  water  and  careful  attention.  Experience  shows  that 
while  it  costs  money  and  time  to  feed,  shelter,  and  attend  sheep  prop- 
erly, yet  at  the  same  time  it  is  a  judicious  and  profitable  investment. 
The  range  used  should  be  fenced  or  so  secured  that  the  sheep  can 
graze  it  exclusively.  It  is  better  to  have  a  winter  and  a  summer  range, 
so  that  each  may  be  used  only  in  the  proper  season  and  the  flock 
changed  every  few  weeks  to  different  portions.  Employ  none  but  ex- 
perienced help.  Use  pure-bred  bucks,  always  giving  them  extra  care. 
In  central  Texas  feeding  is  necessary  a  part  of  the  year,  hence  it  is 
advisable  to  cultivate  sufficient  land  to  produce  the  required  feed. 
Some  flockmasters,  however,  do  not  practice  this  system,  from  belief 
that  it  is  not  economical.  They  are  slow  to  abandon  old  methods  and 
adopt  others  more  progressive  and  practical,  which  the  future  success 
of  the  industry  surely  demands,  because  their  brethren  are  successful 
under  the  old  method  200  miles  farther  west  on  the  open  range  of  the 
unoccupied  State  lands,  where  they  seldom  shelter  or  feed,  as  the  alti- 
tude is  higher,  storms  rarely  occur,  the  atmosphere  is  drier,  and  the 
early  mesquite  grass  better  suited  to  winter  grazing.  In  central  Texas 
the  rainfall  is  greater  and  may  wash  the  grass  so  that  it  loses  its  nutri- 
tious quality;  but  corn,  oats,  millet,  sorghum,  and  cotton  seed  are  easily 
produced  and  furnish  excellent  feed. 

Mutton  breeds  of  sheep  are  raised  only  on  a  limited  scale  here,  but 
would  undoubtedly  do  well  in  the  hands  of  the  general  farmer  who 
would  run  them  in  small  flocks  of  from  50  to  100  head  or  even  larger. 
The  wethers  could  readily  be  sold  in  the  local  markets,  or  in  carloads 
they  would  give  much  better  returns  than  the  light  weights,  which  are 
now  sent,  to  Kansas  City  and  Chicago. 


WEST    OF   THE    MISSISSIPPI   RIVER.  905 

WEST   CENTRAL  TEXAS. 

Large  numbers  of  sheep  are  held  in  western  central  Texas,  in  the 
region  traversed  by  the  Lampasas  branch  of  the  Gulf,  Colorado  and 
Santa  Fe  Railroad  and  the  Texas  Pacific  Kailroad,  or,  more  accurately, 
that  portion  between  99°  and  102°  longitude  and  29°  and  32°  latitude, 
which  is  conceded  to  be  one  of  the  best  natural  ranges  for  sheep  in  the 
United  States.  The  sheep  of  this  region  are  of  Merino  blood  which 
have  been  bred  up  from  the  Mexican  ewe  basis.  There  are  a  few  scat- 
tering flocks  of  Cotswold  and  Southdown s,  but  the  Merino  blood  pre- 
dominates in  nearly  every  flock.  Sheep  are  run  in  flocks  of  1,500  head. 
The  usual  number  owned  by  a  single  firm  or  individual  is  1,500  to 
15,000. 

The  character  of  the  soil  in  the  valleys  is  either  clay  or  a  thin  black 
loam.  The  land  is  rolling  and  hilly,  and  the  best  soil  produces  the  dif- 
ferent kinds  of  niesquite  grasses,  also  gramma  grass,  while  on  the  hills 
the  sage  grass  is  abundant.  There  is  considerable  timber  in  places,  as 
the  live  oak,  post  oak,  and  niesquite.  Water  is  generally  plentiful  in 
most  localities  from  springs  and  streams,  although  in  many  places  wells 
are  the  only  source  of  supply. 

The  principal  loss  of  sheep  is  caused  by  wild  animals,  the  losses  from 
that  source  far  exceeding  those  from  old  age  and  exposure  together. 
From  exposure  the  loss  is  2  to  3  per  cent,  while  from  wild  animals  it  is 
reported  as  ranging  from  2  to  10  per  cent,  with  an  average  of  about  G 
per  cent. 

Not  many  improved  sheep  are  brought  in  from  other  States,  except 
rams  for  breeding  purposes.  They  do  well,  and  their  constitution  is 
not  affected  by  the  change.  The  fleece  becomes  lighter,  with  less  shrink- 
age, in  this  climate.  Merino  rams  are  used  almost  exclusively,  and  are 
permitted  to  run  with  the  ewe  flock  during  September  or  October,  gen- 
erally remaining  nearly  six  weeks.  Early  lambs  are  preferred,  but  ow- 
ing to  the  large  open  ranges  it  is  unsafe  to  depend  upon  them,  on  account 
of  storms  that  are  apt  to  occur  in  lambing  time.  From  2  to  3  rams  are 
given  to  every  100  ewes,  but  farther  east,  where  the  rams  have  extra 
feed  in  addition  to  the  grazing,  from  75  to  100  ewes  are  given  to  each 
ram.  Owing  to  the  extra  help  and  care  required  during  the  lambing 
season,  the  ewes  are  so  bred  that  the  lambs  will  all  come  during  a  pe- 
riod not  longer  than  four  weeks.  Notwithstanding  the  limited  season 
for  breeding  the  ewes  there  is  but  a  small  per  cent  of  the  females  that 
fail  to  breed,  usually  from  2  to  10  per  cent,  an  average  of  about  5  per 
cent.  The  proportion  of  lambs  that  are  raised  varies  greatly  in  differ- 
ent seasons.  If  the  lambs  are  weak,  or  if  wild  animals  are  very  numer- 
ous, or  a  severe  storm  comes  on,  not  more  than  60  to  80  per  cent  of  the 
lambs  are  raised.  Owing  to  the  invariably  mild  winters,  shelter  of  any 
sort  is  rarely  provided.  In  the  event  of  stormy  weather  the  sheep  are 
placed  on  a  south  hillside  or  protected  in  some  ravine  or  canyon.  Occa- 


906        SHEEP  INDUSTRY  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES 


sionally  a  plank  shed  is  provided,  and  in  exceptional  instances  may  be 
seen  a  sheep  barn  with  all  the  modern  conveniences.  Most  sheepmen, 
however,  regard  such  improvements  as  luxuries  rather  than  necessities. 

Every  flock  is  in  charge  of  a  herder,  whose  constant  duty  is  the  care 
of  the  flock  day  and  night.  His  duty  consists  in  watching  the  sheep 
on  the  range,  to  see  that  they  have  water  regularly,  that  none  stray 
away,  and  to  round  them  up  at  night  in  a  favorable  place,  if  a  regular 
corral  is  not  provided,  so  that  he  can  protect  them  from  wolves  or  other 
wild  animals. 

Most  of  the  land  utilized  for  grazing  is  State  or  railroad  land,  and  is 
leased  by  the  flockmaster  at  from  2  J  to  5  cents  per  acre  per  annum,  and 
some  sections  of  land  are  leased  for  $50.  The  land  is  valued  at  $1.50 
to  $3  per  acre. 

Not  more  than  one-half  of  the  number  of  sheep  in  this  district  are 
shorn  twice  each  year — in  the  spring,  in  the  latter  part  of  April  or  the 
first  of  May,  and  in  autumn  again,  during  September  and  October. 
The  shearing  is  mostly  done  by  a  gang  of  from  ten  to  forty  Mexicans, 
who  receive  5  cents  per  head  in  addition  to  their  board.  On  the  arrival 
of  a  band  of  shearers  a  few  loose  boards  are  placed  on  the  ground,  and 
the  sheep  are  caught  and  quickly  divested  of  their  fleeces,  which  are 
tied  up  separately  and  placed  in  sacks  of  200  pounds  each.  The  wool 
is  immediately  taken  to  the  larger  towns — railroad  points — where  it  is 
stored  and  sold  to  buyers  who  visit  the  principal  wool  centers  in  this 
section  at  such  places  as  San  Angelo,  Ballinger,  Albany,  Lampasas, 
and  JBurnet.  Very  little  of  the  wool  raised  here  is  sold  at  the  ranch  or 
consigned  to  commission  houses,  although  some  of  it  is,  and  that  usu- 
ally goes  to  St.  Louis,  Philadelphia,  or  Boston.  The  wool  grades  as  a 
light  fine  or  a  medium  fine,  and  this  year  (1890)  netted  the  grower  from 
14  to  22  cents  per  pound.  The  average  fleece  runs  from  5  to  7  pounds ; 
that  of  the  bucks  much  move. 

In  the  eastern  part  of  this  district  most  of  the  wethers  and  aged  ewes 
are  sold  in  the  local  markets.  The  car-lot  shipments  are  usually  con- 
tracted for  months  in  advance  for  the  Chicago,  Kansas  City,  and  St. 
Louis  markets,  or  by  feeders  who  take  them  to  the  corn-growing  States 
to  finish  them  for  the  same  markets.  Owing  to  the  prevailing  high 
prices  of  mutton  during  1889-'90  from  20  to  40  per  cent  of  the  flocks  of 
this  district  have  been  disposed  of  either  for  feeders  or  stookers.  There 
is  nothing  regular  in  this  demand  for  sheep.  It  varies  with  circum- 
stances and  the  law  of  supply  and  demand.  The  average  gross  weight 
of  the  sheep  at  the  market  ranges  from  75  to  85  pounds. 

The  average  annual  cost  of  raising  sheep  per  head  varies  considerably, 
according  to  location  and  circumstances,  but  sheepmen  generally  place 
it  at  50  cents  per  head,  all  expenses  considered.  But  few  place  the 
cost  at  75  cents.  The  herders  receive  $20  per  month,  board  included, 
and  tend  about  1,500  sheep  each.  The  chief  difficulty  which  may  beset 
the  flockmaster  is  the  extended  dry  season  which  occasionally  occurs, 


WEST   OF   THE    MISSISSIPPI   RIVER.  907 

causing  a  shortage  of  water  and  grass;  and  constant  sources  of  trouble 
and  loss  are  the  depredations  of  wolves,  panthers,  coyotes,  or  thieves, 
and  prairie  fires. 

From  1883  to  1887  the  sheep  industry  was  constantly  declining,  owing 
to  the  low  prices  for  wool  and  mutton,  but  since  1887  it  has  been  im- 
proving each  year  except  when  farming  is  general  and  cheap  range 
scarce.  In  other  localities  the  industry  is  simply  holding  its  own. 

The  health  of  sheep  in  this  district  is  uniformly  good,  the  exceptions 
being  a  few  cases  of  scab  or  sometimes  a  case  of  grub  in  the  head.  It 
is  gratifying,  however,  to  note  a  probability  of  complete  eradication  of 
scab.  By  protecting  the  range  from  infected  flocks  and  ceasing  to  bring 
in  Mexican  sheep,  scab  will  soon  be  a  thing  of  the  past. 

Experience  has  demonstrated  that  the  best  methods  for  conducting 
the  industry  here  is  to  run  the  sheep  in  flocks  of  1,000  to  1,500  head, 
in  charge  of  a  competent  and  faithful  herder;  change  the  sheep  to 
different  parts  of  the  range  about  every  four  weeks;  have  good  sheep; 
use  first-class  pure-bred  Merino  bucks  of  good  size  and  with  good  con- 
stitutions; give  the  sheep  careful  attention,  provide  convenient  water 
in  abundance,  and  salt  regularly.  In  cases  of  storm  have  suitable  shelter. 

The  following  language  from  an  experienced  flockmaster  of  Shackle- 
ford  County  faithfully  represents  the  true  condition  of  the  district  under 
consideration : 

Some  six  or  eight  years  ago  the  sheep  business  in  our  county  was  conducted  on  an 
extensive  scale,  having  about  100,000  sheep  in  the  county.  Low  prices  of  wool  and 
mutton  broke  up  about  three-fourths  of  the  parties  in  this  industry,  which  iu  the 
main  were  made  up  of  inexperienced  men.  We  have  now  about  25,000  sheep  in  the 
county.  The  industry  is  controlled  by  experienced  men,  who  are  making  the  busi- 
ness a  success.  Our  experience  is  that  it  costs  16  cents  to  raise  a  pound  of  wool  here ; 
all  that  we  obtain  over  that  sum  we  regard  as  profit. 

Since  we  fenced  our  range  in  recent  years  we  have  had  little  or  no  trouble  with 
scab.  The  only  serious  things  we  are  compelled  to  contend  with  are  wild  animals. 
Our  State  pays  a  bounty  of  50  cents  per  head  for  wolves.  This  is  exceedingly  low. 
If  the  bounty  were  increased  to  $2  per  wolf  they  would  be  entirely  eradicated  in  a 
short  time  and  the  industry  would  be  materially  benefited. 

SOUTHWEST  TEXAS. 

The  district  known  as  southwestern  Texas  is  the  great  sheep  region, 
and  contains  most  of  the  sheep  of  the  State.  There  are  more  flocks  of 
immense  size  owned  here  than  in  any  other  part.  Large  holdings  are 
the  rule;  3,000  sheep  is  about  the  minimum  number,  and  from  that  up- 
ward. Many  flocks  exceed  10,000  head,  and  some  number  from  20,000  to 
50,000.  The  north  boundary  of  this  district  is  Tom  Green  County,  and 
all  that  scope  of  country  between  the  Colorado  and  the  Rio  Grande 
Kivers,  extending  south  to  the  Gulf  of  Mexico,  is  to  be  considered  in 
this  subdivision  of  the  report. 

The  class  of  sheep  found  in  southwestern  Texas  is  very  similar  to 
those  in  other  portions  of  the  State,  except  that  they  have  more  of  the 
blood  of  the  Mexican  sheep,  which  is  the  foundation  of  most  of  the 


908        SHEEP  INDUSTRY  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES 

flocks  in  this  section;  they  have  been  improved  and  bred  up  by  thense 
of  Merino  bucks,  so  that  older  flocks  consist  of  what  is  known  as  grade 
Merinos.  In  the  vicinity  of  San  Antonio  and  in  the  eastern  part  of 
this  district  there  are  a  few  small  flocks  of  pure-bred  and  grade  South- 
downs,  Shropshires,  and  Cotswolds. 

Nearly  every  character  of  soil  is  represented  by  the  grazing  lands  of 
this  region — everything  from  the  rich  arable  land  to  the  dry  and  gravelly 
highlands;  also  freestone  lands,  inesquite  prairies,  prickly-pear  flats, 
limestone,  and  the  black  waxy  soils  of  the  Eio  Grande  Valley.  There 
is  considerable  black  prairie  and  clay  land,  as  well  as  rocky  and  moun- 
tainous; in  fact,  all  kinds  of  soil  and  surface,  from  the  niesquite  flats 
and  rolling  prairie  to  hills,  table-lands,  and  mountains.  And  yet  all  of 
this  land  can  be  utilized  by  the  sheep-raiser.  The  open  prairies  and 
table-lands  are  used  for  summer  range,  and  the  woody  or  brush  country 
and  the  valleys  for  winter  range.  In  Menard  County  there  is  consider- 
able black  loam  soil,  while  in  DeWitt  County  there  is  a  good  deal  of 
light  sandy  soil,  as  well  as  black  sandy,  with  calcareous  subsoil.  The 
grass  is  abundant  on  good  soil  and  sparse  on  the  poor — the  rocky  and 
hilly  land.  Water  is  supplied  by  running  streams,  natural  water  holes 
and  springs,  or  from  deep  wells,  some  of  which  are  bored  to  the  depth  of 
200  to  300  feet.  Many  sheepmen  dam  the  creeks  in  order  to  have  on 
hand  a  constant  supply.  Others  excavate  reservoirs  for  the  same  pur- 
pose. In  the  extreme  south  end  of  this  district  there  are  many  lagoons 
that  afford  water  at  all  times,  unless  for  a  short  period  during  a  pro- 
tracted drought. 

In  most  of  the  counties  in  this  section  there  is  some  timber,  consist- 
ing of  live  oak,  mesquite,  hackberry,  and  chaparral.  In  some  counties 
there  is  no  shade  whatever.  The  varieties  of  native  grasses  consist  of 
the  different  species  of  mesquite,  gramma,  and  sage  grass. 

The  losses  of  sheep  from  Avild  animals  in  southwestern  Texas  are 
enormous,  notwithstanding  the  constant  guard  of  a  herder.  The  loss 
would  be  very  much  greater  were  it  not  for  this  constant  vigilance. 
From  special  reports  received  from  representative  flockmasters  in  the 
different  counties  embraced  in  this  district,  it  appears  that  not  a  single 
flock  escaped  this  depredation.  The  amount  of  loss  of  course  varies, 
covering  a  range  of  from  2  to  20  per  cent.  The  average  loss  in  the 
counties  of  Cameron,  Maverick,  Bexar,  Bandera,  Jeff  Davis,  Yalverde, 
Presidio,  Medina,  and  Uvalde  is  placed  at  10  per  cent.  One  report 
from  Bexar  County  estimates  the  writer's  loss  from  strays  and  wild 
animals  at  20  per  cent.  The  animal  that  commits  most  of  the  serious 
depredations  is  the  wolf,  although  the  mountain  lion  and  wildcat  do 
considerable  damage.  It  is  a  significant  fact,  however,  that  those 
counties  which  have  the  greatest  loss  from  wild  animals  report  little  or 
no  loss  from  exposure,  and  vice  versa.  The  heaviest  loss  from  exposure 
in  this  district  was  in  the  counties  of  San  Saba,  Maverick.  Bandera, 
Llano,  and  Lasalle. 


WEST    OF   THE    MISSISSIPPI    RIVER.  909 

Sheep  brought  into  this  district  from  other  States  suffer  some  during 
acclimation  the  first  year,  but  if  properly  cared  for  the  first  winter  they 
seldom  show  any  deterioration  either  in  constitution  or  fleece.  But  if 
they  are  subjected  to  the  usual  treatment  the  wool  becomes  dry  and 
harsh,  and  some  of  the  animals  become  debilitated,  take  fever,  and  die. 
This  is  true  frequently  of  sheep  brought  from  the  States  north  and  east, 
but  rarely  the  case  with  those  brought  from  California.  The  change 
of  climate  affects  Merino  sheep  brought  in  from  other  States  about  the 
same  as  it  does  man  coming  from  other  localities.  No  permanent  effects 
are  noticed,  yet  nearly  one  year  is  required  for  thorough  acclimation. 

The  class  of  rams  in  use  are  mainly  Merino,  Spanish,  or  French,  pure- 
breds  and  grades,  although  not  many  of  the  French  rams  are  in  use, 
except  in  an  experimental  way.  The  breeding  season  for  this  district 
is  from  September  15  to  November  15,  the  rams  remaining  with  the 
ewes  from  four  to  six  weeks;  however,  some  of  the  flockmasters  breed 
their  ewes  during  May  or  June.  At  some  of  the  ranches  where  they 
have  high-priced  and  well-fed  thoroughbred  Merino  rams  they  breed  to 
each  from  35  to  75  ewes,  but  the  average  for  rams  of  all  classes  of  dif- 
ferent ages  is  100  ewes  for  every  3  rams.  The  sheepmen  buy  rams 
from  eighteen  months  old  and  upward,  and  use  them  as  long  as  they 
are  fit  for  service.  Occasionally  middle- wool  rams  are  used,  such  as 
Southdowns  or  Shropshires,  but  not  many  of  the  English  breeds  are 
used  for  improving  the  sheep.  The  climate  is  too  warm,  and  they  are 
too  heavy  to  stand  the  travel  necessary  in  grazing;  besides,  they  do  not 
herd  together  in  flocks  like  the  Merino  or  Mexican,  or  their  grades. 
The  average  number  of  lambs  varies  from  50  to  80  and  as  high  as  90 
per  cent.  The  number  ot  ewes  failing  to  produce  lambs  varies  accord- 
ing to  condition  and  circumstances ;  an  average  for  several  years  would 
vary  from  7  to  10  per  cent. 

There  is  but  little  feed  or  shelter  provided  in  this  region  for  sheep, 
except  for  stock  rams  or  weak  animals.  In  that  part  of  the  district 
where  crops  are  grown  and  good  range  not  abundant,  some  feeding  is 
done  in  the  winter  months.  The  ordinary  shelter  is  what  nature  pro- 
vides, such  as  a  south  hillside,  oak  groves,  ravines,  bluffs,  chaparral, 
or  brush  pens.  Sometimes  provision  is  made  for  the  thoroughbred 
sheep  by  building  plank  or  brush  sheds  open  to  the  south,  or  placing 
the  flock  on  a  portion  of  the  range  having  timber  or  brush. 

The  grazing  lands  used  in  this  part  of  Texas  are  partly  owned  and 
partly  leased.  The  State  lands  are  leased  at  4  cents  per  acre.  Some 
of  the  sheepmen  own  part  and  lease  the  rest  of  the  range.  The  value 
of  land  is  placed  at  about  $2  per  acre.  The  most  desirable  ranches  are 
often  leased  as  high  as  5  to  10  cents  per  acre.  Owning  land  is  coming 
more  into  favor  every  year,  and  especially  now  that  the  sheep  industry 
is  more  profitable. 

The  main  object  of  the  flockmasters  has  been  to  produce  wool — the 
production  of  mutton  is  incidental — but  owing  to  the  prevailing  high 
prices  for  mutton  since  1888  there  is  a  manifest  tendency  to  breed  with 


910        SHEEP  INDUSTRY  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES 

reference  to  both  wool  and  mutton,  as  every  sheepman  can  spare  a  cer- 
tain per  cent  of  wethers  and  aged  ewes  from  his  flock  every  year. 

It  has  been  the  general  custom  to  shear  sheep  twice  a  year,  during 
the  months  of  April  and  September,  or  when  shorn  but  once  it  is  during 
April  or  May.  The  shearing  is  usually  done  by  a  gang  of  Mexican 
shearers,  who  have  a  captain  or  foreman  that  contracts  to  do  the  work 
at  prices  ranging  from  3  to  6  cents  per  head,  the  amount  depending  on 
who  boards  the  shearers.  After  shearing,  the  wool  is  immediately 
sacked  and  shipped  to  the  nearest  market,  usually  San  Antonio  or 
Galveston,  where  it  is  stored  for  better  prices  or  is  sold  on  commission. 
The  class  of  wool  produced  is  "  medium  fine"  or  "light  fine,"  except- 
ing a  small  per  cent  of  coarse  wool.  The  prices  received  for  this  wool  in 
1890  varied  from  13  cents  to  20  cents  per  pound.  The  net  price  realized 
by  the  producer  is  about  2  cents  a  pound  less  than  that.  The  annual 
clip  ranges  from  3  to  7  pounds,  an  average  of  5  pounds. 

Since  1888  from  10  to  20  per  cent  of  the  flocks  has  been  disposed  of 
annually,  either  for  muttons  or  stackers.  The  stackers  in  1890  brought 
$1.75  to  $2.50  at  the  nearest  shipping  point,  and  the  muttons  brought 
from  $2.50  to  $3.75.  The  gross  weight  was  from  GO  to  90  pounds. 

The  average  cost  of  maintaining  and  handling  sheep  in  this  district 
is  50  cents  per  head  for  the  year,  not  considering  the  losses  in  the  flock. 
In  some  cases  the  cost  is  as  high  as  75  to  90  cents  per  head.  The 
Mexican  herder  is  not  a  high-priced  worker.  Some  of  them  work  by 
the  month  for  $7  in  Mexican  money,  2  bushels  of  corn,  4  pounds  of 
coffee,  4  pounds  of  sugar,  and  a  goat  occasionally.  The  average  wages 
range  from  $10  to  $20  per  month,  and  on  the  Mexican  border  still  lower. 
In  the  larger  holdings  a  superintendent  has  charge  of  the  various  flocks 
and  herders,  and  he  frequently  receives  $1,000  a  year. 

The  natural  advantages  of  this  region  for  sheep  husbandry  are  the 
large  areas  of  cheap  grazing  lands,  which  produces  abundance  of  grass 
suitable  for  grazing  the  year  round;  a  climate  dry,  mild,  and  well  adapted 
to  the  business;  little  or  no  winter;  absence  of  snow  and  blizzards;  plenty 
of  water,  natural  shelter,  cheap  labor,  and  good  local  wool  markets. 

The  disadvantages  and  obstacles  may  be  briefly  mentioned  as  wild 
animals,  failure  to  enforce  scab  law,  drought,  incompetent  help,  local 
favoritism  to  cattlemen  and  horsemen,  thieves,  and  needle  grass. 

Diseases  are  not  common,  yet  there  are  cases  of  scab,  murrain,  red- 
bladder  in  the  coast  country;  screw  worm  and  lumbriz  in  lambs. 

The  sheep  industry  of  this  district  declined  fully  one-half  from  1884 
to  1888,  since  which  time  it  has  gained  steadily.  The  number  of  sheep 
in  Texas  would  quite  possibly  have  been  double,  had  it  not  been  for 
discriminating  State  laws  in  favor  of  other  stock,  the  abolishment  of 
free  range,  unstable  prices  for  wool,  etc. 

The  best  method  for  handling  sheep  to-day  in  Texas  is  to  own  the 
ranch,  reduce  the  number  in  the  flock,  improve  the  quality,  change 
range  frequently,  avoid  scab,  raise  more  lambs,  and  have  more  com- 
petent help  or  none  at  all. 


WEST   OF   THE   MISSISSIPPI   RIVER.  911 

DEPREDATIONS   OF   WILD   ANIMALS. 

The  greatest  and  most  discouraging  obstacle  encountered  by  the 
sheepmen  of  Texas  is  that  omnipresent  evil,  the  depredations  of  wild 
animals.  From  this  cause  alone  the  flockmasters  suffer  an  annual  loss 
of  sheep  and  goats  amounting  to  over  $500,000.  The  increasing  loss 
of  calves,  colts,  and  poultry  are  not  considered  in  this  conservative 
estimate;  and  yet  it  is  a  significant  fact  that  bloodthirsty  brutes  are 
increasing  in  numbers  from  year  to  year — the  coyote  particularly. 
The  small  flockmasters  in  many  counties  are  abandoning  the  business 
on  account  of  wolves,  and  in  such  localities  the  land,  instead  of  ad- 
vancing in  value,  is  at  a  standstill  or  is  depreciating.  It  is  a  serious 
matter  to  the  sheepmen,  and  it  is  hoped  that  the  present  agitation  of 
the  subject  may  result  in  prompt  relief  and  stop  the  slaughter  of  live 
stock  that  is  damaging  the  animal  industry  of  the  western  ranges  to 
an  extent  indeed  alarming. 

The  Texas  wolf  and  bounty  law  is  a  failure.  The  act  in  force  at  this 
writing  is  as  follows: 

That  the  county  commissioners  of  the  several  counties  within  the  State  may  issue 
county  warrants  to  the  person  killing  in  any  amount  not  exceeding  $3  for  every 
wolf,  coyote,  wildcat,  and  fox;  and  5  cents  for  each  rabbit  that  shall  be  captured 
and  killed  in  the  said  county.  No  person  shall  be  entitled  to  receive  any  bounty  as 
set  forth  in  section  one  without  first  making  it  appear  by  positive  proof  by  affidavit 
in  writing,  filed  with  the  county  clerk,  that  the  wolf,  coyote,  wildcat,  rabbit,  or 
fox  was  captured  or  killed  within  the  limits  of  the  county  in  which  application  was 
made.  This  act  shall  not  apply  to  counties  having  a  total  property  valuation  of  less 
than  $500,000,  and  shall  not  be  in  force  until  ordered  by  the  board  of  county  com- 
missioners. 

The  local  application  of  the  law,  together  with  its  restrictive  features, 
greatly  interferes  with  the  intended  usefulness  of  the  act.  It  will  not 
afford  protection,  except  in  wealthy  counties,  where  ample  bounty  is 
offered.  In  the  sparsely  settled  counties,  where  the  depredations  are 
greatest,  the  law  does  not  apply,  and  in  no  county  unless  it  is  the 
pleasure  of  the  board  of  county  commissioners ;  and  even  if  they  are 
disposed  to  take  advantage  of  the  act  and  order  the  law  in  force,  they 
make  the  bounty  so  small,  usually  50  cents  per  head,  that  unless  the 
sheepmen  themselves  voluntarily  increase  the  bounty  it  offers  no  induce- 
ment to  hunt  down  the  wolves.  A  movement  has  been  inaugurated  by  the 
sheepmen  to  have  the  legislature  of  1891  enact  a  law  that  will  be  of 
some  service  to  the  industry  as  well  as  increasing  the  taxable  wealth 
of  the  State. 

To  give  some  idea  of  the  losses  a  few  individual  cases  are  cited :  Ira 
Johnson,  of  Travis  County,  had  a  small  flock  of  300  mature  sheep  and 
40  lambs,  and  out  of  this  number  he  lost  30  lambs  and  25  sheep  from 
wolves  and  dogs.  The  following  from  the  Boerne  Post,  a  local  paper 
in  western  Texas,  vividly  describes  the  situation  there : 

We  learn  that  a  gentleman  leaving  his  ranch  on  the  Guadalupe  River,  because  of 
the  depredations  of  wild  animals,  has  sold  out,  finding  it  impossible  to  cope  with  his 


912        SHEEP  INDUSTRY  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES 

losses.  Mr.  Robinson,  having  his  ranch  on  the  Fredericksburg  road,  has  also  sold 
out  for  the  same  reason,  and  we  hear  of  others  who  are  determined  to  sell  out. 
Kendall,  like  Bandera  County,  will  soon  not  have  a  sheepman  within  its  hounds. 

A.  E.  Sliepard,  ex-president  of  the  State  Wool-Growers'  Association, 
says: 

I  turned  1,500  lambing  sheep  into  one  of  my  pastures,  and  at  one  time  counted 
over  500  lambs  there.  A  short  time  after  this  I  went  through  the  flock  and  I  had 
only  38  lambs  left.  The  wolves  had  taken  all  the  others;  and  now,  from  those 
1,500  lambing  ewes  I  have  not  more  than  25  lambs  left,  and  the  wolves  will  soon 
do  away  with  them.  Besides  the  lambs,  they  pick  off  grown  sheep  every  day  and 
night. 

Eight  flockmasters  in  Uvalde  County,  when  asked  as  to  their  losses 
this  season,  counted  up  nearly  1,700  sheep.  Mr.  E.  M.  Kirkwood,  of 
Kimble  County,  lost  300  out  of  a  flock  of  2,000  head,  last  year.  These 
random  examples  represent  the  universal  condition  of  the  sheep  in- 
dustry in  every  part  of  the  State. 

Almost  every  attempt  at  State  legislation  in  behalf  of  the  sheep  in- 
dustry has  failed,  for  the  simple  reason  that  united  action  on  the  part 
of  all  States  interested  can  not  be  had.  If  Texas  should  be  successful 
in  destroying  wild  animals,  and  the  neighboring  States  do  not,  the  evil 
would  soon  spread  again,  and  the  destruction  would  continue.  If  all 
could  work  together  there  is  very  little  room  for  doubt  that  the  coyote 
and  other  destructive  animals  would  soon  be  extinct.  If  a  reasonable 
bounty  were  offered,  either  by  the  States  severally  or  the  nation,  for 
the  scalps  of  these  destructive  wild  animals,  they  would  be  disposed  of  in 
less  time  than  was  required  to  get  rid  of  the  buffalo. 

The  extinction  of  these  destructive  wild  animals  would  reduce  the 
cost  of  wool  production  fully  one-half.  It  would  beget  confidence  in 
the  business  and  make  sheep  husbandry  the  most  profitable  industry 
in  the  West,  besides  saving  the  destruction  of  over  $15,000,000  worth 
of  taxable  property  that  is  now  destroyed  annually  by  wild  animals. 

ANGORA  GOATS. 

The  Angora  goat  originally  came  from  the  high  table-lands  of  Asiatic 
Turkey.  In  Texas  large  numbers  of  them  have  been  raised  within  the 
past  thirty  years.  Mr.  W.  W.  Haupt,  a  Texas  stock-grower,  estab- 
lished a  goat  farm  as  early  as  I860,  and  he  has  made  it  a  great  success. 
In  a  letter  recently  received  from  him  he  says:  "  There  is  no  stock  in- 
dustry in  Texas  so  remunerative  as  the  Angora;"  but  like  every  other 
vocation  it  requires  experience  and  special  training  to  make  it  success- 
ful. 

Mr.  Haupt,  in  March,  1889,  complying  with  a  request  of  Mr.  Henry 
W.  Grady,  of  Atlanta,  prepared  a  long  and  interesting  article  on  the 
Angora  goat,  which  was  published  in  the  Southern  Farmer.  In  that 
article  the  author  describes  his  method  of  handling  this  interesting 
little  animal.  Here  is  an  extract : 

I  am  now  giving  more  assiduous  attention  to  my  goats  than  I  have  ever  done,  from 


WEST   OF   THE   MISSISSIPPI   RIVER.  913 

the  fact  that  I  know  the  fleece  alone  is  profitable  aside  from  the  meat  and  pelts,  and 
the  meat  is  as  much  relished  as  mutton  and  many  prefer  it,  for  the  goat  is  the  nicest, 
tidiest,  daintiest  eater  of  the  animal  family,  with  his  face  and  dress  always  clean, 
for  their  fleece  repels  dirt. 

Mr.  Haupt  began  by  crossing  the  pure-bred  Angora  on  the  common 
Mexican  goat,  and  it  appears  from  his  continued  experience  that  while 
the  animal  itself  is  not  thoroughly  changed  from  the  Mexican  type  to 
that  of  the  pure-bred  Turkish  animal,  yet,  after  many  crosses,  the  hair 
becomes  as  perfect  as  that  of  the  native  Turkish  Angora  goat .  It  ap- 
pears that  the  change  does  not  take  place  in  the  fiber  itself,  but  that  a 
new  growth  of  the  genuine  Angora  hair  starts  in  the  very  first  cross. 
It  grows  only  to  a  short  length,  but  in  grading  up  the  staple  becomes 
longer ;  and  this  process  continues  the  nearer  the  grade  comes  to  the 
pure-bred,  so  that  after  about  the  eighth  cross  the  hair  has  displaced 
all  of  the  old  Mexican  growth  and  is  fine,  sleek,  and  glossy,  strong  and 
regular  as  that  of  the  original  stock.  The  hair  grows  to  the  length  of 
10  to  12  inches  and  has  a  peculiar  luster,  which  makes  it  desirable  for 
mixing  with  wool  in  the  manufacture  of  fine  goods.  Mr.  Haupt  is  of 
opinion  that  with  proper  attention  the  Angoras  could  be  made  perma- 
nently profitable  anywhere  in  Texas,  more  especially  in  the  hilly  regions 
of  the  west  and  northwest.  These  goats  are  healthy  and  long  lived. 
Their  keeping  costs  but  a  trifle.  While  the  sheep  is  subject  to  many 
diseases,  it  seems  that  the  goat  is  always  in  good  health.  As  to  their 
manner  of  living,  Mr.  Haupt  says : 

A  goat  has  all  the  advantage  of  a  sheep  on  the  range.  It  must  be  good  land  to 
produce  sweet  grass  for  a  sheep,  as  he  never  feeds  above  the  ground,  while  a  goat 
will  take  poor  land  with  shrubs  and  a  little  grass  and  make  his  living  5  feet  above 
the  shrub  range,  for  I  have  seen  them  stand  erect  and  nip  a  leaf  6  feet  above  the 
ground.  And  this  is  a  great  inducement  to  a  sheepman,  that  Le  can  run  about  as  many 
goats  as  his  range  will  bear  of  sheep  without  further  injury  to  the  range,  if  he  lias 
much  brush;  and  to  the  extent  his  brush  may  be  destroyed  is  his  sheep  range  im- 
proved. 

The  flesh  of  the  goat  is  more  than  equal  to  that  of  the  sheep.  A  kid 
four  to  six  months  old  is  sweet  and  juicy,  and  it  grows  better  from  that 
time  on.  The  sheep  gives  but  two  sources  of  revenue,  fleece  and  mut- 
ton, while  the  goat  has  a  skin  which  in  shoes  and  gloves  forms  an  in- 
dispensable portion  of  the  dress  of  a  lady  or  gentleman.  A  sheep's  pelt 
is  of  little  value  after  the  wool  is  removed. 

Mr.  Haupt  shears  his  flock  twice  a  year,  about  the  1st  of  October 
and  the  1st  of  April.  He  believes  that  a  goat  will  produce  more  fleece 
annually  with  two  shearings  than  with  one.  The  value  of  the  goat's 
hair,  which,  as  the  reader  probably  understands,  is  called  mohair  in  the 
books,  is  more  valuable  in  the  market  than  the  best  sheep's  wool.  Two 
years  ago  it  sold  in  the  New  York  market  at  33  to  35  cents  per  pound. 
It  is  now  worth  much  more.  A  flock  of  Angoras,  with  reasonable  care, 
will  average  about  4  pounds  of  fleece,  and  that,  at  40  cents  a  pound, 
equals  $1.60,  which  is  as  good  as  8  pounds  of  wool  at  20  cents. 
22990 58 


914        SHEEP  INDUSTRY  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES 

Joseph  P.  Devine,  of  San  Antonio,  writes  concerning  the  Angoras  as 
follows : 

Good  grade  Angoras,  shearing  3  pounds  of  hair,  pay  a  much  better  per  cent  than 
sheep.  They  can  be  herded  in  flocks  of  2,000  to  2,500  with  more  facility  than  a  sheep 
flock  of  1,000,  as  they  depend  practically  and  exclusively  on  undergrowth  and  weeds. 
The  Angora  goat  is  an  advantage  to  a  sheep  range,  for,  when  lost  or  strayed  from  the 
flock,  they  will  trail  the  herd  and  coine  to  camp,  while  the  sheep  do  the  reverse. 
These  goats  are  subject  to  no  known  disease,  and  are  less  liable  to  be  killed  by  dogs 
or  wolves,  while  at  the  same  time  utilizing  large  sections  of  land  absolutely  worth- 
less for  any  other  domestic  animal.  The  Angora  provides  the  only  flesh  man  uses 
that  is  not  subject  to  some  diser.se. 

It  is  very  much  to  be  hoped  that  goat  husbandry  will  be  studied  by 
the  stockmen  of  Texas  and  of  other  parts  of  the  country,  so  that  within 
a  reasonable  time  our  own  markets  may  be  supplied  with  mohair  from 
our  own  flocks.  There  are  now  but  275,000  Angora  and  common  goats 
in  Texas,  and  that  number  could  be  multiplied  many  times  with  great 


advantage. 


NEW    MEXICO. 


The  Territory  of  New  Mexico  is  the  oldest  sheep  region  of  the  United 
States,  and  sheep  husbandry  has  been  the  leading  branch  of  the  animal 
industry  ever  since  it  was  organized  as  a  Territory,  and  for  many  pre- 
ceding decades  while  it  was  a  part  of  the  possessions  of  Old  Mexico. 
Since  it  became  a  portion  of  the  territory  of  the  United  States  the 
American  flockrnasters  have  engaged  in  the  industry,  but  previous  to 
that  time  sheep  husbandry  was  carried  on  exclusively  by  the  Mexican 
race,  and  to-day  most  of  the  flocks  of  the  Territory  are  owned  by  Mex- 
icans. The  industry  has  suffered  several  periods  of  depression  in  the 
past,  yet  to-day  it  is  the  most  flourishing  pastoral  occupation  of  the 
Territory,  and  has  as  bright  prospects  for  the  future  as  in  any  other 
portion  of  the  country  west  of  the  Mississippi  River. 

New  Mexico  has  been  the  chief  source  of  supply  for  a  very  large  por- 
tion of  the  flocks  of  Western  States  and  Territories,  notably  Texas, 
Colorado,  Kansas,  Utah,  Wyoming,  and  Nebraska.  Thousands  of  flocks 
throughout  the  entire  West  have  their  origin  in  New  Mexico  sheep. 
Those  flocks  have  been  greatly  improved,  so  that  but  little  trace  of  the 
original  Mexican  blood  is  now  apparent.  The  drain  of  sheep  from  New 
Mexico  has  been  constant  for  many  years,  and  was  especially  heavy  from 
1870  to  1880,  causing  a  marked  decrease  in  the  number  there.  Since 
that  time  the  flocks  have  gradually  increased  as  the  outside  demand 
ceased;  however,  since  1887,  owing  to  good  prices  for  mutton,  there 
has  been  a  renewed  demand  for  sheep,  but  unlike  the  former  it  has  been 
mainly  for  wethers  i:  stead  of  ewes,  and  has  not  at  any  time  equaled 
the  increase  of  the  flocks.  Eecent  demands,  therefore,  have  not  reduced 
the  number  of  the  sheep  in  the  Territory,  although  they  have  curtailed 
tne  annual  increase.  In  view  of  the  facts  mentioned,  New  Mexico  bears 
an  important  and  significant  relation  to  Western  sheep  husbandry  un- 


WEST    OF    THE    MISSISSIPPI   RIVER.  915 

like  that  of  any  other  State  or  Territory,  It  may  be  stated  that  Xew 
Mexico  is  the  mother  of  the  sheep  industry  of  the  Eocky  Mountain  re- 
gion and  the  great  plains..  The  prices  realized  by  the  New  Mexican 
flockmasters  have  always  been  small,  but  this  fact  has  enabled  men  of 
moderate  means  to  get  a  start  that  would  probably  never  have  occurred 
had  it  not  been  for  the  cheapness  of  the  sheep.  The  ewes  purchased 
were  small  and  interior  animals,  but  were  capable  of  marked  and  rapid 
improvement,  so  that  the  purchaser  was  enabled  to  realize  a  good  profit 
on  his  investment  by  the  use  of  pure-bred  bucks. 

The  surface  of  New  Mexico  is  marked  with  mesas,  valleys  and  moun- 
tains, foothills,  bluifs,  canyons,  and  mountain  parks.  The  mountain 
ranges,  from  north  to  south,  generally  break  into  spurs,  buttes,  and 
foothills,  diminishing  in  altitude  and  spreading  into  mesas  or  high 
table-lands. 

In  the  northern  part  of  the  Territory  the  Culebra  range  looms  up 
to  the  east  into  the  Eaton  spur,  and  to  the  south  is  known,  according 
to  proximity  to  local  towns,  as  Taos,  Mora,  and  Santa  Fe  Mountains. 
To  the  west  is  the  Conejos  and  Tierra  Amarilla  ranges.  Southeast  of 
the  old  city  of  Santa  Fe  and  east  of  the  Eio  Grande  a  broken  range 
runs  south,  variously  known  as  the  Placer  Mountains,  the  Sandia, 
Manzana,  Oscura,  Jumanes,  Fra  Cristobal,  Caballo,  San  Andres,  and 
Organs,  the  latter  crossing  the  southern  border  of  the  Territory  near 
El  Paso.  To  the  east  of  the  above  range  is  a  series  of  high  table- 
lauds,  reaching  to  the  mesa  known  as  the  Llano  Estacado,  or  Staked 
Plains,  and  broken  by  the  low  mountains  and  peaks  named  on  the  maps 
as  the  Gallinas,  Jicarillas,  Carrizo,  Capitan,  Sierra  Blanca,  Guadalupe, 
Jarilla,  Hueco,  and  Sacramento. 

On  the  western  side  of  the  Eio  Grande,  from  the  isolated  peak  near 
the  northern  boundary  known  as  the  San  Antonio  Mountain,  another 
broken  range  extends  south,  known  locally  as  Pateca,  Yalles,  Jemez, 
San  Mateo,  Ladrones,  Oso  Magdalena,  Socorros,  Gallinas,  Southern 
San  Mateo,  Pinos  Altos,  Burro,  Black,  and  Mimbres  ranges,  and  the 
Florida  Mountains  near  the  southern  border. 

Farther  to  the  west,  and  near  the  Arizona  line,  appears  the  conti- 
nental divide,  composed  of  mountains  and  peaks  variously  known  as 
Tunicha,  Chusca,  Zuni,  Datil,  San  Francisco,  Escudilla,  Tulerosa,  Luera, 
Mogollon,  Pyramid  Steins,  Animas,  and  Peloncillo.  These  mountains, 
equally  distributed  as  they  are,  furnish  a  large  water  supply,  a  great 
amount  of  timber,  and  are  excellent  for  stock  during  storms. 

The  mesas  and  table-lands  in  the  northern  part  of  the  Territory  are 
generally  about  6,000  to  6,500  feet  above  the  sea  level.  In  the  central 
portion  of  the  Territory  the  mesas  attain  an  elevation  of  about  5,000 
feet,  and  in  the  south  about  4,000  feet.  The  fall  of  the  Eio  Grande, 
from  the  northern  border  of  the  Territory  to  the  point  where  it  cuts  the 
New  Mexico,  Texas,  and  Chihuahua  boundary,  is  about  3,500  feet.  The 
ranges  generally  rise  from  2,000  to  5,000  feet  above  the  mesas  and  high 
table-lands. 


916  SHEEP    INDUSTRY    OF    THE    UNITED    STATES 

The  Eio  Grande  is  the  largest  river  of  the  Territory.  It  rises  in 
southwest  Colorado,  at  an  elevation  of  11,900  feet,  flows  centrally 
and  southerly  through  the  Territory,  mainly  through  a  broad  valley, 
and  furnishes  abundant  water  to  irrigate  all  the  land  available  through- 
out its  entire  length  in  the  Territory.  The  annual  rise  of  this  stream 
takes  place  in  May  or  June,  when  the  deep  snows  in  the  high  moun- 
tains about  its  head  are  melted  and  sent  down  by  numerous  tributaries 
into  the  main  river. 

The  northeastern  portion  of  the  Territory  is  drained  by  the  Ca- 
nadian River  emptying  into  the  Arkansas  in  the  Indian  Territory. 
The  principal  tributaries  in  ISTew  Mexico  are  the  Yermejo,  the  Cimar- 
ron,  and  Mora  Rivers,  all  with  fertile  valleys  and  affording  large  sup- 
plies of  water. 

Next  after  the  Rio  Grande,  the  Pecos  is  the  most  important  river  in 
the  Territory.  It  rises  in  the  higli  mountains  west  of  Las  Vegas, 
where  it  is  fed  by  the  everlasting  snows,  and  flows  southerly  through 
the  eastern  part  of  the  Territory  a  distance  of  about  30 )  miles.  The 
principal  tributaries  are  the  Yaca,  Gallinas,  Salado,  Tecolote,  Hondo, 
Panasco,  Seven  Rivers,  Black,  and  Delaware.  The  upper  portion  of 
the  river  has  many  fine  valleys  of  considerable  extent  in  the  mountains 
and  foothills,  and  further  south  the  water  can  be  taken  out  for  irriga- 
tion and  distributed  over  a  vast  extent  of  country. 

The  northwestern  portion  of  the  Territory  is  drained  by  the  Rio  San 
Juan,  with  the  following  tributaries:  Pinos,  Navajo,  Animas,  La  Plata, 
and  Manco.  The  Puerco  of  the  West,  the  Zuni,  and  Tulerosa  Rivers 
are  in  the  central  west. 

The  Rio  Mimbres,  Rio  Gila,  and  San  Francisco  are  in  the  extreme 
southwest  of  the  Territory. 

Numerous  small  streams,  arroyas,  and  springs  are  to  be  found  all  over 
the  Territory. 

New  Mexico  has  an  average  breadth  of  335  miles;  length  of  eastern 
boundary,  345  miles;  length  of  western  boundary,  390  miles;  the  whole 
covering  an  area  of  122,444  square  miles.  By  geographical  divisions, 
it  is  bounded  on  the  north  by  the  State  of  Colorado,  on  the  east  by  the 
public  domain  and  the  State  of  Texas,  on  the  south  by  the  State  of 
Texas  and  the  Mexican  States  of  Chihuahua  and  Sonora,  and  on  the 
west  by  the  Territory  of  Arizona. 

If  we  calculate  the  area  which  is  covered  by  mountains  (where  tim- 
ber, however,  is  valuable  and  the  sides  are,  as  a  rule,  covered  with  the 
most  nutritious  grasses)  at  about  14,125,203  acres,  and  arid  or  barren 
lands  at  3,610,793,  there  is  left  a  total  of  38,640,446  acres  of  irrigable, 
agricultural  and  grazing  lands. 

The  present  principal  agricultural  districts  are:  The  Rio  Grande 
Valley  from  the  thirty-seventh  parallel  of  north  latitude  to  the  southern 
boundary  of  the  Territory;  the  Pecos  Valley;  the  Canadian  River 
section  situated  in  the  northeastern  corner  of  che  Territory  and  drained 


WEST   OF   THE   MISSISSIPPI   RIVER.  917 

by  the  Canadian  and  its  tributaries;  tlie  sections  watered  by  the  Colo- 
rado and  Gila  Rivers,  embracing  a  strip  on  the  western  line  of  the  Ter- 
ritory varying  from  50  to  100  miles  in  length. 

Although  much  of  the  central  portion  of  the  Territory  is  occupied 
by  broken  mountain  ranges  and  elevated  mesas,  a  very  large  part  can 
either  be  irrigated  or  used  for  grazing  cattle  and  sheep. 

The  mesas  and  table-lands  in  the  northwestern  part  of  the  Territory 
are  generally  about  6,000  feet  above  sea  level.  In  the  central  portion 
of  the  Territory  such  mesas  attain  an  elevation  of  about  5,000  feet,  and 
in  the  south  about  4,000  feet.  The  ranges  generally  rise  from  2,000  to 
5,000  feet  above  mesas  and  plains. 

For  some  of  the  foregoing  facts  regarding  the  physical  surface  of  the 
country  the  writer  is  indebted  to  the  1889  report  of  Internal  Commerce 
of  the  United  States. 

Governor  Prince,  of  New  Mexico,  in  his  report  for  1889,  states  that 
sheep-owners  met  with  considerable  losses  both  in  the  winters  of  1887-'88 
and  1888-789,  the  number  being  reduced  by  that  cause  and  by  sales  to 
parties  outside  of  New  Mexico  from  1,749,150  in  1887  to  1,339,790  in 
1888.  The  high  price  of  wool  during  the  present  season  has  done  much 
to  make  up  for  such  losses,  and  has  given  a  new  impetus  to  the  busi- 
ness. Wool  which  brought  from  12  to  14  cents  in  1888  sold  for  18  to 
20  cents  in  1889,  a  difference  that  has  brought  a  large  amount  of  ready 
money  into  the  hands  of  the  sheep-raisers.  The  grade  of  sheep  and 
quality  of  wool  are  constantly  improving,  with  satisfactory  results. 
And  in  his  report  for  1890  he  says  that  no  industry  in  New  Mexico  is 
more  prosperous  than  that  of  sheep-raising.  Not  only  has  the  favor- 
able legislation  of  Congress  enhanced  the  price  of  wool  to  an  extent 
which  yields  gratifying  profits  to  the  owner,  but  the  demand  tor  sheep 
for  mutton  has  also  greatly  increased,  causing  a  corresponding  advance 
in  prices. 

PAST  HISTORY  OF   THE  INDUSTRY. 

The  pastoral  occupation  of  sheep-raising  has  been  a  leading  live- 
stock pursuit  in  New  Mexico  with  its  people  since  the  early  settlement 
of  this  country  and  long  before  it  became  a  Territory  of  the  United 
States.  There  is,  therefore,  much  of  historic  interest  attached  to  the 
industry  in  New  Mexico. 

The  age  of  any  particular  live-stock  industry  in  a  country  does  not 
necessarily  indicate  perfection  of  methods  or  a  superior  class  of  stock. 
The  live  stock  of  any  country  either  improve  or  retrograde,  and  the 
history  of  the  sheep  industry  of  New  Mexico  is  a  striking  illustration 
of  the  fact.  New  Mexico  has  fortunately  outlived  the  period  of  retro- 
gression and  is  now  endeavoring  to  attain  greater  improvement  and  a 
higher  state  of  excellence,  with  every  prospect  of  success.  Time,  pa- 
tience, and  perseverance  will  accomplish  this  necessary  and  important 
achievement  for  the  sheep  industry  of  this  Territory.  There  were  many 


918        SHEEP  INDUSTRY  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES 

extenuating  circumstances  for  imperfections  of  the  past  as  well  as  the 
present  condition  of  the  industry. 

It  is  unfortunate  that  there  are  110  accurate  statistics  regarding  the 
early  sheep  industry  of  this  Territory.  We  can  only  judge  from  the 
well-known  energy  and  scientific  acumen  of  the  old  Spaniards  that  the 
first  sheep  were  brought  to  the  present  Territory  of  New  Mexico  toward 
the  end  of  the  seventeenth  century  or  the  beginning  of  the  eighteenth. 
It  is  known  that  Santa  Fe  was  permanently  founded  by  the  Spaniards  in 
1605.  Andfrom  a  general  knowledge  and  observation  of  the  flocks  during 
recent  years  it  is  evident  that  the  first  sheep  which  the  pioneer  settlers 
brought  with  them  to  this  country  from  northern  Mexico  must  have 
been  of  good  quality,  since  continued  inbreeding  for  over  a  century 
only  reduced  the  wool  of  Mexican  sheep  to  a  quality  appropriate  for 
carpet  and  blanket  stock.  It  is  only  since  1855  that  the  better  grades 
of  sheep  have  been  gradually  introduced  to  this  Territory,  until  now, 
when  every  sheep-owner,  however  small,  usually  endeavors  to  obtain 
the  best  rams  his  means  will  permit. 

Eegarding  the  past  history  of  the  industry,  Hon.  F.  A.  Manzanares, 
president  of  the  bureau  of  immigration,  and  a  sheep-owner,  says : 

For  over  two  hundred  years  the  people  of  New  Mexico  have  been  more  or  less  engaged 
in  the  sheep  business.  It  has  ever  been  found  profitable,  and  in  former  yesirs  it  was 
only  owing  to  the  constant  wars  with  the  savages  of  the  Territory  that  much  diffi- 
culty was  experienced  in  caring  for  the  sheep,  not  uiifrequently  attended  with  loss 
of  life,  more  especially  at  the  murderous  hands  of  the  Navajos,  whose  rapacity  had 
no  limits,  and  whose  favorite  prey  was  the  indefensive  lamb.  These  Indians  were, 
as  they  are  now,  very  industrious  and  great  workers  of  wool,  hence  their  cupidity 
for  the  fleecy  prey.  The  famous  Navajo  blankets  are  made  by  them,  as  were  also 
made  by  the  Mexican  people  some  elegant  and  durable  blankets  and  wool  cloth, 
•which  created  but  a  limited  consumption  of  wool  in  the  Territory.  It  was  not  until 
our  disastrous  civil  war  advanced  the  price  of  wool  to  a  fictitious  height  that  New 
Mexican  wools  found  their  way  to  the  Eastern  markets,  and  their  high  prices  con- 
tinuing after  the  war,  became  a  great  stimulus.  The  depredating  Indians  having 
been  permanently  suppressed,  the  wool  industry  in  the  country  has  been  successfully 
carried  on  until  the  cattle  began  to  supplant  the  sheep,  a  circumstance  which  has 
resulted  in  more  detriment  to  the  masses,  and  especially  the  poor,  than  most  of  us 
are  willing  to  admit.  Nevertheless,  the  fact  stands  of  record  and  the  vast  impor- 
tance of  the  sheep  business  and  its  encouragement  will  be  plainly  shown  by  the  fol- 
lowing statistical  totals,  in  connection  Avith  the  fact  that  when  the  sheep  were  more 
numerous  and  generally  distributed  there  was  less  want  among  the  people  than  there 
is  to-day,  when  fewer  sheep  are  owned  in  the  Territory. 

From  1860  to  1870  there  was  a  steady  increase  in  the  number  of  sheep,  at  which 
latter  year  it  is  safe  to  estimate  the  number  at  3,000,000  head,  and  it  was  about  that 
time  that  a  general  and  urgent  demand  sprung  up  from  outside  the  Territory  and 
continued  for  the  ten  years  following,  the  result  of  which  was  decreasing  instead  of 
increasing  the  number  fas  a  natural  consequence  would  indicate)  of  sheep,  owners 
as  a  rule  selling  freely  to  Colorado  and  Texas,  so  that  in  1880  there  were,  according 
to  the  census  of  that  year,  only  2,088,831  sheep.  From  that  time,  the  heavy  demand 
having  ceased,  again  an  increase  of  nearly  100  per  cent  took  place  from  1880  to  1887, 
when  a  fair  estimate  would  place  the  number  at  about  4,000,000,000  head. 

Further  information  on  this  subject  and  about  the  early  drives  of 


WEST   OF   THE x  MISSISSIPPI   RIVER.  919 

has  been  compiled  for  the  report  of  Internal  Commerce  by  Hon. 
T.  B.  Mills,  of  Las  Vegas,  the  United  States  Treasury  expert,  as  fol- 
lows: 

Sheep  were  brought  into  the  Territory  from  the  southern  Mexican  States  in  the 
early  settlement,  and  after  the  Indian  rebellion  in  1860  and  the  resettlement  of  the 
country,  sheep  raising  became  the  leading  industry.  The  breed,  which  was  likely 
originally  Merino  from  Spain,  degenerated  by  inattention  to  a  very  inferior  class  as 
respects  wool,  making  a  good  mutton,  however.  Previous  to  the  annexation  to  the 
United  States  large  herds  were  annually  driven  to  the  southern  market  from  this 
Territory,  principally  for  mutton  meat.  The  wool  was  of  bnt  little  value  and  was 
almost  solely  used  in  the  Territory  for  the  manufacture  by  the  people  of  blankets, 
coarse  cloth,  and  bed  mattresses.  Knives  were  used  in  shearing,  and  the  first  sheep- 
shears  were  brought  into  the  Territory  and  used  in  1854,  by  John  L.  Taylor,  a  native 
of  Urbnna  county,  Ohio.  The  first  blooded  Merino  sheep  were  brought  in,  driven 
across  the  plains  in  1859,  by  George  Giddiugs,  from  Kentucky. 

Sheep-raising  has  been  a  prominent  industry  since  the  annexation,  and  the  drives 
to  the  surrounding  States  and  Territories  have  been  large  and  numerous. 

Ill  the  Tenth  Census,  under  the  head  of  meat  production,  it  is  stated: 

Drives  into  California  began  about  the  year  1852  for  mutton  and  for  stock.  Colonel 
Chaves,  of  New  Mexico,  was  one  of  the  chief  movers  in  the  beginning;  also  the  Luna 
family.  Through  the  courteous  interest  of  these  gentlemen  in  the  matter  referred 
to  the  following  close  estimates  have  been  prepared : 

Sheep  driven  from  New  Mexico  into  Caliioruia  in  1852, 40,000  (some  sold  as  high  as 
$16  per  head) ;  sheep  driven  from  New  Mexico  into  California  in  1853,  135,000  (sold 
from  $9  to  $12  per  head) ;  Colonel  Chaves  himself  drove  in  1854  (the  total  drives  that 
year)  27,000;  total  sheep  drive  in  1855,  19,000;  total  sheep  drive  in  1856,200,000; 
total  sheep  drive  in  1857,  130,000.  Sheep  brought  about  $3.37  per  head  in  these  last 
years.  In  1858  and  1859,  Indians  troublesome,  small  number  driven;  in  1860,  busi- 
ness ceased ;  total  number  of  sheep  driven  from  New  Mexico  into  California  from 
1852  to  1860,  inclusive,  551,000. 

From  Col.  Stoneroad  and  Col.  Chaves,  both  of  New  Mexico,  we  have 
the  following  records  of  sheep  driven  from  California  to  New  Mexico  in 
more  recent  years : 

In  1876  Col.  Stoneroad  took  10,000  sheep  from  Merced  County, 
California,  to  Puerto  de  Luna,  New  Mexico.  His  route  was  up  San 
Joaquin  Valley  to  Bakersfield  and  along  the  railroad  to  Tehichipa 
Pass,  in  the  Sierra  Nevada;  thence  to  Cottonwood,  on  the  Mojave 
Eiver,  where  the  desert  begins;  thence  downstream  to  a  point  much 
below  sea  level.  Here  comes  the  real  desert  trail  from  the  "Sinks"  to 
Union  Pass  through  the  Blue  Eidge  Mountains  of  Arizona,  about  150 
miles,  with  very  little  water.  The  whole  distance,  about  1,600  miles, 
consumed  seven  and  a  half  months.  Others  (Pinkerton,  Carpenter, 
and  Cosner  Brothers,  who  were  robbed  and  murdered)  drove  16,500. 

In  1877,  by  same  route,  Stoneroad,  Hugo  Zuber,  Capt.  Clancy, 
McKeller,  Eobinson,  and  Curtis  took  12,500;  other  flocks,  say,  5,000; 
1878,  Booth  and  Clancy  took  4,000. 

All  the  above  were  grade  Merinos,  such  being  very  scarce  in  New 
Mexico.  They  cost  $2  per  head  in  California,  and  were  worth  in  New 
Mexico  $3.50. 


920        SHEEP  INDUSTRY  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES 

It  is  estimated  by  men  conversant  with  the  subject  that  from  1876 
to  1878  there  were  annually  driven  out  of  New  Mexico  to  Wyoming, 
Kansas,  and  Nebraska  350,000  head  of  sheep.  This  annual  drive  rather 
increased  in  number  than  otherwise  until  1883  to  1885,  when  the  num- 
ber reached  nearly  1,000,000  head  per  annum,  driven  principally  to 
Texas.  At  that  time  cattle  were  considered  the  best  investment,  and 
sheep-raisers  disposed  of  their  herds  in  order  to  go  into  the  cattle  busi- 
ness. The  average  price  realized  for  the  sheep,  which  were  all  Mexi- 
can, was  $1.50  per  head. 

GENERAL  FACTS    ABOUT  THE    INDUSTRY. 

To  secure  reliable  data  concerning  the  details  of  the  sheep  industry 
has  been  a  task  of  more  than  ordinary  difficulty,  for  the  reason  that  so 
many  of  the  flockmasters  actually  engaged  in  this  pastoral  occupation 
care  very  little  about  literature  of  this  or  any  other  kind  unless  it  is  in 
the  Spanish  language,  and  even  then  it  is  doubtful  whether  they  would 
take  sufficient  interest  to  cooperate  with  any  representative  of  the 
Bureau  unless  he  was  conversant  with  the  Spanish  language.  Owing 
to  the  general  indifference,  unwillingness,  and  too  often  the  inability 
of  the  Mexican  flockmaster,  the  writer  had  to  rely  mainly  on  the  Ameri- 
can sheep-owners,  together  with  a  few  of  the  public-spirited  and  edu- 
cated Mexicans,  for  the  information  presented  in  this  report. 

It  is  a  recognized  fact  worthy  of  note  that  the  success  achieved  in 
the  way  of  improvement  of  the  native  sheep  by  the  American  grower 
has  had  a  stimulating  influence  on  the  Mexican  sheep-owner.  He  has 
been  incited  to  emulate  the  example  of  his  more  skillful  and  enterprising 
American  neighbor,  who  has  realized  higher  prices  for  his  wool  as  well 
as  for  his  wethers.  This  success  has  induced  many  native  sheep-owners 
to  use  better  bucks  as  well  as  to  improve  their  methods  of  sheep  hus- 
bandry. The  native  Mexican  makes  progress  slowly,  but  there  is  no 
doubt  that  in  the  future  he  may  become  a  fairly  prosperous  sheep- 
owner,  although  he  may  be  a  decade  or  so  behind  the  more  progressive 
American  flockmaster.  The  Mexican  flockmaster  possesses  some  pecu- 
liar advantages  over  the  American.  He  is  by  nature  better  adapted 
to  the  isolated  pastoral  pursuit  than  the  American,  because  of  the  tra- 
ditions and  customs  of  his  ancestry,  hence  the  life  of  tending  the  flocks 
is  a  natural  occupation  which  he  is  contented  to  follow.  Again,  he 
will  handle  the  flocks  with  very  much  less  expense  than  the  American. 
The  Mexican  is  naturally  conservative  and  deliberate.  He  should  not 
be  called  lazy  or  indifferent,  for  it  is  an  accepted  fact  or  maxim  in  the 
West  that  a  lazy  or  indifferent  flockmaster  is  a  failure  in  connection 
witli  the  sheep  industry,  and  it  cannot  be  truthfully  said  that  the  Mex- 
icans as  a  class  are  failures.  In  respect  to  cheapness  of  handling  sheep 
and  adaptation  by  nature  as  well  as  choice  to  the  business,  the  Mexi- 
can has  the  advantage  and  will  unquestionably  remain  an  important 
and  necessary  adjunct  to  the  sheep  industry  of  New  Mexico,  either  as 


WEST    OF    THE,  MISSISSIPPI    RIVER.  921 

an  owner,  u  major  domo,"  or  herder.  It  is  evident  from  the  natural 
condition  of  affairs  in  New  Mexico  that  the  sheep  business  will  always 
be  conducted  principally  by  the  Mexican  grower,  though  not  so  ex- 
clusively as  in  the  past,  and  he  will  be  benefited  by  the  object  lessons 
given  him  by  the  experienced  American  flockmaster. 

The  thriving  condition  of  the  sheep  husbandry  in  New  Mexico  at  the 
present  time  may  be  attributed  largely  to  the  American  flockmasters7 
achievements.  They  handle  mostly  the  California  Merino,  or  what  is 
called  improved  sheep,  i.  e.,  sheep  bred  up  by  crossing  fine  Merino  rams 
on  Mexican  or  native  ewes.  Another  cause  for  the  present  nourishing 
condition  of  the  industry  in  New  Mexico  is  the  very  large  demand  for 
sheep  to  drive  to  Kansas  and  Nebraska  and  other  parts  of  the  corn 
belt  for  feeders.  This  comparatively  new  feature  of  the  industry, 
together  with  the  improved  wool  product,  has  made  the  sheep  business 
of  recent  years  the  most  profitable  live-stock  pursuit  in  the  Territory. 
It  has  also  had  a  beneficial  effect  on  the  flocks,  which  will  result  in 
still  more  rapid  improvement  as  well  as  a  larger  per  cent  of  increase 
and  less  loss  from  exposure.  Owing  to  the  large  demand  for  feeders 
the  flockmaster  is  able  to  dispose  of  his  old  sheep,  both  wethers  and 
ewes,  as  well  as  such  lambs  as  are  unfit  to  withstand  the  treatment  of 
existing  methods  of  handling  sheep  by  the  average  flockmaster  in  New 
Mexico. 

It  is  a  notable  fact  that  New  Mexico,  taking  into  consideration  the 
whole  Territory,  is  better  adapted  in  every  way  for  sheep  than  for  any 
other  class  of  stock.  Outside  of  Texas  there  is  no  State  or  Territory 
west  of  the  Mississippi  River  where  the  business  can  be  conducted  so 
cheaply  as  in  New  Mexico,  and  where  the  total  cost  per  head  a  year 
will  be  as  low  as  in  this  Territory.  Yet  there  is  perhaps  no  other  State 
that  raises  such  a  small  per  cent  of  lambs  as  are  raised  here  in  pro- 
portion to  the  number  of  breeding  ewes.  This  fact,  however,  is  no 
fault  of  the  country  or  climate,  but  it  is  owing  wholly  to  the  character 
of  sheep  handled  and  the  methods  in  vogue. 

The  number  in  a  flock,  or,  as  commonly  designated,  a  "partida," 
is  usually  from  2,000  to  3,000  head  of  ewes,  in  charge  of  a  "  major 
domo^anda  herder.  These  two  men  as  a  rule  take  charge  of  the 
flock  for  six  months  at  least,  and  'graze  them  on  the  public  land.  They 
are  furnished  with  provisions  and  a  tent,  which  are  carried  on  two 
pack  burros  as  they  move  along  with  the  sheep  from  place  to  place  as 
in  the  judgment  of  the  men  in  charge  is  most  advisable,  taking  into 
consideration  the  character  of  range,  fresh  grass,  convenience  to 
water,  etc. 

The  number  of  sheep  owned  by  one  person  or  firm  in  New  Mexico  va- 
ries from  500  to  50,000.  The  counties  having  the  largest  individual  hold- 
ings are  Valencia,  Bernalillo,  San  Miguel,  Lincoln,  and  Eio  Arriba, 
while  the  holdings  in  Eddy,  Taos,  and  Colfax  counties  are  reported 
smaller.  It  is  needless,  perhaps,  to  state  that  in  those  counties  where 


922        SHEEP  INDUSTRY  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES 

are  found  the  largest  holdings  the  sheep  show  less  improvement,  and 
consequently  are  not  so  profitable  to  handle.  These  large  holdings 
have  a  greater  per  cent  of  animal  losses  from  the  usual  causes,  as  well 
as  a  smaller  per  cent  of  increase.  These  large  herds  are  mainly  the 
property  of  Mexican  owners.  The  families  of  wealthy  Mexicans, 
known  as  the  Pereas  and  Oteros,  are  said  to  be  the  largest  sheep-own- 
ers in  New  Mexico,  and  are  accredited  as  owning  together  about 
500,000  sheep  in  Bernalillo  and  adjoining  counties.  The  American 
owner  generally  prefers,  if  he  has  had  previous  experience,  to  handle  a 
smaller  number  and  have  a  better  quality  of  sheep. 

From  the  foregoing  some  might  infer  that  sheep-raising  in  New  Mex- 
ico was  hazardous  and  unprofitable,  but  it  must  be  remembered  that 
the  present  condition  of  the  flocks  is  due  to  the  old-established  custom 
among  Mexican  people  of  giving  or  putting  out  their  sheep  on  shares, 
in  the  care  of  industrious  men,  who  willingly  pay  a  yearly  rental  of  20 
to  25  per  cent  or  more  to  the  owner,  as  they  in  person  or  members  of 
their  family  attend  to  the  sheep.  The  profit  thus  derived  compensates 
the  renter  for  his  time  and  labor,  and  after  a  few  years  he  becomes  an 
owner  and  in  turn  leases  his  surplus  flocks.  This  system  has  been  in 
vogue  so  long  that  neither  owner  nor  renter  feels  disposed  to  entail 
the  additional  and  temporary  expense  necessary  to  improve  the  flocks 
by  using  pure-bred  bucks.  At  present,  however,  there  is  a  more 
marked  tendency  to  improve  the  sheep  than  usual. 

The  pasture  lands  of  New  Mexico  consist  mainly  of  the  vast  treeless 
plains,  which  have  very  little  shade,  but  are  fairly  well  covered  with 
gramma  grass.  Here  the  sheep  are  grazed  during  the  summer,  and 
depend  for  drink  on  the  rivers  or  surface  water  from  rain.  In  the  win- 
ter the  sheep  are  taken  to  the  foothills  or  mountains,  where  natural 
shelter  and  bunch  grass  or  salty  sage  is  more  abundant,  and  for  water 
the  sheep  eat  snow.  The  manner  of  pasturing  sheep  has  undergone  no 
changes.  From  the  character  of  the  country  flocks  have  to  move  about 
to  keep  on  fresh  grass,  which,  owing  to  its  peculiar  short  growth,  is 
particularly  adapted  to  sheep  or  goats.  Other  classes  of  stock  are 
gradually  giving  way  to  sheep,  owing  to  the  peculiar  ranges  with 
scanty  moisture.  For  three  years  the^  grazing  lands  received  hardly 
sufficient  moisture  to  renew  the  annual  growth  of  grass  until  the  win- 
ter and  spring  of  1890-'91,  when  there  was  an  excess  of  rain,  and  to-day 
the  ranges  are  in  splendid  condition. 

The  annual  loss  of  sheep  from  the  depredations  of  wild  animals  and 
exposure  has  been  considerable  in  the  past,  but  is  likely  to  be  propor- 
tionately less  hereafter,  on  account  of  reducing  the  number  and  im- 
proving the  stock,  as  well  as  the  methods  of  management.  Owing  to 
the  constant  attendance  of  a  herder,  the  loss  in  general  from  wild  ani- 
mals is  not  as  large  as  the  average  losses  from  exposure.  From  wild 
animals  the  average  loss  is  reported  all  the  way  from  3  to  7  per  cent, 


WEST   OF   THE  ^MISSISSIPPI   RIVER.  923 

while  from  exposure  incident  to  the  methods  of  handling  the  loss 
ranges  from  4  to  10  per  cent.  From  all  sources,  including  occasional 
bad  winters,  the  average  loss  does  not  exceed  for  the  whole  Territory 
10  per  cent  annually. 

Very  few  sheep  are  brought  into  New  Mexico  from  eastern  States 
except  breeding  rams,  and  they  must  have  extra  care  and  feed  in  or- 
der to  render  much  service,  at  least  until  they  become  acclimated. 
They  can  not  subsist  on  the  public  range  like  the  native  sheep,  but 
their  offspring  do  well.  The  wool  loses  oil,  owing  to  the  dry  climate. 

The  rams  mostly  in  use  are  pure-bred  Merinos  and  their  grades, 
especially  among  the  American  owners  and  the  enterprising  of  the 
Mexicans,  while  a  very  large  number  of  flockmasters  are  content  to 
use  the  improved  Mexican  rams.  The  rams  in  use  are  2  years  old 
and  upward ;  and  in  the  northern  part  of  the  Territory  the  rams  are 
turned  in  with  the  ewe  flock  at  least  thirty  days.  Each  ram  is  given 
from  40  to  50  ewes,  and  in  some  cases  with  pure-bred  rams  100  ewes 
are  given.  The  number  of  lambs  raised  depends  somewhat  on  the 
season,  and  varies  from  65  to  85  per  cent,  or  a  general  average  of  about 
75  per  cent. 

Very  little  land  is  owned  by  the  sheep-owners  outside  of  watered 
lands,  as  they  depend  almost  wholly  upon  the  public  land  for  grazing. 
But  the  day  is  not  far  distant  when  it  will  become  necessary  to  own  a 
home  ranch,  where  a  sure  habitation  may  be  had,  and  where  the  breed- 
ing rams  and  weaker  sheep  may  have  better  attention,  and  where  some 
shelter  and  feed  may  be  provided  when  necessary.  As  a  rule  no  feed 
or  shelter  has  been  provided  except  in  individual  cases  where  the  flocks 
are  small  and  improved. 

Shearing  takes  place  during  May  or  June,  except  on  the  Lower  Eio 
Grande  or  in  southern  New  Mexico,  where  they  shear  twice  a  year, 
during  May  and  October.  But  the  system  of  shearing  twice  a  year  is 
declining  and  will  largely  become  obsolete  in  time,  especially  when  scab 
has  become  eradicated.  The  cost  of  shearing  is  about  1  cent  per 
pound  and  is  done  principally  by  Mexicans,  who  receive  their  board 
and  from  3  to  5  cents  per  head.  The  bulk  of  New  Mexico  wool  is  sold 
in  the  grease  to  the  local  buyer,  and  the  larger  proportion  of  the  clip 
of  the  Territory  is  handled  at  Las  Vegas  and  Albuquerque.  The  fleece 
of  the  common  Mexican  sheep  averages  about  2  pounds,  the  improved 
Mexican  4  pounds,  and  the  Merino  and  fine  medium  from  6  to  9  pounds. 

Of  the  wool  produced  in  the  Territory  last  year,  about  75  per  cent 
was  one-fourth  and  three  eighths  improved  Mexican  in  about  equal 
quantities.  Fifteen  per  cent  was  fine  and  the  remaining  10  per  cent 
consisted  of  coarse  or  blanket  cloth  and  carpet  wool.  In  this  estimate 
the  Navajo  Indian  wool  is  not  considered,  as  the  larger  proportion  of 
it  is  carpet  and  blanket  and  the  remainder  medium.  Of  the  coarse 
wool  one-third  is  black.  The  wools  of  the  Territory  for  1890  netted 


924        SHEEP  INDUSTRY  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES 

tlie  grower  from  12  to  16  cents.  The  cost  of  marketing  the  clip  in  the 
East  is  placed  at  4  cents  per  pound.  The  bulk  of  the  clip  of  the  Ter- 
ritory is  bought  by  local  buyers  as  soon  as  sheared,  and  by  them  sent 
to  St.  Louis,  Chicago,  Philadelphia,  or  Boston.  There  is  probably  no 
other  State  or  Territory,  excepting,  perhaps,  Arizona,  where  so  little 
wool  is  consigned  to  distant  markets  by  the  grower  as  in  New  Mexico. 

It  is  stated  by  the  wool-buyers  who  handle  most  of  the  Territorial 
wool  that  the  general  improvement  of  the  wool  product  dates  back 
only  about  three  years,  and  it  is  astonishing  how  marked  the  improve- 
ment has  been  in  so  short  a  time.  Carpet  wool  is  rapidly  disappear- 
ing, as  a  result  of  better  breeding  and  the  mutton  demand.  Sheep- 
OAvners  readily  discovered  that  it  was  more  profitable  to  dispose  of  the 
sheep  for  mutton  than  to  keep  them  to  produce  carpet  wool. 

The  demand  for  wethers  and  stock  sheep  is  active,  and  the  buyers 
take  them  here  on  the  ranch  at  the  nearest  shipping  point,  or  drive 
them  to  Kansas,  Nebraska,  and  other  States  north  and  east.  Fully  25 
per  cent  of  the  flocks  is  now  readily  disposed  of  in  this  way  each  year, 
either  to  feeders  in  the  corn-growing  States  or  to  the  sheepmen  from 
the  North  and  East. 

The  following  extracts  from  the  correspondence  received  from  repre- 
sentative sheepmen  in  the  various  sections  of  New  Mexico  will  serve  to 
give  a  correct  idea  of  this  phase  of  the  industry : 

In  Socorro  County  last  year,  during  August  and  September,  the  feeders  purchased 
the  wethers  3  years  and  over  on  the  trail,  paying  the  sheep-owners  from  $1.80  to 
$2.50  per  head,  and  the  average  weight  was  about  90  poniids.  Another  corre- 
spondent from  Rio  Arriba  County  says  that  mature  sheep  sold  for  mutton  average 
115  pounds  and  bring  $1.50  to  $1.75  per  head.  A  Colfax  County  sheep-owner  says 
that  about  one-eighth  of  the  flock  is  disposed  of  annually  to  Kansas  and  Nebraska 
feeders  at  from  $2  to  $2.50,  and  the  average  weight  is  85  pounds. 

A  report  from  Taos  County  says  that  every  fall  one-fourth  of  the  flock  is  disposed 
of  as  mutton  or  stockers  at  about  $1.50  per  head,  and  that  the  2-year-olds  and  over, 
sold  to  butchers  in  Denver,  Pueblo,  and  Leadville,  dress  40  pounds.  A  Chaves 
County  owner  states  that  about  one-third  of  the  increase  of  the  flocks  is  sold  each 
year  at  home  for  $2  per  head  after  shearing,  and  the  average  weight  is  90  pounds. 
A  prominent  Mexican  sheepman  from  San  Miguel  says  that  the  male  portion  of  the 
flock  is  sold  each  year  wherever  the  market  is  best,  but  usually  sold  at  or  near  Las 
Vegas  to  Eastern  buyers,  and  the  average  price  for  1890  was  $2  per  head  and  the 
average  weight  95  pounds.  An  Eddy  County  sheep-raiser  states  that  25  per  cent  of 
the  flock  is  disposed  of  annually  to  the  buyers  at  home  for  $2  to  $2.25,  and  the  mutton 
sheep  average  from  75  to  90  pounds. 

It  is  a  matter  of  some  surprise  to  note  how  cheaply  sheep  are  handled  in  New 
Mexico.  Wages  paid  herders  and  the  men  in  charge  of  flocks  run  from  $15  to  $25 
per  mouth  with  board.  The  average  cost  per  sheep  a  year,  all  expenses,  is  variously 
estimated  from  25  to  60  cents.  An  American  owner  of  perhaps  the  best  improved 
flock  in  New  Mexico  places  the  cost  at  60  cents  per  sheep  a  year.  The  correspond- 
ence of  the  writer  with  sheepmen  regarding  the  annual  cost  in  several  counties  is 
summarized  as  follows: 

San  Miguel  County,  30  cents  by  Mexicans  and  60  cents  by  Americans ;  Eddy  County, 
30  to  40  cents;  Colfax,  50  to  60  cents;  Chaves,  35  cents;  Taos,  45  cents;  Rio  Arriba, 
30  cents;  Socorro,  30  cents;  Valencia,  25  cents;  Bernalillo  County,  30  cents.  Mr. 
F.  A.  Manzauares,  of  Las  Vegas,  an  extensive  wool  merchant  and  sheep-owner,  in 


WEST    OF    THE    MISSISSIPPI   RIVER.  925 

an  article  011  "Sheep  and  Wool  in  Xew  Mexico,"  gives  a  liberal  estimate  of  the  actual 
expenses  for  a  flock  of  2,500  sheep  as  follows: 

Pay  of  two  men  and  their  provisions,  etc $720 

Pay  of  extra  help  and  provisions  during  lambing  season 150 

Ten  per  cent  losses,  including  meat  for  hands 650 


1,520 

According  to  this  estimate,  which  included  the  annual  losses  from  all  sources,  the 
cost  would  be  60  cents  per  head,  or  omitting  that  item,  about  35  cents. 

Iii  briefly  enumerating  some  of  the  local  advantages  of  New  Mexico 
for  sheep  husbandry,  the  most  apparent  and  far-reaching  are  the  gen- 
eral adaptability  of  the  climate  and  grazing  land  for  sheep;  free  range 
on  Government  land;  abundant  low-priced  labor;  extensive  areas  of 
fair  to  good  grazing  lands  which  can  not  be  utilized  for  any  other  pur- 
pose, owing  to  their  altitude  and  irreclainiably  arid  nature;  the  preva- 
lence of  the  native  gramma  grass,  which  covers  most  of  the  plains, 
stands  dry  weather  as  no  other  grass  does,  and  although  of  short  growth, 
is  extremely  nutritious  and  sweet.  Eemarkable  as  it  is,  this  grass 
possesses  this  quality  throughout  the  entire  year,  enabling  stock  to 
subsist  on  it  the  year  through.  The  supply  of  water,  whether  from 
running  streams,  wells,  or  even  from  reservoirs,  is  pure.  The  natural 
heathftilness  of  live  stock  in  this  Territory  is  a  decided  advantage. 
Disease  is  unknown,  with  the  exception  of  scab,  and  this,  with  improved 
methods  of  sheep  management  and  the  enforcement  of  the  new  scab 
laws,  can  be  eradicated. 

The  climatic  conditions  are  specially  favorable  for  the  animal  indus- 
try, and  sudden  changes  of  temperature  are  unknown.  The  weather 
may  truly  be  said  to  be  both  stable  and  equable.  There  are  no  extremes 
of  either  heat  or  cold,  making  the  climate  a  sort  of  happy  medium,  a 
fortunate  condition,  in  view  of  the  existing  methods  of  conducting  the 
industry  without  shelter  and  no  particular  habitation.  The  days  are 
usually  quite  warm,  but  the  nights  are  delightfully  cool  and  invigor- 
ating. 

The  chief  disadvantages  and  obstacles  encountered  by  the  flock- 
masters  of  Xew  Mexico  are  enumerated  by  them  as  few  in  number  but 
far-reaching  in  their  effect,  and  of  serious  consequence  to  those  engaged 
in  the  industry.  Scab  is  commonly  mentioned  as  the  chief  drawback 
by  most  sheepmen.  Though  it  is  easily  cured,  jet,  owing  to  the  go-as- 
you-please  system  with  flocks,  there  is  no  reasonable  prospect  of  im- 
munity from  it,  or  has  not  been  until  the  last  legislature,  early  in  1891, 
enacted  a  stringent  law  which  is  published  in  this  report.  Under  its 
provisions  sheep-owners  have  better  protection,  and  its  rigid  enforce- 
ment will  thoroughly  eradicate  scab  from  the  flocks  of  the  Territory. 
Another  source  of  inconvenience  which  interferes  with  the  develop- 
ment and  improvement  of  the  range  for  the  accommodation  of  the 
sheep  is  the  l°.nd  laws,  which  prevent  flockmasters  from  acquiring 
range  which  they  should  control  to  place  the  business  on  a  better  and 


926        SHEEP  INDUSTRY  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES 

more  permanent  basis.  A  disadvantage  in  some  counties  is  the  late 
date  at  which  grass  starts  in  the  spring.  So  many  lambs  come  before 
the  new  grass  is  well  started  that  the  ewes  do  not  nourish  them  well, 
because  of  short  supply  of  milk.  And  in  the  northern  .portions  of  the 
Territory  occasional  snowstorms  occur  during  the  lambing  season. 
Still  worse  difficulties  are  the  long  dry  seasons  and  scarcity  of  natural 
Avater  supply  accessible  on  so  much  of  the  grazing  lands;  for,  owing  to 
the  unfavorable  land  laws  of  the  Territory,  the  sheep-owners  do  not  feel 
like  incurring  the  expense  of  making  reservoirs  or  putting  down  wells. 
The  chief  drawbacks  to  the  industry  are  the  poor  quality  of  the  sheep 
and  the  primitive  methods  of  conducting  the  industry.  Especially  is 
the  slow  progress  of  improvement  due  largely  to  the  old  custom  of  hav- 
ing sheep  kept  on  shares,  as  neither  the  owner  nor  renter  will  incur 
the  expense  of  improving  the  flocks.  The  owner  frequently  runs  the 
flocks  as  a  side  issue  to  some  other  business,  and  while  he  realizes  20 
per  cent  as  a  yearly  income  on  the  sheep  investment  he  is  content  with 
the  old  system. 

The  present  outlook  for  the  industry  of  New  Mexico  is  unusually 
bright.  Buyers  are  numerous,  looking  for  stock  sheep  as  well  as  mut- 
tons for  feeders.  The  supply  of  fresh  grass  and  water  is  now  abundant 
and  the  protracted  dry  period  of  188S-'89  and  1890  is  at  an  end.  The 
recurrence  of  another  such  extended  dry  spell  is  not  soon  anticipated, 
and  should  it  occur  again  sheep-owners  feel  that  much  of  the  irrigable 
land  which  is  rapidly  being  developed  will  produce  such  heavy  crops  of 
alfalfa  that  the  feed  problem  will  be  solved.  The  extensive  areas  of  alfalfa 
and  their  increase  every  year  will  be  of  great  benefit  to  wool-growers, 
enabling  them  to  select  the  old  and  inferior  ewes  and  feed  them  for  the 
market,  thus  withdrawing  from  their  flock  all  undesirable  ewes  and 
only  breeding  the  best. 

It  has  been  demonstrated  by  the  experience  of  practical  flockmasters 
that  the  best  methods  for  profitably  conducting  sheep  husbandry  in 
the  Territory  is  for  the  owner  to  have  personal  supervision  of  his  flocks, 
or  if  the  management  of  the  flocks  must  be  left  to  hired  help,  to  be  sure 
that  they  are  capable,  honest,  and  faithful.  It  will  not  do  to  intrust 
the  flocks  with  herders  who  are  employed  because  they  can  he  hired 
cheaply.  The  sheep  should  be  kept  free  from  scab,  run  in  medium- sized 
flocks,  and  pastured  on  good  fresh  grass,  and  in  nowise  should  the  reg- 
ular supply  of  salt  or  water  be  stinted.  Elockmasters  have  been  very 
neglectful  in  the  matter  of  a  regular  and  adequate  supply  of  water  and 
salt  for  the  sheep.  This  must  be  avoided  or  profits  sacrificed  in  pro- 
portion to  the  amount  of  neglect. 

When  it  is  at  all  practicable,  every  sheep-owner  should  have  a  per- 
manent ranch,  where  feed  and  shelter  are  provided,  when  such  require- 
ments are  necessary.  He  should  manage  to  have  green  feed  for  sheep 
during  the  lambing  season.  When  the  range  is  short  of  water  and  it 
is  necessary  to  pasture  such  lands,  as  is  frequently  the  case,  the  sheep- 


WEST   OF    THE    MISSISSIPPI   RIVER.  927 

owner  should  provide  water  by  means  of  tanks,  reservoirs,  or  artesian 
wells,  whichever  is  the  most  feasible.  Reservoirs  are  easily  constructed 
at  the  head  of  a  ravine  or  in  some  other  natural  location,  by  which  a 
large  area  of  water  is  stored  up  for  use  instead  of  going  to  waste. 
These  reservoirs  conserve  the  water  from  the  melted  snow  and  rain, 
and  enable  the  farmer  and  stock-raiser  to  utilize  it  for  their  needs  dur- 
ing the  hot  dry  season.  The  writer  knows  of  an  extensive  sheep-owner 
that  has  twenty  of  these  simply  constructed  reservoirs  on  his  grazing 
lands,  and  their  first  cost  is  insignificant  compared  to  their  permanent 
value. 

In  many  portions  of  the  Territory  artesian  wells  may  be  sunk  ad- 
vantageously and  furnish  flowing  water  in  abundance.  The  great  diffi- 
culty in  securing  these  necessary  and  valuable  improvements  and  con- 
veniences is  the  cost  in  time  and  money,  together  with  the  land  laws, 
which  discourage  improvements  of  this  kind  and  interfere  with  owner- 
ship or  control  of  the  land.  In  addition  to  these  difficulties,  the  dispo- 
sition of  the  fiockmaster  in  the  past  has  been  averse  to  putting  any 
money  into  the  business  except  for  stock  alone.  It  is  gratifying  to 
note  that  representative  sheepmen  are  aware  of  the  importance  of 
these  improved  methods  of  management. 

It  is  a  difficult  matter  to  lay  down  or  establish  rules  for  the  general 
guidance  of  sheep  husbandry  in  the  Territory,  owing  to  the  prevailing 
conditions  and  concomitant  circumstances,  which  have  a  controlling 
effect ;  and  the  changeable  climate  and  seasons  in  different  portions  of 
New  Mexico  have  to  be  taken  into  consideration.  As  a  rule,  however, 
the  mountain  ranges  are  utilized  from  May  to  October  and  the  prairies 
and  mesas  or  plains  during  the  winter.  In  brief,  the  best  methods  ap- 
plicable to  any  portion  of  the  Territory  are,  to  rid  the  flock  of  scab, 
kill  the  wild  animals,  keep  fewer  and  better  sheep,  use  better  bucks, 
dispose  of  undesirable  ewes  to  the  feeders,  give  the  sheep  better  care, 
employ  reliable  and  competent  help,  and  provide  all  the  necessary 
shelter,  water,  feed,  and  salt.  In  general,  improve  on  the  past  tradi- 
tional customs  as  practical  judgment  dictates,  and  there  need  be  no 
apprehension  or  misgivings  as  to  the  permanence,  profitableness,  or 
future  of  the  sheep  industry  of  New  Mexico. 

NUMBER  AXD  VALUE   OF  SHEEP. 

It  has  been  quite  difficult  to  obtain  any  reliable  data  from  the  Terri- 
torial records  of  New  Mexico  by  which  the  exact  number  of  sheep 
owned  in  the  different  counties  of  the  Territory  can  be  computed.  The 
reports  of  the  assessors  are  wholly  unreliable  as  to  exact  numbers, 
and  therefore  had  no  consideration  in  making  up  this  estimate.  But, 
taking  the  lowest  reliable  estimate  of  the  wool  clips  of  1890  of  9,000,000 
pounds,  which,  at  an  average  of  3  pounds  per  head,  would  give  us 
3,000,000  of  sheep  shorn  during  1890,  and  to  this  number  adding 
the  number  of  lambs  raised  during  the  year  would  augment  the  num- 


928 


SHEEP    INDUSTRY    OF    THE    UNITED    STATES 


ber  to  4,000,000,  which  is  approximately  correct,  and  as  near  the 
exact  number  as  it  is  possible  to  determine  without  an  actual  count. 
Taking  4,000,000  of  sheep  as  the  number  owned  in  New  Mexico, 
the  different  classes  and  their  respective  values  are  as  follow:  1,000,000 
lambs  at  $1.50  per  head,  value  $1,500,000;  2,000,000  ewes  at  $2  per 
head,  value  $4,000,000;  and  1,000,000  wethers  at  $2.50  per  head,  value 
$2,500,000 ;  or  a  total  number  of  4,000,000  sheep  with  a  present  value 
of  $8,000,000. 

The  Atchison,  Topeka  and  Santa  Fe  Eailway  Company,  through  its 
live-stock  department,  prepared  at  the  close  of  1890  a  statement  of  the 
live  stock  in  the  Territory  of  New  Mexico  January  1,  1891,  showing 
the  different  classes  of  stock  in  the  different  counties.  It  is  given  here 
in  order  to  show  the  relative  importance  of  the  sheep  industry  to  other 
branches  of  the  animal  industry.  Their  statement  places  the  number 
of  wethers  for  sale  and  shipment  during  1891  at  G98.500,  or  3,000  car- 
loads. The  agents  of  the  company  made  up  their  estimate  by  confer- 
ring with  the  various  owners  of  stock  in  each  of  the  counties  and  then 
summarized  the  fairly  accurate  results  as  follows : 


County. 

Sheep. 

Cattle. 

Horses. 

Mules. 

Goats. 

Burros. 

Bornalillo  

800  000 

65  000 

6  500 

775 

25  000 

3  500 

Col  fax 

200  000 

165  000 

7  500 

350 

27  500 

3  750 

Donna  Ana  

100  000 

78  000 

5  600 

320 

7  500 

4  500 

Grant  

20,  000 

221  000 

8  000 

375 

15  800 

500 

Lincoln 

400  000 

500  000 

17  650 

750 

35  000 

2  5()0 

Mora  

200  000 

65  000 

4  500 

275 

25  000 

3  500 

Rio  Arriba 

195  000 

30  000 

1  250 

275 

25  000 

3  500 

San  Juan  

125  000 

50*  000 

3  000 

275 

9'  ooo 

4  500 

Santa  Fe 

90  000 

5  400 

1  000 

175 

9  000 

2  500 

San  Miguel  

500,  000 

175'  ooo 

7  500 

600 

12  500 

4  500 

Sierra  

10,  000 

115  600 

5  500 

270 

9  000 

1,000 

Socorro 

97  800 

241  000 

7  500 

570 

10  000 

1  500 

Taos  

125,  000 

3  400 

1  500 

325 

7  500 

2,800 

Valencia 

700  000 

95  000 

3  750 

475 

27  000 

3  000 

Total 

3  492  800 

1  809  400 

80  750 

5  810 

244  800 

41  550 

THE   ADVANTAGES   OF   IRRIGATION. 

When  large  acreage  is  under  irrigation  and  extensive  crops  of  alfalfa 
are  raised  it  must  be  of  great  benefit  to  wool-growers,  and  practically 
put  the  percentage  of  loss  at  a  minimum,  as  it  will  enable  the  flock- 
master  to  select  out  the  old  and  undesirable  ewes  and  feed  them  for  the 
market,  and  only  breed  the  best. 

It  is  indeed  a  favorable  condition  for  the  animal  industry  of  the 
Territory  that  irrigation  enterprises  are  now  receiving  so  much  atten- 
tion. The  further  development  and  success  of  irrigation  is  of  para- 
mount importance  to  stockmen.  It  has  been  demonstrated  that  under 
irrigation  at  least  three  good  crops  of  alfalfa  can  be  produced  in  a 
season  and  frequently  four  crops.  Alfalfa  is  unsurpassed  as  feed  for 
sheep,  and  produced  by  irrigation  in  the  arid  regions  is  much  superior 
as  a  stock  food  to  the  same  crop  produced  on  the  rich  fertile  soil  of  the 
lower  altitude  and  more  humid  country  of  the  States  farther  east.  The 


WEST   OF   THE   MISSISSIPPI  RIVER.  929 

alfalfa  produced  in  the  high  arid  region  of  New  Mexico  is  not  so  coarse 
and  watery,  and  is  more  nutritious.  The  crop  can  also  be  kept  through 
the  winter  with  less  damage,  and  usually  in  better  condition  than  in  the 
agricultural  country  east.  • 

There  is  not  a  single  county  in  the  Territory  where  irrigation  farming 
may  not  to  some  considerable  extent  be  followed  successfully.  This 
fact  is  evident  from  the  success  already  achieved  in  every  county  of 
New  Mexico.  Some  counties  will  naturally  have  larger  areas  than 
others;  but  this  will  be  equalized  by  a  general  distribution  of  products 
raised  so  that  every  county  can  assuredly  find  a  home  demand  for 
all  the  alfalfa  or  other  crops  it  will  produce.  At  present  the  land  irri- 
gated and  producing  crops  is  but  a  little  more  than  1  per  cent  of  the 
entire  area  of  the  Territory.  This  percentage  does  not  include  all  of 
the  area  under  ditch.  The  water  supply  of  New  Mexico,  taking  the 
Territory  as  a  whole,  is  comparatively  well  distributed,  nearly  all 
the  counties  in  the  Territory  having  their  small  rivers,  and  some  of 
them  large  ones.  Perhaps  no  other  portion  of  the  Rocky  Mountain 
region  offers  better  opportunities  for  the  construction  and  profitable 
operation  of  large  irrigating  canals  or  systems  of  ditches,  on  account 
of  the  abundance  of  water  and  of  the  great  extent  of  arable  mesa 
land,  than  do  some  of  the  counties  of  New  Mexico. 

The  success  and  further  development  of  irrigation  means  not  only 
a  profitable  undertaking  for  those  engaged  in  the  production  of  crops 
by  giving  them  an  exclusive  home  market  for  all  that  they  will  ever 
be  able  to  produce,  but  it  means  a  great  deal  more  for  the  animal  in- 
dustry, which  is  now  and  will  always  continue  to  be  the  leading  enter- 
prise of  the  Territory.  And  it  also  insures  and  encourages  the  grow- 
ing of  better  stock  by  improved  methods,  and  correspondingly  larger 
profits.  It  will  put  the  animal  industry  on  a  permanent  basis.  Live 
stock  will  increase  greatly  in  value  if  not  in  numbers.  In  fact,  irriga- 
tion is  an  agricultural  advantage  that  insures  a  bright  outlook  for  the 
sheep  industry  of  New  Mexico.  It  is  a  necessary  adjunct  to  future 
success,  and  without  which  a  serious  decline  would  be  certain. 

NAVAJO   INDIAN  FLOCKMASTERS. 

A  report  on  the  sheep  industry  of  New  Mexico  would  be  incomplete 
without  at  least  a  brief  mention  of  what  the  Navajo  Indians  are  doing 
in  sheep  husbandry.  In  truth,  these  Indians  may  be  said  to  be  the 
pioneer  flockmasters  of  the  Great  West,  for  according  to  old  Spanish 
records  the  Navajos  were  engaged  in  sheep-raising  during  the  sixteenth 
century  and  have  continued  their  pastoral  pursuit  ever  since  by  priinj- 
tive  methods. 

The  Navajo  Reservation  is  located  in  the  northwestern  portion  of 

New  Mexico,  one-half  of  the  reservation  extending  into  Arizona.    The 

Indians  now  number  17,000,  and  are  said  to  be  increasing.    They  are 

credited  with  owning  live  stock  as  follows:    Sheep,  800,000;;   horses, 

22990 59 


930        SHEEP  INDUSTRY  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES 

250,000 ;  mules,  600;  burros.  1,000;  cattle,  5,000,  and  250,000  goats. 
They  are  now  endeavoring  to  exchange  horses  for  cattle  and  sheep. 
The  Indian  agent,  0.  E.  Vandever,  estimated  their  wool  product  for 
1889  at  2,000,000  pounds,  and  the  value  of  their  manufactured  blankets 
that  year  amounted  to  $39,000.  Their  wool  blankets  are  considered 
quite  an  industrial  curiosity,  and  are  sold  iu  the  east  at  very  high 
prices.  The  looms  used  are  quite  crude  and  primitive,  and  a  great 
deal  of  time  is  consumed  in  the  manufacture  of  the  blankets. 

The  sheep  subsist  through  the  year  on  the  grazing  lands;  during 
the  summer  are  pastured  on  the  plateaus,  and  in  the  winter  in  the 
valleys.  The  climatic  conditions  are  quite  favorable,  and  contagious 
diseases  and  epidemics  are  unknown.  Neither  shelter  nor  feed  is  ever 
provided  for  sustaining  the  flocks  during  winter. 

The  wool  product  is  handled  mostly  at  Albuquerque,  and  in  1890 
amounted  to  about  2,000,000  pounds,  mostly  carpet  wool.  Messrs. 
Eisman  Bros,  estimate  that  35  per  cent  of  the  clip  is  straight  carpet, 
25  per  cent  blanket,  and  the  remainder  coarse,  medium  wool.  At  least 
one-third  of  the  wool  is  black.  Their  sheep  are  larger  in  size  than  the 
bulk  of  New  Mexican  sheep,  and  dress  from  60  to  70  pounds. 

The  flocks  belonging  to  these  Indians  vary  in  size  from  300  to  4.000 
head,  and  ewes,  wethers,  and  bucks  are  run  iu  the  same  flocks  together 
throughout  the  year.  They  have  no  regular  period  for  lambing,  but 
lambs  come  at  all  seasons  of  the  year.  Shearing  takes  place  at  any 
time  from  March  to  May.  These  Indians  seem  to  have  little  desire  to 
improve  their  flocks,  and  when  good  bucks  are  given  them  by  the  Indian 
agents  they  are  very  apt  to  barter  them  for  other  stock.  The  Navajo 
Indians  are  about  the  only  flockmasters  that  seem  to  be  content  to 
grow  carpet  wool. 

PERSONAL  EXPERIENCE  AND   OBSERVATIONS. 

In  the  following  pages  are  given  the  experience  and  observations  of 
practical  sheep-owners  and  others  who  are  identified  with  the  industry 
and  are  qualih'ed  to  speak  authoritatively  on  the  subject  under  con- 
sideration. Different  sections  of  the  Territory  are  represented,  and 
various  pertinent  questions  relating  to  the  industry  are  briefly  treated. 
Coming  from  men  practically  engaged  in  sheep  raising  in  New  Mexico, 
these  are  valuable  points  well  worthy  of  consideration : 

Troy  Bros.,  Eaton,  Colfax  County: 

Our  only  real  scourge,  or  at  least  the  worst,  is  tlie  scab,  and  until  we  can  have 
protective  legislation  preventing  its  spread  by  nontaxpaying,  floating  Arab  flocks, 
we  will  always  have  trouble.  A  liberal  bounty  on  animals  would  reduce  our  losses, 
but  the  scab,  scarcity  of  water,  and  difficulty  to  restrain  floating  herds,  does  more 
to  retard  the  improvement  and  investment  in  the  industry  than  all  else. 

The  Jaffo-Prager  Company,  Koswell,  Chaves  County: 

We  find  sheep-raising  in  this  country  a  very  profitable  business.     We  think  we 


WEST    OF    THE    MISSISSIPPI   RIVER.  931 

get  a  larger  per  cent  of  lambs  than  other  sections  from  the  fact  that  the  Pecos  Val- 
ley produces  such  an  abundance  of  salt  grass,  regardless  of  rainfall,  that  there  is 
always  a  certainty  of  having  good  lambing.  Alfalfa  is  raised  to  a  considerable  ex- 
tent, on  which  sheep,  and  particularly  rams,  do  well. 

Thomas  Gardner,  Seven  Eivers,  Eddy  County : 

My  own  experience  in  sheep  raising  is  that  five  years  ago  last  December  I  started 
with  2,000  head  of  sheep,  and  I  have  sold  $11,000  worth  of  sheep  and  have  3,000 
head  to-day,  and  my  experience  is  that  with  proper  care  sheep  raising  is  more  profit- 
able than  any  other  stock;  that  if  the  sheep  business  is  not  conducted  properly,  it 
is  the  most  losing  business  there  is. 

Hon.  F.  A.  Manzanares,  Las  Yegas: 

The  sheep  industry  in  New  Mexico  has  always  been  a  constant  and  sure  source  of 
gain  and  prosperity,  notwithstanding  the  difficulties  attending  the  care  of  sheep,  in 
former  years,  by  the  merciless  ravages  of  the  Navajo  and  Apache  Indians,  and  lat- 
terly the  restricted  and  overcrowded  ranges;  but  at  present  matters  and  ranges  to 
sheepmen  are  more  satisfactory,  and  the  herds  are  reduced  to  a  proper  number,  and 
we  sincerely  hope  that  this  useful  industry  will  from  this  time  onward  receive  the 
good  attention  and  impetus  it  deserves,  in  which  event  it  will  bring  prosperity  to  a 
larger  number  of  people  than  any  other  live-stock  industry  in  the  Territory. 

Ferd.  Meyer,  Costilla,  Taos  County: 

My  experience  extends  only  over  the  San  Luis  Valley,  and  it  would  be  very  diffi- 
cult to  lay  down  or  establish  rules  for  the  general  guidance  of  sheep  husbandry. 
We  simply  make  the  most  of  circumstances  controlled  by  a  very  changeable  climate 
and  seasons.  We  can  never  profit  this  or  next  year  from  what  we  know  seems  to 
have  been  previously.  As  a  rule  the  mountain  range  is  utilized  from  May  to  Octo- 
ber, and  the  prairies  during  the  winter  months,  when  the  snow  on  the  ground  en- 
ables us  to  reach  the  midprairie,  which,  owing  to  want  of  water  during  summer, 
cannot  be  pastured  over.  Large  numbers  of  sheep  at  fair  prices  were  bought  and 
taken  to  the  border  States  to  feed  for  market  while  hay  and  grain  were  low.  We 
do  not  look  for  buyers  for  the  next  twelve  months,  owing  to  failure  of  surplus  crops 
in  Kansas  in  1890. 

E.  F.  Hardy,  Las  Vegas : 

A  steady  demand  for  muttons  resulted  in  bringing  buyers  from  all  of  the  feeding 
States  to  New  Mexico  in  search  of  stock.  Seven  hundred  and  fifty  thousand  head, 
in  round  numbers,  were  sold  and  driven  from  the  Territory  last  year.  A  remarka- 
ble feature  of  the  trade  has  been  the  selling  of  ewes  for  breeding  purposes  to  the 
farmers  of  Kansas,  Iowa,  Wyoming,  and  Minnesota.  It  has  been  discovered  that 
the  New  Mexico  sheep  are  usually  hardy  and  prolific,  and  for  this  reason  our  flocks 
are  purchased  as  foundations  for  breeding  by  the  sheepmen  of  the  older  States. 
Importations  of  sheep  this  year  were  limited  to  the  bringing  in  of  a  considerable 
number  of  fine  bucks  from  Vermont,  Pennsylvania,  Ohio,  and  other  States.  Num- 
bers can  not  be  given  accurately,  but  it  is  evident  that  our  sheepmen  are  more  pro- 
gressive and  are  grading  up  their  flocks  with  the  best  blood  that  money  can  buy. 

Daniel  Troy,  Eaton : 

The  history  of  the  industry  for  this  portion  of  our  Territory  for  the  last  fifteen 
years  has  shown  a  steady  improvement  in  the  care  and  quality  of  our  sheep,  while  at 
the  same  time  the  number  of  sheep-raisers  has  been  gradually  decreased  by  the 
closing  out  of  small  owners,  augmented  by  the  increased  demand  for  mutton  sheep 
for  the  last  three  years.  In  proportion  to  the  improvement  in  the  quality  of  our 
sheep,  so  also  is  our  wool  improved  in  quality  and  average  yield  per  head,  so  that  the 


932        SHEEP  INDUSTRY  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES 

decrease  in  quantity  of  wool  is  much  less  in  proportion  than  is  shown  in  the  number 
of  sheep.  Improved  sheep  demand  improved  care,  with  expensive  improvements 
for  their  protection,  and  fairly  paid,  clothed,  and  fed  American  labor.  A  decrease 
in  prices  for  Territory  wools  can  not  sustain  these  conditions  long,  even  though  we 
have  the  advantage  of  free  grass  and  a  good  climate. 

The  Stock  Grower,  Las  Yegas : 

The  Australian  system  might  be  tried  in  New  Mexico.  There  is  plenty  of  rainfall 
to  grow  any  crop  if  properly  distributed.  At  times  there  is  not  enough  moisture  in 
the  ground  to  bring  the  dews,  and  the  result  is  drought.  The  Australian  plan  is  to 
make  artificial  lakes  or  reservoirs  in  every  hollow;  from  one  to  a  dozen  on  every 
farm.  These  reservoirs  act  as  catch-basins  for  the  surplus  rainfall  in  the  spring  and 
fall,  and  during  the  hot  months  in  summer  the  water  in  these  ponds  is  absorbed  and 
brings  rain.  The  rain-belt  farmers  can  accomplish  the  desired  result  if  they  adopt 
this  plan,  and  the  work  to  each  individual  or  farmer  would  be  comparatively  noth- 
ing. It  is  clear  to  any  mind  that  lakes  of  water  scattered  over  the  plains  in  this 
manner  would  be  beneficial. 

NEW   LAWS   RELATING   TO   THE    SHEEP   INDUSTRY. 

One  of  the  greatest  difficulties  that  has  beset  the  floekraasters  of 
New  Mexico  has  been  the  careless  management  regarding  scab.  Those 
flockmasters  that  used  the  proper  precautions  were  often  handicapped 
by  the  slipshod  sheepmen,  so  that  it  became  necessary  to  move  them 
by  legislative  enactments.  The  scab  law,  if  enforced,  as  no  doubt  it 
will  be,  will  drive  disease  entirely  out  of  the  country,  as  it  exists  in  a 
very  mild  form  and  is  easily  cured. 

Another  source  of  loss  common  to  the  plains  and  mountain  regions 
is  the  depredations  of  wild  animals.  An  act  was  passed  last  winter 
by  the  Territorial  legislature  to  encourage  the  destruction  of  wolves 
and  lions. 

The  following  laws  will  be  quite  beneficial  to  the  sheepmen — will  give 
a  new  impetus  to  the  industry,  insure  rapid  improvement  of  the  breed- 
ing stock,  and  encourage  better  methods  of  management: 

[For  the  prevention  of  scab,  etc.] 

SECTION  1.  That  henceforth  any  and  all  persons,  company,  or  corporation  owning 
or  holding  stock  on  shares,  such  as  sheep,  goats,  etc.,  that  may  pasture  any  sheep  or 
goats  within  the  limits  of  this  Territory,  is  hereby  required  to  comply  with  the  re- 
quirements of  the  following  sections  in  this  act. 

SEC.  2.  That  it  shall  be  the  duty  of  any  person,  persons,  company,  or  corporation, 
who  shall  either  own  or  have  any  sheep  or  goats  on  shares,  to  dip  all  of  said  stock 
within  the  first  day  of  June  and  the  last  day  of  November,  and  use  in  said  process 
all  the  ingredients  required  to  effect  the  cure  of  scab  or  any  such  malady.  The 
bathing  process,  or  dipping,  shall  be  executed  in  the  usual  manner  heretofore  in  use 
by  all  owners  of  sheep. 

SEC.  3.  Any  person,  persons,  company,  or  corporation,  party  or  parties,  having 
sheep  on  shares,  who  shall  fail  to  comply  with  the  requirements  and  provisions  of 
this  act,  shall  be  guilty  of  a  misdemeanor,  and  upon  conviction  thereof,  shall  be 
punished  by  a  fine  of  not  less  than  fifty  dollars,  and  not  more  than  three  hundred 
dollars,  and  the  costs  of  the  prosecution  of  all  matters  and  things  required  in  the 
&aid  case. 


WEST  OF   THE   MISSISSIPPI  RIVER.  933 

SEC.  4.  That,  upon  the  affidavit  of  two  competent  persons,  the  justice  of  the  peace 
or  any  other  court  of  competent  jurisdiction  shall  issue  a  writ  or  summons  against 
any  person  or  persons,  company,  or  corporation,  who  has  been  reported  to  said  court 
as  having  infringed  against  the  requirements  and  provisions  of  this  act,  and  said 
person,  persons,  company,  or  corporation  shall  be  tried  as  now  provided  in  such 
cases. 

SEC.  5.  Any  person,  persons,  company,  or  corporation,  who  are  owners  or  having 
interest  in  woolen  stock,  who  shall  receive  any  damage  through  the  neglect  of  any 
person,  persons,  company,  or  corporation  of  dipping  their  sheep,  as  provided  in 
section  2  of  this  act,  said  person,  persons,  company,  or  corporation  so  being  damaged 
by  the  malady  of  scab  in  their  flocks,  shall  have  a  right  of  action,  and  shall  be  able 
to  recover  irom  the  parties  owning  said  stock,  not  having  been  dipped  as  provided  in 
section  2  of  this  act :  Provided,  however,  That  the  party  so  offended  shall  give  thirty 
days'  notice  to  any  person,  persons,  company,  or  corporation  that  has  not  complied 
with  the  requirements  and  provisions  of  section  2  of  this  act,  to  comply  with  the  same 
as  provided;  and  if,  after  such  notice,  parties  so  notified  fail  to  comply,  then  in 
that  event  the  parties  so  offended  shall  have  a  right  of  action  against  the  parties  so 
failing. 

SEC.  6.  Any  funds  collected  from  fines  or  penalties  as  provided  in  this  act  shall  be 
paid  into  the  general  treasury  of  the  county  where  such  offence  is  committed. 

SEC.  7.  That  all  acts  and  parts  of  acts  in  conflict  with  this  act  are  hereby  repealed, 
and  this  act  shall  be  in  full  force  and  effect  from  and  after  its  passage. 

Approved,  February  26,  1891. 


AN  ACT  to  encourage  the  destruction  of  wolves  and  lions. 

SECTION  1.  Whenever  in  any  county  of  this  Territory  a  petition  signed  by  not  less 
than  one  hundred  persons,  payers  of  taxes  in  such  county,  shall  be  presented  to  the 
board  of  county  commissioners  of  the  county,  asking  for  such  an  order  as  is  herein- 
after described,  it  shall  be  the  duty  of  the  said  board  immediately  to  make  an  order 
and  spread  the  same  on  the  record  of  their  proceedings,  to  the  effect  that  there  shall 
be  paid  from  the  county  treasury  for  each  mountain  lion,  and  each  large  gray  wolf, 
or  lobo,  killed  within  the  county,  a  sum  of  money  not  exceeding  seven  and  one-half 
dollars,  upon  proof  of  the  killing  as  hereinafter  provided. 

SEC.  2.  Any  person  applying  for  the  payment  to  him  of  the  money  so  ordered  to 
be  paid,  shall  file  with  the  county  clerk  a  statement  in  writing,  under  oath,  describ- 
ing the  animal  or  animals  killed,  and  setting  forth  when  and  where  each  one  was 
killed,  the  residence  of  the  applicant,  and  that  the  animal  or  animals  were  killed 
within  the  county.  Such  statement  shall  be  accompanied  with  the  scalp  of  each 
animal,  including  the  ears  and  the  skin  of  the  face  down  to  the  tip  of  the  nose.  The 
county  clerk  shall  keep  a  record  of  all  such  statements  received  by  him,  in  a  book 
kept  for  the  purpose  by  him  in  his  office,  and  shall  present  all  such  statements  and 
scalps  to  the  board  of  county  commissioners  as  soon  after  they  are  received  by  him 
as  said  board  shall  be  in  session. 

SEC.  3.  At  each  session  of  the  board  of  county  commissioners  all  such  statements 
shall  be  taken  up  and  passed  upon  the  same  as  other  claims  against  the  county ;  and 
if  said  board  shall  be  satisfied  of  the  truth  of  any  such  statement,  and  such  state- 
ment is  accompanied  by  the  number  of  scalps  necessary  to  substantiate  its  aver- 
ments, said  board  shall  order  the  claim  paid  like  any  other  county  indebtedness. 
All  scalps  presented  with  any  statement  shall,  immediately  after  the  claim  is  passed 
upon,  be  destroyed  by  or  in  the  presence  of  the  board,  and  such  destruction  shall 
include  the  cutting  of  each  scalp  in  at  least  two  pieces,  separating  the  ears. 


934        SHEEP  INDUSTRY  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES 

SEC.  4.  Any  "board  of  county  commissioners  making  such  order  as  is  provided  for 
in  the  first  section  of  this  act  is  authorized,  when  in  the  opinion  of  the  board  it  may 
be  necessary,  to  levy  a  special  tax  not  exceeding  one-half  of  one  mill  on  each  dollar 
of  taxable  property  in  the  county,  for  the  purpose  of  raising  funds  from  which  to 
make  the  payments  provided  for  in  this  act. 

SEC.  5.  When  any  such  order  as  is  provided  for  in  section  one  of  this  act  shall  be 
made,  a  copy  thereof  shall  be  printed  in  some  newspaper  published  in  the  county 
not  less  than  six  times  in  each  year  in  which  it  remains  in  force,  and  at  least  one 
copy  in  each  such  year  shall  be  posted  up  in  some  conspicuous  place  in  each  precinct 
of  the  county. 

SEC.  6.  Any  false  swearing  in  making  oaths  to  the  statements  required  by  this  act 
shall  be  perjury. 

SEC.  7.  This  act  shall  be  in  full  force  from  and  after  its  passage. 

Approved,  February  17,  1891. 


AN  ACT  relating  to  the  killing  of  animals. 

SECTION  1.  Any  person  killing,  or  causing  to  be  killed,  any  bovine  cattle  or  sheep, 
for  his  own  use  or  for  the  use  of  others,  or  for  the  purpose  in  whole  or  in  part  of 
sale  or  exchange,  is  hereby  required  to  keep  in  his  own  possession,  unchanged  and 
unmutilated  and  in  condition  to  be  easily  inspected  and  examined,  all  hides  and 
pelts  of  such  animals,  including  the  ears,  for  the  period  of  thirty  days  after  the  kill- 
ing; and  shall  at  any  time  while  such  hides  or  pelts  remain  in  his  possession  per- 
mit the  same  to  be  inspected  and  examined  by  any  sheriff,  deputy  sheriff,  or  consta- 
ble, or  by  any  board  or  inspector,  or  other  officer  authorized  by  law  to  inspect  any 
hides  and  pelts,  or  animals,  whether  dead  or  alive:  Provided,  hoivever,  That  the  pro- 
visions of  this  act  shall  not  apply  to  the  killing  by  persons  engaged  in  public 
round-up  of  animals  for  use  in  connection  with  the  making  of  such  round-up. 

SEC.  2.  Each  violation  of  the  provisions  of  this  act  shall  be  punished,  in  the  dis- 
cretion of  the  court  in  whieh  a  conviction  is  had,  by  a  tine  of  not  less  than  twenty- 
five  nor  more  than  one  hundred  dollars,  or  by  imprisonment  not  exceeding  three 
months,  or  by  both  such  fine  and  imprisonment. 

SEC.  3.  Inability  or  refusal  to  show  such  hide  or  pelt  to  any  proper  authority 
within  said  period  of  thirty  days,  or  a  refusal  to  show  it  at  any  time  thereafter  while 
remaining  in  the  possession  of  the  person  by  or  for  whom  the  animal  was  killed 
shall  be  conclusive  evidence  of  a  violation  of  the  provisions  of  this  act,  and  shall  be 
competent  evidence  to  go  to  the  jury  upon  the  trial  of  any  indictment  against  such 
person  or  persons  for  the  larceny  of  any  animal  or  animals,  or  for  the  receiving  of 
stolen  property.  No  conviction,  however,  under  such  indictment  shall  be  had  on 
such  evidence  alone,  but  such  evidence  must  be  corroborated  by  other  independent 
evidence,  which,  if  standing  alone,  would  tend  to  connect  the  accused  with  the  com- 
mission of  the  offense  charged. 

SEC.  4.  Upon  any  prosecution  for  a  violation  of  the  provisions  of  the  first  section 
of  this  act,  the  defendant  shall  be  allowed,  after  verdict,  to  submit  to  the  court  evi- 
dence of  any  facts  tending  to  excuse  or  explain  his  inability  or  refusal  to  show  any 
hide  or  pelt,  and  the  court  shall  consider  such  evidence  in  fixing  his  punishment; 
and  in  cases  where  such  evidence,  in  the  opinion  of  the  court,  is  sufficient  to  justify 
it,  sentence  may  be  indefinitely  suspended. 

SEC.  5.  All  laws  and  parts  of  laws  in  conflict  with  this  act  are  hereby  repealed, 
and  this  act  shall  be  in  force  from  and  after  the  first  day  of  April,  1891 ;  but  this  act 
shall  not  be  construed  as  repealing  or  in  any  manner  changing  the  provisions  of  sec- 
tions 71  to  75,  both  inclusive,  of  the  Compiled  Laws  of  1884. 


WEST   OF   THE  ^MISSISSIPPI   EIVER.  935 

ARIZONA. 

The  Territory  of  Arizona,  with  a  population  of  only  59,600  in  1890, 
is,  so  tar  as  the  sheep  industry  is  concerned,  in  as  prosperous  a  con- 
dition as  any  State  or  Territory  in  the  great  Southwest.  Sheep  hus- 
bandry is  the  leading  and  most  profitable  agricultural  pursuit  of  its 
people,  and  the  indications  are  that  this  will  continue  the  leading  live- 
stock business.  Stock-raising  must  indefinitely  remain  the  principal 
industry,  as  the  country  is  little  adapted  to  any  other  general  pursuit 
outside  of  mining  and  farming  by  irrigation.  The  sheep  business  is 
in  a  very  flourishing  condition  now — in  fact  the  industry  has  been  in  a 
thriving  condition  since  its  inception  ten  or  eleven  years  ago,  when 
the  first  start  of  any  consequence  was  made.  There  have  been  a  few 
sheep  in  the  Territory  for  over  twenty  years.  The  most  reliable  statis- 
tics on  the  subject  show  that  the  number  in  the  Territory,  not  includ- 
ing those  on  the  Navajo  reservation  in  1870,  was  only  803  head;  in 
1876,  only  about  10,000;  in  1880,  76,524;  and  in  1890,  698,404;  so  it  is 
evident  that  the  sheep  began  to  be  brought  in  about  ten  years  ago,  and 
have  constantly  increased  in  numbers  as  well  as  in  public  favor,  and 
to-day  they  are  considered  the  mainstay  of  the  country.  There  is 
probably  no  other  place  in  this  country  where  the  same  class  of  sheep 
can  be  handled  with  so  little  expense  the  year  round  as  in  Arizona. 

It  is  necessary,  before  entering  into  a  discussion  of  the  merits,  con- 
dition, and  general  facts  pertaining  to  sheep  husbandry  of  the  present 
time,  to  consider  in  a  brief  way  the  past  history  and  progress,  the 
physical  characteristics,  and  climate  of  the  Territory,  showing  its 
adaptability  to  live-stock  husbandry,  and  why  the  industry  is  prosper- 
ing notwithstanding  that  it  costs  more  to  get  the  wool  and  mutton 
products  to  market  than  in  any  other  portion  of  the  United  States. 

The  Territory  of  Arizona  is  situated  in  the  southwestern  part  of  the 
United  States,  bounded  as  follows:  On  the  north  by  the  State  of  Ne- 
vada and  the  Territory  of  Utah,  on  the  east  by  New  Mexico,  on  the 
south  by  the  State  of  Sonora,  Mexico,  and  on  the  west  by  the  States  of 
California  and  Nevada.  It  extends  from  the  one  hundred  and  ninth 
meridian  west  to  the  Great  Colorado  River  (nearly  one  hundred  and 
fifteenth  meridian),  and  from  31°  28'  of  north  latitude  to  the  thirty- 
seventh  parallel,  and  contains  an  area  of  113,960  square  miles,  or 
72,906,240  acres.  It  has  a  mean  length  of  380  miles  north  and  south 
and  350  miles  east  and  west.  The  Territory  is  an  empire  in  itself,  and 
equals  in  area  the  six  New  England  States  and  New  York  combined, 
or  those  three  great  States  of  the  Mississippi  Valley,  Ohio,  Indiana,  and 
Illinois.  Some  idea  of  the  newness  of  the  country  and  its  present  lim- 
ited development  is  shown  by  the  fact  that  of  all  this  vast  area  only 
15,116,269  acres  have  been  surveyed. 

The  middle  and  northeastern  portions  of  the  Territory  consist  of 
plateaus  which  have  an  elevation  of  from  3,000  to  8,000  feet  above  the 
sea,  and  are  here  and  there  dotted  by  volcanic  cones  rising  from  2,000 


936        SHEEP  INDUSTRY  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES 

to  3,000  feet  above  the  plateaus.  The  southern  portion  is  a  plain  with 
a  slight  elevation  above  the  sea,  amounting  to  only  200  feet  at  the 
mouth  of  the  Gila  Eiver.  The  mountain  ranges,  of  which  there  are 
many,  have  generally  a  northwest  and  southeast  course,  with  the  ex- 
ception of  the  Mogollon  range  in  the  east,  which  runs  nearly  east  and 
west,  joining  the  Sierra  Blanca.  The  Sierra  Prieta  and  the  Aztec 
range  in  central  Arizona  are  flanked  by  foothills  which  sink  gradually 
to  the  level  of  the  table-land  on  the  north,  and  by  the  mesas  sloping 
toward  the  Colorado  Eiver  in  the  southwest.  Thehighest  mountainis  the 
San  Francisco,  a  volcanic  cone  whose  summit  is  about  12,000  feet  above 
the  sea.  The  great  table-lands  of  the  north  are  covered  nearly  their 
entire  extent  with  nutritious  grasses,  and  in  places  are  diversified  by 
gorges  which,  in  most  cases,  widen  into  beautiful  and  productive  val- 
leys. The  canyons  formed  by  the  passage  of  the  Colorado  Eiver  through 
the  lofty  table-lands  of  the  northwest  are  unequaled  in  grandeur,  being 
the  celebrated  "  Grand  Canyon  of  the  Colorado."  The  stream  flows  be- 
tween massive  walls  that  rise  to  a  perpendicular  height  of  nearly  7,000 
feet  above  the  water.  The  southern,  central  and  southwestern  por- 
tions of  the  Territory  are  well  watered  and  contain  the  largest  body  of 
agricultural  land,  comprising  the  valleys  of  the  Gila,  Salt,  and  Colo- 
rado Eiver s.  The  rivers  and  smaller  streams  occupy  an  area  of  51,200 
acres,  and  the  lakes  and  ponds  12,800  acres. 

First  among  the  rivers  of  Arizona  is  the  Colorado  of  the  West.  It 
rises  in  the  Wind  Eiver  chain  of  the  Eocky  Mountains,  some  12,000 
feet  above  the  level  of  the  sea.  It  flows  southeasterly  in  its  upper 
course,  and  is  known  as  the  Green.  In  southeastern  Utah  it  is  joined  by 
the  Grand.  These  streams  united  form  the  Colorado  proper,  and  from 
the  point  of  the  junction  to  the  Gulf  of  California,  being  in  its  course 
the  western  boundary  of  the  Territory,  it  is  known  by  that  name.  The 
length  of  the  Colorado  is  about  1,500  miles,  and  is  navigable  600  miles. 
The  Little  Colorado  takes  its  rise  in  the  Sierra  Blanca  range.  A  short 
distance  to  the  northwest  it  is  joined  by  the  Eio  Puerco,  which  like- 
wise has  its  source  in  New  Mexico.  From  thence  the  river  flows  in  a 
northwesterly  direction,  joining  the  Colorado  of  the  West  at  the  Grand 
Canyon.  The  Little  Colorado  is  nearly  200  miles  in  length,  and  has 
some  large  and  fertile  valleys  along  its  upjier  course.  Next  to  the 
Colorado  the  Gila  is  the  largest  river  of  Arizona.  Its  source  is  in  the 
Mogollon  Mountains.  It  crosses  the  Territory  from  the  line  of  New 
Mexico  to  the  Colorado  Eiver  at  Yuma.  The  valley  of  the  Gila  em- 
braces a  large  portion  of  the  arable  lands  of  Arizona.  The  Salt 
Eiver,  which  joins  the  Gila  below  Phoenix,  is  formed  by  the  Black  and 
White  Creeks.  These  streams  have  their  sources  in  the  Sierra  Blanca ; 
length  nearly  200  miles.  Other  rivers  worthy  of  mention  are  the 
Santa  Cruz,  San  Pedro,  Eio  Verde,  Agua  Fria,  and  the  Hassayampa, 
each  being  from  150  to  200  miles  in  length. 

Northern  Arizona  is  the  best  watered  portion  of  the  Territory.    The 


WEST   OF   THE   MISSISSIPPI   RIVER.  937 

White  Mountains,  Bradshaws,  Sierra  Prietas,  Sierra  Anches,  and  San 
Francisco  ranges  of  mountains  all  traverse  it.  The  White,  Puerco, 
Colorado,  Choquiti,  Agua  Fria,  Yerde,  and  other  rivers  and  streams 
give  an  inexhaustible  supply  of  water  for  irrigation  if  properly  utilized. 
Skirting  the  dry  valleys  where  no  streams  flow  are  mountains  in  whose 
canyons  are  natural  reservoirs  that  can  at  small  expense  be  utilized  for 
storing  the  life-giving  fluid.  Gramma  and  bunch  grass  cover  the  high- 
est mountain  ranges,  affording  most  excellent  pasturage  for  cattle  and 
sheep. 

A  description  of  the  surface  area  of  the  Territory  is  given  under  the 
folio  wing  classification:  Mountainous  area,  32,142,282  acres;  mesa  land, 
29,107,353  acres;  valley  land,  31,076,317  acres;  and  the  estimated  for- 
est area  is  9,148,007  acres. 

The  agricultural  lands  are  confined  mainly  to  the  valleys  and  mesas, 
or  that  part  of  them  which  is  subject  to  irrigation.  Where  irrigation 
is  possible  the  soil  is  unrivaled  as  to  its  productive  fertility,  and  yields 
enormous  crops.  The  principal  development  of  farming  under  irriga- 
tion has  been  done  in  the  southern  and  central  portion  of  the  Territory, 
notably  in  Maricopa  County. 

The  rainfall  along  the  Gila  Eiver  averages  from  4«to  5  inches,  while 
at  the  base  it  rises  to  25  or  30.  Showers  are  most  frequent  in  July 
and  August.  The  climate  of  northern  Arizona,  where  sheep-raising  is 
mainly  confined,  is  almost  perfect,  so  far  as  the  health  and  comfort  of 
stock  are  concerned.  This  portion  of  the  Territory  has  an  elevation 
ranging  from  3,000  to  7,000  feet  above  sea  level.  In  winter  the  ther- 
mometer ranges  at  night  from  10°  below  to  30°  above  zero ;  the  days  \ 
are  bright  and  sunny  and  the  air  pure,  dry,  and  invigorating.  Stock 
is  neither  fed  nor  housed  in  winter,  but  subsist  very  well  the  year 
round  upon  the  ranges.  ISTo  section  of  the  United  States  has  a  more 
healthful  climate  than  Arizona,  a  very  important  consideration  in  con- 
nection with  stock-raising. 

In  a  report  made  to  the  United  States  Treasury  Department  for  in- 
ternal commerce  of  1890,  William  E.  Guild,  of  Florence,  Ariz.,  has  the 
following  to  say  regarding  the  live-stock  interests : 

Arizona  is  in  fact  as  well  as  name  "a  stock-raiser's  paradise/'  and  there  is  no  ter- 
ritory of  equal  extent  on  the  continent  better  deserving  the  name.  Labor  and  ex- 
penses are  lighter  and  profits  higher,  the  percentage  of  loss  smaller,  and  the  increase 
greater  than  in  any  other  stock-raising  section.  Water  is  abundant  near  the  surface 
in  nearly  all  the  plains  and  valleys.  Artesian  wells  exist  in  Sulphur  Spring  Valley, 
and  in  but  few  places  where  efforts  have  been  made  to  secure  water  has  a  failure 
been  the  result.  Windmills,  steam  pumps,  and  horse-power  lifters  are  numerous, 
and  it  is  almost  incredible  the  number  of  cattle  that  are  supplied  from  these  wells. 
Many  wells  in  Pima,  Cochise,  and  Final  counties  water  from  500  to  12,000  head  of 
stock. 

The  pasturage  of  Arizona  comprises  a  variety  of  grasses  of  the  most 
nutritious  character — black  and  blue  gramma,  sacaton,  gaietta,  bunch 
grass,  and  alfileria.  The  inesquite  tree,  with  its  prolific  crop  of  beans, 


938        SHEEP  INDUSTRY  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES 

and  the  catsclaw,  with  its  rich  and  fragrant  blossom,  are  great  sourcei'j 
of  sustenance  to  stock,  and  possess  wonderful  fattening  properties.    T  i 
is  estimated  that  more  than  one-half  of  the  entire  Territory  is  grazing 
land. 

The  principal  sheep  counties  of  the  Territory  are  Apache,  Tavapai 
and  Coconino.  The  latter  county  is  a  new  one,  created  by  act  of  thfri 
last  legislature  by  a  division  of  the  county  of  Yavapai.  The  county 
seat  is  at  Flagstaff,  on  the  line  of  the  Atlantic  and  Pacific  Railroad;. 
The  affairs  of  the  county  are  prosperous,  and  the  principal  industries 
consist  of  the  manufacture  of  lumber,  stock-raising,  and  the  quarrying 
and  shipping  of  sandstone  for  building  purposes.  Nearly  all  of  the 
great  lumber  forests  of  the  San  Francisco  range  are  in  Coconino  County. 

Of  these  counties,  comprising  the  chief  sheep  districts  of  the  Terri- 
tory, a  brief  description  of  the  stock  features  is  given  by  Arizona's 
commissioner  of  immigration,  John  A.  Black,  and  is  as  follows: 

Entering  Arizona  from  the  east  along  the  line  of  the  Atlantic  and  Pacific  Railroad, 
the  traveler  finds  himself  in  Apache  County,  which  covers  an  area  of  20,940  square 
miles.  It  is  rich  in  natural  resources  and  capable  of  sustaining  many  times  its  pres- 
ent population  of  only  5,000.  North  of  35°  30',  and  embracing  two-fifths  of  the  area 
of  the  county,  are  located  the  Moqui  and  Navajo  Indian  reservations.  These  In- 
dians are  peaceable,  and  lead  a  quiet  and  comparatively  industrious  life.  Their 
principal  occupation  is  the  raising  of  large  herds  of  cattle  and  immense  flocks  of 
sheep,  from  which  they  receive  a  very  considerable  income,  enabling  them  to  live 
better  than  the  average  Arizona  Indian.  The  Navajo  blankets,  made  by  hand  by 
the  squaws  of  that  tribe,  are  justly  celebrated  as  the  finest  blankets  in  the  world. 

The  principal  industries  of  Apache  County  are  sheep  and  cattle  raising  and  agri- 
culture. The  county  is  peculiarly  adapted  for  the  successful  raising  of  sheep,  and 
is  at  present  the  largest  producer  of  wool  in  the  Territory.  A  conservative  estimate 
of  the  product  during  the  past  year  is  given  at  about  2,000, 000  pounds,  and  the  num- 
ber of  sheep  grazing  in  the  mountains  and  in  the  valleys  is  estimated  at  about 
300,000.  The  sheep  industry  is  in  an  exceedingly  flourishing  condition,  and  the 
grade  of  sheep  is  being  yearly  improved. 

In  no  one  thing  does  Yavapai  County  rank  higher  than  in  its  stock  interests  and 
capabilities.  All  the  glades  and  slopes  of  the  mineral-hiding  hills  and  mountains 
are  covered  with  nutritious  grasses  and  forage  plants.  The  climatic  conditions 
are  such  that  nowhere  need  stock  be  sheltered  or  winter -fed.  While  the  more  valu- 
able water  rights  are  long  since  absorbed,  every  year  some  man  of  enterprise  develops 
an  ample  supply  of  water  for  his  stock  and  household  use ;  or  water  is  found  by 
wells  where  it  was  thought  none  could  be  obtained.  All  grasses  and  forage  plants 
cure  standing,  and  they  are  constantly  increasing  in  quantity,  quality,  and  variety. 

The  sheep  industry  is  also  a  large  one,  the  product  being  classed  with  the  best 
fleeces  of  the  world. 

From  another  official  publication  the  following  in  formation  is  gleaned 
regarding  the  principal  stock  regions  of  the  Territory: 

Northern  Arizona  is  all  well  grassed.  Of  the  native  grasses  the  black  and  white 
gramma  are  perhaps  the  most  nutritious.  Its  superiority  is  generally  admitted  by 
stockmen,  and  beef  fattened  upon  it  is  said  to  be  tender,  juicy,  and  of  a  most  delicious 
flavor.  Scarcely  inferior  to  the  gramma  is  the  bunch  that  covers  all  the  high  moun- 
tain ranges.  The  galleta  grows  in  the  lower  mesas,  and  aside  from  giving  good 
pasturage  for  stock  furnishes  a  most  excellent  hay.  In  addition  to  these  the  alfi- 
lerillo  or  Mexican  pin  grass,  well  known  and  highly  prized  by  all  stockmen  in  Cali- 


WEST    OF    THE    MISSISSIPPI   RIVER.  939 

forma,  is  making  its  appearance  in  many  of  the  valleys  of  this  section.  Its  fatten- 
ing qualities  and  rare  vitality,  however,  make  it  a  valuable  addition  to  the  native 
<-s.  A  peculiarity  of  the  alfilerillo  is  that  however  closely  it  is  grazed  it  springs 
anew  after  each  rain ;  apparently  it  is  impossible  to  tramp  it  out.  When  the  grasses 
become  dry  upon  the  ranges  they  have  all  the  nutritious  qualities  of  hay,  and  stock 
of  all  kinds  thrive  upon  them,  ^which,  with  the  browse  from  the  chaparrel,  gives  good 
pasturage  during  winter. 

Alfalfa  or  lucerne  is  the  only  grass  cultivated.  It  is  grown  to  a  limited  extent  in 
the  vsettlements  of  Apache  County,  on  the  Little  Colorado,  and  in  some  of  the  valleys 
of  Yavapai  County.  This  grass,  unknown  to  the  Eastern  farmer,  is  exclusively  culti- 
vated in  California  and  Arizona.  It  is  of  thrifty  growth,  is  cut  three  to  five  times 
per  annum,  and  yields  two  tons  per  acre  at  each  cutting.  As  hay  it  is  most  excellent 
for  horses  and  cattle.  Each  acre,  when  grazed,  will  keep  two  head  of  horses  or 
cattle  the  year  through. 

Sheep-raising  is  extensively  followed  in  the  counties  of  Yavapai  and  Apache,  which 
contain  more  sheep  than  all  the  Territory  besides.  The  average  increase  upon  a  flock 
of  ewes  is  70  per  cent  per  annum.  They  are  shorn  twice  a  year — in  spring  and  fall. 
Each  sheep  averages  6  pounds  of  wool  per  year,  worth  15  cents.  The  mutton  sheep 
bring  from  $2.50  to  $3  per  head.  One  herder  will  care  for  1,500  head.  He  is  paid 
$25  per  month ;  so  it  does  not  require  many  figures  to  compute  the  profits.  There  is 
much  rivalry  between  the  cattlemen  and  sheepmen,  from  the  fact  that  cattle  and  horses 
will  not  graze  upon  grass  once  passed  over  by  sheep;  but  there  is  an  extensive  ter- 
ritory so  broken  in  character  as  to  be  undesirable  for  cattle  ranges,  and  it  is  proba- 
ble that  sheep-raising  will  continue  a  leading  industry  for  many  years  to  come. 

Not  more  than  half  the  grazing  lands  of  northern  Arizona  are  occupied.  Many 
valuable  ranges  are  yet  open  to  occupation,  but  without  developing  a  water  supply, 
either  by  wells  or  storage  reservoirs,  a  large  area  must  remain  vacant. 

It  can  be  truthfully  said  that  it  will  be  only  a  few  years  when  this  district  will  sup- 
port a  million  of  cattle  and  a  proportionate  number  of  horses  and  sheep. 

There  was  published  by  authority  of  the  territorial  legislature  of  18837 
aThe  Besources  of  Arizona,"  by  Patrick  Hamilton,  from  which  I  make 
the  following  extracts  pertaining  to  the  sheep  industry  during  its  early 
beginnings : 

Arizona  has  been  well  called  the  stock-growers'  paradise,  and  there  is  no  region 
in  the  United  States  that  better  deserves  the  name.  There  is  no  country  where  the 
labor  and  expense  is  so  light  or  where  the  profits  are  so  high;  there  is  no  country 
where  the  percentage  of  loss  is  so  small  or  where  the  percentrge  of  increase  is  greater, 
and  there  is  none  where  a  fortune  can  be  more  quickly  realized. 

Arizona  has  also  one  other  great  advantage  for  the  stockman.  While  in  other 
countries  the  area  of  grazing  ground  is  becoming  narrowed  and  its  limits  circum- 
scribed by  the  steady  advance  of  the  farmer,  here  the  immense  plains,  table-lands, 
and  foothills  will  never  be  utilized  for  any  other  purpose  than  grazing.  The  agri- 
cultural industry  will  always  be  confined  to  the  valleys  bordering  the  streams ;  and 
the  vast  area  included  in  the  rolling  plains  and  elevated  hillsides  will  always  be  de- 
voted to  cattle.  Most  of  this  land  is  valueless  for  agriculture,  but  its  wealth  of  rich 
grasses  makes  of  it  a  magnificent  stock  range.  The  cattle-owner  who  thinks  of  em- 
barking in  the  business  here  need  have  no  fear  of  being  "  crowded  out"  by  the  farmer.' 
The  domain  of  each  is  clearly  marked  by  nature,  and  beyond  the  bounds  which  she 
has  set  the  tiller  of  the  soil  may  not  go.  A  good  range  once  secured,  the  owner  can 
turn  out  his  lowing  herds  over  the  broad  savannahs  and  rolling  foothills,  and  rest 
assured  that  the  farmer  will  not  in  a  few  years  drive  him  out  and  force  him  to  seek 
fresh  fields  and  new  pastures. 

The  short,  sweet  grass,  which  grows  on  the  foothills  and  valleys,  and  of  which  the 
sheep  are  particularly  fond,  keeps  green  nearly  the  whole  year.  While  the  wool- 


940       SHEEP  INDUSTRY  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES 

grower  in  northern  regions  sees  thousands  of  his  flock  destroyed  by  snows  and  icy 
winds,  and  is  compelled  to  provide  food  and  shelter  for  his  shivering  flocks,  here  in 
Arizona  they  roam  at  will  over  mountain,  hill,  and  dale  from  January  to  December;- 

In  Yavapai,  Coconio,  and  Apache  counties  the  sheep  are  pastured  during  the  spring, 
summer,  and  autumn  in  the  glens  and  foothills  of  the  San  Francisco,  Mogollon,  and 
Sierra  Blanca  ranges,  and  on  their  outlying  spurs  and  parallel  ridges.  The  shori« 
sweet  pine  grass  of  the  mountain  country  is  eagerly  sought  after  by  the  sheep  an« 
they  orow  *at  very  rapidly  upon  it.  Late  in  the  fall  the  flocks  are  driven  to  the  val» 
leys  and  mesas  of  the  warmer  regions  further  south.  In  the  spring  they  are  taken  tdl 
the  shearing  grounds,  and  then  to  their  mountain  pastures  for  the  remainder  of  th« 
year.  Besides  the  grass  we  have  alluded  to,  the  alfileria,  or  wild  clover,  has  been  in-l 
troduced  by  sheep  driven  from  California,  and  is  rapidly  spreading  over  the  countryj 
It  is  a  species  of  feed  sheep  are  especially  fond  of  and  on  which  they  keep  in  prime" 
condition  at  all  seasons. 

Diseases  among  sheep  in  Arizona  are  rarely  ever  heard  of,  and  the  woolgrower  in 
saved  the  expense  and  constant  annoyance  of  "  doctoring"  his  flock,  as  is  the  case  in* 
other  countries.  The  pure  air  and  clear,  cold  water  of  the  mountain  region  has  a  re-i 
markably  healthy  eifect,  and  in  the  winter  months  as  well  as  in  the  summer  theyfl 
keep  in  excellent  condition. 

The  grade  of  sheep  in  the  Territory  is  being  steadily  improved  by  the  introduction  j 
of  many  fine  Merino,  Southdown,  and  Cotswold  rams.  The  stock  first  brought  to  the! 
country  were  driven  from  New  Mexico,  and  were  a  poor  lot,  reduced  to  mere  runts  by  j 
inter-breeding.  But  a  better  grade  has  been  driven  from  California,  and  by  careful ^ 
crossing  the  Arizona  sheep  will  compare  favorably  with  any  in  the  Rocky  Mountain  j 
region.  They  are  fine  woolgrowers  and  make  delicious  mutton.  The  yield  per  head  > 
averages  about  eight  pounds  per  year.  Sheep  are  shorn  twice  a  year — in  the  spring  , 
and  fall. 

The  sheep  industry  of  Arizona  is  only  in  its  infancy.  The  large  profits  realized 
are  an  inducement  not  easily  withstood,  and  the  remarkable  success  which  has  at- 
tended those  who  have  engaged  in  it  will  naturally  attract  others.  Nearly  every  i 
man  who  has  gone  into  the  business  has  already  become,  or  is  fast  getting  rich.  The 
failures  innearly  every  instance  are  due  to  ignorance  and  mismanagement.  With  some 
practical  knowledge  and  a  good  start,  a  man  with  average  energy  and  a  fair  share 
of  industry  will  find  himself  independent  in  a  few  years.  There  are  yet  fine  ranges 
unoccupied  in  many  portions  of  the  Territory,  capable  of  sustaining  thousands  of 
sheep,  while  very  desirable  locations  can  be  secured  at  reasonable  figures.  In  east- 
ern Yavapai  and  Apache  counties  the  sheep  pastures  are  not  excelled  by  any  in  the 
Southwest,  while  the  facilities  for  shipping  the  crop  are  everything  that  could  be  de- 
sired. In  Graham,  Gila,  and  Final  are  also  many  choice  ranges  where  fortunes  can 
be  accumulated  within  a  few  years. 

SHEEP  HUSBANDRY  IN  THE   TERRITORY. 

The  facts  given  above  clearly  show  that  sheep  husbandry  is  well 
adapted  to  Arizona,  and  that  within  a  single  decade  it  has  risen  from 
a  small  beginning  to  almost  the  leading  live-stock  pursuit.  Notwith- 
standing the  fact  that  cattle  have  had  the  prestige  as  well  as  priority 
on  the  ranges  heretofore,  it  is  acknowledged  that  they  are  gradually 
giving  way  to  sheep,  simply  because  they  are  not  so  well  adapted  to  the 
country  or  as  profitable  a  class  of  stock  to  handle.  In  the  southern  and 
central  portions  of  Arizona  the  recent  dry  seasons  have  cut  short  the 
grazing  to  a  considerable  extent,  and  very  large  numbers  of  cattle  are  be- 
ing shipped  to  northern  ranges  of  Dakota  and  Montana.  Owing  to  this 
fact,  and  the  prevailing  low  prices  of  cattle,  the  numbers  in  the  Terri- 


WEST    OF    THE    MISSISSIPPI   RIVER.  941 

tory  may  not  be  expected  to  increase,  while  sheep  will,  as  in  the  past, 
continue  to  increase  in  numbers  so  long  as  the  present  favorable  con- 
ditions continue. 

The  breed  or  class  of  sheep  most  numerous  in  Arizona  are  Merinos, 
or  the  grade  of  the  French  and  the  Spanish  breeds.  Most  of  the  orig- 
inal flocks  came  from  California,  and  only  a  small  per  cent  of  the  sheep 
here  are  of  the  Mexican  foundation,  and  these  are  found  principally  in 
Apache  County.  However,  they  are  what  are  known  as  improved 
31  <•  \icaus.  In  Apache  County  there  are  150,000  sheep,  of  which  one- 
third  are  improved  Mexicans.  The  sheep  of  the  Territory  are  large  and 
robust,  very  similar  to  those  raised  in  Wyoming  and  Montana. 

The  range  in  numbers  of  the  different  holdings  by  individuals  or 
firms  is  from  500  to  50,000  head.  That  is  the  extreme  of  the  number 
owned.  No  one  owns  over  50,000  and  none  less  than  500.  They  are 
run  in  flocks  of  from  2,000  to  2,500,  and  as  a  rule  very  few  owners  have 
Jess  than  one  and  not  many  over  three  or  four  flocks. 

The  general  character  of  the  range  is  such  as  is  common  to  a  moun- 
tainous country,  consisting  of  the  mesas  or  table-lands,  the  mountain 
range  and  the  sandy  and  alkali  valleys.  The  limestone  soil  is  the  pre- 
ferred range.  In  fact  any  kind  of  range  that  is  convenient  to  water  is 
utilized.  The  summer  grazing  is  had  in  the  mountains  and  table-lands 
of  northern  Arizona,  where  the  altitude  is  about  6,000  feet.  Here  there 
is  considerable  pine  timber  which  supplies  refreshing  shade  during  the 
hot  summer  days,  and  for  water  the  sheep  are  supplied  by  permanent 
springs,  although  in  some  localities  where  water  is  scarce  they  have  to 
be  watered  from  wells  or  tanks.  During  the  winter  the  flocks  are  taken 
down  to  the  valleys  and  plains. 

Sheep-owners  do  not  have  any  food  or  shelter  other  than  that  pro- 
vided by  nature,  and  the  land  utilized  for  grazing  is  public  domain  and 
is  used  in  common.  Some  sheepmen  own  or  control  water  rights,  but 
that  is  the  extent  of  land  holding. 

Each  flock  has  one  or  two  herders  who  are  constantly  with  the  flocks, 
which  are  kept  moving  from  place  to  place  on  the  range  so  as  to  keep 
the  sheep  on  fresh  pasturage.  The  cost  of  sheep-raising  is  confined 
mainly  to  the  expense  of  herding,  lambing,  and  marketing  the  wool. 
Extra  help  is  required  during  the  lambing  and  shearing  seasons,  so 
that  the  total  cost  is  made  up  by  the  expense  of  handling.  The  feed 
is  free  for  all. 

On  account  of  the  constant  attendance  both  day  and  night  of  the 
herders  with  the  flocks,  the  loss  is  quite  small  from  either  the  depreda- 
tions of  wild  animals  or  exposure.  The  average  loss  from  wolves  or 
other  wild  animals  does  not  exceed  from  1  to  5  per  cent,  or  a  general 
average  of  about  2  per  cent.  The  loss  from  exposure  is  somewhat 
larger,  a  range  of  3  to  10  per  cent,  or  an  average  of  not  less  than  5  per 
cent.  The  sheep  that  are  lost  from  this  source  a,re  the  weak  lambs  ancl 
aged  ewes. 


942        SHEEP  INDUSTRY  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES 

Sheep  that  are  brought  in  from  other  States  do  not  do  well  the  first 
year,  or  until  they  become  acclimated  and  accustomed  to  methods  of 
handling,  but  usually  the  mortality  is  quite  small. 

There  are  quite  a  number  of  sheepmen  who  make  a  specialty  of  breed- 
ing pure-bred  Merinos  or  half-blood  French  for  the  home  trade,  and  the 
majority  of  rams  used  in  the  Territory  are  raised  by  Arizona  breeders. 
Some  buy  their  rams,  both  Shropshire  and  Spanish  Merinos,  of  eastern 
breeders,  but  the  home  breeders  have  the  bulk  of  the  ram  trade.  Cali- 
fornia has  a  very  fair  trade  here,  especially  with  French  Merinos.  It 
was  rather  surprising  to  note  that  so  many  were  trying  the  experiment 
of  the  Shropshire  cross  with  a  view  to  securing  a  better  carcass  in 
order  to  realize  better  prices  for  the  muttons,  mainly  to  Los  Angeles  and 
San  Francisco  markets  as  well  as  to  the  eastern  feeders  and  packers, 
who  pay  more  per  head  for  large- sized  wethers.  Those  who  have  tried 
this  mutton  cross  seem  to  be  quite  well  pleased.  The  bulk  of  the  rams 
used,  however,  are  two  years  old  and  upward — Merino  or  French 
bucks. 

The  general  rule  has  been  to  provide  about  three  rams  to  each  one 
hundred  ewes,  but  in  the  better  flocks,  where  the  best  rams  are  used, 
from  fifty  to  seventy -five  ewes  are  bred  to  the  ram,  especially  if  the 
buck  is  in  good  condition  and  feed  is  plenty.  The  ewes  are  bred  gen- 
erally during  November  or  December;  only  a  very  few  breed  earlier 
unless  located  down  in  the  valleys  or  further  south.  The  preferred  time 
for  turning  in  the  rams  is  about  December  1,  and  they  are  allowed  to 
remain  with  the  flock  from  thirty  to  sixty  days.  From  1  to  10  per  cent 
of  the  ewes  fail  to  breed,  or  perhaps  an  average  of  5  per  cent  for  the 
Territory.  The  per  cent  of  lambs  raised  is  from  70  to  90  per  cent,  or  an 
average  of  not  less  than  75  per  cent. 

Formerly  the  main  object  of  the  sheep-breeder  was  to  produce  wool 
and  sheep  which  had  always  been  bred  with  especial  reference  to  that 
end,  but  as  the  ewes  were  ordinarily  good-sized  Merinos,  having  con- 
siderable French  blood  in  the  flocks,  they  soon  found  that  these  large- 
bodied  Merinos  with  good  constitutions  were  considered  fairly  good 
mutton  sheep,  and  there  was  considerable  of  a  demand  for  them  in 
California  markets  as  well  as  a  local  demand.  Buyers  offered  prices 
for  fat  wethers  which  realized  the  owner  more  than  the  wool,  so  that 
during  recent  years  the  flockmasters  have  bred  with  some  special  refer- 
ence to  the  mutton  qualities  of  the  animal;  that  is,  while  the  sheepmen 
did  not  change  to  mutton  bucks  except  as  an  experiment,  they  selected 
the  ram  having  mutton  tendencies  without  sacrificing  the  wool  qualities. 
Those  who  have  tried  the  Shropshire  cross  are  well  pleased  with  the 
experiment.  They  secure  a  larger  carcass  and  usually  a  more  vigorous 
and  robust  lamb.  From  the  satisfaction  expressed  with  this  cross  it 
bids  fair  to  become  quite  popular.  The  ewes  are  bred  back  to  pure- 
bred Spanish  or  French  Merino  rams  with  good  effect. 

The  time  of  shearing  sheep  in  Arizona  usually  takes  place  in  May  or 


WEST    OF   THE    MISSISSIPPI    RIVER.  943 

June,  when  only  one  clip  is  made.  "*  But  quite  a  number  continue  the 
practice  of  shearing  sheep  twice  a  year,  the  first  clip  during  April  or 
May,  and  frequently  as  early  as  March.  The  fall  clip  is  usually  shorn 
during  September  or  October.  The  practice  of  shearing  twice  a  year 
is  tailing  into  disfavor,  and  is  not  nearly  so  common  as  formerly.  The 
early  spring  and  the  fall  clips  shrink  in  scouring  about  63  per  cent, 
while  the  single  annual  clip  has  an  average  shrinkage  of  from  67  to  70 
per  cent.  No  wool  produced  west  of  the  Mississippi  River  has  a  greater 
average  shrinkage  than  Arizona  wool,  yet  it  is  very  desirable  wool  not- 
withstanding this  fact,  because  of  the  length  of  staple  and  fine  quality 
of  the  fiber. 

When  a  flockmaster  is  ready  to  shear  his  sheep  he  usually  constructs 
a  temporary  yard  and  shearing  shed  for  the  purpose  at  some  of  the 
regular  summer  camps,  and  engages  a  band  of  shearers  who  generally 
receive  6  cents  per  head.  Each  fleece  is  tied  up  separately  and  sacked 
ready  for  shipment.  Each  fleece  usually  weighs  from  6  to  11  pounds, 
or  an  average  of  about  8  pounds  for  the  Territory,  of  fine  and  fine- 
medium  grades,  which  constitutes  the  greater  part  of  the  wool.  There 
is  very  little  coarse  wool  produced. 

During  the  shearing  season  buyers  and  representatives  of  commis- 
sion houses  are  generally  on  hand  ready  to  secure  the  wool,  which  is 
disposed  of  at  once.  It  is  a  rare  thing  for  a  grower  to  hold  or  store 
his  wool.  It  is  either  sold  f.  o.  b.  or  consigned.  The  bulk  of  the  wool 
is  shipped  East,  although  formerly  a  great  deal  of  the  wool  was  sold  to 
California  buyers.  The  growers  prefer  to  sell  at  home,  as  it  costs  about 
3  cents  per  pound  to  ship  to  Eastern  markets,  and  usually  considerable 
time  elapses  before  returns  are  received.  The  favorite  Eastern  markets 
are  Philadelphia  and  Boston,  although  the  wool  merchants  of  Albu- 
querque handle  a  great  amount,  their  traveling  men  buying  it  direct 
from  the  growers. 

The  greater  portion  of  the  wool  shipments  are  received  at  points 
along  the  Atlantic  and  Pacific  Eailroad,  the  principal  stations  being  in 
the  order  named,  commencing  with  the  station  farther  west:  Peach 
Springs,  Prescott  Junction,  Challender,  Bellemont,  Flagstaff,  Canyon 
Diablo,  Winslow,  Holbrook,  and  Navajo  Springs.  The  bulk  of  the  Ari- 
zona clip  is  shipped  from  the  stations  named.  During  1891  there  was 
shipped  East  over  this  line  of  road  4,438,988  pounds,  and  from  Holbrook 
alone  there  was  shipped  605,804  pounds. 

There  is  no  great  amount  of  wool  shipped  from  points  on  the 
Southern  Pacific  Eailroad,  which  is  located  too  far  south,  yet  during 
the  year  there  was  shipped  West  128,000  pounds  and  East  256,000 
pounds,  or  384,000  pounds  in  all.  These  figures  are  for  known  quan- 
tities shipped,  but  do  not  include  all  the  wool  produced.  From  esti- 
mates there  was  produced  last  year  over  500,000  pounds,  not  including 
the  ]S~avajo  Indian  clip,  which  exceeded  1,000,000  pounds. 

Sheep- owners  estimate  that  from  15  to  25  per  cent  of  the  flock  is  dis- 


944        SHEEP  INDUSTRY  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES 

posed  of  each  year  as  muttons,  which  go  to  California  markets,  princi- 
pally to  Los  Angeles  and  San  Francisco.  Buyers  from  these  points 
have  them  delivered  f.  o.  b.  and  pay  from  $3  to  $3.50  per  head.  The 
shipments  are  about  equally  divided  as  to  destination.  The  Eastern 
shipments  go  to  Kansas  City.  During  1891  there  were  117  double-deck 
cars  of  fat  sheep  shipped  out  of  Arizona,  or  35,000  head  in  all;  18,000 
head  were  shipped  to  Kansas  City  and  17,000  head  to  the  Pacific  coast. 
Of  the  wethers  which  were  driven  out  to  go  to  feeding  districts  the 
number  does  not  seem  to  be  known.  The  average  live  weight  of  the 
sheep  was  from  95  to  115  pounds. 

The  average  cost  per  sheep  a  year  is  variously  estimated,  caused 
mainly  by  the  difference  in  expense  of  ranch  improvements.  The  prin- 
cipal item  of  expense  is  for  herders  and  foremen.  Herders  receive  from 
$30  to  $35  per  month,  and  the  foreman  $40,  board  included.  Flock- 
masters  estimate  the  cost  per  sheep  from  40  cents  to  $1,  including  all 
expenses,  or  an  average  of  the  reports  received  would  be  about  70  cents 
for  the  Territory,  which  is  a  safe  outside  estimate. 

The  chief  advantages  that  Arizona  flockmasters  claim  for  the  country 
is  the  fact  that  sheep  easily  subsist  the  year  round  on  the  native 
grasses  without  other  feed  or  shelter,  and  the  range  or  pasturage  util- 
ized can  never  be  used  for  any  other  purpose  except  grazing,  the  only 
danger  being  the  fear  of  overstocking,  especially  during  long  protracted 
drought.  The  climate  of  the  Territory  is  particularly  healthful  and  in- 
vigorating and  well  adapted  to  live  stock,  also  the  absence  of  disease 
except  scab,  which  is  now  so  well  understood  that  it  is  easily  eradicated 
or  controlled. 

The  chief  obstacles  encountered  are  the  long  distance  from  markets, 
the  scarcity  of  water,  and  the  liability  of  depredation  of  wild  animals, 
yet  the  advantages  so  far  outweigh  the  disadvantages  and  difficulties 
present  and  prospective,  that  it  is  no  great  source  of  discomfort  or 
discouragement,  and  does  not  especially  concern  the  growers.  The 
long  distance  from  the  market  is  the  only  serious  difficulty  which  may 
not  largely  be  overcome  by  organization  and  cooperation  of  the  sheep- 
men. 

Most  sheep-owners  report  the  industry  as  very  prosperous  and  the 
outlook  for  the  future  as  very  bright,  while  others,  though  not  dis- 
couraged, are  not  disposed  to  regard  the  future  so  favorably  for  fear 
of  overstocking  the  range,  high  freight  rates,  and  the  fear  of  low-priced 
wool.  When  the  business  can  be  made  to  pay  50  per  cent  profit  as  it 
does  in  most  cases,  after  sustaining  an  annual  loss  of  10  per  cent,  by 
reason  of  prevailing  methods  of  management,  it  does  not  seem  that  it 
is  possible  to  vastly  increase  the  profits  by  improved  methods  of  con- 
ducting the  business.  A  better  class  of  stock  and  better  personal  at- 
tention instead  of  largely  letting  the  sheep  shift  for  themselves  would 
greatly  augment  the  profits  of  the  business.  The  annual  losses  could 
be  largely  curtailed,  and  a  system  of  culling  the  flocks  each  year  as  is 


WEST   OF   THE   MISSISSIPPI   RIVER.  945 

now  being  done  in  other  Western  States,  instead  of  continuing  to  breed 
inferior  and  ill-conditioned  and  decrepit  ewes,  also  by  using  more  gen- 
erally a  better  class  of  rams,  would  add  greatly  to  the  value  of  the  in- 
dustry and  avoid  future  contingencies.  Sheepmen  should  take  ar 
interest  in  irrigation,  artesian  wells,  and  the  storage  of  water  by  reser- 
voirs, all  of  which  must  greatly  benefit  the  industry  as  well  as  the 
whole  Territory. 

THE  NUMBER  AND   VALUE   OF  ARIZONA  SHEEP. 

The  number  of  sheep  shorn  in  Arizona  during  the  present  year  is  not 
less  than  800,000  head,  producing  6,400,000  pounds  of  wool.  There  will 
also  be  sold  for  shipment  to  Eastern  and  Western  markets  during  1892 
not  less  than  100,000  mature  wethers.  The  cash  income  from  the  sheep 
industry  for  the  year  will  not  be  less  than  $1,000,000,  a  10  per  cent 
earning  on  $10,000,000,  the  value  of  sheep  industry  of  the  Territory. 
Taking  the  lamb  crop  of  1892,  less  the  mutton  sold  from  the  flocks,  and 
there  will  remain  at  the  close  of  the  present  year  at  least  1,000,000 
sheep. 

THE   NAVAJO    SHEEP  INDUSTRY. 

From  the  most  reliable  information  obtainable  the  Navajo  Indians 
have  400,000  sheep  and  100,000  goats,  and  the  wool  clip  will  not  exceed 
1,300,000  pounds.  The  sheep  are  slowly  increasing  in  numbers  but  not 
improving  in  quality;  in  fact,  no  attempt  is  made  in  the  direction  of 
grading  up  the  sheep  unless  the  Government  does  it  for  them.  Very 
common  rams  are  used,  and  they  run  with  the  flocks  during  the  entire 
year.  It  is  said  by  traders  that  lambs  are  dropped  every  month  in  the 
year.  They  are  run  in  flocks  of  400  to  500  head,  and  no  shelter  is  pro- 
vided. The  wool  is  coarse,  and  is  utilized  only  for  carpets  and  blankets. 
The  average  fleece  does  not  exceed  3  to  3  J  pounds,  and  is  shorn  during 
A.pril,  May,  or  June.  The  Indians  do  their  own  shearing,  and  use  a 
knife  or  piece  of  sharpened  iron.  But  few  use  sheep  shears.  The  wool 
s  sold  to  the  various  traders  at  prices  ranging  from  9  to  12  cents.  One- 
third  of  the  Kavajo  clip  is  black  wool.  The  herding  is  done  by  the  old 
women  and  children.  No  mutton  is  ever  shipped;  all  is  consumed  at 
lome.  The  woolen  blankets  manufactured  by  the  Navajo  Indians  on 
;heir  primitive  looms  are  an  industrial  curiosity.  The  finer  blankets 
require  weeks  or  months  to  complete. 

OVERSTOCKING  THE   RANGE. 

Should  the  number  of  live  stock  continue  to  increase  in  the  Territory, 
fears  are  expressed  by  stockmen  that  in  some  portions  of  Arizona 
the  range  will  become  overstocked.  This  can  only  be  obviated  by  a 
levelopment  of  irrigation.  The  limited  development  so  far  demon- 
trates  the  practicability  of  utilizing  the  streams  by  means  of  canals 
Mid  reservoirs  for  saving  much  of  the  flood  water  now  wasted.  It  is 
said  by  competent  authority  that  if  this  was  done  an  area  of  over 
18,000,000  acres  could  be  cultivated,  which  would  support  and  maintain 
22990 60 


946        SHEEP  INDUSTRY  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES. 


a  population  of  over  4,000,000  people  and  double  the  present  live  stoc 
of  the  Territory. 

ARIZONA   RANGE   GRASSES. 

From  Bulletin  ]STo.  2  of  the  Agricultural  Experiment  Station,  whic 
was  issued  last  September,  I  extract  the  following  notes  on  some  of  th 
range  grasses: 

The  country  embraced  in  what  is  known  as  the  "Great  American  Basin,"  in  whic 
the  whole  of  Arizona  is  included,  has  a  vegetation  in  most  respects  entirely  diffe 
ent  than  elsewhere  in  the  United  States.  The  soft  and  succulent  grasses  of  tl 
Eastern  and  Central  States  have  given  place  to  a  great  variety  of  grasses,  most) 
with  short,  rigid  leaves  and  hard  stems  or  culms.  Experiment  has  already  demoi 
strated  that  the  lack  of  moisture  makes  it  impossible  for  the  Eastern  grasses  to  sui 
ceed  here,  hence  it  is  to  our  native  grasses  we  will  have  to  look  in  the  developmei 
of  grasses  in  this  Territory. 

It  yet  remains  to  be  determined  which  of  these  grasses  will  be  of  greatest  vain 
under  cultivation,  or  will  succeed  with  the  least  amount  of  water.  Although 
large  number  of  our  native  grasses  are  hard  and  rigid  as  a  rule,  they  are  eagerl 
eaten  by  horses  and  cattle,  and  many  of  them  contain  much  more  nutritive  matte 
than  the  more  succulent  grasses  of  the  East. 

The  physical  conditions  of  Arizona  are  such  that  only  comparatively  a  small  pe 
cent  of  her  lands  under  present  conditions  can  be  brought  under  cultivation.  Mnc 
of  the  remainder  is  valuable  grazing  land,  but  still  there  are  areas  which,  from  thei 
lack  of  accessible  watering  places  for  stock,  are  of  little  value  except  for  their  mil 
eral  deposits. 

Of  the  vast  region  supporting  thousands  of  head  of  horses,  cattle,  and  sheep,  tl 
better  part  of  the  grass  forage  consists  of  less  than  a  dozen  indigenous  species.  J 
is  true  that  during  a  large  part  of  the  year  the  cattle  pick  about,  in  many  place 
feeding  mostly  upon  the  foliage  of  shrubs,  only  getting  a  dainty  bit  of  grass  hei 
and  there;  but  it  is  the  few  species  of  grass  that  spring  into  rapid  growth  after  tl 
late  summer  rains,  and  cover  the  mesa  for  miles  about,  that  the  stockmen  depen 
upon  to  put  their  stock  in  fit  condition  for  the  Kansas  and  California  market.  Tl) 
meager  rains  during  the  past  summer  have  done  much  to  shorten  the  fall  feed,  an 
in  general  throughout  the  Territory  the  feed  is  much  more  scant  than  is  usual  a 
this  season  of  the  year. 

A  large  number  of  species  grow  along  rivers  and  creeks,  in  the  close  vicinity  of  th 
tanks  and  springs  and  in  other  moist  places.  These  grasses,  although  of  grea 
variety,  are — with  the  exception  of  DisticJilis  maritima,  an  almost  worthless  forag 
grass,  and  a  few  others— only  found  in  isolated  bunches.  In  fact,  nowhere  iu  Ar; 
zona  do  we  find  a  continuous  natural  sod. 

Altogether  these  grasses  furnish  but  a  small  part  of  the  forage  of  the  range,  a 
they  only  grow  in  the  vicinity  of  water,  where  their  roots  evidently  reach  moistni 
throughout  the  year.  Many  of  them  are  excellent  forage  plants  so  far  as  they  g< 
but  they  cover  a  very  small  per  cent  of  the  entire  range.  Ordinarily  they  are  kep 
cropped  short  by  stock  as  they  congregate  about  the  watering  places  to  drink. 

The  second  class,  and  by  far  the  most  important,  are  the  grasses  that  find  a  fool 
hold  on  the  mesas,  along  the  sides  of  mountains  and  in  valleys.  Covering  large  area 
they  furnish  the  greater  part  of  the  grass  forage  of  the  Territory.  These  grasses  ar 
of  but  a  few  species  and  include  the  grasses  known  among  stockmen  as  "mesquite, 
"gramma,"  and  "saccato."  Many  of  these  grasses  have  hard  and  wiry  leaves  an 
culms,  but  are  very  nutritious  and  are  generally  well  liked  by  stock.  They  groi 
rapidly  after  the  summer  rains,  furnishing  fine  forage  for  the  fall  and  winter  month* 

The  boutelouas,  generally  known  as  "gramma  grass,"  are  the  most  important  c 
the  proper  range  grasses  of  Arizona.  A  number  of  species  of  this  Southwester 
genus  can  be  found  on  nearly  every  range  in  the  Territory. 


§• 

X 


l\ 

a.  j 

31 

ii 


•  CHAPTER  Y. 

THE  SHEEP  INDUSTRY  IN  CALIFORNIA,  OREGON,  AND  WASHINGTON. 

CALIFORNIA. 

The  first  domestic  sheep  were  brought  to  California  from  Mexico  by 
the  Catholic  missionaries.  They  were  used  as  an  agency  in  the  mis- 
sionary work  of  christianizing  and  civilizing  the  native  race  by  teach- 
ing the  care  of  sheep  to  the  men  and  the  manufacture  of  clothing  to  the 
women.  They  also  contributed  toward  furnishing  a  food  supply  to  all, 
thus  rendering  needless  the  wild  hunter's  life. 

The  character  of  the  sheep  was  of  a  very  low  grade,  both  as  to  wool 
and  mutton  products.  It  is  assumed  by  some  writers  that  the  imme- 
diate improvement  which  results  from  crossing  them  with  the  Merino  is 
an  indication  that  these  sheep  were  of  Merino  origin,  brought  into 
Mexico  by  the  enterprise  of  Spanish  colonists  and  suffered  to  degen- 
erate by  neglect.  It  is  much  more  probable  they  were  of  the  coarse- 
wooled  sheep  kept  on  the  lowlands  of  Spain,  against  the  deportation 
of  which,  by  emigrants  to  Ajnerica,  the  Spanish  laws  did  not  inter- 
vene, as  in  the  case  of  the  fine-wooled  Merino.  Of  the  latter  Spain 
held  a  monopoly,  which  was  so  strictly  guarded  by  law  that  they  could 
not  be  exported  but  by  the  king's  permission.  It  was  only  by  such 
permission  that  flocks  were  drawn  from  Spain  by  the  elector  of  Saxony 
and  the  kiDgs  of  France  and  of  England.  But  whether  these  Mexican 
sheep  were  descendants  from  the  royal  flocks  of  the  golden-fleeced 
Merino  or  the  plebeian  coarse- wooled  stocks  of  the  Spanish  farms,  they 
were,  when  in  the  hands  of  the  early  Catholic  missionaries  of  Califor- 
nia, a  small  boned,  light-bodied  sheep,  generally  white-faced  and  white- 
fleeced.  The  ewes  were  mostly  hornless,  but  in  all  flocks  there  were  a 
few  ewes  with  two  and  sometimes  four  horns.  These  sheep  were  of 
nearly  all  colors,  indicative  of  carelessness  in  breeding  for  many  gen- 
erations. The  fleece  was  of  medium  length,  coarse,  dry,  and  wiry,  giv- 
ing an  average  of  about  two  pounds  of  wool  suitable  for  the  rude  man- 
ufacture of  the  Indian  neophytes  of  the  missions,  or,  as  it  is  now  used, 
for  carpets. 

Few,  if  any  of  these  sheep  passed  into  the  hands  of  even  the  Mexican 
settlers  of  California  previous  to  the  secularization  of  the  missions. 
The  law  secularizing  the  missions  placed  the  disposal  of  the  live  stock 
in  the  hands  of  the  government  officers,  called  administrators,  and 
under  them  the  property  was  scattered  by  sale  and  use.  From  1832, 
when  the  process  began,  until  1848,  when  the  discovery  of  gold  broke 
all  recorded  connection  between  the  animal  industries  of  California 
under  the  rule  of  the  Latin  race  and  its  Saxon  successors,  sheep  are 

947 


948        SHEEP  INDUSTRY  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES 

rarely  mentioned.  From  1832  until  the  accession  of  California  to  the 
United  States  was  a  time  of  local  strife  for  rule  among  the  leading 
Mexican  families,  so  that  there  is  little  reliable  history  of  those  sixteen 
years.  A  few  points,  however,  indicate  that  sheep  which  aggregated 
at  one  time  150,000  head  under  mission  rule,  rapidly  diminished  in  num- 
bers. The  records  we  have  show  the  ownership  of  4,000  head,  outside 
the  missions  in  Los  Angeles  County,  in  1842;  and  at  this  same  date 
Jacob  P.  Lease  (an  American  who  had  married  a  sister  of  Gen.  Yallejo), 
was  found  by  a  party  of  Oregon  settlers  who  went  to  California  to  pur- 
chase cattle,  to  be  owner  of  a  flock  of  sheep  which  he  was  induced  to 
drive  to  Oregon  for  sale,  as  related  hereafter. 

In  1848,  Capt.  Sutter — the  most  prominent  figure  in  Californian  his- 
tory of  that  date — had  from  12,000  to  15,000  sheep,  and  was  using  them 
as  a  source  of  meat  supply  for  the  working  party  engaged  with  his  part- 
ner ( Jas.  A.  Marshall)  when  gold  was  discovered  in  the  mill  race  they 
were  constructing;  a  discovery  which  unsettled  for  a  time  all  kinds  of 
business.  We  can  only  surmise  that  as  soon  as  the  injurious  effect  of 
a  salt-meat  diet  began  to  manifest  itself  by  scurvy  amongst  the  miners, 
fresh  mutton  would  be  eagerly  bought  in  the  mining  camps  as  well  as 
in  the  incipient  cities.  Under  this  demand  the  remnants  of  the  mission 
flocks  were  soon  consumed.  Buyers  were  in  Oregon  collecting  what 
they  could  get  in  1850,  to  drive  to  California  for  sale  to  the  miners. 
The  writer  made  his  first  sale  of  mutton  sheep  that  year,  for  that  pur- 
pose, at  $5  per  head.  Two  years  later  he  sold  lambs  at  $12,  and  mature 
wethers  sold  at  Portland  for  $15  per  head.  Such  rates  ruled  at  the 
same  dates  in  parts  of  California,  and  enterprising  men  began  to  drive 
from  New  Mexico  and  from  the  Western  States  to  meet  the  demand. 

So  far  as  we  can  now  learn  most  of  the  enterprises  of  driving  sheep 
from  New  Mexico,  which  began  in  1852,  were  by  Mexicans,  though  the 
famous  American  mountaineer  and  guide,  Kit  Carson,  who  had  settled 
near  Taos,  was  one  of  the  first.  The  aggregate  drives  from  1852  to 
1860  are  represented  to  have  numbered  551,000  head.  But  between 
these  dates,  citizens  of  the  United  States  were  busy  driving  from  the 
Western  States  a  much  better  class  of  sheep  with  the  double  purpose  of 
engaging  in  wool-growing  and  mutton  production.  The  names  of  these 
pioneers  who  thus  drove  flocks  of  sheep  from  1,500  to  2,000  miles  across 
an  unsettled  country  inhabited  by  wild  beasts  and  savage  men,  deserve 
record.  Those  of  Peters,  McMahon,  Patterson  Brothers,  W.  W.  Hoi- 
lister,  H.  H.  Hollister,  T.  and  B.  Flint,  J.  Bixby,  W.  W.  Cole,  and  James 
Moore  appear  amongst  the  very  first.  The  Hollister  brothers  were 
from  Ohio,  and  probably  knew  the  importance  of  blood  in  sheep.  Their 
first  driving  seems  to  have  been  the  best  stock  they  could  collect  in 
Missouri  and  Illinois.  It  is  to  T.  M.  and  T.  C.  McConnell,  however, 
that  the  glory  belongs  of  introducing  the  gold  en  fleece  from  Vermont  to 
California.  Previous  to  1856  Thomas  M.  McConnell  had  mined  and 
traded  to  miners  some  years  with  fair  success.  In  agreement  with  his 
brother,  T.  C.  McConnell,  as  to  the  subsequent  care  of  the  sheep,  he 


WEST   OF   THE   MISSISSIPPI   RIVER.  949 


paid  to  Merril,  Bingham,  and  Jesse  Hines  $1,000  for  seven  head  of  pure 
Merinos  and  took  them  via  Panama.  The  cost  of  freighting  them  to 
California  was  $85  per  head,  and  but  for  Mr.  McConnelFs  resisting  the 
demands  of  subordinate  railroad  officials  for  $450  for  passing  the  sheep 
from  Aspinwall  to  Panama^  the  transporation  bill  would  have  reached 
$1,000.  His  appeal  to  the  chief  officer,  Col.  Totten,  however,  procured 
generous  treatment.  Mr.  McConnell  lives  yet  and  has  breeding  sta- 
tions at  Camp  McDennott,  Nev.,  besides  keeping  a  flock  at  his  home 
farm  near  Elk  Grove,  Sacramento  County,  Cal.  So  also  does  Mrs.  E. 
M.  Wilson,  who  was  left  a  widow  by  the  death  of  T.  C.  McConnell  not 
many  years  after  the  enterprise  was  begun,  but  who  has  kept  up  the 
flock  with  satisfactory  results  ever  since.  This  enterprise  of  the  Mc- 
'  Connell  brothers,  and  others  before  mentioned,  were  the  movements  of 
home  building  men  engaging  in  what  was  to  be  the  principal  business 
of  their  lives. 

But  the  earliest  movement  which  brought  another  less  valuable 
strain  of  Merino  blood  into  California  was  by  the  Whitney  brothers, 
George  and  J.  P.  I  insert  here  letters  from  both  Mr.  McConnell  and 
Mr.  J.  P.  Whitney.  Each  letter  in  its  way  is  full  of  instruction  as  to 
influences  now  bearing  upon  the  sheep  and  wool  industry  of  California 
and  the  entire  Pacific  slope,  and  shows  the  spirit  of  early  enterprise. 
Mr.  McConnelFs  letter  bears  date  of  Elk  Grove,  Sacramento  County, 
Cal.,  February  11, 1892,  and  is  as  follows: 

SIR:  I  imported  from  Vermont  seven  head  of  Spanish  Merino  sheep  of  the  Infan- 
tado  variety  from  the  flock  of  Jesse  Hines — four  ewes  and  three  rams.  The  ewes 
"were  bred  to  Edwin  Hammond's  celebrated  ram  Sweepstakes.  They  arrived  in 
San  Francisco  on  August  28,  1856,  at  a  cost  of  $85  per  head  for  freight  alone. 
Tin  se  sheep  all  descended  from  the  Atwood  flock,  of  Connecticut,  as  bred  by  Edwin 
Hammond,  of  Middlebury,  Addison  County,  Vt.,  who  is  acknowledged  to  have  done 
more  to  improve  the  wool-bearing  sheep  known  as  the  "American Merino"  than  any 
other  man  living  or  dead,  and  has  made  the  Vermont  or  "American  Merino"  the 
leading  wool  sheep  of  the  world. 

This  shipment  of  August,  1856,  was  undoubtedly  the  pioneer  one  of  California  if 
not  the  Pacific  coast.  It  was  made  under  all  manner  of  discouragements.  Many 
predicted  they  would  all  die  before  they  could  reach  California ;  that  they  could  not 
stand  a  sea  voyage  through  the  tropics ;  and  that  they  would  not  do  well  in  a  climate 
like  that  of  California.  It  is  needless  to  say  to  you  that  this  shipment  of  sheep 
has  been  worth  millions  of  dollars  to  California  sheep-raisers.  I  have  bred  sheep 
ever  since  from  the  same  strain  of  blood.  I  have  never  done  any  cross-breeding.  I 
think  all  changes  profitable  to  be  made  should  be  by  selection.  The  improvement 
made  in  this  class  of  sheep  since  their  importation  from  Spain  is  wonderful.  1  re- 
member the  time  when  it  was  thought  to  be  a  large  fleece  for  a  ram  to  shear  14 
pounds  and  a  ewe  8  pounds.  Now  ewes  shear  from  10  to  20  pounds  and  rams  from 
15  to  30  pounds  in  the  grease. 

No  one  can  tell  what  the  future  sheep  will  do.  When  men  of  brain  like  Edwin 
Hammond,  William  R.  Sanford,  Victor  WTright,  Merrill  Bingham,  Jones  &  Rock- 
well, and  Col.  Stowell  devote  their  time  and  efforts  to  any  particular  object  progress 
is  sure  to  be  made. 

The  next  shipment  made  to  this  State  was  by  John  D.  Patterson.  They  arrived 
here  in  October  or  November,  1856,  and  were  French  Merinos.  The  sheep-breeders 
of  Vermont  had  given  this  class  of  sheep  a  good  ainl  fair  £i7aT2nS^tmidemned  them. 
They  were  imported  from  France  by  George^.  Taintor  ^n^4^fc^Stted  Taintor'a 


950        SHEEP  INDUSTRY  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES 

sliCL'p  for  sometime  and  later  the  Blasom  sheep,   and  their  descendants  are  now 
owned  by  J.  H.  Glide.     These  sheep  were  from  the  French  Government  or  Ram- 
bouillet  flock.     Years  afterwards  J.  D.  Patterson  imported  the  Spanish  Merino. 
The,third  and  next  importation  was  by  Jones  &  Rockwell,  of  Middlebury,  Vt.,  in 

1859  or  1860 — I  am  not  quite  sure  which  year.     I  shipped  or  imported  nine  sheep  in 

1860  and  1863,  all  of  them  Spanish  Merino. 

The  business  of  sheep-raising  and  wool-growing  had  by  this  time  grown  to  large 
proportions  and  great  importance,  and  from  this  time  many  engaged  in  the  business 
of  importing  sheep  from  Vermont.  Large  importations  took  place  after  the  comple- 
tion of  the  Central  Pacific  Railroad,  in  1869  and  1870,  1871,  1872,  and  1873,  by  L.  J. 
Arcutt,  George  Hammond  (son  of  Edwin  Hammond),  Severance  &  Peet,  and  many 
others. 

Some  of  the  latest  shipments  were  by  sheep-traders  and  were  not  from  reliable 
and  well-bred  flocks.  Few  unacquainted  with  the  history  of  this  business  can  real- 
ize what  an  improvement  was  wrought  by  the  infusion  of  this  Vermont  blood  into 
the  flocks  of  the  Pacific  coast.  The  sheep  industry  made  headway  under  many  dif- 
ficulties, among  which  were  wild  animals  and  hostile  cattlemen  bitterly  opposed  to 
the  sheepmen.  Laws  were  passed  prohibiting  sheep  from  grazing  upon  the  public 
domain.  Every  obstruction  possible  was  thrown  in  the  way  by  the  half-savage 
cowboys,  urged  on  by  the  cattle  kings.  Still  the  business  had  so  much  merit  in  it 
that  it  has  prospered  and  is  a  good  business  to-day. 

You  ask  my  opinion  as  to  the  propriety  of  preventing  sheep  from  grazing  on  the 
mountain  ranges.  I  think  such  prevention  would  be  a  gieat  outrage.  This  opposi- 
tion and  hue  and  cry  about  sheep  ruining  the  forests  nearly  all  emanates  from  the 
cattlemen.  I  took  large  bands  of  she^p  into  the  mountains  twenty  years  for  sum- 
mer grazing,  and  have  been  familiar  with  large  sections  of  the  Sierra  Nevada  Moun- 
tains for  the  past  forty-two  years,  and  I  can  certify  from  actual  experience  and 
knowledge  that  there  have  been  less  fires  since  the  grass  and  undergrowth  have  been 
fed  off  than  before.  And  since  roads  and  ditches  have  been  made  large  and  exten- 
sive fires  do  not  occur.  The  miners  cut  off  the  large  timber  in  the  mining  section, 
and  now  there  are  twenty  young  trees  where  there  was  one  before,  and  less  danger 
from  fires  than  formerly.  Fires  originate  from  hunters,  prospectors,  and  city  tour- 
ists. 

It  would  be  an  outrage  upon  human  rights  to  maintain  a  military  patrol  to  look  after 
the  forests  of  the  Sierra  Nevada  Mountains.  It  would  require  the  entire  Army,  but 
it  would  make  nice  positions  for  a  lot  of  officers  and  men,  and  increase  the  taxation 
of  the  already  overburdened  farmer  and  taxpayer.  The  sheep-raiser  has  already 
been  harassed  in  so  many  ways  that  many  have  gone  out  of  the  business,  and  mut- 
ton chops  are  a  scarce  article  in  the  market.  Mutton  is  now  worth  from  8  to  10  cents ; 
it  sold  here  for  years  from  2£  to  3£. 
Yours,  truly, 

THOMAS  MCCONNELL. 

Mr.  Whitney's  letter  was  written  at  Pueblo,  Colo.,  February  29, 1892, 
and  is  as  follows : 

SIR:  It  is  pretty  hard  for  me  to  make  an  estimate  on  wool-growing.  It  was  in 
1855  that  my  brother  went  to  Australia,  and  with  myself  bought  350  high-bred  sheep, 
which  were  Spanish  Merino,  but  had  a  mixture  of  Saxony  blood,  according  to  the 
plan  of  the  particular  breeder  in  Australia.  Don't  know  who  the  sheep  were  bought 
of.  They  cost  me  $50  a  head.  I  got  out  thoroughbred  Spanish  bucks  from  Vermont, 
which  cost  me  a  great  deal  of  money,  and  began  breeding  on  the  Spring  Valley 
Ranch,  near  Rocklin,  in  Placer  County,  20  miles  above  Sacramento,  and  have  been 
at  it  ever  since.  We  only  got  120  head  safe  in  California  out  of  our  350  which  we 
bought  in  Australia.  We  made  money  in  selling  bucks  and  good  ewes.  Land  was 
cheap  and  the  business  went  slow  for  years,  but  after  years  sold  hundreds  of  bucks 
and  ewes  at  from  $25  to  $50  per  head.  We  worked  up  slowly,  and  in  1862  sold 


WEST   OF   THE   MISSISSIPPI   RIVER.  951 

$12,000  worth  of  Lucks  and  ewes.  I  havB  now  from  12,000  to  14,000  head,  I  suppose. 
I  have  always  got  the  highest  price  received  from  any  large  sheep  ranch  in  Califor- 
nia for  my  wool,  and  for  twenty  years  have  sold  wholly  in  Boston,  which  is  head- 
quarters for  my  general  husiness.  It  was  twenty  years  before  1  ever  saw  any  money 
in  the  husiness,  as  I  continued  to  buy  land  and  kept  in  debt.  I  have  been  so  much 
engaged  in  other  kinds  of  business,  mining,  cattle,  manufacturing,  lauds,  real  es- 
tate in  cities,  etc.,  that  I  have  riot  kept  my  matters  segregated  as  much  as  others  in 
'•  one  business  may  have  done,  so  I  can  not  tell  accurately  what  the  business  cost  and 
paid.  But  I  estimated  some  years  ago  that  my  120  sheep  had  paid  me  $1,000,000, 
principally  from  the  acquisition  and  appreciation  of  lands,  and  have  sold  many  hun- 
dreds of  thousands  of  dollars  in  wool  and  mutton.  I  estimate  that  those  sheep 
which  cost  me  so  high,  when  common  sheep  were  selling  for  a  few  dollars,  have  been 
worth  from  $8,000  to  $10,000  per  head  to  me,  as  they  cleared  over  20,000  acres  of 
land  which  cost  low,  and  now  I  am  selling  land  in  small  parcels  at  from  $150  to  $300 
per  acre. 

>  Yours,  very  truly, 

J.  PARKER  WHITNEY. 

The  foregoing  letter  of  Mr.  Whitney  I  deem  valuable,  both  as  show- 
ing the  enterprise  of  early  California  life,  and  also  as  giving  cogent 
reasons  why,  on  account  of  the  rise  in  land  values,  few  if  any  men 
engaged  in  sheep  husbandry  in  California  or  even  in  Oregon  or  Wash- 
ington, up  to  this  date,  can  fairly  charge  the  use  of  land  against  their 
flocks. 

The  records  of  exhibitions  at  the  California  State  fair  for  1 856  show 
Aram  &  Knox  as  exhibitors  of  Leicestershires  and  Southdowns.  In 
those  of  1857  a  first  premium  was  awarded  to  Searles  &  Win,  of  Solano, 
for  French  Merino  ram ;  and  second  premium  to  James  Sheppard,  of 
Santa  Clara. 

In  1839  George  Whitney,  brother  of  J.  P.  Whitney  before  mentioned, 
of  Placer  County,  exhibited  sheep  as  Saxon  Merino;  J.  D.  Patterson, 
French  Merino;  C.  Gallup,  J.  D.  Stephens,  and  Haynes  &  Cheney, 
Southdowns;  Daniel  Davidson  and  Mr.  Brewer,  Leicesters. 

In  I860,  which  I  consider  the  end  of  the  pioneer  period  of  Pacific 
coast  sheep  industry,  A.  L.  Bingham  exhibited  seven  pens  of  Merinos, 
amongst  them  (all  good)  was  "a  Silesian  Merino  ram  which  attracted 
marked  attention."  J.  D.  Patterson  had  Webb  (Jonas)  Southdowns 
and  French  Merinos;  W.  D.  Stan  wood,  Southdowns;  J.  B.  Hoyt  had 
Merinos.  Four  Cheviots  were  exhibited,  and  William  M.  Landrum  ex- 
hibited Angora  goats. 

While  the  foregoing  men  were  thus  showing  the  stocks  of  their  early 
beginnings,  another  class  of  men  were  too  busy  to  attend  exhibitions. 
Some  of  those  already  mentioned  as  making  the  first  drives  across  the 
plains  and  mountains  separating  the  Missouri  River  from  the  plains  of 
California,  settled  upon  sheep  husbandry  as  a  chosen  pursuit,  and 
returned  to  the  Mississippi  Valley  for  the  best  stocks  of  ewes  and  rams 
they  could  buy  in  quantities.  Between  185G  and  1860  several  parties 
were  engaged  driving  across  the  plains  sheep  designed  as  stocks  for 
wool-growing  purposes,  among  which  appear  the  names  of  Rawson, 
Peters,  Murray  Brothers,  Gray  son,  H.  H.  Hollister,  the  Dibblee  Brothers, 


952        SHEEP  INDUSTRY  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES 

and  Joseph  W.  Cooper.  From  the  latter  (who  has  now  retired  from 
active  business  with  competence  for  his  declining  days  and  just  pride 
in  the  resiilts  of  his  well-directed  youthful  energies)  I  am  enabled  to 
give  a  brief  letter,  which  indicates  the  character  of  the  work : 

In  1858  H.  H.  Hollister,  the  Dibblee  Brothers,  and  Cooper  collected  12,000  sheep  in 
Illinois  and  Missouri.  About  one-half  were  high-bred  Ohio  Merinos  and  the  other 
half  good,  strong  grades  of  English  breeds,  all  chosen  with  reference  to  improving 
the  Mexican  sheep.  The  flock  was  driven  into  New  Mexico  and  there  kept  for  the 
winter  on  the  bottoms  of  the  Eio  Grande,  in  close  proximity  to  a  strong  village  of 
Apache  Indians.  The  good  neighborhood  of  the  savages  was  so  well  maintained 
that  the  stock  wintered  well;  giving  an  increase  of  8,000  lambs.  From  the  winter- 
ing grounds  the  flock  was  started  as  early  in  the  spring  of  1859  as  it  was  judged  best, 
of  necessity,  moving  with  extreme  care  both  as  to  the  welfare  of  the  flock  and  the 
safety  of  the  drivers.  They  got  into  Los  Angeles  County  in  January,  1860,  with 
4,400  sheep,  and  immediately  commenced  a  profitable  business  selling  rams.  They 
also  began  the  use  of  the  best  rams  of  the  Vermont  type  and  increased  their  flocks 
by  joining  interests  with  Col.  W.  W.  Hollister.  In  1862  Col.  W.  W.  Hollister,  Hub- 
bard  Hollister,  Albert  Dibblee,  and  T.  B.  Dibblee  formed  a  partnership  and  purchased 
the  Lompoc  ranch  in  Santa  Barbara  County,  con  tain  ing  42, 085  acres,  for  $1.50  per  acre — 
something  over  $60,000  for  the  ranch.  The  cost  of  obtaining  legal  possession  was 
about  $15,000.  They  stocked  it  with  10.000  head  of  sheep,  mostly  grade  Merinos ;; 
and  from  the  profits  of  that  investment  they  were  able  to  purchase  ranch  after  ranch, 
until,  in  1874,  their  aggregate  possessions  amounted  to  140,000  acres.  As  illustrating 
the  natural  increase  of  sheep  in  favorable  seasons  the  following  is  given  as  one  of  the, 
results  of  the  operations  of  this  company : 

In  1862  these  flockmasters  made  a  special  purchase  of  300  pure  Spanish  Merino 
ewes,  and  in  1864  added  100  more  to  the  number.  In  1875  the  count  was  14,192  ewes, 
which  with  the  same  number  of  males  during  the  same  period  made  the  aggregate 
increase  28,000  in  about  twelve  years.  In  1872  their  wool  clip  exceeded  250,000 
pounds,  selling  at  25  cents  for  the  spring  clip  and  15  cents  for  the  fall. 

The  total  sales  of  wool  amounted  to $84,  375 

Sales  of  sheep,  11,016  head  at 40, 408 

Total 124,783 

In  1873  the  clip  was  338,131  pounds. 

Proceeds $74, 876 

Sheep  sold,  14,500 48, 408 


Total 123,284 

In  1874  the  clip  was  316,597  pounds. 

Proceeds $70,  316 

Sheep  sold,  16,500 53,933 

Total 124,249' 

The  sales  were  exceptionally  large  in  1874,  on  account  of  the  sale  of  the  Lompoc 
ranch,  appraised  at  $40  per  acre.  It  was  put  up  for  sale  at  public  auction  in  small 
tracts  and  town  lots.  The  first  40  acres  were  bid  off  at  $76  per  acre.  The  day's  sales 
amounted  to  the  value  of  $700,000,  and  left  about  35,000  acres  unsold,  for  which  the- 
original  owners  offered  $370,000. 

The  annual  expenses  for  the  conduct  of  the  above  wool-growing  and  sheep-breed- 
ing business  was  from  $30,000  to  $35,000. 

Another  class  of  men  exercised  a  most  potent  influence  upon  the 
sheep  and  wool  industry  of  California  and  Oregon  up  to  and  including- 
1860.  They  may  be  classed  as  mercantile  breeders.  Of  these  the  ear- 


WEST   OF   THE   MISSISSIPPI   RIVER.  953 

liest  to  arrive  was  John  D.  Patterson,  of  Kew  York,  who  came  with 
French  Merinos  and  Southdowns;  Solomon  W.  Jewett,  of  Vermont, 
was  busily  engaged  sending  sheep  to  his  son,  then  located  in  Kern 
County,  and  still  there  as  a  breeder.  Severance  &  Peet  came  some- 
what later,  but  brought  first- class  stock  of  the  Vermont  type.  But  the 
firm  of  this  kind  which  wielded  the  most  potent  influence  on  the  entire 
Pacific  slope,  at  that  early  day,  was  that  of  E.  J.  Jones  and  S.  B.  Rock- 
well,  of  Addison  County,  Vt.  The  influence  of  the  writings  of  Mr., 
Rockwell  through  the  local  press  wherever  he  went  was  like  a  trumpet 
call.  Especially  was  this  the  case  in  Oregon,  where  the  home-builders- 
who  had  carried  the  banner  of  the  Republic  across  the  plains  and  moun- 
tains, and  instituted  a  provisional  government  under  it  in  1843,  were 
quietly  pursuing  their  purposes.  To  name  $500  as  the  price  of  one  of 
these  small  greasy  sheep  was  like  an  electric  shock  to  most  of  these 
people,  and  some  of  them  entered  into  newspaper  protests  against  what 
they  called  "  an  imposition,  as  well  as  an  extortion."  The  war  was  warm 
for  a  time,  but  of  course  enterprise  and  intelligence  won.  There  had  at 
this  datebeen  no  sheep-herding  registers  established  anywhere,  and  have- 
not  yet  been  on  the  Pacific  slope,  although  flocks  were  founded  from  the 
best  sheep  of  Vermont,  and  additions  have  been  of  the  same  character. 

PRESENT   CONDITION   OF   CALIFORNIA  SHEEP  AND   WOOL  INDUSTRIES. 

Having  already  given  a  brief  sketch  of  the  beginnings  and  the  begin- 
ners of  sheep  husbandry  in  California,  it  seems  fitting  here  to  give 
the  names  of  those  most  prominently  and  publicly  known  as  sheep- 
breeders  now,  and  the  line  of  breeding  pursued,  so  far  as  known.  The 
flocks  of  Thomas  McConnell  and  of  Mrs.  E.  M.  Wilson,  founded  on  the 
pioneer  importation  from  Vermont,  are  yet  kept  up  and  purely  bred. 
J.  H.  Glide,  of  Sacramento,  keeps  pure  representatives  of  the  French 
Merinos,  introduced  by  J.  D.  Patterson,  and  continued  by  Robert 
Blacow.  Frank  Bullard,  of  Woodland,  and  Woolsey  &  Sons,  of  Fulton, 
keep  Merinos  founded  in  California  by  Severance  &  Peet.  The  latter 
have  begun  crossing  with  the  Shropshire.  Kirkpatrick  &  Whitacre,  of 
Knights  Ferry,  breed  French  and  American  (improved  Spanish),  and 
crosses  between  these  families.  H.  Mecham,  of  Petalurna,  breeds  pure 
polled  American  Merino  and  pure  Shropshires,  and  crosses  between;  R» 
H.  Crane,  of  the  same  place,  Southdowns;  J.  B.  Hoyt,  of  Suisun,  Shrop- 
shires; J.  W.  Grigsby  and  William  Middleton,  Napa,  Southdowns;: 
Martin  Kingsley,  Santa  Cruz,  Southdowus;  T.  J.  Knight,  of  Table 
Blufl',  and  J.  C.  Barber,  of  Ferndale,  Cotswolds;  J.  Askew,  El  Dorador 
Cotswolds  and  Southdowns;  J.  E.  Lucas,  San  Rafael,  Shropshires;  R. 
M.  Wilson, "of  Newman,  and  A.  D.  Stusifer,  Merinos;  S.  K".  Straube, 
Fresno,  Merinos;  E.  E.  Giddings,  Dinuba,  Merinos;  Harry  Qoinn,  De- 
lano, Merinos;  Sol.  S.  Jewett,  Bakersfield,  Merinos;  Parmein  Bros.r 
Los  Angeles,  and  Premain,  Piermont,  Merinos.  Many  large  wool- grow- 
ers drew"  out  male  lambs  for  sale  as  breeders,  which  are  largely  used 
in  order  to  lessen  expenses. 


954 


SHEEP   INDUSTRY    OF    THE    UNITED    STATES 


Aii  attempt  to  start  a  trade  in  improved  American  Merino  sheep  to 
Australia  was  made  some  eight  years  ago  by  Mr.  Shubert,  of  the  wool 
commission  firm  of  Shubert  &  Beal,  San  Francisco.  A  lot  of  somewhat 
less  than  100  head  was  shipped,  and  the  parties  were  offered  $5,000 
profit  on  the  venture  the  second  day  after  landing,  but  refused.  The 
colonial  government  then  took  possession  of  the  sheep  and  kept  them 
in  quarantine  nearly  a  year  under  the  scab  law.  Nothing  was  realized 
at  last  but  vexation,  and  no  attempt  has  been  made  since  to  ship  from 
California,  although  the  market  there  for  such  sheep  is  very  good.  A 
Sydney  paper  of  July  25,  1891,  reports  the  sale  of  choice  stock  rams  as 
high  as  600  and  710  guineas  ($3,150  to  $3,725). 

The  American  improved  Merino  is  the  most  popular  of  the  Merino 
family  of  sheep  at  present  in  the  Australian  colonies,  and  there  is  no 
question  but  a  trade  profitable  to  both  parties  could  be  inaugurated 
from  the  Pacific  ports  if  international  rules  in  regard  to  the  inspection 
of  the  stock  sent  from  one  country  to  the  other  could  be  adopted  and 
enforced,  so  as  to  permit  the  progress  of  animals  to  their  destination 
without  delay.  There  are  really  no  common  sheep  (sheep  of  no  partic- 
ular line  of  breeding)  in  California  at  the  present  time.  During  the 
years  of  prosperity  in  woolgrowing  as  the  primary  object,  all  the  sheep 
in  the  State  graded  from  half  blood  Merino  upward.  The  decline  of 
sheep  classed  as  fine  on  the  assessment  rolls — from  66,618  in  1873  to 
4,148  in  1887— is  to  be  taken  more  as  an  indication  that  importations 
of  Merino  blood  had  become  unnecessary  than  that  its  use  had  ceased, 
until  the  agitation  following  the  change  in  the  law  of  1883,  by  depress- 
ing the  price  of  wool  and  creating  doubt  as  to  the  future  national 
policy  caused  men  to  leave  the  business.  Sheep  diminished  in  numbers 
because  flock-owners  ceased  to  breed  their  flocks,  but  fattened  and 
sold  them  for  mutton.  It  was  not,  however,  national  legislation  alone 
which  caused  the  decline.  There  probably  never  was  in  any  country 
so  general  a  movement  toward  planting  land,  with  a  view  to  fruit  pro- 
duction, as  has  taken  place  in  California  during  the  past  seven  years. 
The  product  in  many  cases  yielded  no  profit  to  growers  in  1891,  and 
there  will  apparently  be  an  additional  number  of  trees  coming  into 
bearing  annually  for  the  next  five  years.  It  is  scarcely  presumable 
that  means  of  transportation  will  be  so  much  cheapened  as  to  enable 
the  increased  quantity  of  fruits  to  reach  profitable  markets. 

The  number  of  sheep  in  California  as  found  by  the  county  assessor 
in  the  years  given  below  aggregated  in  number  and  value  for  the  pur- 
poses of  taxation  as  follows : 


Year. 

Number. 

Value. 

Tear. 

Number. 

Value. 

1873  

4  869  621 

$10  057  081 

1887 

3  281  224 

$4  634  408 

1876 

6  406  465 

8  70'{  958 

1890 

2  708  470 

3  798  548 

1877  „ 

6,142  409 

4  694  569 

1891 

2  602  193 

4  120  866 

1880  

5  122  987 

WEST   OF   THE   MISSISSIPTI   RIVER.  955 

It  will  be  noted  that  106,277^  fewer  slieep  in  1891  than  in  1890,  is 
valued  by  the  State  board  of  equalization  $322,318  higher  for  purposes 
of  taxation.  There  is  little  doubt  that  the  chief  cause  of  rise  in  values 
is  found  in  the  fact  that  the  consumption  of  mutton  and  lamb  has  in  a 
large  degree  overtaken  production  within  the  State.  This  has  so  af- 
fected prices  that  mutton  was  quoted  in  early  March,  1892,  in  San 
Francisco  market,  at  10  and  11  cents  per  pound  wholesale;  while  stall- 
fed  beef  was  quoted  at  7  cents  per  pound.  The  best  estimates  obtainable 
from  the  trade  iti  San  Francisco  place  the  annual  slaughter  of  mutton 
for  that  city  and  suburbs  at  751,200  sheep,  and  328,650  lambs,  making 
a  total  of  1,079,850  head.  The  consumption  in  the  rest  of  the  State  is 
estimated  at  as  many  more,  though  I  do  not  think  there  is  more  than 
half  that  number  used  in  the  country  and  smaller  towns  and  cities.  In 
many  of  the  former,  butchers  do  not  keep  mutton  at  all,  because  of  its 
great  cost  as  compared  with  beef.  In  some  of  the  counties  sheep  have 
so  diminished  in  number  that  they  are  no  longer  the  common  and  con- 
venient meat  for  country  use,  as  they  were  in  the  prosperous  period  of 
wool-growing,  when  mutton  could  be  bought  at  2J  to  3J  cents  per 
pound  in  the  dressed  carcass.  From  the  influence,  then,  of  the  high 
market  price  for  mutton,  I  conclude  that  the  present  consumption  of 
mutton  outside  of  San  Francisco  and  suburban  cities  is  overestimated 
by  one-half,  and  place  the  estimated  consumption  of  sheep  and  lambs 
at  1,600,000  head,  and  the  aggregate  valuation  at  $5,600,000. 

The  estimated  wool  yield  of  California  for  1891,  given  in  the  National 
Wool  Manufacturers'  Bulletin,  is  24,130,015  pounds.  My  estimate  places 
it  at,  shorn  wool,  18,215,351;  pulled  wool  from  slaughtered  sheep, 
4,133,375;  total  wool  crop  of  1891, 22,348,726  pounds.  Sold  at  an  aver- 
age value  to  producers  of  15  cents  per  pound,  $3,352,308.90. 

Estimating  that  1,100,000  of  the  sheep  and  lambs  consumed  in  Cali- 
fornia were  from  the  flocks  of  the  State,  at  $3.50  per  head,  gives 
$3,850,000  as  the  value  of  her  mutton  and  lamb  product,  making 
$7,202,308.90  as  the  annual  value  of  her  sheep  and  wool  industry  for 
1891. 

At  present,  in  the  central  coast  counties  of  California,  the  attention 
of  those  continuing  the  pursuit  is  turned  to  the  production  of  early 
lambs  and  mutton.  But  few  of  the  district  fairs  held  last  year  in  those 
counties  had  any  sheep  exhibited,  but  such  as  had  showed  the  interest  to 
be  mainly  in  the  English  Down  breeds.  From  San  Francisco  northward, 
in  the  coast  counties,  the  Merinos  are  crossed  with  the  Southdowns 
and  still  more  with  the  Shropshires.  As  a  rule  no  shelter  is  provided; 
and  most  of  the  uplands,  some  of  which  are  very  rough  and  broken, 
would  be  excellent  for  sheep  ranges  if  it  were  not  for  the  dense  growths 
of  brushwood  (and  in  some  places  young  timber)  steadily  encroaching 
on  the  clear  land.  The  latter  is  so  closely  grazed  that  there  are  no 
longer  the  dry  grasses  in  the  late  summer,  through  which  fires  formerly 
ran  and  kept  back  the  brushwood  and  timber.  This  measurable  cessa- 
tion of  forest  fires  and  the  spread  of  chaparral  growth  have  resulted  in  a 


956 


SHEEP  INDUSTRY  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES 


decided  increase  of  the  coyote  and  wildcat  pests.  This  district  of  the 
State  is  devoted  mainly  to  the  dairy,  wine,  wool,  meats  and  lumber 
products  j  but  that  portion  nearest  to  the  Bay  of  San  Francisco  is  also 
used  for  the  production  of  summer  fruits  (like  peaches)  and  vegetables. 
As  valuable  additions  to  this  report,  I  insert  the  carefully  kept  records 
of  the  Baechtel  Brothers,  of  their  experiments  in  cross-breedings.  Mr. 
Baeehtel  had  just  published  this  letter  in  his  local  paper,  the  Ukiah 
Press,  when  my  inquiry  reached  him.  In  reply,  he  sent  me  a  printed 
copy  as  below: 

In  February,  1873,  we  made  an  investment  in  ten  thoroughbred  Spanish  Merino 
ewes  and  one  buck.  They  cost  us,  delivered  on  the  ranch,  $987.  The  sheep  were 
bred  by  Jewett,  in  Missouri,  from  stock  selected  from  the  then  famed  flocks  of  Ham- 
mond and  At  wood,  of  Vermont.  We  were  unfortunate  in  the  loss  of  our  buck  in  the 
following  August.  We  bought  a  buck,  imported  by  Mason,  which  cost  us  $68  more ; 
our  whole  stock  in  the  autumn  of  1873  cost  us  on  ranch  $l,055,'which  formed  the 
base  of  the  flock.  We  had  no  experience  in  sheep  husbandry.  Bought  all  the 
standard  works  treating  on  the  subject;  adopted  everything  we  found  practical  in 
them.  The  conditions  under  which  their  experiments  were  made  were  entirely  dif- 
ferent from  ours;  we  in  the  genial  climate  of  California  had  not  to  make  much  prep- 
aration for  shelter  and  food  that  flockmasters  had  to  make  in  more  rigorous  cli- 
mates. Our  sheep  are  shorn  twice  each  year,  while  other  localities  shear  but  once. 
We  went  it  blind,  as  the  saying  is;  wherever  we  found  we  had  made  a  mistake  we 
corrected  it.  We  endeavored  to  breed  our  sheep  up  to  a  high  standard  in  quality 
and  fineness  of  wool,  form,  reducing  wrinkles,  black  top  and  yolk  in  wool,  endeav- 
oring to  get  as  many  of  these  good  qualities  in  our  sheep  as  possible,  which  future 
experience  taught  us  a  slow  and  rather  uphill  business.  All  stock  bred  up  to  a  high 
standard  requires  constant  watching  and  judicious  crossing  to  improve  them.  The 
great  tendency  is  to  deterioration.  The  old  proverb  of  like  producing  like  will  not 
hold  good  in  my  experience  of  advance  stock-breeding,  from  the  fact  that  so  many 
conditions  have  been  used  to  elevate  the  standard;  many  lie  dormant  and  crop  out 
in  future  crosses.  I  append  a  table  that  is  self-explanatory  regarding  the  average 
prices  of  wool  in  Ukiah  City,  and  average  wool  yield  per  sheep. 


Season. 

Sold  in 
Ukiah. 

Average 
wool 
yield. 

Season. 

Sold  in 
Ukiah. 

Average 
wool 
yield. 

1873*  

Cents. 
30  00 

Pounds. 
14  00 

1880  '81 

Cents. 
26  50 

Pounds. 
9  25 

1874*  

30.00 

13  23 

1881  '82 

21  20 

10  36 

1874-75  

23  38 

14  10 

1882  '83 

19  84 

12  12 

1875-'76  

16.25 

13  26 

1883  '84 

17  56 

10  44 

1876-'  77  .. 

23  63 

13  07 

1884  '85 

14  56 

9  79 

1877-78  

20.00 

12  66 

1885  '86 

16  46 

9  80 

1878-79  

21  50 

10  23 

1886-'87 

i«  OK 

9  89 

1879-80  

25.75 

9  77 

1887  '88 

15  50 

9  60 

*  May  20. 

The  above  table  shows  great  variation  in  price  of  wool,  and  annual  average  per 
head.  In  1879  we  procured  an  exceptionally  free  white-yolked  Merino  buck ;  we 
were  trying  to  improve  the  quality  of  our  wool,  as  our  wool  was  considered  heavy. 
His  progeny  gave  us  lighter  fleeces  and  better  quality  of  wool.  We  never  sold  any 
of  our  Merino  ewes ;  as  they  aged,  it  reduced  the  general  average  per  head.  In 
1884-'86  heavy  wools  got  a  black  eye ;  prices  fell  far  below  other  wools. 

We  adopted  the  method  of  weighing  each-fleece  as  it  was  shorn.  We  procured 
metal  tags  numbered  from  1  to  12  inclusive ;  inserted  in  the  ear,  we  had,  as  it  were, 
twelve  families.  We  stamped  the  age  of  each  sheep  on  them,  and  the  year  each 
lamb  came,  so  we  were  enabled  to  credit  each  sheep  in  the  family  with  their  weight  of 
fleece  when  shorn.  By  that  method  we  thought  we  could  ascertain  what  progress  we 


WEST    OF    THE    MISSISSIPPI    RIVER.  957 

were  making.  It  proved  a  delusive  hope;  the  variable  seasons  and  grass  gave  us 
such  unequal  results  that  we  learned  nothing  from  it.  It  clearly  demonstrated 
one  fact,  whenever  the  growth  of  wool  was  arrested  by  short  feed,  spoiled  feed, 
rain  after  grass  dried  in  summer  losing  its  strength,  rigorous  or  inclement  weather, 
all  the  wool  growth  lost  during  such  periods  of  its  growth  were  at  the  expense  of 
length  of  staple  and  weight  of  fleece.  We  had  no  way  of  finding  out  what  progress 
we  were  making  in  regard  to  fineness  of  fiber.  In  1883  we  addressed  a  letter  to  the 
Commissioner  of  Agriculture  to  ascertain  who  he  appointed  to  examine  wool  fibers. 
He  referred  our  letter  to  William  McMurtrie,  professor  of  chemistry  in  the  Illinois 
Industrial  University;  that  placed  us  in  communication  with  him.  We  sent  him 
wool  samples  in  1883-'84 ;  he  reported  to  us  after  examination  that  our  wool  samples 
sent  him  had  an  average  fineness  of  1,267  fibers  to  the  lineal  inch. 

Youatl's  measurement  of  Merino  wool  fibers. 

In  England,  from  Lord  Westerman's  flock,  1835,  lineal  inch 750 

Manly  Miles's  measurement  of  wool  fibers  from  E.  Hammond's  flock  of  8  Meri- 
nos, Vermont  growth  of  1864 1, 209 

From  W.  H.  Ladds,  of  Ohio,  growth  of  1864 1, 294 

From  C.  H.  Rich,  Lapeer,  Mich.,  1  ram,  1864 - 1, 164 

C.  H.  Rich,  Lapeer,  Mich.,  4  ewes,  1864 1, 087 

Argentine  Republic,  13  rams,  1876 1, 265 

Australian  colonies,  7  rams,  1876 1, 260 

Our  measurements  made  by  McMurtrie,  1884 1, 267 

From  the  above  comparisons,  we  have  kept  abreast  of  the  times  in  regard  to  fine- 
ness of  fibers.  In  1888  we  closed  out  our  Merino  flock  after  charging  every  expense 
against  them  except  feed  and  care;  we  had  to  the  credit  of  our  Merino  family  after 
paying  original  investment  $2,465.36,  in  a  run  of  fifteen  years  with  them. 

In  1873-'74  we  bought  217  thoroughbred  Southdown  ewes  from  E.  Meek,  Alameda 
County.  The  orignal  stock  was  imported  by  J.  D.  Patterson,  of  New  York,  costing 
us,  delivered  on  the  ranch  $1,565.  This  was  the  base  of  our  grade  flock;  we  crossed 
them  with  thoroughbred  Spanish  Merino  bucks.  By  having  those  two  and  pure  va- 
rieties we  were  enabled  to  make  crosses  with  but  two  types,  one  to  the  Merino  and 
the  other  to  the  Southdown.  I  append  a  table  of  the  results  of  our  crosses ;  we 
adopted  an  earmark  for  each  grade.  Before  shearing  we  separated  them  into  their 
respective  grades ;  each  grade  of  wool  was  weighed,  averaged,  and  placed  to  the 
credit  of  its  class.  Our  sheep  year  was  from  September  to  September.  We  adopted 
that  method  in  order  to  get  our  fall  lamb  clip  in  their  first  year's  average.  We  sent 
samples  of  our  grade  wool  to  Prof.  McMurtrie  in  1883 ;  he  reported  in  1885  as  follows : 

Lineal  incli  measurement. 

Fifteen-sixteenths  Merino,  one-sixteenth  Southdown 1, 292 

Seven-eighths  Merino,  one-eighth  Southdown 1,  316 

Three-fourths  Merino,  one-fourth  Southdown 17  320 

One-half  Merino,  one-half  Southdown 1,060 

Pure  Shropshire  buck 713 

Nine-sixteenths  Merino,  four-sixteenths  Shropshire,  three-sixteenths  South- 
down    1, 196 

Three-eighths  Merino,  four-eighths  Shropshire,  one-eighth  Southdown 1, 042 

Two-eighths  Merino,  four-eighths  Shropshire,  two-eighths  Southdown 1, 077 

From  the  above  report  our  fifteen-sixteenths,  seven-eighths,  and  three-fourths 
Merinos  were  finer  than  our  thoroughbred  Merinos.  Our  three-fourths  Merinos  were 
the  finest. 

By  referring  to  the  above  table  you  will  notice  that  the  first  cross  between  the 
Merino  and  Southdown  gave  us  an  average  gain  of  3.38  pounds.  The  second  cross, 
three-fourths  Merino,  one-fourth  Southdown,  gave  a  gain  of  3.36  pounds  over  thq 
first. 


958 


SHEEP  INDUSTRY  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES 


In  the  fall  of  1878  we  commenced  breeding  lighter-fleeced  Merino  bucks  with 
freer  wool,  less  yolk,  and  black  top.  The  seven-eighths  Merino  and  fifteen-six- 
teenths crosses  were  no  gain,  rather  a  loss  from  the  three-fourths,  but  better  wool. 
It  has  fully  demonstrated  the  fact.  The  first  two  crosses  gave  the  best  results,  and 
there  is  where  we  should  have  stopped;  after  passing  the  three-fourths  cross  they 
became  more  effeminate,  poorer  milkers  and  mothers,  lambs  more  weakly. 

In  1881  we  bought  a  thoroughbred  Shropshire  buck  from  J.  B.  Hoyt,  of  Solano 
County,  used  him  in  the  manner  the  table  indicates ;  his  blood  gave  us  larger  and 
more  vigorous  sheep.  Our  one-half  Merino,  one-half  Shropshire,  gave  us  larger  sheep 
than  Merino  and  Southdown  of  the  same  grade,  good  mothers  and  extra  milkers. 
In  my  judgment,  our  three-fourths  Merino,  one-fourth  Southdown,  and  the  one-half 
Merino,  one-half  Shropshire,  were  the  best  sheep  we  ever  bred.  My  preference  is  the 
one-half  Merino,  one-half  Shropshire,  as  the  best  all-round  sheep  we  ever  bred. 

Since  1888  Ave  have  been  breeding  a  coarser  and  larger  variety,  aiming  at  about 
three-eighths  Merino,  five-eighths  Shropshire.  Mutton  has  more  largely  entered  into 
consumption  in  our  food  centers  in  this  State,  ruling  higher  than  beef;  with  our 
depleted  flocks  it  will  continue  to.  So  it  now  behooves  the  sheep-grower  to  produce 
a  sheep  that  will  yield  a  large  carcass,  mature  early,  and  as  much  good  free  wool  as 
he  can  get  on  it. 

The  one-half  Merino,  one-half  Southdown  cross  gave  us  7.86  pounds.  The  same 
Merino  and  Shropshire  gave  us  five-eighths  of  a  pound  more,  though  the  style  of 
breeding  was  different.  The  first  was  Merino  buck  and  Southdown  ewe.  The  sec — 
ond,  Merino  ewe  and  Shropshire  buck.  It  is  an  undisputed  fact  among  intelligent 
stock-breeders  that  the  female  imparts  more  of  her  qualities  than  the  male,  hence 
the  difference  of  wool  yield. 

Table  shoiving  results  for  sixteen  years. 


1873. 

1873-'74. 

1874-'75. 

1875-76. 

1876-77. 

1877-78. 

1878-79 

1879-'80. 

Number  of  days  between 
shearing  a  

368 

367 

357 

366 

365 

366 

366 

16 

32 

245 

409 

519 

628 

C-M 

C')C 

Annual  average  pounds  per 
head  

3  50 

5  90 

4  60 

5  49 

6  19 

7  11 

8  67 

7  99 

Annual  average  price  in 
TJkiah  

30  00 

23  38 

1C  50 

23  63 

20  00 

21  50 

21  10 

v-,  75 

Average  of  Merino  buck's 
fleeces  bred  

16  38 

16  50 

17  50 

17  00 

19  25 

16  63 

15  00 

Number  of  wethers  shorn 
each  year  .  .  ... 

20 

76 

112 

168 

228 

Annual  average  of  South- 
downs  f:  . 

3.50 

5.90 

4.  60 

4  48 

4.49 

4  50 

One-half  Merino,  one  half 
Southdown  

7  86 

7  57 

7  g] 

7  go 

6  59 

Three-fourths  Merino,  one- 
fourth  Southdown 

11  2"? 

10  30 

8  78 

Seven-eighths  Merino,  one- 
eighth  Southdown  

11  06 

Fifteen-sixteenths  Merino, 
one  -  sixteenth  South- 
down  

Three-eighths  Merino,  one- 
half  Shropshire,  one- 
eighth  Southdown  

Nine  -  sixteenths  Merino, 
four-  sixteenths  Shrop- 
shire, three  -  sixteenths 
Southdown  

One-fourth  Merino,  one- 
half  Shropshire,  one- 
fourth  Southdown  

Three-fourths  Merino, 
three-sixteenths  Shrop- 
shire, one-sixteenth 
Southdown  

One-half  Merino,  one-half 
Shropshire  

Three-fourths  Merino,  one- 
fourth  Shropshire  

Annual  average  per  cent 
of  lambs  

GO 

01 

07 

Oil 

WEST   OF   THE   MISSISSIPPI   RIVER. 

Table  showing  results  for  sixteen  years— Continued. 


959 


1880-'81. 

1881-'82. 

1882-'83. 

1883-84. 

1884-'85. 

1885-'86. 

1886-'87. 

1887-'88. 

Number  of  days  between 
shearin  ^s  

378 

355 

375 

356 

358 

370 

364 

371 

Number  of  sheep 

551 

559 

584 

711 

696 

417 

513 

529 

Annual  average  pounds  per 
head 

8  74 

8  14 

8  92 

8  02 

6  70 

7  93 

7  93 

7.55 

Annual  average  price  in 
Tkiah 

26  50 

21  10 

19  82 

17  56 

15  50 

21  20 

20  00 

15.50 

Average  of  Merino  buck's 
fleeces  bred 

14  00 

13  00 

*14  12 

t!2  62 

+12  38 

||  13  50 

§11  50 

Till.  25 

Number  of  wethers  shorn 
each  vear 

115 

53 

10 

13 

15 

18 

16 

20 

Annual  average  of  South- 
downs 

One-half  Merino,  one-half 
Southdown 

6  31 

5.81 

6  75 

5  12 

Three-fonitlis  Merino,  one- 
fcmrth  Southdown 

9.12 

8.38 

8.88 

8  22 

6  62 

9  04 

Seven-eishths  Merino,  one- 
ei^hth  Southdown 

8.75 

9.26 

10.05 

Fifteen-sixteenths  Meriuo, 
one  -  sixteenth  South- 

10  70 

10  97 

Three-eighthsMerino,  one- 
fa  a  1  f  Shropshire,  one- 
eighth  Southdown 

9.14 

8  27 

5  75 

7  37 

6  17 

6.28 

Nine  -sixteenths  Merino, 
four-sixteenths  Shrop- 
shire, three-sixteenths 

9  44 

7  38 

8  29 

7  79 

7.19 

One-fourth  Merino,  one- 
half  Shropshire,  one- 
fourth  Southdown  . 

8.63 

6  01 

7  28 

5  90 

6.44 

Three-fourths  Merino, 
three-sixteenths  Shrop- 
shire, one-sixteenth 
Southdown 

8  31 

7  50 

8  44 

7.11 

One-half  Merino,  one-half 
Shropshire 

8  49 

9  13 

10  08 

7.98 

Three-fourths  Merino.one- 
fourth  Shropshire 

9  07 

9  48 

8.37 

Annual  average  per  cent 
of  lambs 

75 

55 

90 

80 

50 

83 

65 

43 

"Bred  7  grades,  1  Merino.  tBred  7  grades,  1  Merino.  JBred  5  grades,  2  Merino.  ||  Bred  5  grades, 
2  Merino.  §  Bred  6  grades,  2  Merino.  IT  Bred  6  grades,  2  Merino. 

Sheep  husbandry  has  been  largely  on  the  decline  in  our  county  the  last  few  years. 
Our  great  pests  are  coyotes  and  other  " varmints"  in  our  mountain  ranges,  and  use- 
less curs  in  our  valley  and  foothill  ranges.  I  am  in  favor  of  a  general  scalp  law  to 
eradicate  all  sheep  pests,  and  a  tax  on  dogs.  More  attention  must  be  given  by  flock- 
masters  to  their  sheep.  A  large  portion  of  our  mountain  ranges  are  adapted  to  noth- 
ing else  but  sheep-raising.  Our  grade  sheep  have  been  much  more  profitable  than 
our  Merinos  were.  The  Merino  bucks  bred  on  ranch  were  used  in  our  grade  crosses. 
No  charge  was  made  against  the  grade  flock  for  it.  If  we  should  have  bad  to  sup- 
ply them  from  outside  sources  it  would  have  lessened  their  profit  to  the  grades,  al- 
though we* sold  them  for  as  much  as  any  of  our  bucks  after  service;  in  fact,  they 
were  more  sought  after  by  outside  sheepmen,  as  they  were  the  cream  of  our  breeding. 

Our  grade  sheep  account  at  the  end  of  1891. 

Has  in  its  favor $20,874.50 

With  sheep  on  hand  worth 1, 800. 00 


Expense  fitting  ranch  for  sheep 


22, 674. 50 
800.00 

21,874.50 
Merino  account 2, 465. 36 

Total  profit '. 24,339.86 


960 


SHEEP  INDUSTKY  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES 


All  expense  charged  against  our  grade  sheep  except  feed  and  care.  Our  ranch  con- 
tains 880  acres,  about  350  acres  bottom  land  j  the  balance  rolling,  some  of  it  timbered. 

SAM.  S.  BAECHTEL. 

In  answer  to  later  inquiries  as  the  comparative  rate  of  increase  be- 
tween the  pure  Merino  and  the  cross-bred  Merino  and  Shropshire,  the 
following  table  shows  the  results  of  records  kept  thirteen  years  with 
the  Merinos  and  fourteen  years  with  the  grades.  It  shows  an  average 
^of  66J  per  cent  increase  from  the  Merinos  and  76^-  with  the  grades. 

As  sales  were  made  of  mutton  and  lambs  at  so  much  per  head,  a 
'test  of  comparative  growth  had  not  been  made,  but  Mr.  Baechtel  says: 
"There  evidently  is  considerable  increase  in  weight.  We  sell  our  mut- 
ton sheep  on  foot  for  50  cents  per  head  more  than  our  neighbors  get 
for  theirs,  and  our  lambs  for  25  cents  per  head  more  than  our  neigh- 
bors get."  The  method  of  management  is  thus  given:  "Our  way  is  to 
have  as  many  sheds  as  we  have  separate  fields ;  five  mangers  in  them, 
and  keep  hay  in  them  in  bad  weather.  Never  confine  our  sheep.  Our 
best  hay  is  of  native  grasses  of  the  country.  When  sheep  are  in  very 
low  condition  we  feed  grain.  Barley  the  best.  We  sell  our  wethers 
and  Down  ewes  from  the  flock  at  two  years  old  and  upwards.  Sold 
last  two  years  on  ranch  at  $3.25  per  head.  Our  lambs  were  sold  at 
$2.25  when  four  months  old." 


Year. 

Merinos. 

Year. 

Grade  ewes. 

Ewes 
bred. 

dumber 
of  lambs. 

Per  cent 
of  lambs. 

Ewes 
bred. 

Number 
of  lambs. 

Per  cent 
of  lambs. 

1873-74  

12 
15 
18 
20 
20 
30 
30 
32 
32 
40 
36 
10 
10 

6 
11 
13 
14 
7 
27 
10 
23 
26 
34 
30 
8 
7 

50 
73 
72 
70 
28 
90 
30 
72 
70 
80 
80 
80 
70 

1874  75        

315 
216 
227 
193 
250 
200 
252 
314 
340 
359 
436 
230 
300 
323 

189 
181 
220 
135 
224 
175 
189 
173 
306 
287 
218 
191 
205 
139 

60 
84 
97 
70 
90 
88 
75 
55 
90 
80 
50 
83 
68 
43 

1874-75 

1875-76 

1875  76     

1876  77 

1876-77  

1877-78  

1877  78 

1878-79 

1878-79  

1879-'80 

1879  '80 

1880  '81 

1880-'81  

1881  '82. 

1881-'82 

1882  '83 

1882-'83... 

1883  '84 

1883-'84 

1884-'85 

1884-'85  

1885  '86 

1885-'86 

1886-'87 

Average   in- 
crease for 
13  years.  . 

1887  '88 

66/3- 

Average    in- 
crease    for 
14  years  

7C?4 

It  will  be  observed  that  the  table  shows  the  fall  of  one  year -and  spring 
of  another.  Bred  in  the  fall;  lambs  the  following  spring. 

It  is  in  these  northern  coast  counties  that  the  climate  in  summer  and 
winter  enables  the  sheep  to  live  on  the  pasturage  throughout  the  year. 
And  provision  of  either  feed  or  shelter  are  the  exception  rather  than 
the  rule.  The  chief  exceptions  are  those  who  breed  the  best  stock.  Of 
such  visited  by  the  writer,  the  farm,  barns,  and  fencing  of  Mr,  H.  Meacham, 
of  Petaluma.  is  deemed  worthy  of  description.  The  estate  consists  of 
5,000  acres  of  fine  rolling  land;  the  soil  a  sandy  loam  originally  covered 
with  wild  oats,  but  now  covered  with  fine  short  pasturage.  In  each 


WEST   OF    THE   MISSISSIPPI   RIVER.  9G1 

pasture  is  a  long,  roomy  hay  barn,  so  constructed  by  recesses  into  the 
inside  of  the  bays  containing  the  hay  as  to  increase  the  feeding  room. 
The  sheep  are  allowed  access  to  the  hay  by  thrusting  their  heads 
through  racks  made  wide  enough  for  the  purpose.  The  shed  room  is 
sufficient  to  allow  all  the  sheep  in  that  particular  pasture  to  find  shelter 
in  inclement  weather.  They  are  left  ample  space  to  pass  out  or  in  under 
the  sills  of  the  building,  which  are  about  2  feet  from  the  ground  at  each 
end  and  along  one  side,  so  that  the  sheep  need  not  suffer  by  being 
crowded  too  closely  nor  by  piling  in  fright.  With  a  view  to  keeping 
out  dogs  and  coyotes  the  field  is  fenced  with  split  redwood  pickets  5 
feet  long,  1J  inches  thick,  and  3  to  4  inches  wide,  driven  into  the  ground 
at  the  lower  end  about  2  inches  apart,  spaced  the  same  distance  apart 
at  top  and  woven  into  strands  of  wire  by  the  machine  made  for  the 
purpose.  At  intervals  of  10  feet  a  post  is  set  securely,  standing  5  feet 
out  of  the  ground,  and  to  these  posts  the  wires  sustaining  the  pickets 
are  secured  by  staples.  A  barbed  wire  is  stretched  8  inches  above  the 
top  of  the  pickets  to  make  it  dog  proof,  and  another  is  stretched  2  feet 
from  the  ground  to  make  it  bull  proof.  Either  a  dog  or  coyote  getting 
into  the  field  has  an  experience  which  deters  future  attempts.  They 
are  generally  found  seeking  an  easy  way  to  get  out.  Two  greyhounds 
are  kept  for  the  purpose  of  finishing  them  when  necessary.  The  catch 
on  this  farm  during  the  year  1891  was  eighteen  dogs  and  ten  coyotes, 
and  eight  eagles  were  shot.  The  necessity  for  and  the  value  of  these 
arrangements  to  catch  and  kill  the  enemies  of  the  sheepfold  will  be 
understood  from  the  statement  that  the  estate  is  devoted  to  the  breed- 
ing of  Eed  Polled  cattle,  polled  Merino  and  Shropshire  sheep.  Fifty 
ewes  of  the  latter  breed  had  recently  been  added  to  the  flock  by  impor- 
tation at  a  cost  of  850  per  head,  when  the  writer  was  there,  in  January, 
1892.  The  importer  is  ready  at  all  times  to  give  $10  for  killing  a  coyote 
on  his  land. 

A  born  pioneer  (and,  like  J.  B.  Hoyt,  of  Suisun,  Jothan  Bixby,  of 
Eiverside,  and  Samuel  Baechtel,  a  believer  in  Shropshire- Merino  cross), 
Mr.  Meachem  is  leading  the  way  to  meet  the  pressing  demand  for 
mutton  and  more  lambs  as  indicated  by  the  quotations  in  the  market 
reports  of  their  principal  city,  San  Francisco.  At  this  date  (March  19, 
1892)  stall-fed  beef  (dressed  carcass)  is  quoted  at  7  cents  and  mutton 
at  10  and  11  cents  per  pound.  The  coast  counties  of  California,  north 
of  San  Francisco,  constitute  the  portion  of  the  State  best  fitted  by  na- 
ture for  the  successful  crossing  of  the  Merino  with  the  British  breeds. 
It  is  in  this  district  of  the  State  where  the  greatest  amount  of  such 
crossing  has  been  done  with  the  most  encouraging  results,  and  conse- 
quently where  the  call  for  sheep  of  the  Southdown  and  Shropshire 
breeds  is  most  pressing.  The  demand  for  them  is  seemingly  much 
greater  than  for  Leicester  s,  Cots  wolds,  or  any  of  the  long- wooled  breeds. 
All  over  northwestern  California  complaint  is  made  of  the  ravages  of 
the  coyote  (or  small  wolf),  the  wildcat  and  the  eagle  ranking  next.  The 
22990 61 


962        SHEEP  INDUSTRY  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES 

prowling  domestic  dog  is  also  a  nuisance  every  where,  but  most  so  where 
land  is  subdivided  among  small  holders.  The  increase  of  these  preda- 
tory animals  is  assisted  by  the  continual  extension  of  chaparral  and 
young  forest  growth  down  from  the  hills  and  mountains  into  the  val- 
leys. The  State  gives  a  bounty  of  $5  a  head  for  killing  the  coyote, 
which  is  increased  to  $25  by  local  associations  in  some  portions  of  this 
district.  Still  the  pest  seems  to  increase,  as  does  the  injury  it  inflicts 
upon  flock-owners  from  year  to  year,  until  within  this  entire  district 
(the  best  for  wool-growing  within  the  State)  50  per  cent  increase  on  the 
ewes  bred  is  the  highest  estimate  on  a  general  average,  and  in  some 
localities  it  is  much  less  than  that.* 

Many  of  the  wool  growers  in  this  portion  of  the  State  own  the 
mountain  or  hill  land  they  range  their  sheep  on,  and  in  some  cases 
they  use  fire  upon  their  own  lands  in  order  to  check  the  increase  of  the 
brushwood  growth  and  burn  out  the  predatory  animals.  But  this  is 
done  with  great  care  to  prevent  the  spread  of  the  fire.  It  is  in  the 
northern  portion  of  this  district  that  the  most  valuable  full  staple 
wools  of  California,  called  u  California  northern"  in  market  reports,  are 
produced,  and  the  summer  feed  in  their  production  is  largely  the  leaves 
and  young  shoots  of  aromatic  brushwoods  on  the  mountains,  which 
even  the  summer  ranging  of  the  sheep  does  not  prevent  from  slowly 
spreading  downward  to  lands  which  were  clear  of  timber  and  brush 
forty  years  ago.  This  land  was  then  kept  clear  by  the  frequent  run- 
ning of  fires  in  the  grass,  which  dried  into  hay  where  it  grew.  This 
was  once  an  important  agency  of  the  natives,  who  by  the  aid  of  circles 
of  fires  were  enabled  to  kill  large  game  at  close  range  with  the  bow 
and  arrow,  and  capture  immense  numbers  of  grasshoppers,  which  they 
used  for  food.  This  use  of  fire,  of  course,  stopped  whenever  and  wher- 
ever the  grazing  stock  of  the  white  man  ate  the  grass  while  it  was 
green.  The  same  causes  are  operative  all  along  the  foothills  of  the 
Sierras.  On  the  western  slopes  of  these  mountains,  from  thirty  to; 
forty  years  ago,  wherever  a  stream  debouched  to  the  plain,  mining  was 
carried  on;  the  timber  was  cut  off  for  use  from  a  varying  width  of  5 
to  10  miles.  Grazing  began  with  mining  and  has  continued  ever  since. 
Yet  in  that  period  a  jungle  of  brushwood  and  young  timber  has  grown 
up  where  large  timber  growth  then  stood,  and  is  now  a  dense  cover 
and  breeding  ground  for  the  coyote,  cougar,  and  wildcat,  into  which 
flock-owners  would  not  think  of  turning  sheep.  Roads  are  cut  through 
this  undergrowth  to  reach  the  timber  belt  above  for  fuel  and  lumber, 
and  through  these  the  flock-owners  pass  their  flocks  to  reach  the  sum- 
mer grazing  lands  of  the  Sierras  above  and  beyond  the  timber  belts  of 
the  range.  It  is  from  the  debris  of  lumbering  operations  there  carried 
on  that  the  fires  most  destructive  to  forests  have  in  recent  years  gen- 
erally emanated.  From  these  thickets  grown  on  the  timber  tracts  cut 

*The  State  treasurer  has  settled  with  the  counties  for  nine  months'  claim  under 
the  scalp  law  by  the  payment  of  $102,000, 


WEST    OF   THE   MISSISSIPPI   RIVER.  963 

off  by  the  miners  of  long  ago  the  coyote  issues  to  the  plains  below,  fol- 
lowing the  streams  which  are  still  fringed  by  belts  of  brushwood. 
From  them  he  issues  to  kill  sheep,  pigs,  chickens,  and  turkeys,  in  num- 
bers which  keep  him  at  the  head  of  the  predatory  destroyers  of  live 
stock. 

From  this  belt  of  old  placer  mining  operations  a  fringe  of  brush  and 
young  timber  growth  has  extended  in  some  cases  many  miles  down 
toward  the  plains  below,  in  spite  of  the  close  grazing  of  animals.  The 
proof  of  this  fact  can  be  seen  from  the  car  windows  on  the  Central 
Pacific  Railroad  between  the  towns  of  Auburn  and  Rocklin,  where  the 
railroad  company  had  the  young  pine  and  other  growth  cut  off  this 
year.  This  growth,  which  has  come  up  within  twenty-five  years,  adds 
greatly  to  the  cost  of  getting  the  land  into  condition  for  fruit  culture, 
now  the  engrossing  business  in  the  locality.  These  facts  prove  the 
absurdity  of  the  charge  that  sheep  devour  young  forest  growth.  This 
charge  is  regarded  by  all  of  my  correspondents  who  graze  sheep  in  the 
Sierras  as  false  and  absurd  as  the  charge  that  they  or  the  herders  burn 
the  ranges  they  feed  their  flocks  on/ 

The  outcry  that  has  been  kept  up  against  sheep  pasturing  on  the 
Sierra  Xevadas  was  first  raised  by  persons  interested  in  cattle  and 
horse  grazing,  who  always  and  everywhere  object  to  sharing  the  ad- 
vantages ot  grazing  the  public  domain  with  flock-owners.  Their  objec- 
tions are  based  on  the  fact  that  the  cattle  can  not  be  held  on  range 
closely  pastured  by  sheep  and  will  not  thrive  on  range  that  supports  sheep 
well.  One  of  the  most  cautious  men  I  have  met  in  California,  who  has 
made  a  fortune  with  sheep  and  never  takes  his  flocks  to  these  moun- 
tains (but  who  owns  2,000  acres  of  sugar-pine  land  upon  them  and  5,000 
acres  on  the  plains  below),  and  is  embarking  his  capital  in  a  large  en- 
terprise of  constructing  a  reservoir  in  one  of  those  mountain  valleys 
to  save  the  winter  flow  of  water  for  summer  irrigation,  tells  me  that  the 
"  outcry  against  sheep  ranging  on  these  mountains  is  the  result  of 
selfish  prejudice."  That  "  sheep  do  not  feed  in  the  timber  belt,  but 
above  it;"  that  "an  outbreak  of  fire  from  a  sheep  herder's  carelessness 
would  be  a  good  cause  for  his  dismissal"  by  the  flock-owner.  That 
in  fact  such  an  occurrence  is  very  rare,  and  that  Jthe  most  injurious 
fires  in  the  forests  originate  where  lumber-making  is  carried  on,  and 
from  careless  campers  on  hunting  or  fishing  excursions. 

John  Muir,  the  fearless  explorer  and  fine  descriptive  writer  of  the 
grand  and  beautiful  scenery  of  these  mountains  and  solitudes,  went 
into  the  Kings  River,  Yosemite,  this  season  of  1891,  to  see  what  de- 
struction had  taken  place  in  the  sixteen  years  since  he  first  saw  the 
valley.  The  sawmills  used  in  cutting  up  the  "big  trees"  into  lumber 
"had  doubled  in  number  and  more  than  doubled  in  capacity."  But, 
although  he  would  evidently  rather  see  a  bear  than  a  sheep  in  his 
solitary  travels,  he  only  notes  "  a  young  sapling  scarred  by  a  camper 
or  herder"  while  crediting  the  latter  as  a  class  with  "undoubtedly 


964        SHEEP  INDUSTRY  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES 

killing  a  great  number  of  bears  in  the  aggregate  during  the  year."  He 
thinks  it  is  "a  pity  that  such  good-natured  animals,  which  are  so  much 
a  part  of  these  shaggy  wilds,  should  be  exterminated."*  Against  this 
pity  for  bears  may  be  set  the  evidence  elicited  in  a  lawsuit  brought 
primarily  to  test  the  question  of  injury  done  by  sheep  grazing  in  the 
mountains.  The  suit  was  against  a  county  for  demanding  a  license  for 
sheep  passing  out  of  one  county  into  another,  for  purposes  of  summer 
grazing  on  mountain  lands  owned  by  the  flock-owners.  This  is  one  of 
thelaws  of  California,  inimical  to  sheep  industry,  which  is  to-day  helping 
to  raise  the  price  of  dressed  mutton  to  11  cents  per  pound,  where  once 
it  abounded  at  2J  to  3J  cents  per  pound. 

The  following  extract  from  a  letter  by  a  member  of  the  sheep-breeding 
and  wool-growing  firm  of  Kirkpatrick  &  Whitacre  supplies  informa- 
tion on  this  point  from  business  experience  and  personal  observation, 
which  is  supported  by  every  one  of  very  many  communications  re-? 
ceived : 

We  have  had  our  sheep  in  the  mountains  for  many  years,  and  our  Mr.  Whitacre 
has  been  with  them  every  summer  and  can  give  you  all  the  facts  from  personal  ob- 
servation. Some  two  years  ago  we  had  litigation  with  the  county  of  Tuolumne  on 
the  license  issue,  and  had  subpoenaed  about  a  dozen  of  the  most  prominent  sheep- 
men now  in  this  part  of  the  State.  The  county  had  all  the  cattlemen  there  that 
could  be  reached,  and  the  question  of  forest  fires  was  thoroughly  ventilated. 

It  was  shown  that  the  principal  range  for  sheep  was  above  the  timber  line,  that 
what  feed  there  was  in  the  timber  belt  that  sheep  would  eat  was  "deer  brush," 
"bull  brush,"  and  other  shrubs  that  never  grow  into  trees ;  that  they  did  not  eat 
the  young  pines;  and  that  it  would  kill  them  if  they  did.  Furthermore,  it  did 
great  damage  to  the  mountain  range  to  be  burnt  over  and  that  every  owner  of 
sheep  was  very  solicitous  in  urging  caution  on  his  herders  to  prevent  fires.  That 
they  were  caused  mostly  by  camping  tourists  and  Indians  who  set  fires  to  drive 
game  out  of  the  brush. 

Three  years  ago  we  had  on  the  forks  of  the  Stanislaus  one  of  the  greatest  fires 
ever  known  in  the  mountains.  It  was  burning  for  weeks.  The  next  summer  I  was 
all  over  our  range  on  the  middle  fork  of  the  Stanislaus,  and  did  not  see  one  tree  that 
had  been  killed  by  the  fire.  A  good  many  dead  trees  had  been  consumed  and  the 
underbrush  had  been  burned  out,  but  I  do  not  think  one  green  tree  had  been  injured. 
The  fire  destroyed  all  our  corrals,  cabins,  fences,  etc.,  doing  us  damage  to  the  extent 
of  hundreds  of  dollars,  besides  burning  the  range.  If  you  have  been  in  the  moun- 
tains that  are  timbered  you  will  know  that  the  ground  is  covered  with  the  fallen 
leaves  of  pine  and  fir  to  a  considerable  depth.  When  a  fire  runs  overthis  the  leaves 
of  course  burn,  and  every  green  thing  that  sheep  might  nibble  at  is  consumed.  The 
whole  surface  of  the  ground  seems  to  burn,  leaving  nothing  but  abed  of  ashes,  which 
produces  almost  nothing  for  years  afterward. 

Another  charge  is  made,  that  when  the  brush  is  destroyed  by  the  sheep  the  sun 
melts  the  snows  sooner  and  were  it  not  for  this  the  waters  would  be  held  back  later 
in  the  season  for  irrigating  purposes.  But  the  facts  are,  that  the  spring  floods  occur 
now  just  as  they  did  and  at  the  same  time  as  before  any  sheep  \\  ere  taken  to  the 
mountains.  The  timber  belt  with  the  underbrush  that  sheep  feed  on  is  so  low  down 
that  the  snows  are  melted  by  the  warm  sun  of  May  and  June,  and  the  streams  are 
fed  in  the  latter  months  by  the  snows  that  lie  in  altitudes  higher  than  the  timber 
belt.  Beyond  a  doubt  it  is  to  the  interest  of  sheepmen  going  to  the  mountains  to 

•See  Century  Magazine,  November,  1891,  p.  90. 


WEST    OF    THE    MISSISSIPPI   RIVER.  965 

prevent  fires,  and  every  mountain  man— unless  he  is  a  cattle  owner— will  tell  you 
th;it  they  do  no  damage  to  the  forests.  Indeed  the  forests  are  encroaching  on  the 
ranges  more  and  more,  instead  of  being  destroyed  by  the  vandal  sheepmen.  All  the 
old  settlers  of  Sonora,  Tuolumne  County,  say  that  when  they  came  to  the  country 
there  were  no  trees  about  the  town  of  Sonora.  Now  the  pines  grow  away  down  this 
Bide  of  that  town.  In  Humboldt  County  where  sheep  have  run  for  thirty  years  in  a 
timbered  country,  the  trees  are  growing  in  places  where  there  was  not  a  sign  of  a 
tret  when  the  white  men  first  went  in  there,  although  sheep  have  been  running  over 
the  ground  during  the  entire  period. 

My  personal  observations  along  the  foothills  of  the  Sierra  Nevada 
and  in  the  mountains  of  Oregon  accord  with  the  foregoing.  In  the 
Willamette  Valley,  in  western  Oregon,  there  is  more  timber  to-day 
which  has  grown  up  during  the  forty-five  years  since  fires  ceased  to 
run  in  the  grass,  as  it  did  formerly  when  dried  up  and  sometimes  into 
tin1  timber  lands,  than  there  was  when  the  white  man  and  his  grazing 
stock  first  arrived  there.  And  this  notwithstanding  the  lands  have 
bem  constantly  grazed  by  horses,  cattle,  and  sheep,  and  very  large 
sums  have  been  expended  in  chopping  off,  burning,  and  grubbing  up 
the  brushwood  and  young  forest  growth  to  preserve  the  pasturage  or 
clear  land  for  wheat-growing. 

The  foregoing  extracts  are  from  a  letter  of  one  whose  location  is  near 
the  center  of  the  great  plain  of  California.  The  following  is  from  one 
located  farther  north  on  the  east  side  of  the  Sacramento  Valley.  The 
same  averments  as  to  the  case  of  sheepmen  in  regard  to  setting  fires, 
and  its  effect  against  their  interest  when  set,  are  made  by  correspond- 
ents from  all  the  different  points  along  the  base  of  the  Sierra  Nevadas. 
Mr.  Mariner's  letter  contains  some  other  points  of  value.  The  same  is 
true  of  Mr.  Baechtel's,  which  describes  conditions  in  the  coast  counties 
of  southwestern  Oregon  as  well  as  northwestern  California,  where  the 
firebrand  sometimes  is  used,  followed  by  grass  seeds,  as  forerunners  of 
sheep  and  cattle. 

Mr.  Mariner's  letter  is  dated  Sheridan,  Cal.,  February  28,  1892,  and 
is  as  follows : 

Yours  of  the  9th  instant  received,  and  should  from  its  importance  to  the  sheep  in- 
dustry have  been  answered  sooner  but  for  lack  of  time.  In  reply  to  your  first  ques- 
tion as  to  the  income  and  outlay  on  my  dock  for  the  year,  they  are  about  as  follows : 

One  herder,  per  year $300 

Shearing,  sacking  wool,  and  board  of  shearers  (that  is  shearing  twice) 320 

One  extra  man  in  mountains,  wages  and  board  four  months 190 

Kent  of  range -. 150 

Extra  men  on  road  to  and  from  mountain  range 50 

Expenses  for  incidentals 20 

Total 1,030 

Receipts  from  sale  of  wool  and  mutton 4, 648 

Making  the  net  receipts  over  expenses  about  $2.25  per  head.  This  does  not  in- 
clude interest  on  lands  of  my  own,  as  that  has  increased  in  value  more  than  enough 
to  pay  a  good  interest  on  the  original  investment. 

Your  second  question,  as  to  excluding  grazing  stock  from  the  mountains,  is  one  of 
great  importance  to  the  live-stock  industry  of  the  Pacific  coast.  Whenever  sheep 


966        SHEEP  INDUSTRY  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES 

are  kept  out  of  the  mountain  ranges  the  industry  for  the  States  of  California,  Nevada, 
and  Oregon  is  irretrievably  ruined,  as  it  is  impossible  to  make  it  pay  if  sheep  are 
kept  in  the  hot  valleys  on  dry  feed  in  the  summer.  I  know  that  from  experience  in ^ 
California.  What  harm  sheep  do  the  forests  I  never  conld  see,  and  after  years  of 
experience  in  the  mountains  I  believe  that  they  are  a  benefit  instead  of  a  detriment. 
The  argument  that  the  sheepmen  burn  over  the  ranges  is  not  tenable,  as  nothing  is 
more  detrimental  to  their  ranges  than  to  have  a  fire  sweep  over  them.  I  will  venture 
the  assertion,  without  fear  of  successful  contradiction,  that  there  are  not  as  careful 
men  about  fire  in  the  mountains  during  the  summer  as  the  sheepmen.  Those  advocat- 
ing their  exclusion  are  ignorant  of  the  facts  in  the  case,  and,  I  am  sorry  to  say,  most 
of  the  war  waged  against  them  has  originated  in  my  State. 

In  moving  to  and  from  the  mountains  is  where  sheepmen  and  their  stock  suffer 
most.     We  thoroughly  doctor  our  sheep  about  the  1st  of  May,  and  then  do  our  best  ] 
to  get  sheep  and  dogs  in  condition  to  start  about  the  10th  or  loth.     In  taking  a  flock 
of  2,500  or  3,000  we  use  two  extra  men,  one  to  help  the  two  herders  drive  and  an- 
other to  drive  wagon  and  attend  to  camp.    We  always  take  a  wagon  as  far  as  pos-" 
sible  and  then  discard  it  and  use  pack  animals  the  rest  of  the  way.     The  trip  up  and 
down  is  a  hard  one  on  sheep,  and  there  is  but  little  feed  for  long  distances  in  the 
foothills.     In  furnishing  our  sheep  camps  we  have  supplies  hauled  by  wagon  as  far 
as  possible,  and  pack  from  that  into  camp.     As  to  keeping  different  bands  of  sheep  ; 
from  mixing,  that  is  the  herder's  business.     He  knows  his  bounds  and  aims  to  re- J 
spect  his  neighbor's  rights ;  but  in  case  some  of  his  sheep  should  escape  and  get  among  ! 
his  neighbor's,  they  are  corralled,  separated,  and  driven  to  his  own  flock.     Each  aims 
to  respect  the  other's  rights. 

Third.  The  no-fence  law,  where  the  land  is  used  for  grain  and  fruit  raising  as  well] 
as  grazing,  works  well,  and  I  believe  that  it  is  right;  if.  I  have  stock  I  should  bej 
compelled  to  take  care  of  them  and  keep  them  from  trespassing  on  my  neighbor,  i 
However,  in  the  mountains,  fencing  is  not  practicable,  as  the  snows  of  winter  will 
destroy  even  a  barbed  wire  fence.     So  the  only  resort  there  is  to  herd.     I  am  a  >. 
strong  advocate  of  the  State  bounty  law  for  the  destruction  of  enemies  to  sheep. 
The  scalp  law,   on   coyotes  alone,  is  now  costing  the  State  of  California  about 
$160,000  per  annum.     I  can  hardly  see  the  necessity  for  a  scab  law,  for  it  seems  to  ] 
me  that  any  man  who  saw  fit  to  put  his  capital  in  sheep  would  take  interest  enough 
in  the  development  of  that  capital  to  keep  the  scab  out  of  his  flock  if  possible.     It 
is,  however,  an  utter  impossibility  to  entirely  eradicate  it  in  the  warm  climate  of 
California.     It  is  not,  however,  as  troublesome  on  the  alkali  plains  of  Nevada.     A 
tax  on  dogs,  I  think,  should  be  laid  so  heavy  as  to  cause  the  extermination  of  all 
worthless  curs  in  the  State.     They  are  sometimes  more  destructive  than  wild  ani- 
mals.    My  neighbor  within  two  weeks  has  had  sixty  head  of  fine  breeding  ewes  de-  ? 
stroyed  by  two  dogs  that  no  one  will  claim.     Tax  dogs  by  all  means;  it  will  work  : 
no  hardship  on  the  general  public,  and  do  away  with  many  dogs  that  are  a  perpetual 
nuisance  to  our  neighbors. 

Fourth.  The  policy  of  withdrawing  the  mountainous  portions  of  the  several  West- 
ern States  from  sale  and  entry  would  be  one  of  the  best  things  that  could  be  done  if 
the  idea  of  forest  preservation  is  to  be  carried  out.     If  rented  to  stockmen  they 
would  have  an  interest  in  preserving  the  timber.     But  I  fear  the  time  has  passed  for 
that  in  California,  as  there  is  hardly  a  township  of  land  in  the  mountains  that  has 
not  one  or  two  locations  upon  it.     These  would  destroy  its  value  as  a  range  unless 
the  parties  could  be  bought  off.     Had  the  idea  been  acted  on  twenty  years  ago  it  I 
would  have  been  an  excellent  one;  and  in  certain  sections  ifc  would  still  be  practi-  j 
cable.     Referring  again  to  the  exclusion  of  sheep  from  the  mountain  ranges,  if  such  a 
thing  should  ever  be  done,  we  must  dispose  of  our  flocks  and  get  out  of  the  business, 
as  we  could  not  keep  them  in  the  hot,  dry  lowlands  during  the  summer  months  and 
produce  a  wool  that  would  be  of  any  use  for  manufacturing  purposes. 
Yours  truly, 

J.  S.  MARINER. 


WEST   OF   THE   MISSISSIPPI   RIVER.  967 

Mr.  Baeclitel's  letter  is  dated  Willits,  Mendocino  County,  Cal.,  Feb- 
ruary 17,  1892,  and  is  as  follows: 

Your  letter  of  February  8  was  duly  received.    My  answer  is  as  follows: 

First.  "Did  you  charge  anything  against  your  flock  or  sheep  for  the  use  of  land?" 
No,  we  did  not,  from  the  fact  that  we  did  not  know  how  to  get  at  it.  Mountain 
r.-mges  have  been  secured  by  parties  holding  them  at  a  cost  rating  from  $3.50  to  $5 
per  acre.  Sheepmen  estimate  that  it  requires,  on  an  average,  about  2  acres  to  main- 
tain a  sheep.  A  great  deal  of  the  land  is  unfit  for  anything;  but  in  entering  up  a 
block  of  that  land  the  bad  has  to  be  taken  with  the  good. 

That  class  of  land  has  not  appreciated  since  it  has  been  secured  by  sheepmen;  if 
anything,  it  has  gone  the  other  way.  You  can  to-day,  in  our  county,  buy  that  class 
of  range  laud  from  $2.50  to  $3.50  per  acre.  Sheepmen  owning  range  and  sheep  have 
been  leasing  them  from  $1  to  75  cents  per  sheep.  At  expiration  of  lease  the  lessor  is 
to  make  the  number  of  sheep  good.  Parties  owning  range  and  sheep  pay  the  tax  on 
them.  A  great  many  of  our  range  men  have  been  doing  little  more  than  holding 
their  old  stock  good  for  the  last  few  years,  owing  to  bad  seasons  and  increase  of 
coyotes  and  other  "varmints"  that  prey  upon  them.  Our  lands  in  the  valleys  and 
rolling  lands  in  the  foothills  have  appreciated.  Our  valley  lauds  are  appraised  at 
$30  per  acre;  rolling  laud  from  $7  to  $10.  Our  valley  land  is  estimated  to  maintain 
a  sheep  on  less  than  an  acre;  our  rolling  land,  a  sheep  to  1-J-  acres.  Our  wool  grown 
in  the  valleys  is  no  better  that  on  our  hill  ranges.  With  same  grade  of  sheep  our 
valley  increase  is  greater,  as  you  will  observe  by  the  table  I  sent  you,  consequently 
I  think  the  cost  of  maintaining  a  sheep  on  our  hill  ranges  should  apply  to  our  valley 
sheep  in  proportion  to  the  amount  of  land  used  per  sheep,  without  reference  to  its 
appreciated  value.  Appreciation  has  been  brought  about  by  home-seekers  in  our 
valleys.  During  the  period  embraced  in  my  former  letter  our  nearest  railroad  depot 
was  Cloyerdale,  Sonoma  County,  50  miles  distant.  We  could  not  haul  any  of  our 
farm  products  to  that  market,  therefore  we  turned  our  attention  to  the  cheapest  and 
most  profitable  manner  of  utilizing  our  lands. 

Second.  "A  class  who  blame  sheep  and  sheep-herders  for  all  forest  destruction,  by 
fires,  etc.,  wish  to  establish  a  law  to  prevent  grazing  on  them."  Sheep  and  sheep- 
men are  considered  on  uniuclosed  ranges  the  vagabonds  of  the  earth  by  a  large  class 
of  our  people,  and  are  driven  from  pillar  to  post.  It  is  an  occupation  that  is  just  as 
honorable  as  any  other  pursuit  in  life.  A  great  many  things  are  charged  to  sheep- 
men that  they  are  entirely  innocent  of.  Hunters  camping  around  through  the  moun  • 
tains  are  the  ones  that  do  the  most  of  the  indiscriminate  burning.  What  interest  is 
it  to  a  sheepman  to  burn  up  all  his  range?  Sheepmen  on  our  mountain  ranges  some- 
times burn  out  a  portion  of  their  range*  where  it  is  so  thick  with  underbrush  that 
nothing  can  well  get  through  it.  They  are  careful  not  to  let  the  fire  get  out  from  it 
on  any  other  portion  of  their  range.  It  prevents  "varmints"  from  harboring  in 
them.  The  following  year  the  young  shoots  that  spring  up  from  the  roots  are  choice 
morsels.  Those  burnt  districts  are  more  frequented  than  any  other  portion  of  the 
range;  they  afford  green  food  where  other  portions  of  the  range  are  dry  under- 
growth, the  bane  of  all  mountain  ranges.  Although  sheep  will  eat  more  different 
kinds  of  grasses  and  herbs  than  any  other  domestic  animals,  they  leave  many  un- 
touched, which  the  fire  scavenger  must  cleanse.  I  am  of  the  opinion  that  burning 
a  portion  of  sheep  ranges  is  no  disadvantage  to  them  if  conducted  with  judgment, 
and  no  law  should  be  enacted  to  hamper  a  man  in  the  pursuit  of 'cleansing  his  own 
property. 

Our  rainfall  for  the  last  ten  years  has  been  a  little  above  47  inches  in  that  time. 
We  have  had  many  indiscriminate  fires,  coming  principally  from  the  west.  About 

*It  must  be  understood  that  this  practice  is  pursued,  if  at  all,  in  a  climate  and 
under  conditions  very  dift'eient  from  those  existing  in  the  Sierra  Nevada  range,  east 
of  the  plains  of  central  and  southern  California. 


968        SHEEP  INDUSTRY  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES 

6  miles  west  of  the  valley  is  the  top  of  the  watershed  of  this  valley,  dividing  coast 
waters  from  Eel  River  waters.  It  is  the  eastern  belt  of  redwoods,  about  20  miles 
wide.  Lumbermen  get  logs  and  railroad  ties  for  the  coast,  then  start  fires  to  burn 
up  the  refuse  bark,  broken  timber,  and  underbrush.  They  pay  no  attentian  to  it; 
let  it  run  eastward,  burning  all  the  latter  part  of  the  summer,  destroying  much  val- 
uable timber.  Such  fires  are  more  destructive  than  any  in  our  high  mountain  ranges 
ever  could  be.  And  there  has  been  no  perceptible  want  of  moisture  in  our  locality 
for  the  last  ten  years.  All  portions  of  California  occupied  by  Indians  before  white 
settlers  came  among  them  were  denuded  every  year  by  fire.  No  perceptible  evil 
sprang  from  it. 

Respectfully  yours, 

SAM  S.  BAECIITEL. 

As  we  proceed  sou tli ward  from  Sacramento  City  the  mountain-range 
question  becomes  more  important  to  the  sheep  and  wool  industry,  for 
the  reason  given  by  Mr.  Mariner.  The  heat  and  drought  and  dust  of 
the  plains  in  summer  are  not  the  only  obstacles  to  sheep  husbandry, 
for  the  culture  of  wheat,  barley,  and  fruit  occupies  the  plains  wherever 
it  is  possible  to  irrigate  with  present  means  or  crops  can  be  secured 
without  irrigation.  As  the  law  does  not  require  the  fencing  of  lands 
cultivated,  sheep  are  generally  removed  from  the  plains  while  crops  are 
growing,  and  kept  off  them  until  the  grain  and  grape  harvests  are 
gathered;  then  they  are  brought  from  the  mountains  to  glean  the  fields 
and  vineyards.  This  proposition,  then,  to  withdraw  these  mountain 
ranges  from  use  as  pasture  lands,  under  the  name  of  national  parks, 
simply  means  almost  total  destruction  to  the  sheep  industry  of  Cali- 
fornia and  great  injury  to  the  cattle-raising  interest.  In  1891  a  troop 
of  United  States  cavalry  devoted  their  summer  outing  to  harrassing 
sheep-herders  and  driving  cattlemen  off  the  forty-two  townships 
declared  to  be  a  national  park,  surrounding  the  Yosemite  and  given  to 
the  State  of  California.  This  action  has  prompted  a  recent  associated 
movement  to  protest  against  its  repetition  and  against  additional  with- 
drawals as  destructive  to  important  industrial  interests  and  without 
reasonable  justification.  To  these  ends  a  public  meeting  was  held  at 
Fresno  on  March  22,  which  was  participated  in  by  men  who  in  times 
past,  as  cattle  and  sheep  owners,  had  practical  knowledge  of  the  sub- 
ject, and  many  of  them  now  have  their  interests  in  plain  lands.  Joseph 
D.  Collins,  who  presided  as  chairman,  is  so  situated.  In  calling  the 
meeting  to  order  he  reviewed  the  situation  at  length,  and  stated  facts 
bearing  on  the  question  which  ought  to  secure  conservative  action  in 
dealing  with  such  a  vital  interest.  He  said : 

At  the  outset  I  desire  to  inform  my  hearers  that  my  material  interests  do  not  con- 
sist of  stock,  but  of  1,400  acres  of  level  land  in  this  valley  that  is  assessed  at  fully 
$40,000.  Consequently,  as  I  have  only  about  $3,000  worth  of  sheep,  if  I  believed  for 
one  moment  that  the  sheep  industry  was  antagonistic  to  the  fullest  development  of 
our  system  of  irrigation  I  would  most  assuredly  get  rid  of  my  little  band  of  them. 
But  the  sheepmen  are  not  interfering  with  a  single  industry  in  Fresno  County ;  are  not 
diminishing  our  water  supply  or  destroying  the  timber.  In  the  first  place,  the  persons 
who  got  up  this  scare  about  the  sheep  land  had  no  practical  information  on  the  subject. 
If  they  had  been  well  informed  they  would  have  known  that  trees,  grass,  and  shrub- 
bery do  not  prevent  snow  from  melting,  but  have  a  contrary  effect. 


WEST   OF   THE   MISSISSIPPI   RIVER.  969 

He  concluded  his  remarks  by  saying: 

One  reason  why  I  am  opposed  to  this  scheme  is  that  if  carried  out  it  will  drive  one 
of  the  most  important  industries  out  of  Fresno  County.  The  sheep,  cattle,  and 
stock  industry  brings  nearly  $1,000,000  into  our  county  every  year,  and  no  man 
can  foretell  the  disastrous  effects  of  its  eradication. 

He  was  followed  in  much  the  same  strain  by  seven  other  speakers, 
sheep  and  cattle  owners  of  past  years,  now  largely  owners  of  plain 
lauds,  and  interested  in  irrigation.  The  point  of  Mr.  Collins'  objection  is 
emphasized  by  the  fact  that  while  Fresno  County  in  1880  was  reported 
as  containing  750,000  sheep,  the  assessment  rolls  of  1891  give  only 
37S.621  of  all  kinds  and  ages.  Even  with  the  diminished  number  it  is 
still  the  richest  county  in  sheep  on  the  Pacific  coast.  And  whereas 
the  laborer  of  Fresno  in  1880  could  eat  mutton  at  2J  to  5  cents  per 
pound,  that  kind  of  meat  retailed  at  Fresno  in  November,  1891,  at  15 
cents  per  pound.  From  this  it  can  be  seen  that  the  virtual  destruction 
of  the  sheep  interests  of  Fresno,  by  keeping  up  what  all  men  having 
practical  knowledge  on  the  subject  declare  to  be  a  causeless  scare  and 
unfounded  prejudice,  inflicts  an  injury  to  that  county  and  to  the  entire 
State.  If  the  delusion  spreads  it  will  soon  be  transmitted  to  other 
States  having  high  mountain  ranges  and  lauds  requiring  irrigation. 

In  so  far  as  a  wise  forecast  would  preserve  timber  growth  for  future 
use,  no  public- spirited  citizen  will  object  to  a  settled  Government 
policy.  Such  a  policy  ought  to  be  adopted  in  California  with  the  least 
possible  delay.  The  rapid  filling  up  of  the  plains  with  inhabitants  and 
subdivision  of  them  into  smaller  ownerships  wherever  irrigation  water 
can  be  obtained  points  unerringly  to  the  safety  and  permanency  of  in- 
vestments in  means  to  supply  water  and  the  certain  enhancement  in 
value  of  accessible  timber  land.  Capital  accumulated  by  past  success 
in  sheep  husbandry  is  already  being  invested  in  irrigating  ditches,  reser- 
voirs to  retain  the  winter  flow  of  water  for  summer  use,  in  mills  to  saw 
up  the  mountain  pine,  and  flumes  in  which  to  float  the  lumber  to  the 
towns  and  cities  of  the  plains  and  to  conduct  the  water  for  irrigation 
purposes.  Capital  is  combining  for  these  purposes,  and  is  also  pur- 
chasing timber  lands  on  these  mountains,  and  if  Government  is  to  act 
in  the  matter  for  the  sake  of  coming  generations  no  time  should  be  lost. 
But  if  the  statements  unanimously  made. to  me  by  correspondents  who 
claim  personal  knowledge  as  to  the  influence  of  sheep-grazing  in  these 
mountain  ranges  be  true  (and  my  own  observation  and  experience  sup- 
port them),  then  keeping  sheep  off  increases  the  danger  of  forest  fires. 

The  necessity  of  the  grazing  lands  of  the  Sierra  Nevada  to  the  animal 
industry  of  California  is  such  at  present  that  the  action  of  Capt. 
AYood's  troop  in  driving  sheep  and  cattle  from  the  district  which  has 
supported  "about  90,000  sheep  and  2,000  cattle  through  twenty-seven 
summer  seasons  prior  to  1891,"  will  in  all  probability  result  in  the  de- 
struction of  double  the  number  of  sheep  and  cattle  during  1892.  Men 
will  retire  from  that  line  of  labor  rather  than  contend  with  such  an 


970        SHEEP  INDUSTRY  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES 

agency  acting  under  orders  from  the  Secretary  of  the  Interior.     They 
will  fatten  and  sell  their  stock  rather  than  maintain  a  contention  of  , 
that  kind,  and  their  retirement  will  give  opportunity  to  a  class  of  land 
speculators  already  too  numerous  and  too  busy  for  the  best  interests 
of  the  animal  industries  of  the  State.    The  industry  of  this  class  of  I 
men  in  seeking  for  investments  on  the  western  slopes  of  the  Sierras 
facing  the  great  plains  is  shown  by  the  following  letter  to  the  Ameri- 1 
can  Sheep-Breeder : 

The  wool-growers  in  this  section  have  been  organized  in  a  secret  society  for  about 
one  year  nnder  the  name  of  the  California  and  Nevada  Wool-growers'  Association,  | 
its  object  being  mutual  protection  and  the  education  necessary  to  their  interests  and 
success. 

Much  labor  has  been  done  to  protect  their  interest  in  the  right  to  the  use  of  the 
large  body  of  public  lands  in  this  country,  which  through  fraudulent  schemes  are 
being  transferred  to  the  State  as  lien  lands  for  the  sixteenth  and  thirty-sixth  sec- 
tions— transferred  to  the  State  for  school  purposes. 

The  officers  of  the  General  Government  have  been  notified  through  this  organiza-  '! 
tion  by  a  petition  to  withhold  their  approval  of  these  selections,  which  are  being 
made  by  a  ring  of  land  speculators  in  such  a  manner  as  to  deprive  any  person  who  .] 
desires  to  become  a  settler  from  doing  so,  by  locating  all  springs  and  water  courses, 
thereby  controlling  thousands  of  acres  surrounding  these  locations. 

Generally  these  selections  are  made  by  the  Itind  grabbers  who  never  pay  for  the 
lands  thus  obtained,  the  State  only  requiring  a  payment  of  20  per  cent  or  25  cents  ; 
per  acre  thereon,  the  balance  standing  indefinitely  at  7  per  cent  interest. 

The  individual  could  do  nothing  to  oppose  this  great  land-grabbing  scheme,  there- 
fore this  organization  was  formed  for  this  and  for  such  other  purposes  as  would  best 
conduce  to  the  interests  of  the  wool-grower. 

This  organization  will  be  pleased  to  correspond  with  any  other  similar  one  for 
mutual  benefit,  or  with  any  persons  desirous  of  organizing  one. 

D.  HAYS, 
Secretary  California  and  Nevada  Wool-growers'  Association. 

It  is  doubtless  for  grazing  purposes  that  those  lands  on  the  eastern  j 
slopes  are  sought.  On  the  western  slopes  the  timber  tracts  most  con- 
venient of  access  chiefly  invite  capital.  The  means  which  have  been 
used  and  will  be  used  to  attain  legal  ownership  of  all  land  of  that  kind 
prospectively  valuable  are  hardly  worth  an  allusion.  There  is  every 
reason  to  believe  that  perjury  is  one  of  the  professions  of  a  certain  class 
of  squatters  on  these  mountain  lands,  and  it  is  the  statements  of  such 
men,  given  to  newspaper  correspondents  who  are  venturesome  enough 
to  penetrate  the  elevated  ranges  in  the  company  of  United  States 
troops,  that  are  set  before  the  public  in  opposition  to  the  statements  of 
the  oldest  and  most  respected  industrial  pioneers  of  the  State  to  prove 
that  sheep-owners  (whose  every  interest  is  opposed  to  firing  the  ranges 
on  these  mountains)  are  the  "  Huns  of  California,"  who  ought  to  be 
driven  from  the  land  and  kept  from  it  by  a  permanent  patrol  of  dragoons. 
Such  recommendation  was  made  by  Allen  Kelly,  who,  claiming  to  be 
acting  for  the  California  State  Forestry  Commission,  published  his  find- 
ings arid  recommendations  in  the  San  Francisco  Examiner  of  January 
19, 1892.  On  the  other  side  are  submitted  letters  of  men  who  have 


WEST   OF    THE    MISSISSIPPI    RIVER. 


971 


thus  far  pursued  successfully  this  important  industry  in  opposition  to 
prejudice,  perjury,  and  lawlessness.  Mr.  George  Champlin,  of  Red 
Bluff,  Tehama  County,  Cal.,  writes  as  follows: 

I  keep  18,000  grade  Spanish  Merinos,  giving  an  average  of  9  pounds  of  wool  each 
at  two  shearings,  selling  at  an  average  of  15  cents  per  pound.  Get  75  per  cent  in- 
crease on  the  ewes,  bred  at  a  cost  of  about  $1  for  all  charges  except  for  use  of  land. 
My  sheep  are  kept  from  early  fall  to  some  time  in  January  on  some  30,000  acres  of 
grain  stubble  and  4,000  acres  of  vineyard,  eating  the  leaves  and  cleaning  the  vine- 
yard and  killing  and  destroying  all  insects  and  disease,  saving  a  large  expense  of 
plowing  and.  cleaning  up.  They  are  turned  loose,  with  two  or  three  men  to  look 
after  them.  I  dip  with  lime  and  sulphur,  costing  half  a  cent  a  head,  and  pay  5  cents 
per  head  for  fall  shearing,  and  6  cents  in  spring.  Land  values  too  complicated. 

I  would  like  to  say  a  few  words  in  regard  to  the  prejudice  against  sheep  and  about 
th<-  hue  and  cry  that  a  band  of  sheep  traveling  over  a  country  are  as  bad  as  a  fire. 
The  law  unfortunately  is  against  sheep;  while  sheep  have  to  be  kept  on  laud  bought 
or  Government  land,  cattle  and  horses  are  permitted  to  run  at  large.  I  drive  my 
sheep  over  100  miles  to  the  mountains,  and  I  take  all  the  pains  possible  to  keep  my 
men  from  firing  the  country,  for  when  a  fire  does  get  out,  particularly  in  the  fall 
when  the  leaves  are  dead  and  dry,  it  destroys  quantities  of  feed,  burning  up  the 
browsing  which  is  our  richest  feed.  If  there  are  no  fires  lighted  and  the  sheep  are 
fed  over  a  country,  they  prevent  fires  from  running  by  eating  up  the  leaves  and  the 
vegetation  that  would  burn.  There  is  a  very  strong  prejudice  against  sheep,  some 
wanting  large  damage  if  sheep  are  even  permitted  to  look  at  land,  but  by  fair  treat- 
ment we  are  wearing  that  off,  and  hope  to  see  the  time  when  this  will  be  gone. 
Respectfully  yours, 

GEORGE  CHAMPLIN. 

The  following  letter  from  Mr.  G.  C.  McCoy  will  be  found  of  much 
interest: 

I  usually  winter  about  3,000  sheep.  They  shear  about  3  pounds  in  the  fall  and 
4  pounds  in  the  spring.  I  mark  about  65  per  cent  of  lambs  of  the  ewes  bred.  It 
costs  me  about  $1  a  head  to  run  my  sheep,  exclusive  of  the  interest  on  the  land  in- 
vestment. I  run  a  sheep  ranch  for  wool  and  mutton.  You  ask  what  are  the  dis- 
advantages. None  but  prejudice  of  people  who  know  nothing  about  the  business, 
and  in  some  cases  it  is  jealousy.  I  herd  the  year  around;  pay  $25  a  month  and  fur- 
nish the  camp.  Cost  of  the  shearing,  5  cents  per  head  in  the  spring  and  6  cents 
in  the  fall.  It  costs  me  about  1  cent  a  head  to  dip,  which  I  do  spring  and  fall. 
My  ranch  is  worth  $20,000.  The  prices  I  sold  wool  for  are  as  follows: 


Fall  clip. 

Cents. 

Spring  clip. 

Cents. 

October  11  1878       

13 

May  6,1879  

20 

14  1879 

20 

25  1880 

30 

1  1880                ... 

16 

25  1881  

22 

16  1881 

15 

10  1882 

264 

15  1882      .. 

12% 

29,1883     

2U 

16  1883 

11* 

23  1884 

17i 

10  1884 

9 

4  1885        

17i 

2  1885 

161 

1886 

ist 

17  1886 

4^ 

7,1887  '        

20 

20,  1887  

sf 

15,  1888  -.  .  . 

124 

10  1888 

12! 

15  1889     

19 

16  1889 

-MX 

15  1890 

21 

4,1890 

13i 

12,1891  

20 

8,1891  

11 

Those  are  my  sales  in  Red  Bluff  for  cash  on  delivery.     I  shear  in  the  spring  here 
on  the  ranch,  10  miles  from  town,  drive  them  100  miles  and  summer  on  the  summit  of 


972        SHEEP  INDUSTRY  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES 

the  Sierra  Nevada  mountains,  where  the  snow  falls  some  winters  10  or  12  feet  deep 
and  mashes  my  fencing  to  the  ground. 

I  wish  to  say  a  few  words  about  the  wool  interest.  The  objections  to  the  business 
arise  mostly  from  the  cattlemen  and  horsemen  who  oppose  our  buying  up  the  land, 
for  while  it  belonged  to  the  Government  and  the  railroad  company  they  used  it,  paid 
no  tax  on  it,  and  in  the  mountains  they  run  their  stock  on  our  deeded  land  the  same 
as  we  do.  As  for  sheep  being  hard  on  feed,  my  ranges  are  as  good  now  as  they  were 
eighteen  years  ago  when  I  first  saw  them,  and  in  the  valley  it  is  better.  Some  say 
we  burn  the  ranges.  This  is  a  mistake,  as  the  brush  is  our  best  feed,  and  if  we  burn 
it  some  of  the  best  never  comes  again.  I  tell  my  men  never  to  start  a  fire  where  it 
can  spread,  and  if  they  see  a  fire  on  the  range  go  at  once  and  put  it  out.  The  worst 
of  the  fires  start  from  hunters  who  are  short  of  bedding  and  make  a  fire  by  a  big  log 
in  order  to  keep  warm,  then  go  off  in  the  morning,  and  it  will  spread.  Sometimes 
they  set  fire  to  brush  to  run  out  a  bear  or  other  game. 
Yours,  etc., 

G.  C.  McCOY. 

Sucli  letters  can  be  multiplied  by  the  hundred,  from  men  scattered 
along  the  Sierras  from  Mount  Shasta  to  San  Bernardino,  who  have  in 
years  past  and  up  to  this  date  contributed  vastly  to  the  wealth  of  the 
nation.  Their  rich  products  were  gathered  from  the  plains  and  moun- 
tains of  California,  leaving  the  land  richer  for  future  use.  They  are 
therefore  certainly  more  deserving  of  credence  than  the  squatter  who 
is  holding  a  claim  to  sell  at  the  first  opportunity,  or  he  who  locates 
upon  the  range,  indifferent  as  to  whether  it  is  private  property  or  pub- 
lic domain. 

From  Fresno  southward  a  large  proportion  of  the  sheep  and  wool 
industry  is  in  the  hands  of  a  foreign  element  called  Basques.  As  a 
class  they  are  described  by  their  intelligent  countrymen  as  "  very  igno- 
rant about  anything  except  their  special  calling,  few  of  them  being 
able  to  read  or  write  in  their  own  language,  and,  in  connection  with 
their  business,  suspicious,  secretive,  and  determined  to  avoid  giving 
out  any  information,  which  they  would  assume,  in  spite  of  anything 
which  might  be  said,  was  intended  to  be  used  against  them  for  pur- 
poses of  taxation."  From  an  agent  of  the  great  stock-raising  and 
slaughtering  firm  of  Miller  &  Lux  I  received  the  following  outline  of 
their  methods :  They  usually  begin  by  associating  in  quartets,  working 
for  wages.  When  by  industry  and  extreme  frugality  the  four  have 
accumulated  a  sufficient  sum  to  purchase  250  ewes  the  investment  is 
made  and  the  sheep  are  taken  in  charge  by  two  of  the  four,  the  others 
continuing  to  work  for  wages,  all  working  and  saving  to  increase  the 
flock.  A  few  years  generally  bring  the  combined  interest  up  to  a  point 
admitting  of  subdivision;  sometimes  this  is  into  halves,  and  sometimes 
each  of  the  four  begins  as  an  independent  proprietor.  The  owner  con- 
tinues with  his  flock  and  hires  an  assistant  when  needed,  generally  at 
$20  per  month,  where  American  s  pay  $30  per  month.  They  hire  pastur- 
age only  when  they  must,  and  are  very  close  dealers  when  they  do. 
They  are  exceedingly  adroit  at  getting  every  bit  of  free  pasturage,  and 
do  not,  according  to  my  informant,  always  confine  themselves  to  what 
is  free  to  all. 


WEST    OF    THE    MISSISSIPPI   RIVEE.  973 

There  is  no  fence  law  in  California,  the  law  requiring  owners  of  live 
stock  to  take  care  of  it.  This  leaves  many  a  fine  homestead  exposed 
to  night  marauders  in  search  of  grass,  and  it  has  occurred  that  such  a 
homestead  has  been  invaded  and  grazed  bare  while  the  owner  slept,  and 
when  the  next  day,  exasperated  and  armed,  he  tracked  the  marauding 
flock  8  or  10  miles  from" the  scene  of  the  mischief,  he  found  the  party 
in  charge  of  the  flock  pretending  to  be  utterly  ignorant  of  the  cause  of 
complaint — as  my  informant  said,  "regular  know-nothings."  One  case 
is  reported  as  resulting  fatally  to  the  transgressor  the  past  summer. 
The  American  claimed  that  the  Basque  was  repeatedly  told  he  was 
herding  on  private  property  and  warned  off.  The  offense  was  repeated 
and  the  herder  was  shot.  In  another  case  it  was  reported  that  the 
Basque  attempted  to  play  the  bully  and  was  killed  as  a  consequence. 
It  is  but  fair  to  state  that  a  very  intelligent  countryman  of  these  men 
(who  has  acted  as  their  agent  in  marketing  over  1,000,000  pounds  uf 
wool  and  in  the  purchase  of  over  3,000  improved  ranis  for  them 
during  the  past  season)  holds  that  these  killings  were  simply  delib- 
erate murder.  Be  that  as  it  may,  this  foreign  element  has  at  the 
present  time  got  the  outranges  of  southern  California  so  filled  with 
sheep  that  should  a  dry  winter  season  occur  there  will  be  great  loss. 
Though  they  might  be  willing  to  buy  feed — which  they  will  not  do  so 
long  as  it  is  possible  to  avoid  it — the  feed  is  not  there  to  sell.  They, 
like  the  Americans  who  have  more  sheep  than  their  lands  will  carry, 
have  to  depend  largely  on  hiring  stubbles  for  fall  and  winter  pastures 
and  on  grazing  the  mountain  ranges  in  the  summer.  On  the  one  hand, 
the  rapid  extension  of  fruit  farming  is  lessening  the  wheat  lands;  on 
the  other,  a  Government  policy  of  employing  soldiers  during  the  sum- 
mer months  to  prevent  the  grazing  of  the  national  reserves  in  the  sup- 
posed interest  of  forest  preservation  will  have  a  very  injurious  effect 
on  the  business  of  this  class  of  men.  Few  of  these  attempt  to  become 
citizens,  and  when  they  do,  it  is  generally  with  a  view  to  acquiring 
range  rights  by  taking  up  homesteads,  which  they  sell  with  their  flock 
when  they  conclude  to  realize  and  go  back  to  their  own  country. 

As  a  class,  they  occupy  the  same  relation  to  English-speaking  men 
engaged  in  sheep-raising  that  Chinese  laborers  held  to  white  laborers 
on  this  coast  before  they  were  excluded  by  law.  These  people  keep 
good  sheep,  preferring  a  cross  between  the  French  and  Spanish  Merino, 
a  majority  of  their  American  neighbors  doing  the  same.  They  also 
keep  them  more  clean  and  free  from  scab  than  Americans,  and  yet  do 
not  dip  as  the  latter  do  twice  a  year.  Their  method  is  by  what  is  here 
called  "patching;"7  that  is,  local  applications,  when  a  sheep  shows  any 
sign  of  the  disease.  Their  value  as  customers  for  pasture  lands  is 
recognized  by  the  land  agents  of  the  Southern  Pacific  Kailroad  Com- 
pany, who  advertise  their  leasings,  dates,  and  places  in  French,  Por- 
tuguese, and  English. 


974        SHEEP  INDUSTRY  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES 

•  •- 

But  although  the  American  sheep-owner  in  this  extensive  district, 
so  largely  overrun  by  these  active,  economical,  and  expert  rivals  for 
public  range,  may  almost  be  said  to  have  abandoned  the  pursuit,  there 
are  still  a  few  who  maintain  themselves.  Some  of  the  Americans  have 
stocked  with  sheep  five  islands  lying  off  the  coast  of  Santa  Barbara, 
and  are  assessed  in  that  county.  The  largest  of  these  is  owned  by  an 
individual  named  Moore,  of  whom  it  may  be  said  he  is  probably  the 
sheep  king  of  California.  Although  receiving  no  information  from  him, 

1  have  reason  to  believe  he  had  48,000  sheep  shorn  last  spring,  and  as 
30,000  lambs  would  be  in  ratio  with  the  increase  of  flocks  on  the  neigh- 
boring island  of  Santa  Cruz,  this  would  bring  the  number  of  all  ages 
to  78,000  at  last  spring's  shearing.    The  estimate  given  by  old  resident 
flock-owners  on  the  mainland  is  that  Mr.  Moore  has  about  75,000  on 
the  island  of  Santa  Eosa.     The  Santa  Cruz  Company  have  30,000,  giv- 
ing an  increase  of  20,000.     The  sheep  are  not  herded,  but  allowed  to 
feed  at  will,  seeking  the  natural  shelter  of  the  oak  and  pine  trees. 
The  shearing  takes  place  in  April  and  October  of  each  year.    The 
spring  clip  of  4£  pounds  average  sells  at  17  cents,  and  the  fall  clip  of  4 
pounds  at  13  cents  per  pound.     The  sheep  are  Spanish  Merino.    Hay 
and  alfalfa  are  raised  to  feed  in  case  of  scanty  pasturage.     Few  are 
sold  as  lambs,  but  when  so  sold  the  price  ranges  from  $1.40  to  $1.GO 
per  head.    The  greater  part  of  the  sheep  are  sold  at  the  age  of  three 
years,  the  prices  ranging  from  $2.50  to  $2.75  per  head,  delivered  at  the 
company's  wharf  on  the  island. 

The  coast  counties  of  southern  California  are  where  sheep  husbandry 
first  began  with  such  extraordinary  success  under  American  methods. 
But  it  has  now  greatly  declined  under  the  influence  of  the  popular 
mania  for  fruit  culture,  though  the  great  increase  of  population  which 
is  induced  by  climatic  conditions  to  seek  residence  here  would  naturally 
make  the  breeding  of  lambs  for  market  a  profitable  branch  of  sheep 
husbandry.  It  may  be  expected  that  in  such  a  county  as  Ventura 
(Avhere,  in  1891,  but  one  American  is  found  as  a  flock-owner,  so  com- 
pletely has  the  business  passed  into  the  hands  of  Basques  and  Portu- 
guese) the  Americans  will  lead  the  Avay  in  improved  methods  to  mee,t 
the  wants  of  the  public  for  early  lambs  and  well-fed  mutton.  This  has 
already  begun  in  Los  Angeles  County  by  Jotham  Bixby,  one  of  its 
oldest  pioneer  wool-growers,  and  others  will  surely  follow.  Such  a 
special  line  of  breeding  and  feeding  will  here  be  founded  on  the  alfalfa 
crop.  From  four  to  six  cuttings,  or  6  to  10  tons  of  cured  hay,  can  be 
made  annually  from  such  land  as  now  used  under  irrigation  to  grow 

2  to  4  tons  of  grapes  per  acre,  which,  delivered  at  railroad  stations  in 
first-rate  condition,  sold  to  dealers  at  $6  to  $8  per  ton  this  season. 
Already  may  be  seen  on  California  farms  fig  and  orange  trees,  bearing 
crops  of  unsalable,  because  superfluous,  fruits,  used  as  shade  trees  for 
cattle  and  sheep. 


WEST    OF    THE    MISSISSIPPI   RIVER.  975 

In  all  the  inland  counties  of  California  the  Merino  sheep  as  yet  finds 
no  competitor  for  general  adaptation.  There  is  a  very  general  effort 
amongst  wool-growers  as  well  as  breeders  to  maintain  as  large  size  as 
the  nature  of  the  climate  and  character  of  the  range  pasturage  will 
permit.  So  far  as  experience  yet  indicates,  the  Merino,  improved  by 
American  breeding  skill,  will  continue  to  be  as  generally  the  sheep  for 
all  the  Pacific  slope  interior  to  the  coast  mountains  of  California  as  it 
has  been  for  the  past  thirty  years.  Cross-breeding  with  early-matur 
ing  British  breeds,  UOAV  begun  in  the  coast  counties,  will  increase  in 
those  localities,  but  the  dry  plains  and  high  mountains  inland  from 
the  line  of  British  Columbia,  to  and  including  New  Mexico,  are  as 
permanently  adapted  to  the  Merino  sheep  as  are  the  inland  plains  and 
mountains  of  Australia.  And  the  same  enduring  conditions — climate 
and  natural  forage  plants — insure  a  larger  income  in  shorter  time  from 
sheep  than  is  possible  to  be  derived  from  cattle  under  any  human  care 
and  skill.  Public  and  private  interests,  therefore,  point  to  a  future 
development,  in  all  this  vast  extent  of  arid  land,  of  a  sheep  husbandry 
Avhich  shall  be  permanently  supported  and  assured  by  irrigation  in 
producing  alfalfa  and  other  crops,  to  carry  stock  through  periods  of 
summer  droughts  and  winter  storms,  as  is  now  done  by  the  most  suc- 
cessful flock  owners  of  California,  eastern  Oregon,  and  Washington. 
The  present  and  gradually  increasing  cost  of  meats  is  causing  renewed 
interest  in  sheep  husbandry.  Local  causes  in  California  and  western 
Oregon  are  diverting  public  attention  away  from  sheep  husbandry  to 
grain  and  fruit  farming.  But  in  the  eastern  portions  of  all  three  of 
the  Pacific  Coast  States  water  for  irrigation  purposes  is  as  important  a 
factor  of  success  in  sheep  husbandry  as  in  any  other  branch  of  industry. 
The  industry  has  heretofore  been  pursued  mainly  upon  the  public 
domain  and  often  under  bitter  local  strife  with  rivals  interested  in 
horses  and  cattle,  and  sometimes  with  bona  fide  settlers  under  the 
homestead  law.  It  needs  the  proper  recognition  of  public  law  and  a 
secure  tenure  of  range  rights  both  in  the  mountains  and  on  the  plains, 
obtained  either  by  purchase  at  low  rates  or  by  lease  on  nominal  terms, 
similar  to  the  methods  pursued  in  Australia.  There  are  yet  oppor- 
tunities for  investments  in  lands  on  the  foothills  in  California  which 
might  be  used  for  many  years  to  come  as  bases  for  sheep  husbandry 
with  reasonable  probability  of  a  steady  rise  in  the  value  of  the  land. 
But  the  day  of  such  great  appreciation  as  is  indicated  in  the  history 
of  the  Lompoc  ranch  under  Hollister  &  Co.,  and  in  the  letter  of  J.  P. 
Whitney,  on  preceding  pages,  is  past.  Still  there  are  thousands  of 
situations  west  of  the  summit  of  the  Kocky  Mountains  in  California, 
Oregon,  and  Washington,  wherein  a  man  enfeebled  by  miasmatic  dis- 
eases in  the  Mississippi  Valley,  or  tired  with  the  routine  and  strain  of 
mercantile  pursuits,  would  find  a  new  lease  of  life  and  an  occupation 
not  devoid  of  interest  by  engaging  in  sheep  husbandry. 


976  SHEEP   INDUSTRY    OF    THE    UNITED    STATES 

OREGON  AND  WASHINGTON. 

The  first  domesticated  slieep  were  brought  to  Oregon  from  California 
in  1843  by  the  Oregon  settlers,  who  went  there  to  purchase  cattle.    The 
event  is  known  in  the  early  history  of  Oregon  as  "the  second  cattle 
drive"  from  California.  *  The  Oregonians,  on  arrival  in  California,  inl 
1842,  found  there  Jacob  P.  Lease  owning  sheep,  and  pursuaded  him  he 
would  find  a  market  for  them  at  good  prices  if  he  would  drive  them  to  j 
Oregon.    This  he  did  by  joining  the  party  and  driving  with  them. 

There  has  been  some  doubt,  until  within  a  few  years,  whether  Mr.] 
Lease  brought  his  slieep  to  Oregon  with  the  first  cattle  drive  in  1837,  i 
or  with  the  second  in  1842-'43.    It  has  also  been  in  question  as  to  the 
number  brought.    There  seems  no  longer  reason  to  question  that  the? 
only  time  Mr.  Lease  was  in  Oregon  was  in  1843.    The  late  J.  W.  Nes- 
mith,  who  filled  many  positions  of  honor,  among  them  that  of  United- 
States  Senator,  came  to  Oregon  in  1843  and  passed  the  succeeding 
winter  of  1843-'44  with  Capt.  Gale,  the  leader  of  the  second  cattle  drive,  j 
In  the  course  of  an  address  to  the  Oregon  Pioneer  Association,  he  said :  j 

In  the  spring  of  1843  they  started  to  Oregon  with  a  party  of  forty-two  men  who  i 
brought  with  them  an  aggregate  of  1,250  head  of  cattle,  600  head  of  mares,  colts,  I 
horses,  and  mules,  and  3,000  sheep.  They  were  seventy-five  days  in  reaching  the  • 
Willamette  Valley.  On  their  arrival  with  their  herds  the  monopoly  in  stock  cattle  i 
came  to  an  end  in  the  Willamette  Valley. 

As  this  last  sentence  is  not  likely  to  be  understood  by  any  but  the 
oldest  of  the  pioneers  of  Oregon,  I  think  it  proper  here  to  explain  that 
the  first  domestic  cattle  in  Oregon  were  owned  by  the  Hudson  Bay 
Company.  When  Dr.  John  McLoughlin  took  charge  of  that  company's  i 
affairs  as  chief  factor  in  the  Columbia  Valley,  and  moved  its  chief  post 
from  Astoria  up  to  Vancouver,  on  the  north  bank  of  the  Columbia,  in  ] 
1825,  the  cattle  numbered  27  head  of  all  sorts  and  ages.  In  1829  he 
began  the  policy  of  loaning  two  cows  each,  and  steers  for  teams,  to  the 
retiring  Canadian  servants  of  the  company,  whom  he  advised  to  settle 
in  the  country.  He  did  the  same  with  the  American  settlers  and  mis- 
sionaries. He  advanced  one-third  of  the  money  used  to  buy  cattle  when 
the  first  company  of  American  settlers  and  missionaries  was  formed  to 
go  to  California  for  cattle  in  1837,  yet  he  continued  to  lend  cattle  to 
needy  settlers  until  1843.  Except  the  killing  of  a  calf  or  two  annually 
to  get  rennet  for  cheese  making,  he  permitted  no  cattle  to  be  killed  for 
the  use  of  himself,  his  officers,  or  employe's  until  1838,  when  the  first 
beef  was  killed  for  use  at  Vancouver,  and  in  1839  he  refused  to  supply 
the  British  squadron  under  Capt.  Edward  Belcher  with  beef,  for  which 
the  captain  complained  of  him  on  his  return  to  England.  It  is  proba- 
ble Dr.  McLoughlin  could  not  sell  cattle  without  disobeying  the  London 
directory  of  the  Hudson  Bay  Company,  but  by  this  system  of  loans,  in 
addition  to  the  loans  of  seed  and  bread  grain,  and  giving  out  imple- 
ments, tools,  and  clothing  on  credit,  he  nourished  the  first  settlements 
of  Oregon  into  existence,  during  years  when  the  pro-British  portion  of 


WEST    OF    THE    MISSISSIPPI    RIVER.  977 

his  officers  were  frequently  almost  in  mutiny  against  his  self-denying 
policy.  Oregon  will  erect  a  monument  to  his  memory  some  day. 

In  1844  a  small  flock  was  driven  across  the  plains  and  mountains  from 
the  Missouri  River  to  the  Willamette  by  Joshua  Shaw  and  son.  In 
1847  over  100  were  driven  by  a  Mr.  Fields.  In  1848  Joseph  Watts  drove 
330,  including  grade  Saxo*n  Merinos,  7  pure-bloods,  and  6  high-grade 
Spanish  Merinos.  Of  the  "Lease  "  sheep  the  largest  part  were  purchased 
by  officers  of  the  Hudson  Bay  Company  (who  had  formed  the  Puget 
Sound  Agricultural  Company)  and  taken  to  the  north  side  of  the  Co- 
lumbia Kiver  (now  the  State  of  Washington)  as  a  means  of  strengthen- 
ing the  British  claim  to  the  north  bank  of  that  river,  the  question  of  the 
Oregon  boundary  being  yet  unsettled.  The  next  largest  purchasers  of 
the  "Lease"  sheep  were  the  Catholic  missionaries,  who  let  them  out 
mostly  in  small  bands  to  the  Canadian  French  settlers,  members  of 
their  church.  Some  of  the  American  settlers  also  got  a  few  of  these 
sheep  by  purchase. 

The  Mr.  Fields,  before  mentioned,  died  soon  after  his  arrival  in  Ore- 
gon, and  his  little  flock  was  sold  by  the  administrator  in  small  lots,  so 
that  it  became  the  foundation  of  many  flocks.  Sheep  were  eagerly  de- 
sired as  necessary  to  meet  the  needs  of  domestic  manufacture  of  cloth- 
ing. In  1851  Hiram  Smith  brought  to  Oregon  some  pure-blood  Me- 
rino rams  from  Ohio.  In  1858  Martin  Jesse  brought  to  Oregon  McAr- 
thtir's  Australian  Merinos — part  of  a  shipment  made  from  Sydney, 
Xew  South  Wales.  They  were  certified  as  being  pure  descendants  ot 
Spanish  Merino  flocks  of  King  George  III  of  England,  and  drawn 
from  the  Kew  farm  flock  of  the  King  by  Capt.  John  Me  Arthur? 
father  of  the  McArthur  brothers,  who  sold  them  to  J.  H.  Williams, 
United  States  consul  at  Sydney,  New  South  Wales,  for  shipment  to 
California.  Early  in  1860  E.  J.  Jones  and  S.  B.  Rockwell  brought  into 
and  sold  in  Oregon  pure-blood  American  Merinos  and  French  Merinos 
from  Addison  County,  Vt.*  Jewett  and  Lane  brought  in  the  same 

*In  connection  with  this  importation  I  wish  to  say  that  the  certificate  of  sale  of 
these  sheep  came  into  possession  of  the  writer  in  1860,  by  purchase  of  a  half  interest 
in  ten  head  of  pure  Merinos,  consisting  of  one  French  Merino  ram  and  one  ewe  of 
the  same  family,  two  ewes  of  American  Merinos  of  the  Vermont  type,  and  six  McAr- 
thur Australians.  As  there  is  not  known  to  be  now  in  existence,  I  understand,  a 
paper  tracing  back  to  any  particular  flock  or  "  cabana"  of  Spain,  this  certificate 
traces  to  the  Xegretti  cabana,  if  we  accept  as  correct  the  history  of  King  George 
Ill's  acquisition  as  given  on  page  241  of  the  Keport  of  the  Bureau  of  Animal  Industry 
for  1889-'90.  I  kept  the  ewes  in  question  in  western  Oregon  till  they  died  of  old  age, 
aud  watched  others  owned  by  other  breeders,  and  have  no  doubt  that  the  McArthur 
Australians  can  be  bred  to  produce  as  fine  fiber  in  most  of  the  arid  land  districts  of 
the  United  States  as  in  the  interior  of  Australia.  Oregonians  bred  the  Australians 
to  American  Merino  rams  because  the  latter  were  a  larger  sheep,  and  gave  fleeces  of 
double  the  weight  of  wool  and  nearly  as  fine.  The  cross  increased  the  weight  rap- 
idly. The  first  three  ewe  lambs  of  this  cross  were  sold  to  a  neighbor,  Hon.  T.  L. 
Davidson,  who  bred  towards  the  American  Merino,  and  who,  sixteen  years  after  the 
cross  began,  sent  samples  as  part  of  the  Oregon  State  exhibit  at  the  American  Cen- 
22090 62 


978  SHEEP    INDUSTRY    OF    THE    UNITED    STATES 

year  French  Merinos.  J.  Cogswell  imported  New  Oxfordshires  and 
Hampshire  Downs.  Southdowns,  New  Leicesters,  and  Merinos  had 
been  returned  to  Oregon  in  1854  by  Dr.  W.  F.  Tolmie,  who,  as  manager 
of  the  flock,  had  used  them  to  improve  the  Lease  sheep.  In  1858  E. 
C.  Geer  imported  Jonas  Webb  Southdowns  from  England.  Ex-United 
States  Senator  Ben  Stark  imported  a  pure-blood  Ootswold.  In  1864 
John  D.  Patterson  brought  in  some  of  the  largest  class  of  French  Me- 
rinos. About  this  same  date  (1864)  sheep  of  the  popular  British  breeds 
began  to  arrive  from  the  various  Australian  colonies  and  from  Canada, 
since  which  time  the  flock  owners  of  Oregon  have  had  ample  variety  of 
the  best  herds  to  choose  from. 

Oregon  is  sharply  divided  by  the  Cascade  range  of  mountains  into 
two  diverse  climates.  Western  Oregon  may  be  described  as  mild  and 
moist,  yet  has  its  wet  and  dry  seasons — the  wet  or  damp,  from  October 
to  April  $  the  dry,  from  April  to  October.  The  following  averages  of 
temperature  and  precipitation  are  the  result  of  ten  years  of  observa- 
tion made  at  Eola,  near  Salem,  and  probably  give  us  as  near  the  aver- 
age for  western  Oregon  as  can  be  taken  from  any  single  point: 

Seasonal  temperature. — Mean  annual,  50.9°;  spring,  March  to  May, 
60.2°  5  summer,  June  to  August,  62.9°  5  autumn,  September  to  Novem- 
ber, 50.8°  5  winter,  December  to  February,  38.8°. 

Precipitation — Average  of  ten  years. — Total  annual  inches,  40.70 j 
spring,  March  to  May,  9.87 ;  summer,  June  to  August,  2.03;  autumn, 
September  to  November,  10.56;  winter,  December  to  February,  17.41. 

The  temperature  and  amount  of  precipitation  are  closely  similar  to 
middle  England,  except  that  Oregon  has  by  far  the  best  ripening  and 
harvest  seasons.  Yet  the  temperature  is  so  nearly  similar  that  all 
kinds  of  English  domestic  animals  find  congenial  homes  in  Oregon, 
and  the  British  breeds  of  sheep  can  all  be  kept  here  as  well  as  the 
different  families  of  Merinos. 

tennial  Exhibition  of  1876,  for  which  a  first-class  medal  was  awarded  for  the  follow- 
ing reasons  given  by  the  committee  on  awards:  "Some  very  fine  specimens  of  Merino 
•wool  of  fine  fiber  and  good  staple,  very  much  resembling  Australian  wool,  and  giv- 
ing evidence  that  Oregon  can  produce  wool  of  very  great  value."  The  story  is  that 
King  George  III  expressed  his  thanks  to  the  Marchioness  del  Campo  di  Alange  for 
her  courteous  gift  of  a  small  and  choice  flock  of  Negrettis  by  presenting  her  with 
"a  present  of  eight  splendid  coach  horses."  To  show  that  the  poor  home-builders 
of  Oregon  could  give  a  royal  recognition  of  this  valuable  breed  of  sheep,  a  copy  of 
the  bill  of  sale  of  the  Vermont  and  French  families  is  here  inserted: 
March  31,  1860.  We  have  this  day  sold  to  Joseph  Holman  and  J.  L.  Parrish : 

One  French  Merino  buck,  $500 $500 

Four  breeding  ewes,  at  $275  each 1, 100 

Two  young  ewes  (not  in  lamb)  at  $100 100 

1,700 
Received  payment  in  cash  and  notes. 

R.  J.  JOXES  and  S.  B.  ROCKWELL. 

These  sheep,  it  will  be  understood,  were  not  more  than  average  specimens  of  the 
respective  families.  Much  higher  prices  were  paid  subsequently  for  fancy  animals. 


WEST    OF    THE    MISSISSIPPI    RIVER.  979 

From  the  commencement  of  ^the  improvement  of  sheep  for  wool- 
growing  purposes  in  Oregon  the  Merino  blood  has  been  used  to  a  greater 
extent  than  that  of  all  other  breeds  combined.  This  is  true  of  western 
as  well  as  of  eastern  Oregon  in  past  years.  At  present  mutton  has 
advanced  in  price  in  all  the  chief  markets  of  the  Pacific  coast,  and,  as 
a  consequence,  farmers  of  western  Oregon  who  have  faith  in  the  future 
and  know  the  value  of  sheep  to  their  grain  farms  are  using  the  Eng- 
lish breeds  deemed  best  for  mutton  and  wool  production.  Other  causes 
in  addition  to  tariff'  agitation  are  working  against  sheep  husbandry, 
the  chief  being  the  subdivision  of  land  ownership  near  towns  and 
cities  for  orchards  and  market  gardening.  This,  however,  is  local. 

By  the  United  States  Census  of  1880  the  number  of  sheep  in  Oregon  was. .  1, 033, 162 

By  the  Oregon  State  census  of  1885  the  number  of  sheep  in  Oregon  was . .  1, 694, 153 

Increase  in  five  years ^. 660, 991 

By  the  assessment  rolls  of  1891  sheep  number 1, 159,  822 

Decrease  in  six  years 534, 331 

I  am  glad  to  be  able  to  say  this  loss  to  Oregon  of  more  than  a  half 
million  of  sheep  instead  of  a  gain  of  750,000,  which  should  have  taken 
place  in  the  last  period  of  six  years,  has  not  been  all  lost  to  the  nation. 
When  Oregon  sheep  husbandry  was  at  its  lowest  state  of  depression, 
Lanteman  Brothers,  of  Dakota,  made  a  purchase  of  20,000  ewes  in  north- 
eastern Oregon  and  drove  them  to  Dakota.  They  published  a  yield  of 
10  pounds  per  fleece  the  succeeding  year  in  Dakota.  The  trade  has 
enlarged  every  year  since,  and  in  the  spring  of  this  year  (1891)  it  was 
estimated  that  500,000  would  be  required.  On  June  1,  145  carloads  of 
200  each  had  been  shipped  from  Pendleton  alone  to  Mandan,  S".  Dak.,  and 
many  buyers  were  yet  seeking  sheep  to  purchase.  It  is  impossible  to 
tell  the  exact  number  of  sheep  so  deported  from  Oregon,  either  as  stock 
sheep  for  the  Dakotas  and  Montana,  or  as  feeders  for  Nebraska  and 
Kansas,  or  as  mutton  for  the  Puget  Sound,  Chicago,  or  California  mar- 
kets, as  large  numbers  are  driven  out  of  the  State. 

Owing  to  this  increased  and  brisk  demand  for  stock-sheep  by  the 
farmers  of  the  Dakotas,  the  prices  advanced  this  year  in  northeastern 
Oregon  to  a  higher  rate  than  such  sheep  have  sold  for  since  1883.  The 
prices  ruling  for  sheep,  by  the  flock,  are  $2  to  $2.25  per  hend,  lambs 
counted.  Wethers  also  have  advanced  from  $1.50  to  $1.75  for  yearlings 
and  $2  for  two-year-olds,  in  1890  to  $2  to  $2.50  for  yearlings  and  $2.75 
for  mixed  ewes  and  two-year-old  wethers,  and  $3  for  two-year-old  wethers 
delivered  immediately  after  shearing.  These  are  "range  sheep  prices" 
for  1891.  In  western  Oregon,  near  the  large  markets,  the  advance  has 
been  even  greater.  Mutton  sold  to  wholesale  butchers  in  Portland, 
Oregon,  in  April  and  May,  at  $5.15  to  $5.25  per  100  pounds,  live  weight, 
and  thrifty  January  and  February  lambs  at  $2.25  and  $2.50  per  head. 
Prices  at  Puget  Sound  cities  and  Victoria  were  50  to  75  cents  higher 
per  100  pounds.  Prices  from  farmers'  hands  ranged  from  $4  per  head 
for  lambs  ten  to  eleven  months  old  to  $6  and  $7  for  three  and  four  year  old 


980        SHEEP  INDUSTRY  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES 

wethers  of  the  larger  breeds.  Ordinary  graded  wethers  ranged  from 
$4.50  to  $2.50  per  head,  according  to  quality,  distance  from  and  con- 
venience to  market,  etc. 

The  decrease  of  sheep  on  this  entire  coast  has  so  enhanced  the  price 
of  mutton  that  those  who  have  clung  to  their  flocks  through  the  agita- 
tions of  the  tariff  question  since  1883  are  now  beginning  to  reap  the 
reward  of  their  perseverance  in  an  advance  on  their  mutton  and  stock 
sheep  as  an  offset  to  a  slight  decline  in  wool.  My  estimate  is  that 
mutton  consumed  in  the  two  States  of  Oregon  and  Washington  and 
exported  to  British  Columbia  aggregates  375,375  head,  at  an  average 
value  of  $3  per  head,  worth  $1,132,125.  The  stock  and  mutton  sheep 
deported  to  Dakota,  Montana,  Nebraska,  and  the  Chicago  and  Califor- 
nia markets  is  estimated  to  aggregate  445,522  head,  valued  at  $1,113,805, 
making  the  total  value  of  mutton  and  stock  sheep  sold  in  1891  $2,245,930. 
Estimating  the  advance  on  prices  from  1890  to  1891  at  25  per  cent  the 
increased  income  is,  from  enhanced  prices,  $561,432.  Estimating  one- 
half  the  deported  sheep  as  wethers,  222,761  head,  at  an  average  of  $3 
per  head,  gives  for  mutton  deported  $668,283.  For  mutton  consumed 
in  Oregon,  Washington,  and  British  Columbia,  as  above,  $1,132,125, 
making  the  total  income  from  mutton  $1,800,408.  Twenty-five  per 
cent  advance  from  1890  to  1891,  gives  increased  income  from  mutton 
alone,  $450,102. 

The  assessment  rolls  of  1890  give  903,714,  to  which  I  estimate  an  in- 
crease of  225,428  not  assessed,  making  1,129,142,  the  number  of  sheep 
shorn  in  eastern  Oregon. 

Pounds. 
Estimated  average  fleece  of  unwashed  wool,  7  pounds,  aggregating. .          7,  903, 994 

The  256,744  head  in  western  Oregon,  yielding  6  pounds,  average 1, 540,  644 

The  227,066  head  in  east  Washington,  yielding  7  pounds,  average 1, 589,  462 

The  25,753  head  in  west  Washington,  yielding  6  pounds,  average 154, 518 

Total  shown  in  both  States  1,638,735  head,  yielding 11, 188,  618 


At  average  price  of  17  cents  per  pound,  valued  at $1,  902, 065. 06 

Total  value  of  mutton  and  stock  sheep  as  above 2, 245,  930.  00 


Total  for  wool,  mutton,  and  stock  sheep 4,147,995.06 

In  view  of  the  steady  decrease  of  sheep  in  western  Oregon  and  the 
still  more  rapid  appreciation  of  mutton  values,  farmers  who  keep  sheep 
are  seeking  to  improve  the  mutton-making  qualities  of  their  flocks,  for 
which  purpose  crosses  with  the  British  breeds  are  used.  The  Cotswold 
and  Shropshire  Downs  seem  to  be  preferred.  The  advance  in  this  di- 
rection is  led  by  grain  farmers  nearest  the  markets.  Except  in  the  case 
of  breeders  of  pure-blooded  sheep  few  farmers  in  western  Oregon  make 
an  exclusive  business  of  sheep-husbandry.  All,  except  it  may  be 
some  settlers  on  rough,  cheap  lands  near  the  mountains,  keep  sheep 
as  aids  to  clean  grain-farming.  For  that  purpose  a  very  successful  man 
esteems  200  sheep  on  a  300-acre  grain  farm  as  equivalent  to  the  labor 


WEST    OF    THE    MISSISSIPPI   RIVER.    x  981 

of  a  hired  man  and  team  during  the  summer  season,  the  sheep  paying 
to  the  owner  about  as  much  as  the  owner  would  have  to  pay  the  hired 
man  and  keep  of  the  team. 

There  is  great  diversity  of  methods.  I  will  give,  as  illustration,  that 
of  the  owner  of  a  200-aere  grain  farm  near  Salem.  He  keeps  75  to 
li'o  head.  His  arrangements  for  their  care  are,  roomy  barn  set  on  the 
south  side  of  a  lot  1  acre  or  more  in  extent,  the  most  of  which  is  thickly 
occupied  by  mixed  oak  and  fir  trees.  Into  this  barnyard  the  sheep  are 
brought  every  night  in  the  winter  season.  The  barn  doors  are  left  open 
and  whenever  it  is  probable  the  sheep  will  eat  hay,  it  is  placed  in  the 
racks.  It  is  rare  that  a  lamb  yeaned  during  the  night  is  not  found  in 
the  barn  with  its  dam  in  the  morning.  A  door  from  the  south  end  of 
the  barn  opens  into  a  lot  of  some  4  acres,  always  sown  early  to  winter 
wheat,  which  is  perhaps  the  very  best  pasturage  for  suckling  ewes. 
Thus,  with  the  least  possible  outlay  of  labor,  the  man  saves  about  100 
per  cent  of  lambs  from  the  ewes  bred.  He  prefers  a  cross  of  the  Cots- 
wold  and  Merino,  the  latter  blood  predominating,  giving  a  carcass  at 
one  year  old  of  100  pounds  live  weight,  and  a  fleece  of  9  to  9J  pounds  of 
long,  light,  combing  wool,  selling  at  22  cents  in  the  grease.  His  last 
year's  lambs  sold  at  $4  when  eleven  months  old.  He  deems  all  he  gets 
from  his  sheep  clear  gain,  as  their  services  as  scavengers  during  sum- 
mer are  worth  more  than  their  winter  cost  for  keep. 

Seventy-five  ewes,  at  $4  per  head $300.00 

Interest,  at  10  per  cent 30. 00 

Two  hundred,  pounds  of  salt 1.  60 

Shearing,  at  7  cents  per  head 5.  25 

Total  outlay 336. 85 


CR. 

By  712  pounds  wool,  at  22  cents 156. 64 

By  39  eleven-months-old  lambs,  at  $4  per  head 156. 00 


Total  income 312.64 

Taking  this  man's  estimate  of  the  value  of  these  sheep  on  his  farm, 
they  yield  him  84.16  each  annually.  In  my  judgment  he  could  keep 
300  head  of  the  same  kind  of  sheep  on  the  same  farm,  and  at  the  same 
prices  for  wool  and  mutton  get  a  return  of  $3  per  head,  and  not  mate- 
rially diminish  the  grain  product  of  the  farm,  but  probably  increase  it. 
This,  however,  would  involve  the  hire  of  a  first-class  man,  whose  duty 
it  would  be  to  watch  over  the  sheep  as  to  feed,  shelter,  and  all  that 
would  insure  their  welfare.  The  case  given  is  one  of  actual  results  at- 
tained this  season  of  1891. 

The  measure  of  returns  from  sheep,  as  a  rule,  diminishes  as  one  re- 
cedes from  the  chief  markets,  until  the  rough  lands  surrounding  the 
valley  of  the  Willamette  are  reached.  There  sheep  are  kept  in  some  cases 
as  aids  to  clear  the  land  of  fern  and  other  coarse  growths,  but  more 


982  SHEEP    INDUSTRY    OF    THE    UNITED    STATES 

often  because  they  can  live  and  return  some  income  with  little  care  or 
experience.  In  districts  remote  from  the  market,  like  Douglas  and 
Jackson  counties,  both  by  nature  fine  pastoral  districts,  sheep  hus- 
bandry is  rapidly  diminishing  under  the  causes  already  named  and  the 
increased  development  of  fruit-raising  as  a  chief  pursuit.  The  assess- 
ment rolls  of  1891  show  a  decrease  of  sheep  in  Jackson  County  from 
24,791  in  1885  to  6,956  in  1891.  The  same  causes,  and,  in  addition, 
the  increase  of  the  coyote  pest  and  negligent  ignoring  of  the  scab  law, 
have  reduced  the  number  of  sheep  kept  in  Douglas  County  from  109,- 
443  in  1885  to  42,024  in  1891.  The  decrease  in  western  Oregon  during 
the  same  period  has  been  from  385,566  in  1885  to  135,754  in  1891.  The 
revival  of  interest  in  the  industry  is  most  manifest  near  the  local 
markets  for  mutton,  in  western  Oregon  and  in  the  arid  land  districts 
of  eastern  Oregon,  where  wool  and  mutton  production  is  a  special  pur- 
suit. 

East  of  the  Cascade  range  in  Oregon  and  Washington  lies  the  arid 
land  district  of  both  the  States,  in  which  sheep-raising  and  wool- grow- 
ing are  conducted  under  an  American  modification  of  the  method  which 
was  pursued  with  the  traveling  flocks  in  Spain  prior  to  its  invasion  by 
the  first  Napoleon.  The  American  improved  Spanish  Merino  sheep  is 
the  breed  most  used.  The  industry,  however,  is  not  defended  by  spe- 
cial local  laws  nor  in  the  interest  of  a  special  class.  The  very  poorest 
men  may,  and  often  do,  enter  the  business  with  their  labor  only,  by 
undertaking  to  care  for  a  flock  purchased  by  the  capital  of  others. 
Contracts  of  this  kind  are  generally  for  a  term  of  years,  under  condi- 
tions intended  to  secure  a  fair  division  of  the  income  from  the  flocks  be- 
tween the  owner  and  the  lessee.  It  is  the  general  practice  to  winter 
their  flocks  on  the  lower  plains  and  in  the  sheltered  valleys  through 
which  the  smaller  streams  cut  their  way  to  the  rivers.  The  narrow 
strips  of  interval  land  of  these  valleys  (or  canyons,  as  they  are  often 
called)  are  depended  on  to  furnish  winter  forage  in  case  it  is  found 
necessary  to  feed.  The  flocks  are  generally  kept  on  the  winter  range 
until  the  lambs  are  marked  and  the  sheep  are  shorn.  Both  of  these 
operations  are  usually  finished  during  the  month  of  May,  the  lowest 
and  best- sheltered  ranges  being  the  earliest. 

As  the  country  fills  up  with  settlers  and  available  lands  for  home- 
steads are  taken  (and  they  are  nearly  all  taken  now,  especially  along 
the  water  courses),  the  system  of  renting  flocks  is  changing  in  favor  of 
the  homestead  settler,  the  ownership  of  the  land  controlling  water 
places  being  an  important  consideration  as  a  means  of  securing  the 
benefit  of  feeding  on  the  public  lands  in  the  vicinity.  As  settlement 
for  this  purpose  extends,  the  freedom  and  advantages  of  grazing  on 
the  public  domain  are  diminished  and  the  trouble  and  expense  of 
keeping  sheep  in  this  manner  increase  from  year  to  year.  The  pas- 
turing capacity  of  these  public  lands  is  also  steadily  decreased  by  over- 
stocking. Every  keeper  of  stock,  of  whatever  kind,  is  trying  to  get 


WEST   OF   THE   MISSISSIPPI   RIVER.  983 

what  unassisted  nature  produces,  while  none  are  willing  to  manage 
with  a  view  to  preserving  and  maintaining  the  value  of  the  range.  The 
increasing  trouble  and  cost  of  keeping  sheep  in  eastern  Oregon  and 
Washington,  consequent  upon  homesteading  and  other  means  of  ob- 
taining ownership  of  the  public  lands,  is  pressing  sheep  husbandry 
back  from  the  lines  of  railroads  and  from  districts  suitable  for  grain 
production.  From  this  cause  sheep  are  most  easily  purchased  in  north- 
eastern Oregon  for  stocking  the  ranges  of  Montana  and  the  Dakotaa. 
Those  inclined  to  cling  to  their  wool-growing  pursuit  move  southward 
in  eastern  Oregon  or  west  across  the  Columbia  Kiver  into  Washington. 
There  they  meet  with  strong  opposition  from  the  cattle  and  horse 
grazing  interests,  because  the  larger  animals  can  not  live  on  ranges 
which  will  support  sheep  very  well.  Cattle,  especially,  will  not  stay  on 
a  close-fed  sheep  range  if  they  can  get  to  other  ground.  This  is  the 
reason  why  the  pioneers  of  these  different  grazing  interests  are  always 
opposed  to  each  other  as  two  against  one.  In  the  counties  where  the 
range  is  not  yet  fully  occupied  with  sheep,  the  sheep-owners — there  in 
advance — quite  naturally  oppose  the  coming  in  of  others,  especially 
flocks  invading  their  counties  from  other  counties. 

These  troubles  about  ranging  stock  upon  the  public  lands  increase  in 
number  and  variety  as  the  country  becomes  fully  stocked.  Another 
element  of  disturbance  is  the  presence  of  foreigners  in  the  range  coun- 
try (generally  with  sheep),  who  are  there  only  to  gather  wealth  and  go 
away  with  it.  This  evil  is  not  as  great  in  Oregon  as  it  was  ten  years 
ago,  and  not  nearly  as  bad  as  it  is  now  in  southern  California;  but  still 
it  helps  to  give  emphasis  to  the  desire  for  some  plan  for  disposing  of 
the  vast  amount  of  arid  lands,  which  can  not  possibly  be  reached  by 
irrigation,  to  those  who  will  use  it  for  grazing  purposes.  For  twelve 
years  past  the  writer  has  been  of  the  opinion  that  every  interest,  na- 
tional, State,  and  local,  requires  that  these  arid  pasture  lands  should  be 
secured  to  those  who  will  use  them  for  pasturage  purposes  on  merely 
nominal  terms,  whether  by  lease  similar  to  the  Australian  method,  by 
sale,  or  by  grant  in  such  quantities  as  would  enable  a  man  of  average 
industry  to  support  a  family  from  their  use.  The  peace  and  permanency 
of  wool-growing,  as  the  pursuit  to  which  these  lands  are  best  adapted, 
requires  that  means  to  secure  private  control  should  be  adopted  as  soon 
as  possible.  The  stimulus  of  individual  interest  will  have  to  be  called 
into  activity  before  the  depreciation  of  these  lands  can  be  checked. 
Twelve  years  ago  the  wool-growers  of  the  Columbia  River  Valley  gave 
no  heed  to  a  suggestion  of  private  ownership  of  range.  Xow  almost 
everyone  assents  to  the  proposition.  The  suggestion  applies  to  the 
high  mountains  as  well  as  the  dry  plains. 

Hon.  E.  B.  Gambee,  of  Umatilla  County,  writes,  under  date  of  June 
6, 1891,  a  letter,  of  which  the  following  is  an  extract: 

As  you  are  aware,  there  are  vast  areas  of  mountain  lands  that  are  totally  unfit  for 
homes,  and  only  suited  for  grazing  purposes  during  the  summer  months.  Thes* 


984  SHEEP    INDUSTRY    OF    THE    UNITED    STATES 

ranges  are  overstocked  to  such  an  extent  that  the  grass  is  being  killed  out  very  rap- 
idly. A  large  per  cent  of  the  stock  is  owned  by  men  who  have  no  interest  in  the 
country  devastated  by  their  stock,  but,  as  you  are  aware,  live  50  to  100  miles  away, 
and  drive  their  stock  to  the  mountains  for  summer  range,  to  the  injury  of  those  who 
are  trying  to  build  up  homes  in  the  mountain  valleys.  Another  class  own  nothing 
but  their  stock,  and  camp  wherever  they  can  find  water  and  feed.  It  seems  to  me 
that  one  of  two  things  should  be  done :  These  mountain  ranges  should  either  be  sold 
at  a  nominal  sum  (say  10  cents  per  acre)  or  leased  for  a  long  term  of  years  at,  say,  1 
cent  per  acre.  Settlers  owning  adjacent  lands  should  have  the  first  preference  as 
purchasers  or  tenants.  The  purchaser  or  tenant  should  be  limited  in  the  amount  of 
land  he  could  acquire,  both  distance  and  the  amount  of  agricultural  land  already 
possessed  being  taken  into  consideration.  The  number  of  domesticated  animals  that 
perish  every  year  is  appalling,  if  the  whole  truth  were  known.  It  would  be  better 
for  all  concerned  if  the  stockmen  were  compelled  either  to  own  the  ranges  or  rent 
them.  If  the  overpasturing  of  the  mountain  ranges  continues  ten  years  longer  they 
will  be  nearly  or  quite  denuded  of  grass.  Something  must  be  done,  and  that 
promptly. 

Mr.  Henry  Hahn,  Princeville,  Crook  County,  Oregon,  sends  me  the 
following  statement: 

In  compliance  with  your  request  concerning  the  sheep  industry  of  eastern  Oregon, 
regarding  the  merits  and  demerits  from  a  financial  point  of  view,  I  wish  to  state  that 
I  keep  from  15,000  to  20,000,  according  to  season,  one-half  to  five-eighths  Merino. 
They  yield  about  7  pounds  of  wool  per  season ;  average  price  for  last  three  years,  17 
cents  per  pound.  The  proportion  of  lambs  raised  from  ewes  bred  is  about  70  to  75 
per  cent,  according  to  season.  The  estimated  cost  of  running  sheep  per  head  per 
year  is  from  75  to  85  cents,  according  to  season,  if  sound  and  healthy ;  85  cents  to  $1, 
according  to  season,  if  scabby.  I  raise  sheep  for  both  wool  and  mutton.  In  feeding 
I  use  wild  meadow  hay,  oats  and  wheat,  rye  and  alfalfa. 

The  principal  disadvantage  in  raising  sheep  here  consists  in  the  ownership  of  the 
ranges  by  the  Government,  which  causes  great  strife  among  the  stockmen,  and  thereby 
tends  to  injure  the  stock  interests  by  lessening  the  profits  and  threatening  the  per- 
manency of  vast  live-stock  industries  which  consist  principally  of  small  herds.  An- 
other important  disadvantage  caused  by  our  present  range  system  is  the  spreading 
of  diseases  among  all  kinds  of  stock,  and  more  especially  scab  among  sheep,  which 
causes  a  very  large  item  of  expense  to  sheep-growers  who  are  compelled  to  range 
their  stock.  The  greatest  freedom  of  action  in  ranging  sheep  is  desirable  in  the 
winter,  and  is  conducive  of  the  best  results.  In  matter  of  shelter,  open  low  sheds 
or  wind-breaks  have  proven  most  advantageous.  In  matter  of  feed,  wild  meadow 
hay  and  alfalfa  have  given  the  best  results. 

In  conclusion,  I  wish  to  say  the  foregoing  views  are  the  result  of  ten  years'  observa- 
tion and  personal  experience,  and  I  am  fully  convinced  that  the  best  interests  of 
the  live-stock  industries  in  our  dry  range  country  wrould  be  greatly  promoted  if  the 
stock-growers  could  purchase  or  lease  from  the  Government  the  lands  now  used  by 
them,  for  the  following  reasons :  Under  purchase  or  lease  these  lands  would  be  fenced. 
The  stock  turned  into  these  pastures  by  reason  of  unrestricted  liberty  would  do 
much  better,  grow  larger,  and  in  sheep  would  grow  20  per  cent  more  wool  and  of  a 
better  quality  and  much  cleaner.  It  would  do  away  with  the  present  contention  and 
strife  between  the  stockmen  and  farmers,  and  the  ranges  would  be  capable  of  sus- 
taining one-third  more  stock  than  can  be  ranged  upon  them  under  the  present  de- 
structive system,  and  would  give  the  live-stock  industry  a  permanency  and  stability 
which  it  can  not  hope  to  attain  under  our  present  system.  It  would  also  minimize 
the  present  notion  of  overstocking. 

From  the  increased  and  increasing  difficulties  of  running  sheep  upon 


WEST    OF   THE    MISSISSIPPI   RIVER.  985 

lands  that  many  desire  to  use  and  which  nobody  owns,  it  is  now  often 
necessary  to  have  additional  help  to  move  a  flock  from  their  winter  to 
a  summer  range.  The  owner  of  the  flock,  in  most  cases,  makes  one  of 
the  party.  The  packer  takes  the  lead  and  keeps  a  sharp  lookout 
against  colliding  with  some  other  flock.  In  a  case  of  large  numbers  by 
one  owner,  there  is  still  another  man  who  is  specially  employed  to  ex- 
amine the  country  for  range;  to  find,  if  he  can,  a  district  in  which  he 
can  place  all  the  sheep  in  flocks  of  convenient  size,  joining  each  other 
on  the  range.  He  may  be  regarded  as  the  guide  to  the  packer,  who  is 
supposed  to  locate  and  purvey  for  two  camps  or  flocks.  In  case  the 
flock  is  limited  to  two  bands,  the  packer  (who  in  that  case  is  frequently 
the  owner)  takes  special  care  to  see  in  what  direction  and  at  what  dis- 
tance sheep  of  other  owners  are  located,  so  as  to  avoid  mixing.  He 
will  see  that  the  herder's  camp  is  supplied  with  everything  that  is 
necessary.  The  herder  meantime  is  with  his  sheep  all  day  and  every 
day.  His  best  skill  is  brought  into  play  to  let  his  flock  feed  over  fresh 
ground  every  day  in  the  most  leisurely  manner  consistent  with  prevent- 
ing any  from  getting  permanently  separated  from  the  main  flock  and 
so  lost.  This  is  called  "  loose  herding,"  and  more  often  consists  of  re- 
straining the  active  and  strong  than  in  driving  the  weak.  Where  feed 
is  plenty  a  flock  will  soon  settle  down  to  regular  feeding  habits.  Up 
in  the  morning  with  the  sun,  they  feed  till  9  or  10  o'clock  a.m.,  then 
rest  and  shade  until  3  or  4  o'clock  p.m.  They  then  feed  toward  camp, 
arriving  there  just  after  the  sun  is  down.  The  herder  then  commences 
preparations  for  his  supper,  doing  all  he  can  toward  his  breakfast  and 
lunch  next  day,  not  forgetting  his  friend  and  helper,  the  dog.  In  the 
morning  he  is  up  with  the  dawn.  He  makes  his  coffee  and  fries  his 
meat,  and  generally  has  finished  his  breakfast,  fed  his  dog,  and  put 
up  his  lunch  when  the  sun  strikes  his  sheep,  and  they  begin  to  repeat 
the  process  of  the  day  before.  The  routine  of  his  daily  life  is  varied  a 
.little  when  he  has  to  move  to  a  new  camp,  which  it  is  the  packer's  duty 
to  locate  and  guide  him  to.  Should  the  flock  be  a  division  of  a  larger 
flock,  an  occasional  visit  from  the  range  hunter  is  expected,  and  ar- 
rangements for  future  movements  are  made  with  the  packer.  This 
range  hunter  may  be  regarded  as  the  American  substitute  for  the 
<  •  mayoral "  under  the  old  Spanish  method.  He  is  invariably  an  Ameri- 
can, a  good  mountaineer,  and  a  dead  shot.  The  best  herders  are  also 
Americans,  and  generally  have  aspirations  to  become  flock-owners  or 
something  else  they  prefer.  The  wealthiest  men  now  in  the  business 
are  Americans,  many  of  whom  started  as  herders  for  themselves  or 
others.  A  large  proportion  of  the  herders  are  of  foreign  birth.  They 
are  mostly  satisfied  with  the  life,  and  spend  their  wages,  after  a  long 
time  out  with  the  sheep,  much  like  "  Jack  ashore  "  after  a  long  voyage. 
Some,  however,  are  thrifty  and  saving  and  make  good  citizens. 

The  flock-owner  of  moderate  means,  who  runs  1,500  to  3,000,  if  he  live 
within  50  or  60  miles  of  his  summer  range,  is  generally  his  own  packer, 


986        SHEEP  INDUSTRY  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES 

visits  his  flock  with  supplies  and  for  oversight  once  in  ten  days  or  two 
weeks.  He  thrives  according  to  his  fitness  for  practical  management. 

The  portions  of  eastern  Oregon  and  Washington  which  will  admit  of 
an  increase  of  sheep  under  present  methods  are  those  which  are  now 
preeminent  for  wool  of  the  least  shrinkage  and  best  quality.  Several 
efforts  have  been  made  to  improve  the  wool  crop  of  the  district  with 
crosses  of  other  blood  than  Merino,  but  in  every  case  those  who  experi- 
mented have  returned  to  the  Merino  after  the  second  year.  I  think 
it  is  safe,  therefore,  to  say  that  eastern  Oregon  is  most  suitable  for  the 
Merino  as  a  breed,  and  its  highest  lands  are  suitable  to  the  production 
of  the  finest  staple  wools  of  that  breed  and  of  the  best  quality. 

Wool  is  the  first  object  with  the  range  flock  master  and  mutton  second. 
The  high-grade  Merino  is  very  generally  preferred  for  both  purposes 
under  this  system  and  upon  these  dry  ranges.  The  wool  will  grade  from 
half-blood  up  to  full-blood  French  Merino,  and  8  pounds  per  fleece  is 
given  as  an  average,  the  rates  increasing  as  the  flocks  are  wintered  on 
the  low  sandy  plains,  and  lessening  as  they  are  kept  on  the  highest 
lands,  but  greatly  improving  in  quality.  Prices  range  from  12 \  cents 
to  19  cents  per  pound.  Methods  of  management  vary  greatly  with  the 
differences  of  locality.  I  transcribe  the  method  of  A.  M.  Kelsey,  of 
Antelope,  Wasco  County,  as  a  good  average  illustration : 

Beginning  June  5,  the  lambs,  900  in  number,  from  a  flock  of  1,000 
ewes,  have  been  marked  and  docked  before  shearing,  which  is  just 
finished.  The  flock  is  ready  to  be  started  to  its  mountain  range  for  the 
summer,  provided  it  is  sound  and  free  from  scab,  concerning  which  the 
shearing  affords  ample  opportunity  to  learn.  Should  it  be  affected  in 
the  least  degree,  the  first  thing  to  be  done  after  shearing  is  to  dip.  Of 
the  various  preparations  for  that  purpose  a  mixture  of  lime  and  sulphur 
is  considered  the  most  effective,  and  immediately  after  the  sheep  have 
been  shorn  is  the  best  time,  because,  first,  the  composition  reaches  the 
parasites  most  easily  and  effectually;  second,  the  wool  being  harvestedr 
the  injury  to  the  fleece  from  the  use  of  lime  and  sulphur  is  reduced  to 
a  minimum.  The  dipping  process  is  effected  by  swimming  the  sheep 
slowly  through  a  trough  40  feet  long  and  5  feet  deep,  filled  with  a  blood- 
warm  preparation  of  15  pounds  of  sulphur  and  30  pounds  of  lime  to  90 
gallons  of  water,  well  mixed  by  boiling  together  before  putting  in  the 
vat.  This  process  is  usually  repeated  after  an  interval  of  fourteen  to 
eighteen  days,  when,  if  the  work  has  been  thorough,  the  flock  will  be 
clean.  The  cost  of  this  process,  labor  included,  is  2  cents  per  head  for 
each  dipping.  Some  flock-owners  dip  as  a  precaution  against  infection 
in  passing  to  the  mountains,  and  also  dip  their  rams  before  commencing 
the  breeding  season. 

For  the  management  of  this  flock  of  1,900  ewes  and  lambs,  during  the 
summer  months  from  May  25  to  October  10,  two  men  and  three  horses, 
at  a  cost  of  $100  x>er  month,  including  wages,  board  and  equipage,  are 


WEST    OF    THE    MISSISSIPPI    RIVER.  987 

required.  When  returned  to  the  winter  range  the  lambs  are  separated 
from  the  ewes  for  the  breeding  season,  the  lambs  not  being  bred  until 
their  second  year.  The  rams  used  are  mostly  thoroughbred  Merinos, 
at  an  average  cost  of  $15  per  head.  Ten  rams  are^used  for  a  flock  of 
1,000  ewes.  These  rams  are  put  on  grain  feed  of  about  1£  pounds  of  oats 
per  day,  with  all  of  the  hay  they  will  eat,  for  a  period  of  thirty-five  to 
forty  days.  The  rams  are  turned  in  with  the  ewes  during  the  night 
and  taken  out  in  the  morning.  Some  owners  put  in  a  portion  of  the 
rams  one  night  and  another  portion  another  night,  alternately.  The 
best  informed  breeders  deem  it  still  better  economy  to  put  in  all  the 
rams  on  alternate  nights  only.  After  the  breeding  season,  the  lambs 
which  have  been  during  that  time  under  the  care  of  a  separate  herder, 
are  put  back  with  the  ewes  until  the  snow  falls,  when  they  are  again 
taken  out  for  feeding.  About  1  ton  of  hay  is  allowed  per  day  as  feed  for 
1,000  ewes;  and  a  feeding  season  of  at  least  twenty  days  is  expected 
during  the  winter.  The  winter  over  the  lambing  season  begins.  The 
first  preparation  for  that  is  a  corral  or  yard  tightly  boarded  up  all  round 
a  space  of  100  feet  square,  with  a  shed  roof  extending  16  to  18  feet  to- 
ward the  inside,  leaving  the  central  space  open.  The  shed  is  divided 
into  compartments,  each  suitable  for  the  comfort  of  100  ewes,  in  order 
that  the  flock  can  be  drawn  out  in  the  morning  with  as  little  crowding 
as  possible,  so  that  lambs  yeaned  during  the  night  may  be  segregated 
with  their  mothers  without  confusion.  It  is  becoming  a  common  prac- 
tice to  have  an  extra  man  during  the  night  to  take  out  each  ewe  and 
her  young,  as  they  come,  and  place  them  in  a  separate  pen  or  stall  until 
morning.  Five  men  are  deemed  necessary  to  conduct  a  successful 
lambing,  at  a  cost  of  $40  per  month  per  man,  besides  board,  which  will 
add  $5  per  man.  At  the  end  of  eighteen  days,  one  man  may  be  dis- 
pensed with.  Besides  the  shed,  it  is  necessary  to  build  eight  to  twelve 
covered  pens  12  feet  square,  at  different  places  on  the  range,  to  shelter 
newly  dropped  lambs,  should  the  weather  be  wet  or  stormy.  One  extra 
man  accompanies  the  flock  for  this  purpose.  The  lambs  should  be  kept 
in  small  flocks  of  75  to  100  until  at  least  6  days  old,  and  when  500  ewes 
have  lambs  of  that  age  or  more,  they  should  be  moved  off  the  lamb- 
ing ground  until  the  lambs  have  recovered  from  marking  and  castra- 
tion. Unless  the  weather  be  very  inclement,  the  latter  operation  should 
be  performed  within  two  weeks  after  they  are  segragated  from  the 
main  flock.  After  these  operations,  which  close  the  lambing  season, 
the  flock  may  be  put  under  one  herder  until  shearing.  The  shearers 
go  in  parties  of  from  eight  to  twelve  (ten  is  most  common),  and  these 
sometimes  shear  an  average  of  100  sheep  per  man  per  day.  Seven 
cents  per  head  is  the  usual  price,  to  which  board  and  other  necessary 
expenses  add  three  cents  more,  making  a  total  of  10  cents  per  head. 
Wool  sacks  and  twine  cost  this  year  53  cents  per  sack,  which  contains 
an  average  of  40  fleeces. 


988        SHEEP  INDUSTRY  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES 

The  following  account  with  flock  of  1,000  ewes,  by  A.  M.  Kelsey,  of 
Antelope,  Wasco  County,  Oregon,  gives  results  from  a  flock  deemed 
rather  less  than  the  number  giving  the  most  profit: 

Bought  in  June,  1890X  1,500  stock  sheep,  1,000  ewes,  500  lambs  (mixed, 

ewes  and  wethers),  at  $2.50  per  head  all  around $3,  750. 00 

June,  1890,  provisions  and  outfit  for  mountains 100. 00 

Three  horses 75.  OQj 

One  herder,  12  months,  at  $40 480. 00 

One  camp  tender,  4  months,  at  $40 160.  00 

Ten  thoroughbred  bucks  for  use  of  band,  at  $15 150.  00| 

Hay  and  grain  for  bucks,  6  months 20. 008 

Board  of  herder,  8  months 64. 0(1 

Hay  for  winter  feeding,  30  tons,  at  $10 300.  OOj 

Shearing  1,500,  at  6  cents 90.  oJ 

Wool  sacks,  41,  at  18  cents 19.63 

Twine  for  tying  wool 3. 0(| 

Board,  ten  men  shearing  1|  days,  at  75  cents 11. 29 

Three  extra  men  in  shearing,  1  day,  at  $1.50 4. 50; 

Three  extra  men  in  lambing,  1  month,  at  $40 120. 00^ 

Board  three  extra  men,  lambing,  1  month,  at  $8 24. 0$ 

Freight  on  14,000  pounds  wool,  65  miles,  at  75  cents  per  100 105.  00 • 

Interest  on  capital  invested  in  land,  etc.,  $3,000,  at  10  per  cent 300. 00] 

5,776.43J 
Average  loss  during  year,  5  per  cent,  75  head,  at  $2.50 188.  OOi 

5, 964. 43] 

The  above  does  not  include  expenses  on  wool  after  reaching  ware-j 
house. 

Sold  in  June,  1891,  430  yearlings,  at  $2.50 $1,  075.  OOi 

Sold  in  July,  14,000  pounds  wool,  at  17  cents 2,  380.  00: 

Raised  in  1891,  850  lambs  at  $2.25 1,  912. 50J 

Remainderof  old  stock,  995,  at  $2.50 2,487.50 

7,855.00 
Expenditures 5, 964. 43J 

Profit 1, 890. 57 

Interest  on  money  invested  in  sheep,  $3,750,  at  10  per  cent 375.  00 

Balance 1,515.57 

The  following  statement  was  made  to  me  by  an  acquaintance  who 
left  western  Oregon,  and  going  to  eastern  Oregon  started  with  sheep 
in  a  small  way,  but  in  a  very  favorable  situation.  His  location  is  on 
Cherry  Creek,  in  the  northeastern  portion  of  Crook  County,  and  con- 
tiguous to  the  western  spurs  of  the  Blue  Mountains.  By  separate  in- 
vestments he  purchased  two  quarter  sections  of  what  is  called  canyon 
bottom  land,  the  very  best  for  alfalfa.  For  one  he  paid  $1,000  and  for 
the  other  $800.  They  control  the  water  of  the  creek  for  2  miles.  These 
lands  he  seeded  to  alfalfa.  Last  year  he  sold  hay  from  them  to  the 
amount  of  $1,500,  besides  supplying  his  own  wants  for  a  flock  of  3,800 
sheep,  with  other  stock  necessary  to  conduct  such  a  wool-growing  plant. ; 
He  will  make  this  season  300  tons  of  alfalfa  hay,  needing  for  his  own 


WEST    OF    THE    MISSISSIPPI    RIVER.  989 

tock  at  most  160  tons.  Hay  is  customarily  sold  at  $10  per  ton.  To 
harvest  it  costs  him  $1.50  per  ton  for  labor.  These  3,800  sheep  are 
managed  by  2  herders  and  1  packer,  with  4  horses  for  their  use,  the 
cost,  including  everything,  being  $50  per  man  per  month — 

Making  per  annum $1,  800 

Six  men  at  lambing .* 300 

Shearing  3,800  sheep  (including  sacks,  twine,  ami  bo:.r<l),  at  10  cents 380 

Hauling  wool  to  market 313 

160  tons  of  hay,  at  cost 240 

Total  cost '. 3,033 

C'R. 

By  31,350  pounds  of  wool,  at  16  cents $5, 016 

By  1,000  two-year-old  wethers  and  dry  ewes,  at  $2.75 2, 750 

By  80  per  cent  of  lambs  from  2,600  ewes,  2,080,  at  $2.00 4, 160 

By  140  tons  surplus  hay  above  needs,  held  at  $10  per  ton 1, 400 

13,  326 
Total  cost 3,  033 

Net  income 10, 293 

I  took  the  foregoing  data  from  the  lips  of  A.  J.  Shrum,  at  the  town 
of  Mitchell,  Crook  County,  Oregon,  July  23, 1891.  Mr.  Shrum  made 
his  statement  in  round  numbers  and  very  deliberately;  as  he  keeps  no 
accounts  they  may  not  be  exact,  but  I  have  no  reason  to  question  their 
close  approximation  to  the  truth.  It  will  be  noted  that  the  annual  cost 
of  maintenance  lacks  but  a  small  fraction  of  80  cents  per  head,  and 
many  letters  I  have  received  give  50  cents  per  head  as  the  cost  of  keep- 
ing sound  sheep.  But  in  Mr.  Shrum's  case  his  judicious  investment 
in  land  is  a  source  of  additional  income  instead  of  a  charge  against 
his  flock,  and  his  success  is  attributable  to  many  favoring  circum- 
stances; the  most  important  of  these  are,  first,  his  well  sheltered  and 
warm  winter  range;  second,  the  nearness  (not  50  miles)  of  excellent 
summer  range;  third,  and  above  all,  plenty  of  alfalfa  hay  for  win- 
ter. I  heard  of  his  success  as  a  wool-grower  at  a  long  distance  from 
his  locality.  Naturally  and  properly  Mr.  Shrum  is  inducting  his  sons 
into  his  chosen  pursuit,  and  the  family  now  own  lands  controlling  9 
miles  of  the  creek  upon  which  the  two  hay  farms  mentioned  are  located. 
This  gives  them  the  grazing  of  the  lands  adjoining  this  length  of  the 
stream  to  such  an  extent  that  they  call  it  their  range,  but  until  they 
have  the  right  to  control  it  they  can  not  prevent  others  from  grazing 
upon  it.  In  fact,  there  are  about  60,000  sheep  from  Wasco  and  Sher- 
man counties  which  feed  over  it  as  they  pass  to  the  Blue  Mountains  in 
the  spring  and  return  in  the  fall.  The  case  of  Mr  Shrum  inducting 
his  sons  into  wool-growing  as  his  partners  is  not  an  isolated  one.  I  met 
a  Mr.  Ben.  Kelsey,  of  Fossil,  Gilliam  County,  at  Dallas  City  on  June  4, 
waiting  to  make  sale  of  98,000  pounds  of  very  fine  and  light  high 
grade  Merino  wool,  the  product  of  sheep  owned  by  himself  and  sons. 


990        SHEEP  INDUSTRY  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES 

The  following  illustrates  a  form  of  organized  capital  employed  in- 
sheep  husbandry  which  is  unpopular,  and  the  fear  of  which  is  the  only 
objection  made  to  private  ownership  of  land.  The  case  is  given  to  show 
that  the  present  system  is  no  hindrance  to  this  kind  of  associations  and 
monopolizing  tendencies. 

The  Bauldwin  Land  and  Stock  Company  is  located  in  Crook  County, 
Oregon.  Two  of  its  chief  stockholders  are  bankers,  and  residents  of 
Portland,  Oregon.  It  has  attained  the  ownership,  by  purchase  from 
retiring  cattlemen,  of  some  of  the  choicest  locations  in  the  county  for 
the  production  of  forage  and  control  of  large  bodies  of  public  landj" 
some  of  these  places  are  30  miles  apart.  At  the  central  station  of  Hay 
Creek  is  the  superintendent's  residence  and  office.  A  post-office  ami 
schoolhouse,  a  blacksmith's  shop  and  general  store  are  maintained.; 
The  stock  consists  of  35,000  sheep  and  the  additional  animals  necessary? 
for  such  a  plant.  Earn  breeding  and  wool  and  mutton  production  con-1 
stitute  the  business,  and  items  marketed  and  ready  for  market  this^ 
season  are  between  300,000  and  400,000  pounds  of  wool,  10,000  mutton^ 
sheep,  and  1,500  rams.  Thirty  men  are  employed,  very  few  of  whom  are; 
married  (the  preference  being  for  single  men).  The  business  is  well^ 
managed,  on  a  liberal  scale  as  to  wages  and  food,  but  the  method  isj 
not  popular  with  the  families  resident  in  the  county. 

A  much  more  popular  form  of  a  combined  breeding  and  wool-growing: 
plant  is  that  of  the  Hon.  George  Chandler,  of  Baker  City,  Baker  County. ; 
In  answer  to  a  letter  he  reports  that  he  keeps  1,500  thoroughbred 
Merinos  under  the  herding  system;  reports  80  per  cent  of  lamb  increase, 
and  an  average  fleece  yield  of  14  pounds,  for  which  he  is  offered  12£ 
cents  per  pound.  He  prefers  wild-grass  hay  to  alfalfa.  His  flock  is 
one  of  the  local  sources  of  supply  of  pure-bred  rams  (of  which  there  are 
many  in  eastern  Oregon),  the  output  of  which  are  sold  for  about  <ani 
average  of  $15  per  head."  On  certain  lowlands  of  a  swampy  character 
when  wet  the  best  grasses  for  hay  are  native  wild  grasses.  On  sandy! 
alluvions  on  the  margins  of  streams,  or  on  irrigable  plains,  alfalfa, 
wheat,  rye,  and  on  filled-up  lake  beds  and  in  narrow  valleys  near  the 
summit  of  mountains,  wild  grasses  again  make  the  best  hay.  Eye  as  a; 
cultivated  plant  is  surest  for  high,  dry  land,  and  is  most  used  in  frosty 
localities.  In  western  Oregon  the  flock- owner  has  a  great  variety  of 
hay  plants  and  other  feeds  to  choose  from,  as  all  crops  common  to  the 
temperate  zone  will  grow  and  do  well.  Oats  hay  cut  green  is  a  very 
generally  preferred  special  feed  for  sheep  in  the  winter,  where  any 
special  provision  is  made. 

Since  the  partial  arrest  of  wool-growing  in  1883,  there  has  been  a  dis- 
position to  economize  in  the  matter  of  outlay  for  improved  rams,  and 
many  flock-owners  prefer  a  good,  strong  grade  of  the  third  and  fourth 
cross  of  the  Merino  to  a  pure  blood.  So  that  breeding  for  the  best  style 
of  Merinos  has  not  met  with  great  encouragement  for  the  past  eight 
years  in  Oregon.  The  oldest  established  flocks  for  ram  breeding  at 


WEST   OF   THE    MISSISSIPPI   RIVER.  991 

present  in  Oregon  are  those  of  Andrew  Harrison,  of  Jefferson,  Marion 
County,  representing  the  flock  of  John  Minto,  established  in  1860;  D. 
M.  Gutnrie,  Dallas,  Polk  County,  established  in  1860;  T.  L.  Davidson 
and  F.  E.  Smith,  Salem,  in  1861.  These  are  all  Merino  breeders.  S.  F. 
Mascher,  Silverton,  breeds  French  Merino  and  Shropshire.  David 
Craig  and  E.  W.  Carey,  of  McCleary,  the  former  Cotswold  sheep  and 
Angora  goats,  the  latter  Merino  and  Shropshire  sheep ;  James  Wittey- 
corne.  Hillsboro,  Cotswolds ;  Ladd  S.  Eeed,  of  Eeedville,  Cotswold  and 
Leicester;  Eobert  Scott,  Milwaukee,  Cotswold  and  Dorset  Horn;  D. 
W.  Stearns,  Oakland,  Douglas  County,  French  Merino.  The  Bauldwin 
Land  and  Stock  Company,  Hay  Creek,  Crook  County,  Mr.  Cunning- 
ham, Pilot  Eock,  Umatilla  County,  George  Chandler,  Baker  City,  and 
many  of  the  largest  wool-growers  in  the  State  have  long  practiced 
breeding  their  own  stock  animals. 

At  the  Centennial  Exhibition  in  1876,  a  medal  was  awarded  to  S.  G. 
Eeed,  of  Portland,  for  "three  samples  of  Leicester  combing  wool  and 
three  samples  of  Cotswold  combing  wool  noticeable  for  long  staple  and 
bright  luster."  Another  was  awarded  to  M.  Wilkin,  of  Lane  County, 
for  crossbred  Cotswold  wool  retaining  the  length  of  the  pure-blood, 
but  of  increased  fineness  and  freedom  from  hair. 


INDEX. 


* 


Pag*: 

Adams,  Seth,  importations  of  Merino  sheep  by 13<>: 

Alabama,  sheep  and  wool  statistics  of 68S 

husbandry  of 68$ 

Ancon  or  Otter  sheep 70' 

Angora  goats  in  Texas 912 ' 

Arizona,  number  and  value  of  sheep  in , 945 

physical  characteristics  of 935- 

sheep  husbandry  in 940' 

Arkansas,  sheep  husbandry  in 885- 

Arlington  long- wooled  sheep 59 

sheep  shearings 61 

Armstrong,  Gen.  John,  importations  of  French  Merinos  by 170 

Atwood  Merinos 25# 

Stephen 257 

Barbary  sheep „ 78 

Basque  sheepmen  in  California 972 

Berkshire  (Mass. )  County  Fair 7T 

Berry,  William,  flock  of 493 

Bighorn,  Racky  Mountain 11 

Black-Top  Merino  Association,  scale  of  points 515 

Merinos,  improved 514 

Spanish  Merinos,  standard  of 494 

Boston,  sheep  consumed  in 25t> 

British  inquiry  into  colonial  industries 105- 

Broad-tailed  Tunis  or  Barbary  sheep . 7& 

California,  early  sheep  husbandry  of . 947 

mountain  pastures  of . , 963 

number  and  value  of  sheep  in 954 

sheep  and  wool  industries  of 953- 

Canada,  sheep  in 343- 

Campbell,  George 304 

Carolinas,  The,  sheep  in 4# 

Centennial  Fair  of  1876,  Merinos  at 321 

Chapman,  Albert 31 1 

Cheviots  in  New  York 396,  414 

western  Pennsylvania 52i> 

Clay,  Cassius  M.,  Southdowns  of 66«> 

Cockrill,  Mark  R.,  pioneer  flockmaster 672, 681 

Colonial  period,  sheep  and  wool  in 49* 

Colorado,  number  and  value  of  sheep  in 794 

sheep  husbandry  of „., 78<> 

Columbian  Society,  etc 7t> 

Columbus,  Christopher,  introduction  of  sheep  into  America  by IT 

993 
22990 63 


994  INDEX. 

Page. 

Connecticut,  first  sheep  in 42 

Merinos  in 256 

sheep  and  wool  in 278 

Cornbury,  Lord,  royal  governor  of  New  York 103 

Cornish,  John,  cloth  works  of 40 

inventory  of 98 

Cortez,  sheep  brought  to  America  by 18 

Cotswolds  in  New  York 368,399 

Coxe,  Tench,  on  wool  and  mutton 50 

Cross-breeding  in  California 956 

Crutchfield,  Thomas,  letter  of 670 

Custis,  G.  W.  P.,  as  a  sheepman 59 

Dakota  wools 763 

Dall's  mountain  sheep 16 

Delaine  Merinos,  scale  of  points  of  Association  of 512 

standard  of 511 

Victor-Beall 508 

scale  of  points 509 

Delaware,  early  sheep  husbandry  of 30 

Merinos  in 432 

sheep  and  wool  in 446 

Dickinson  Merinos,  scale  of  points 527 

William  K.,  flock  of 522 

District  of  Columbia,  Merinos  in 447 

Dog  depredations  in  Missouri 866 

Dogs,  damages  in  Alabama 687 

law  concerning,  in  Tennessee 678 

Dorset  Horn  sheep  in  Connecticut 279 

New  York 421 

Pennsylvania 438, 520 

Dorsey  breed  of  sheep 62 

Don  Pedro,  Spanish  Merino  ram 134 

Dnpont  do  Nemours,  importation  of  sheep  by 134 

Eastern  States,  sheep  of 50 

Elitharp,  Prosper 294 

Embargo  act  of  1808 127 

Escurial  Merinos,  importations  of 180 

Exports  of  sheep  from  the  United  States 94 

woolen  goods  from  England 129 

;Farmer,  Capt.  George,  Leicester  sheep  of 87 

Featherstonhaugh,  G.  W.,  mutton  sheep  of 362 

-Feeding  lambs,  experiments  in 250 

Fish,  as  food  for  sheep 340 

Florida,  first  sheep  in 19 

sheep  and  wool  statistics  of 694 

husbandry  of 688 

•Folding  sheep  in  Massachusetts 37 

"Frederick  sheep 68 

French  Merinos  in  Connecticut 266 

Michigan 631 

New  York 378 

Vermont 319 

Friesland  sheep 90 

Fulling-mill,  first  in  Massachusetts 33 

Georgia,  colony  of,  sheep  in 48 


INDEX.  995 

Pago. 

Georgia,  Merinos  in 477 

sheep  husbandry  of 47$ 

Gibson,  Paris,  the  Montana  flockmaster 704 

Grasses  of  Arizona 946 

Montana 720 

Hamilton,  Alexander,  report  of*. 119 

Hammond,  Edwin 290 

Hampshire  Downs 414 

Henry,  Prof.  W.  A.,  on  feeding  sheep 656 

Herefordshire,  old  sheep  of 46 

Holland,  the  center  of  wool  industries 99 

Holloway,  Herbert,  V.  8.,  reports  of 705,  718 

Hosiery,  early  manufacture  of 115 

Household  woolen  industry 95 

Humphreys,  Col.  David . 154 

Illinois,  decline  of  sheep  husbandry  in :.....  608 

Merinos  in . . ....  588 

mutton  sheep  in 604 

Improved  Black-Top  Merinos 514 

Saxony  scale  of  points 518 

Indiana,  mutton  sheep  in 587 

sheep  industry  of 575 

statistics  of  sheep  and  wool 588 

Iowa,  personal  experience  in 830 

sheep  husbandry   822 

State  Sheep-Breeders'  Association 826 

value  of  sheep  in 821 

wolves  in 828 

Irish  sheep,  importations  of 86 

Irrigation  in  New  Mexico 928 

Jamaica,  L.  I.,  cloth-mill  at 110 

Jarvis,  William ." 172 

Merino  importations  by i  73 

Jefferson,  Thomas,  importation  of  Merinos  into  Virginia  by 174 

Kansas,  extent  and  resources  of , 871 

number  and  value  of  sheep  in 872 

sheep-feeding  in 879 

sheep  husbandry 873 

Kelsey,  Rev.  F.  D.,  on  grasses  of  Montana 720 

Kentucky,  Cotswolds  in 659 

pioneer  sheep  of 657 

Southdowus  in 658 

Lamb  club  in  Tennessee 675 

Lambs,  early,  in  Massachusetts 248 

experiments  in  feeding 250 

Laws  relating  to  sheep,  Colorado 797 

Montana 724 

North  Dakota 749 

South  Dakota. * : 769 

Wyoming 783 

Leicester  sheep  in  New  York 366 

the  New 87 

Lincolnshire^  in  New  York 370 

Livingston,  Robert  R 138 


996  INDEX. 

Page. 

Longfellow,  Gilbert,  island  flock  of 337 

Madison,  James,  home-made  inaugural  suit  of 164 

Maine,  Merinos  in 333 

mutton  sheep  in 344 

Marengo  sheep 78 

Maryland,  mutton  sheep  in 450 

sheep  and  wool  in 452 

introduced  into 24 

Massachusetts,  first  English  sheep  in 31 

fulling-mill  in 33 

homespun  manufactures  of 32 

Merinos  in 217 

sheep  and  wool  in 247 

Society  for  Promoting  Agriculture 52 

3Ieacham,  H.,  sheep  farm  of 960 

Meade,  Richard  W 434 

Mease,  Dr.  James 75 

importations  of  Merinos  by 168 

Merino  wool,  size  of  fibers 316 

3Ieriuos,  Atwood 258 

Black-Top  Spanish 494 

Delaine,  origin  of 498,  508 

exports  of,  from  Spain 191 

French,  in  Connecticut 266 

New  York 378 

Vermont 319 

importations  to  United  States 193 

in  California 975 

Connecticut 256 

Delaware 432 

Maine 332 

Michigan 510 

Mississippi 686 

New  Hampshire 333 

New  Jersey 425 

New  York 349 

Rhode  Island 280 

Saxony 225 

South  Carolina 473 

Sweden 222 

Vermont 281 

Wisconsin 639 

introduction  of  Spanish 131 

Rambouillet 632 

Saxony  in  New  York 373 

Virginia 457 

United  States 231 

Silesian,  in  New  York 382 

Spanish,  in  New  England  ....*. 217 

standard  weight  of 626 

the  Rambouillet  flock 268 

Rich  flock 300 

Michigan,  Merinos  in 610 

Minnesota,  number  and  value  of  sheep  in 811 

personal  experience  in 818 


INDEX.  997 

Page. 

Minnesota,  sheep  industry  of 812 

Mississippi,  sheep  of 680 

Missouri,  number  and  value  of  sheep  in 862 

physical  conditions  of 853 

sheep  husbandly  of . 857 

Montana .  first  sheep  in 706 

grasses  of 720 

personal  experience  in 724 

physical  features  of 702 

sheep  industry  of 707 

laws  of 724 

Mountain  pastures  of  California 963 

Mutton  sheep  in  Illinois 604 

Indiana 587 

Maryland 450 

Michigan 634 

New  Jersey 428 

Ohio 565 

Tennessee 673 

Virginia 462 

Wisconsin 652 

Navajo  Indian  flockmasters 929, 945 

Nebraska,  number  and  value  of  sheep  in 837 

k                   personal  experience  in ...  849 

promoters  of  the  sheep  industry  in 735 

sheep  feeding  in 845 

husbandry  of 838 

shearing  in 842 

New  Hampshire,  first  sheep  of 27 

Merinos  in 329,  425 

mutton  sheep  in 428 

sheep  and  wool  of 433 

New  Leicester  sheep 87 

New  Mexico,  laws  relating  to  sheep 932 

number  and  value  of  sheep  in 927 

physical  features  of 914 

sheep  husbandry  of 917 

New  York,  Cotswolds  in 368 

first  imports  of  sheep  to 24 

Leicesters  in 366 

Merinos  in 349 

sheep  and  wool  in 424 

Norfolk  and  Suffolk,  aboriginal  sheep  of 46 

North  Carolina,  Merinos  in 469 

sheep  and  wool  in 471 

North  Dakota,  natural  resources  of 729 

personal  experience  in 746 

" promoters"  of  the  sheep  industry  in 735 

sheep  husbandry 738 

laws 749 

Number  of  sheep  in  the  United  States,  1810 93 

Ohio,  number  and  value  of  sheep  in 574 

sheep  husbandry  of 521 

Oregon  and  Washington,  sheep  husbandry  of !»7t> 

Otter;  A.ncon  or,  sheep 70 


998  I'NDEX. 

Page. 

Ovis  montana 11 

Dalli , IB 

/  Oxfordshire  Downs 241,  440 

Patterson,  John  D.,  a  noted  sheepman 378 

Paular  Merinos,  purchase  of 185 

Pennsylvania,  introduction  of  sheep  into 291 

Merinos  in 435 

sheep  and  wool  in 439 

southwestern,  sheep  in 483 

Personal  experience  in  Arkansas 893 

"   Colorado 798 

Iowa 830 

Kansas  880 

Minnesota 818 

Missouri 868 

Nebraska 849- 

New  Mexico 930 

South  Dakota 765 

Wyoming 781 

Peters,  Richard,  Atlanta,  Ga 479 

broad-tailed  sheep  of 78 

on  sheep  breeding 56 

Piney  woods  sheep 683,  691 

Powell,  John  Hare 83,43ft 

Prairie  fires  in  North  Dakota 745 

Predatory  animals  in  California 961 

"  Promoters  "  of  sheep  husbandry,  North  Dakota 735 

South  Dakota 764 

Rambouillet  flock  of  Merinos 268 

Merino  Association ,. 632 

Randall,  Henry  S.,  on  Southern  sheep  husbandry 457 

Range  facilities  of  Utah 803 

Rapp,  George,  wool-grower  and  manufacturer 484 

Rhode  Island,  Merinos  in 280 

sheep  husbandry  of 41 

Richardson,  John 13 

Rocky  Mountain  sheep 11 

Romney  Marsh  sheep 45 

Rowley,  Mass.,  fulling-mill  at 9ft 

Sanborn,  Prof.  J.  W.,  on  Missouri  sheep  husbandry 855 

St.  Louis  wool  market 865 

Saxony  Merinos,  first  in  United  States 231 

Improved 517 

in  New  York 373 

Ohio 54ft 

Pennsylvania 515 

Virgima 457 

origin  of 225 

Scholfield,  Arthur,  woolen  manufacturer 121 

Scott,  Robert  W.,  flock  of 661 

Shearing  at  Arlington  61 

in  Illinois 596, 598,  601 

Indiana 578 

Iowa 825 

Kansas 875 


INDEX.  999 

Page 

Shearing  in  Michigan 614. 620 

Minnesota 814 

Missouri 859 

Montana * 713 

Nebraska 842 

Wisconsin *. 646 

Livingston's  Clermont  flock 142 

records  in  Vermont 305.  312 

tests  in  New  York 355,390,395,405,408,410 

Ohio 553 

western  Pennsylvania 488 

Sheep  and  wool  statistics  of  Alabama 688 

Connecticut  278 

Florida 694 

Georgia 481 

Maine 342 

M  aryland 452 

New  Hampshire 333 

New  York 424 

North  Carolina 471 

Ohio 567 

South  Carolina 476 

•                                 Tennessee 680 

Vermont 329 

Virginia 466 

West  Virginia 469 

Wyoming. 777 

east  of  the  Mississippi,  statistics  of 696 

feeding  in  Kansas 879 

Minnesota 817 

v      Nebraska 845 

number  to  the  square  mile 699 

shed,  design  for 818 

Shropshires  in  Indiana 580 

x   scale  of  points 585 

Silesian  Merinos 382,  505 

Smith  Island  sheep 67 

South  Dakota  sheep  industry 751 

laws 769 

" promoters"  in 764 

South  Carolina  Agricultural  Society 74 

sheep  and  wool  in 476 

husbandry  of,  1881 475 

Southdown  sheep 47,92,397,658 

Spanish  explorers  and  sheep 17 

Merino  sheep,  introduction  of 131 

Standard  Delaine  Merinos 511 

Suffolk  Downs 421 

Smimiary  of  Part  I 695 

Snsst»x  or  Southdown 47 

Sweden,  Merinos  in 222 

Syracuse  convention  of  wool-growers 558 

Tariff  ax-ts  of  1X24  and  1828 549 

1867 507,561,647 

1883 322,564,628 


1000  INDEX. 

Page 

Tariff  system,  its  effect  on  wool-growing 240. 557 

Teeswater  sheep 91 

Taylor,  Col.  John,  wi  itings  of : 453 

Tennessee,  lamb  club  in 675 

mutton  sheep  in 67$ 

sheep  husbandry  of 669 

Texas,  central 901 

northeastern 898 

v    sheep  husbandry  of 895- 

southwest 90T 

Texel  sheep  in  New  York 24,399- 

origin  of 8(H 

Tunis  or  Barbary  broad-tailed  sheep IS- 

Utah,  experience  of  sheep-owners  in 808 

number  of  sheep  in 803 

rainfall  and  irrigation  in 802"  ; 

sheep  husbandry  of 805- 

Vermont  Merinos 281  j 

Merino  Sheep-Breeders  Association 323- 

sheep  and  wool  in 329* 

Victor-Bean  Delaine  "Merinos 50$  -j 

Virginia,  first  sheep  in 21 

Merinos  in • . .  453 

mutton  sheep  in 462" 

Wadsworth,  Jereuiiah,  woolen  manufacturer 118  • 

War  of  the  rebellion,  effect  on  sheep  and  woolen  industries. .  .321,  336,  389,  505.  552,  682 

Washington  County,  Pa.,  sheep  in 49Q  ; 

George,  as  a  sheep- breeder 53  ^ 

Watson,  Elkanah,  pioneer  of  sheep  industry 122, 218 

Watts,  James  W.,  his  broad-tailed  sheep 85 

Wells  &  Dickinson,  flockmasters  and  manufacturers 492 

West  Virginia,  Merinos  in 467  j 

Panhandle  of 48$  I 

sheep  and  wool  in 469" 

Wiltshire  sheep,  Old 45- 

Wisconsin,  Merinos  in 639" 

mutton  sheep  in : 652"  I 

Wolves  in  Iowa 828  ; 

Wood,  James,  Hampshire  Downs  of 419 

Wool-growers'  convention  at  Syracuse 558 

Woolen  industry,  the  household 95 

Wool  clips  of  Utah 807 

market,  the  St.  Louis 865- 

prices  of,  and  of  other  farm  products 570- 

in  gold  and  currency 573 

1824  to  1890 5Hi» 

1871  to  1890 r>(>2- 

production  of,  east  of  Mississippi  River 697 

Wools  of  the  Dakotas 763- 

Wyoming  grazing  lands r 776- 

sheep  husbandry 771 

laws  of ••_•_---•' 785 

water  supply .^^^T^r^a^. 77S 

:5* 

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